craneplaneguy
10 kW
Riding 20 miles of trail yesterday on my BBSHD/ Sturgis Bullet fatbike combo, with my PAS (cadence sensed) turned as usual to ZERO, and using my thumb throttle as needed to augment my always moving legs, with a buddy who is on his Haibike and it's torque sensing assist/no throttle. He is convinced his ride is more efficient, and we bat the subject around all the time when riding, when not gasping for breath. I insist I only use throttle when needed, and as little as possible, so how can that be less efficient?
On one stretch of more or less rolling terrain, I realized that for the last several hundred yards I had been pedaling, with zero throttle. He, meanwhile, while also pedaling of course, had to have been using some juice, right? He only moves when he pedals, but he also uses juice every time he pushes down the pedals. When I pointed this out, he said he can turn his off and use zero juice, (but in practice he doesn't do that routinely or often) yeah I get that, and I do so several times a minute, I call it "backing off on the throttle." But I don't have to kill my entire system and then reboot it, I think of my throttle as a infinitely variable PAS, one that won't help me, and use juice, except for when and how I command it.
You'd think we could work this out by comparing at the end of the ride our batteries SOC, but his display doesn't show volts like mine, plus he has no idea what percent of capacity his Haibike supplied charger goes to, and it also a different voltage then mine, plus I have a larger AH battery, so it get's complicated quick. We did figure out that I ended up with more juice and had more range left, but that would be expected with my larger capacity. I find it interesting that the riders with only torque sensing and no throttle systems somehow think having a throttle means you are less efficient, I don't buy it, and would appreciate any thoughts on the subject.
On one stretch of more or less rolling terrain, I realized that for the last several hundred yards I had been pedaling, with zero throttle. He, meanwhile, while also pedaling of course, had to have been using some juice, right? He only moves when he pedals, but he also uses juice every time he pushes down the pedals. When I pointed this out, he said he can turn his off and use zero juice, (but in practice he doesn't do that routinely or often) yeah I get that, and I do so several times a minute, I call it "backing off on the throttle." But I don't have to kill my entire system and then reboot it, I think of my throttle as a infinitely variable PAS, one that won't help me, and use juice, except for when and how I command it.
You'd think we could work this out by comparing at the end of the ride our batteries SOC, but his display doesn't show volts like mine, plus he has no idea what percent of capacity his Haibike supplied charger goes to, and it also a different voltage then mine, plus I have a larger AH battery, so it get's complicated quick. We did figure out that I ended up with more juice and had more range left, but that would be expected with my larger capacity. I find it interesting that the riders with only torque sensing and no throttle systems somehow think having a throttle means you are less efficient, I don't buy it, and would appreciate any thoughts on the subject.