lortman

Greeting,

We're a 142 year old tandem couple that just upgraded to a Hawthorne e-tandam last year. I have to say, we love it. (And a quick plug for Ric & Marcia at House of Tandems, they are the best!). Here's my question and I assume there is no correct answer: How do you use the motor when you're riding?

Since we had the bike for just over one season, it takes some time to figure out the concept of an e-tandem. I find we have the motor off way more than it is on. We're in Western Massachusetts where the terrain is rolling. There are some long climbs and along the Connecticut River the roads can be very flat. Our motor (Shimano 8000) has 3 power settings, Eco, Trail & Boost. (It's an e-mtb motor). I find we rarely need more than eco on most hills (Drivetrain is Di2 1x 50T to 11 speed 11x42 cassette). We use the motor on hills, to start on stop streets/lights and if the wind is blowing hard on the flats. When we're done with a 30 mile ride most of the time we haven't even used 1 of 5 "bars" on the battery usage meter. The greatest part of having the motor is we're now much more "fearless" about where we can go. On our old tandem facing a long climb wasn't fun. We knew we'd make it to the top but we would be s l o w .

How are other teams handling their power usage?

fooferdoggie 

we always use it since we like to cruise around 18.5mph. its right at the motor cutoff and the cadence is right . 15 or below and we dont usually need a motor or not much. when we are on group tandem rides we dont usually need the motor but to climb. but we have lots of hills to deal with sally fairy steep often above 10% grade. out last one 40 miles with 2500 feet of climbing had all the hills between 15 miles and 30 with a 3 mile climb around 12% or so.

lortman

fooferdoggie,

Thanks for the input. We'll have to try leaving the motor on for a ride and see what happens!

Artmo 

I think it depends on the ride: 164 yr team here.if we we want to pootle along on flat FL roads with no wind at 12-13 mph, we don’t need help from our Cytronex C1 on our Macchiato, but if we are riding with a group at 15+ mph, then we use lowest assist level of about 50W to keep up. Any faster, then we up the assist to 100W, when we can blow away most of the other riders.

longpete

We also ride an EP8. You ride in eco set with low NM and doing 85 to 95 rpm a bit more than 10% faster with motor on on the flat.
Only if we do really long rides with luggage and with a lot o climbing(over 120 and 2500 altimeter) I turn the motor of. on the flat without headwind so
the we can manage that ride with two 630 w 18 month old batteries.
The more rpm the less the battery consumes. On the flat with motor on and high rpm we do often over 120k with one battery.
Max speed is 25/h. The 32/h setting in US eats more battery. System weigth is 180 tot 195. MTB tyres. 40mm tyres around 3 km /h faster or les battery consumption.

DubT

Our combined age is 157 and we live on the prairie in Central Illinois where the wind tends to blow most of the time. We have a Calfee Tetra and 5 years ago I installed a Bafang BBSHD motor on it, I bought the motor from Luna Cycle and it is the Hot Rod version, we have 9 levels of assist, a throttle and up to 1500 watts of available power. We normally ride in level 1 or 2, we always use the motor. We are very happy with our etandem, and would not want to ride without the motor assist. The wind is no longer an issue unless it is blowing over 20 mph.

RoulezTandem

Bbshd 1500w middrive motor on steel framed custom stoker-handicapped tandem. Captain provides most of the motive force.
PAS disabled, use throttle and always pedal.
On road i might use throttle only for hill assist.
​​​95% rail trail usage, most often 35 to 95 watts on level nonpaved surfaces full time and 350 to 750 watts climbing. We piddle along at 8mph average and 15mph max with loads of sightseeing stops.
400# gvw with tons of gear for even an afternoon ride.
Motor retrofit old frame and later commissioning custom frame has enabled continent wide explorations and continued usage with our aging.
The biggest challenge is transport and assembly of this two piece 82# system plus gear.