Battery choice and big mountain riding.

[Joss]

Hello,
Just wondered if any of you regularly ride in areas such as the Lake District or Highlands. If so, what batteries are you using? I'm currently running the standard 500Wh battery but wondered if the 700Wh was either required or at least recommended for bigger days out. Example rides in the Lakes might be a circuit of Helvellyn, or Skiddaw. Maybe a longer ride like Back of Skiddaw. I'm sure you get the idea.

Basically this boils down to choosing what to spend money on next: an Ohlins coil shock or a 700Wh battery.....

Many thanks.

 

[Simoto123]

How about a @trailwatts extender and nearly enough change for the shock?

 

[Joss]

How about a @trailwatts extender and nearly enough change for the shock?

Very good call, have they been well received?

Thanks.

 

[Simoto123]

Yes, very much so. Perfect solution and they provide options. You can carry the extra weight for the increased range, or, remove if not required.
Arguably the extra weight of the trailwatts is carried in a better area to marginally improve handling, versus a bigger single battery carrying the extra up by the headstock. Plus, you must carry the extra at all times going forward.
Extra weight on the bike adds up fast, more durable parts or heavier tyres etc. These do at least provide a permanent pay off where extra power does not if not needed that day.
Graham is a really nice fella and dealt very quickly with a small problem I encountered. You’re bike will be more versatile. A big standard batt will take the wear and tear of daily use where the trailwatts can be saved for big days. This saves many charges and cycles with obvious benefits.
just a happy customer, no affiliation to the company.

 

[Joss]

Yes, very much so. Perfect solution and they provide options. You can carry the extra weight for the increased range, or, remove if not required.
Arguably the extra weight of the trailwatts is carried in a better area to marginally improve handling, versus a bigger single battery carrying the extra up by the headstock. Plus, you must carry the extra at all times going forward.
Extra weight on the bike adds up fast, more durable parts or heavier tyres etc. These do at least provide a permanent pay off where extra power does not if not needed that day.
Graham is a really nice fella and dealt very quickly with a small problem I encountered. You’re bike will be more versatile. A big standard batt will take the wear and tear of daily use where the trailwatts can be saved for big days. This saves many charges and cycles with obvious benefits.
just a happy customer, no affiliation to the company.

Many thanks, that's all priceless first-hand experience which means a lot!!

 

[thewildblue]

Buy a 700 and keep the 500. If doing a really big ride whack the 500 in a backpack. Then depending on where you ride you can balance between the 500 and 700. This is what I do. From what I understand the 700 is 700 grams heavier than the 500.

 

[Joss]

Buy a 700 and keep the 500. If doing a really big ride whack the 500 in a backpack. Then depending on where you ride you can balance between the 500 and 700. This is what I do. From what I understand the 700 is 700 grams heavier than the 500.

I must admit that this option remains tempting, if only to save the faff of the wiring changes.
How do you carry the spare battery? I need to try mine in my EVOC 20l pack. If it fits and feels ok then there's always the option of carrying a (much cheaper) spare 500Wh battery, thus having 2 No. 500Wh units.
All a balance of cost vs. convenience, I suppose....

 

[Akiwi]

Buy a 700 and keep the 500. If doing a really big ride whack the 500 in a backpack. Then depending on where you ride you can balance between the 500 and 700. This is what I do. From what I understand the 700 is 700 grams heavier than the 500.

And the advantage with Starting with the 700. Is that when it is empty it will be much lighter when you put it in the backpack. ;-)

 

[Joss]

And the advantage with Starting with the 700. Is that when it is empty it will be much lighter when you put it in the backpack. ;-)

?

 

[thewildblue]

I must admit that this option remains tempting, if only to save the faff of the wiring changes.
How do you carry the spare battery? I need to try mine in my EVOC 20l pack. If it fits and feels ok then there's always the option of carrying a (much cheaper) spare 500Wh battery, thus having 2 No. 500Wh units.
All a balance of cost vs. convenience, I suppose....

My battery goes in my Evoc XL blackline (22L?), I suspect I could get 2 in side by side if I really needed to.

 

[Beekeeper]

And the advantage with Starting with the 700. Is that when it is empty it will be much lighter when you put it in the backpack. ;-)

Similar logic to moving the shopping from my boot to the passenger seat and expecting my car to be lighter

 

[Akiwi]

Similar logic to moving the shopping from my boot to the passenger seat and expecting my car to be lighter

I think more. My computer runs faster when I delete the big Files from my hard drive (Not an SSD), as the drive gets lighter, and can spin faster!!

 

[Joss]

This is all priceless information Who knew such wisdom was held by forum members

 

[Frank_Denmark]

Go for both the spare battery and the extender

I use the Trailwatts extender for the longer rides and it deletes the range anxiety.
Gives me almost 900w
I use the spare battery when visiting different trails around my area.
This way I can go 2 rounds on most of the trails of 25-30 km

On the way home by the car I change to the spare battery and just visit another trail.
This way it's only me and not the bike that run out power on a long day out.

Sometimes I take the liberty of putting the spare battery on the bike - and then do one last round of the trail in Turbo mode all the way

PS
All my electricity come from windmills...so I feel free to charge all 3 batteries per ride

 

[Joss]

Go for both the spare battery and the extender

I use the Trailwatts extender for the longer rides and it deletes the range anxiety.
Gives me almost 900w
I use the spare battery when visiting different trails around my area.
This way I can go 2 rounds on most of the trails of 25-30 km

On the way home by the car I change to the spare battery and just visit another trail.
This way it's only me and not the bike that run out power on a long day out.

Sometimes I take the liberty of putting the spare battery on the bike - an then do one last round of the trail in Turbo mode all the way

PS
All my electricity come from windmills...so I feel free to charge all 3 batteries per ride

That's the dream, right there ?

 

[Nigel Marshall]

Hi we’ve been riding fairly big days in the Galloways and depending on your weight and how you manage your battery you can go a long way and climb fairly high. I weigh 100kgs and I have completed routes of 60kms and 1000m of climbing on a 500wh battery. Things were looking red at the end but this was a demanding route. Interestingly my better half who is 60kg managed the same route on her Jam2 with a 360wh battery. I would love a reserve but I don’t think it’s a 700wh.

 

[Joss]

Hi we’ve been riding fairly big days in the Galloways and depending on your weight and how you manage your battery you can go a long way and climb fairly high. I weigh 100kgs and I have completed routes of 60kms and 1000m of climbing on a 500wh battery. Things were looking red at the end but this was a demanding route. Interestingly my better half who is 60kg managed the same route on her Jam2 with a 360wh battery. I would love a reserve but I don’t think it’s a 700wh.

Thanks, that's very interesting. I must admit that I've only exhausted the battery once, on a local ride when I first got the bike. I still managed nearly 30 miles and was certainly enjoying the novelty of the higher power modes. Since then I've hit bigger and steeper country and probably used 50% of the charge over half the distance. I think the takeaway is that prudent use of juice should allow me to ride a good distance, even in the Lakes. I think trying such a ride is the next logical step...now I know I stand a good chance of making it around!

 

[Lenka]

Hi we’ve been riding fairly big days in the Galloways and depending on your weight and how you manage your battery you can go a long way and climb fairly high. I weigh 100kgs and I have completed routes of 60kms and 1000m of climbing on a 500wh battery. Things were looking red at the end but this was a demanding route. Interestingly my better half who is 60kg managed the same route on her Jam2 with a 360wh battery. I would love a reserve but I don’t think it’s a 700wh.

Hi Nigel, In the summer I went on a trip on my Focus HT bike with battery 378. 83km long trip and up to 990m, AVG 14,5km/h. at the end of the trip the battery still had 30%. I'm 60kg, the bike setup was factory ECO. I think shimano is extremely economical in this mode. now I have a new Turbo Levo, but so far I have little experience with it.

 

[Nigel Marshall]

I think you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve with prudent use of your battery. If you are careful in your planning you can estimate how much battery you’ll need. I use the OS Map software to plan my routes and then transfer them into my GPS. All the gradients are shown in planning phase and you can estimate what you need on the way round. There have been a couple of very serious climbs we have done in turbo because we couldn't get up any other way. In fact I’m not certain these climbs are possible in anything other than an ebike! Anyway I new that we needed 40% battery before we hit these hills. We used 20% on the severe slopes and had the remaining 20% to finish the route - downhill and undulating. I hope this helps - good luck these are great trips to do see below!

 

[Joss]

I think you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve with prudent use of your battery. If you are careful in your planning you can estimate how much battery you’ll need. I use the OS Map software to plan my routes and then transfer them into my GPS. All the gradients are shown in planning phase and you can estimate what you need on the way round. There have been a couple of very serious climbs we have done in turbo because we couldn't get up any other way. In fact I’m not certain these climbs are possible in anything other than an ebike! Anyway I new that we needed 40% battery before we hit these hills. We used 20% on the severe slopes and had the remaining 20% to finish the route - downhill and undulating. I hope this helps - good luck these are great trips to do see below!


View attachment 22075

Thank you. And what a staggeringly beautiful image!

J

 

[Nigel Marshall]

I should say Lenka that is impressive. I know a lot of folk are flying down amazing tracks and are technically brilliant riders but getting out into the wilderness and using your bike to extend your day is also fantastic especially at this time of year. Enjoy Joss! I look forward to seeing your pics of the Lakes.

N