How much do you pedal on your e-bike?

[recumpence]

I typically pedal about 1/2 to 2/3 of the overall distance I ride (my electric system freewheels).

I like using the motor for accelleration and hill climbing, but I love pedalling to mantain speed on flat ground.

How much do you guys pedal when you ride?

Matt

 

[Lessss]

I have the big scooter type and the thinner scooter type. Big ones I pedal when starting and up big hills
Small one I pedal when starting , big hils and sometimes just to pedal.

Always pedal when you see a cop.

 

[Jay]

I pedal most all the time, especially up hills, because my NiMHs don't do so well over 10A or so, & I'm trying to baby them. Good for my health, but my goal is to eventually get big lithiums and eliminate all traces of exercise from this activity

 

[Link]

Only if I see a cop.

 

[Tiberius]

I like to pedal. I feel silly if I'm not doing it, especially going uphill. It also make a huge difference to the achievable range. I've got 2 bikes, one is a Bafang motor with 36 V batteries, the other a X-lyte 406 with 72 V.

On both of them I pedal uphill as it really makes a difference when the motor is falling below its best speed. On the Bafang, the motor and rider gearing is nicely matched so I can pedal all through up to the top speed.

For the X-lyte though, they don't make front sprockets big enough for the pedals to keep up with the motor at full throttle. Quite often, therefore I do it the other way round - pick my best pedalling speed and then match the motor contribution to that.

Nick

 

[johnrobholmes]

I pedal at startup, then take it easy as I accelerate to top speed. At top speed I have to huff it since my gearing isn't tall enough right now, so I fake pedal. Any hills I help out on, it makes a big difference with regard to motor noise and amp draw.

Total pedal time (with effort), maybe 1/3 of the time.

Total fake pedaling, 1/2 of the time.

The rest of the time is spent going up small inclines and across flat parts with just throttle.

 

[Mark_A_W]

As hard as I can. I have Clipless pedals - the whole shebang.

In fact I went so hard the last few days I'm now hobbling around in pain.

It's an assist bike, not a motorbike. The fact that I can hit 50km/h on the flat is just a bonus


I'm really scared that with my new build with a rear Bafang with (probably) a 5 speed cluster, will have the gear ratios too coarse compared to my 9 speed rear wheel (front motor).

It's all about the pedalling....even if I kill myself to add about 5-8 km/h

 

[zog]

I pedal all the time pretty much except down hill, or for going very small distances (like across a service road to stop at the lights etc). But my bike has a sticker that says 200W on it. I also have the throttle on full pretty much all the time except when braking. The excercise I get from the bike (while still being assisted up hills or into headwinds) is one of the bonuses for me.

 

[Eric G]

I pedal with the motor most of the time.Always at startups,up hills and when there's strong head winds.
At times when I'm lazy,tired or in a hurry which isn't often I'll use full throttle with no pedaling.At full throttle there's no point in pedaling my bike as the front chain ring is geared too low.

Eric

 

[HAL9000v2.0]

Only if I see a cop.

+1
and when passing uphill lycraguys.

 

[ebinary]

I basically pedal continuously, and at a rate just below the "sweat" threshold. So on a hot day, I may pedal with less power. Sometimes I'll take a free ride the last 1/4 mile of a trip to cool down prior to arrival.

Up my nemisis hill (20% grade for 1.1 miles), I hammer pretty good, climbing it in my highest gear. But again, if I want to arrive fresh, I'll gear down and let the bike do more work.

 

[SamSpeed]

I've got just over 500 miles on it, and confess to peddling less and less. But it really depends on mood and mission. Got my first bike in '64 and even way back then I really wanted a motor with a twist grip that would just go. So this ebike really is an old dream come true.

When I first built the thing my thinking was to have a motor assist my peddling. But now, I tend to assist the motor and sometimes just get lazy. I honestly don't feel as athletic as once upon a time.

From a stop I like to peddle hard in a middle gear and quickly shift up to the big gear on the crank. Along with the motor, that gives very good acceleration. 0 to 15 in nothing flat. If I get on it hard, I'll lighten up the front wheel and get some satisfying chirps out of the front tire. Then I'll likely back off the pedals. Working in short bursts suits my personality and physiology.

If it's a trip of a few miles to grocery and back, I tend to peddle less than if it's a longer trip and am going for distance -- peddling can make a big difference. Also, now that it's getting colder I'll probly be peddling more and more. A month ago the temp was in the 90s and when I showed up, folks were wondering how I was so cool and calm and I just smiled.

 

[lepton]

I use clipless pedals, too, on all my bikes. On my daily commute on my X5 system I pedal hard during acceleration and at speeds below 30 mph. Above that I don't have sufficient gearing to keep up with the motor, so I fake pedal a bit sometimes, or just ride without pedaling in a tucked aero position (which usually lets me pick up an extra MPH or two).

On my next bike I'll have much higher gearing that'll allow me to usefully pedal until around 40 mph. The power loss due to aerodynamic from pedaling versus being in a tucked position may not make sense in terms of range (it'll be fun to experiment with that), but I'd prefer to be able to pedal at all speeds.

 

[lawsonuw]

I pedal quite a bit on my e-bike. (the Linear) The main goal of my system is to allow me to maintain my cruising speed and power output up hills. Not quite enough power to totally do this yet. Still my power consumption figures are amazing. Based on my charger I'm using only ~10Wh to go 10 miles! (this is averaging 10mph for the trip, and cruising at about 15mph)

Marty

 

[dogman dan]

I like to peadle, and hunted down a 48t front sprocket so I could actually add a bit to the speed unless I'm going downhill. I peadle just enough to get into the sweet spot, where I breathe hard and get exercise, but not ever to anerobic exercsise that makes you feel woozy all day at work. Just spinning is nice, and good exercise too, but I like just a little bit of resistance on the peadles. After 1600 miles of this, I can now ride a single track trail in the local mountains unassited on my other bikes for the first time in my life.

 

[John in CR]

Just take-offs and hills. I can't keep up on the flats. Once I settle on a somewhat final layout I do want to be able to leisurely assist at high speed, but I believe what I want will require some type of jackshaft rig like recumbents often use. In the long run I want to be able to assist enough to climb a mountain at very low speeds, but be able to slowly pedal at 30-40mph just because it would be too cool flying by with a cadence of only 20-30 if I want. Shimano's Mega-Range cassettes can help get a nice gearing range, since I really only need low and high, but the sprockets I need at the front just don't exist for any reasonable price.

It's going to take a lot of trouble free miles and a rig with better take-off before I don't consider low speed pedal assist an important safety feature. Pedaling while turning left in front of oncoming traffic seems only natural when one loose wire or blown electronic part in the controller could cause a total loss of power at any time.

John