adlai

So far I’ve ridden electric hybrid/mountain bikes and electric recumbents. For both imo electric is a great proposition mainly because they’re both inherently inefficient anyways. Both a high in weight, have friction on the tires slowing them down.

im curious what electric road bikes are like, and especially for steep hill climbs. It looks like the motors generally are less built up compared to most applications, but the question is of weight to power. They don’t seem to have much market share in the United States.

2old

There are some excellent e-road bikes (one is a recent entry in the gallery of pictures). It's just a matter of how much you have to spend, but not a consideration for me because in socal you have a high probability of becoming a hood ornament.

Smaug1

They go with lower weight = lower power needed, and not too heavy, so they're more pedalable. This makes a lot of sense, if you've ever moved from a fat tire eBike to something more efficient.

Now that I've started road biking, I'm thinking about one, but they're SO expensive. My plan would be to only use the electric for climbing steeper hills or to help with faster headwinds and plan to ride it like a regular road bike.

I guess when compared with high-end road bikes, they're not expensive. (Trek Domane+ is $5k or so) But compared to most typical eBikes, they are.

Tomm Willians

I recently purchased a Pivot E Vault that is technically a gravel bike but I have a second wheelset with 32c road tires. Its application in climbing is not bad at all. Shortly after purchasing it I did one ride of 40 miles with 5335’ of climbing and still had a bit of power left over. It uses the Fazua system which I prefer as it’s removable making the bike just like any other normal bike.
The key though is to fine tune the power profile using Fazuas downloads to optimize the motor to what you want to do. I found a profile that gives me maximum battery life by requiring me to put in more effort ( exactly what I want).

Smaug1

I went for a ride with my club today. One lady in the ride had an older Domane+. She is in her 70s and wants to ride with the people she's always ridden with, but she can't maintain 18-20 mph. (neither can I, and I'm 46!) So that was her solution. She said she can go 115 miles on a charge, but she only weighs 100 lbs. We were on a 14-16 mph ride, so I asked her if on a ride like this, she turns off the electric, she said no, because it weighs 44 lbs and is too heavy for her to pedal like a regular bike. Therefore, she's going to sell it and replace it with a newer one, which weighs only 25 lbs, and that will let her ride it normally.

Since she's only 100 lbs, losing 20 lbs. off the bike is quite noticeable to her. I'm 183, so it wouldn't be as noticeable to me.

I would LOVE to have a Domane+ to flatten out those hills on a century ride, but it's not in the budget any time soon.

Also, I just noticed the lower models of them have hub motors! (I expected mid drive for the multi-thousand dollar price...)

Tomm Willians

My wife just purchased a 2021 Domane Plus with the mid drive Fazua for $3000 in pretty nice condition. They are out there.

kayakindude

To me best bang for your buck is a conversion kit on a used roadie. Lots of great bikes on Craigslist just a few years old, add in a 250watt kit and you can fly for 1500 or less. You don't need much to fly since the bike will be light. My kit on our tandem is maybe 10 pounds.

Smaug1

Here's a story you guys might find funny.

I took my wife and stepdaughter on a family eBike ride downtown yesterday. We had a dual mission:

1. Get ice cream
2. Get exercise to counteract the ice cream
3. Recruit for our new Kenosha/Racine Social eBikers Facebook group

Every time I saw an eBiker, I chased him down and handed him a little tab of paper with the link to the group.

I got three. The first one wasn't excited; says he has a Facebook account but never uses it. The second one was pretty excited; I hope he joins.

The third one was a guy on a Domane+. I was a half block ahead of my wife and stepdaughter, using PAS1 up the hills and pedaling the rest of the time. This guy passed me and I thought it was an eBike, with its thick downtube. I chased him down (was not easy!) and asked if it was an eBike. He said no. I looked down at his bike as we were riding. I saw the thick downtube, the charging jack and the access panel. I must have made a puzzled face, because he explained he had been riding for four hours and he just used the power to keep his average speed up on hills and against wind. I handed him a tab, told him I'm trying to start a social eBike group. He said he would give it to his wife, who might be interested. That's kind of a weird interaction. Why deny you're on an eBike?

Tomm Willians

That is rather odd but……. I have a Pivot EVault and the wife has a Domane Plus like the rider you’re referring to. They use the Fazua system which can be removed thus becoming a regular bike.
However you also mention seeing a charging port on the bike which is not present on Fazua systems. They have also used the TQ motor (and perhaps others?) which are not removable. There are riders who will use the system sparingly but that doesn’t change that it’s still an Ebike.

Calsun

I bought the Specialized Turbo Creo bike instead of the similar Trek Domain+ in 2021 as thpough both were Class III bikes that provided pedal assist at speeds up to 28 mph, the Creo was 10 lbs lighter. The Trek had a more powerful motor but it needed it with its greater weight. With the Creo I can ride it with no assist from the motor and never have the bike motor providing more than a 25% assist which I use primarily in very windy conditions.

The Creo also at the time had a better system for the Class III pedal assist that was smoother than that of the Trek bike. The Trek at around 16 mph would start to reduce the power assist so much that it felt like a brake was rubbing. No such problem with the Creo. That was 2 years ago so the Trek Domain+ in 2023 is most likely much improved.

Both bikes have mid-drive motors and the feel of the bike is no different from a non e-bike on the road. Fixing a flat is no more difficult with these mid-drive bikes and that is important for me as well.

Many bike shops have rentals available of e-bikes, both road and mountain bike types, and it is best to take advantage of this ability before deciding on anything or taking the advice of others.