Single-speed e-bike?

Makes sense to me.

I have a 7-speed setup now.
Believe the last time I actually changed gears was >200 miles ago... and I just did that change to make sure they still worked.
I just leave it in highest gear and that works well, with me providing some leg power on steep hills or on flats at speeds up to ~20mph. Above that, no real point.

I'm planning on ditching the derailleur and 7-speed, changing over to single speed setup at some point in future.
 
I believe at least 25% of ebikes on ES are SS.
I know mine both are.
BTW, I'm able to pedal my 90 lbs bike with 46/16 T gear ratio comfortably at 15 km/h, flat surface in city, between local Timmies and work. 21" rear wheel. Couple times, after breakdown, went full 5 km between work and home.
 
My first e-bike was single speed. I chose to have the motor and the pedal drive both top out in the 18mph range, so that the nominally 400W motor and I together would have enough wheel torque to climb Seattle hills at about half that speed.

For an e-bike that has enough power to go faster than normal pedal effort will carry you, it wouldn't be a bad approach to use a pedal gear ratio that's low enough to get you back to base without motor power, and help the motor pull briskly away from a stop.
 
Based on my experience by the time you select a low enough gear ratio to climb hills on a 60-90lb eBike you can walk/push up any hill quicker. At least you'll be able to coast down the other side regardless of what gear you choose.

I stick all my eBikes in tallest gear and just use the throttle. Saves a lot of handlebar space and keeps the clutter in check. Few times I've pedaled a mile or so on level ground, standing on the pedals - it worked okay. Much nicer with assist though....
 
My 6th bike, and my heaviest, I went with single speed. I chose a very low gear so I could pedal and help the motor in it's least efficient range, accelerating from a stop and climbing very steep grades. At 16mph I'm spinning the crank like a fan, but its helpful on the days when I choose to ride this 120lbs beast with no power. I can pedal this bike all day, I just won't go very fast.

But in truth this wasn't my first single speed. On my second Ebike, I'd managed to screw up the derailer install at one point, and it wasn't shiftable. It took me a year to notice. I just never had a need to shift gears, and hadn't noticed.
 
Nah! I use 3-4 speeds since I use the trike for exercise. It really helps to be able to change cadence or keep it where you want it on hills and level ground. The rare times I have had to pedal a dead battery up a hill it was quite useful to have really low gears. No reason for me to change.
otherDoc
 
Pretty much ride all my ebikes as, at most, two speeds. 48-14 gear is all you need for assisted riding up to 20 mph.

But out of laziness mostly, I leave the shifters on the bikes.
 
My bike only has 6 gears but I leave it in the lowest gear for if the bike needs a little more to get up hills. I sometimes bump the changer so I occasionally hit 2nd gear by accident. The pedal rate is far to high to manage at speed as well. It's the middle range Shimano Tourney and when something breaks I'll change it to a permanent single speed- low geared. It's all I need.
 
I went with a SS on my first eBike and I have a CST Bafang. I am very happy with the setup. I try to get myself to pedal on starts and up hills, but I usually just floor both throttles and sit there. I don't want gears unless I go with a mid-drive.

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Still need a chain tensioner.
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Nice. To help me when I change-
I was thinking about removing the changer part and shortening the chain- one less thing to maintain. Seeing yours has made me think in a bit more depth- if it is possible or advisable because the wheel position is fixed meaning chain tension could be variable, but enough to allow the chain to jump off?.
Are the gear blocks easy to change to a single gear and align that gear with the chainwheel? Mines a 6 speed freewheel type.
What else would need to be done?
 
shenzhen_ex said:
I went with a SS on my first eBike and I have a CST Bafang. I am very happy with the setup. I try to get myself to pedal on starts and up hills, but I usually just floor both throttles and sit there. I don't want gears unless I go with a mid-drive.
Click to expand...

Beautiful bike (removed images to save space in post).

To contribute so as not to go off topic, I have a pretty hilly ride and never use any gears in the rear except the smallest. I shift once a day into the middle ring to make it look like I am helping on a particularly steep hill, around 15% (short but steep). That's because I have the current limited to 25 amps to keep the battery happy. Otherwise, would not even bother.
 
When riding in the city i use three gears like crazy, all the time. To keep cadence good and knees happy. I use gears a lot when grouping with lycras too. No way i could ride SS in the city, it"s very slow-fast-slow-fast all the time. On some hills you need first gear to avoid full amps. It"s around 50% of the time on third, 40% on second and 10% on first.
 
Eskimo said:
When riding in the city i use three gears like crazy, all the time. To keep cadence good and knees happy. I use gears a lot when grouping with lycras too. No way i could ride SS in the city, it"s very slow-fast-slow-fast all the time
Click to expand...
But the starting part should be covered with the electric assist, no? I wonder what happens when you get up to speed with a single-speed ebike, do you need to pedal like crazy because of lack of higher gears (if you want to pedal that is)?
 
Better not to use motor only on starts, it consumes lot of amps. With SS you either burn amps on starts and hills(and stress your knees), or your cadence runs out on high speed.
With gears it"s just more efficient and fun. In the city you ride one mile around 10mph, then one mile around 25mph, then steep hill and cycling traffic again around 10mph, etc...
Two gears is absolut minimum for me. Of course one CAN ride E-bike SS, it"s just different ride and you need more E-power on hills and starts, on acceleration, if you want to pedal on high speed too.
Singles and fixies are very famous now around where we live, aren"t they? I know. Of course if you do not want to pedal at all it"s a different story then. Then you don"t need even pedals.
 
I keep it in tallest gear 99% of the time, and have considered going to tall gear single.
But Chalo and Drunkskunk make a pretty good point: your legs add the most value at low speed pulling away from stops... which argues for using much lower gear to help the motor when it is at its most inefficient. Going to try that for a while.
 
(Waving hand here)
Another single-speeder here... Actually riding a front-wheel drive trike currently, with controller rated at "only" 450W... Interested in trying a rear-wheel multi-gearing `cause I kinda need the exercise right now, plus in theory, otta help shave some peaks offa the batt on startups and hill climbs... But I'm kinda liking the KISS approach, plus my current guise as a one-armed sorta broken old guy with a rattlely basket, passing (while sorta relaxing and sitting down) other pedal-only cyclists doing that sorta cutesy standup wiggle-butt thingee...
L
 
Every reply I've got up to now say that the single speed conversion they have is for 7 speed and up. Do ones for the 6 speed freewheel exist?
 
The best set up is single on the rear and a Schlumpf HS drive crank. Then you can pedal the bike without power if needed, and you can pedal the bike at high speed if you want to.
 
MadRhino said:
The best set up is single on the rear and a Schlumpf HS drive crank. Then you can pedal the bike without power if needed, and you can pedal the bike at high speed if you want to.
Click to expand...

I considered the HSD, but... I'd rather have a torque sensing bottom bracket. Cheaper too. Trouble is if you need to limp home with a dead controller/ battery/etc.
 
I tried a single-speed ebike for the first time today, this one to be exact: http://www.ecoride.se/elcyklar/elcykel-classic
E-assist is available up to 25 km/h and, as I suspected before I tried it, after that you had to pedal like hell to increase speed further.
I guess you need the right combination of front and rear cogs/cranks when going single-speed?
It was a nice ride though :)
 
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