I knew this had been tested somewhere and i found it. It's an old (2019) test in the Finnish Fillari magazine, but it will give you an idea. I'm pretty sure newer motors are not worse.
Even surface, average speed 28,5 km/h. Average wattage:
Bosch CX: 194W (gen2 Bosch with small chain ring, known to have major drag)
Brose Drive-S: 128W
Shimano E8000: 130W
Specialized 2.1: 125W
Yamaha PW-X: 137W
Pässilä Bicycles Kytö (reference acoustic bike): 123W
So if a few watts means hitting a brick wall , well, as it has been said many times - it's in your head.
You still didn't answer my question, what do you expect to happen when you hit the limit? Keep going as if nothing changed?
Thank you for the data.
Not calling +70W too much drag, it's really not vert smart, and more so, if a Bike is only using ~120W.
This means Ebikes equiped with Bosch, has to spend +50% power just to keep up the 28km/h.
So, in reply to your post, yes, the drag it's almost a "wall", because besides the motor drag, you need to imput ~70W further, just to maintain 28km/h.
So, perforning an inverse calculation, if you were to imput 200W in a Bike, it would propel the cyclist little bit bellow 35 km/h.
So... it's 28km/h vs 35km/h.
Again... if you don't feel 70W is big, or +50% more power is big, the speed difference is a huge difference.
Anyone can do this experiment easily and check what I'm writting about.
What I want from engine assistance once reached 25km/h?
I want/wanted a gradual decrease in assistance, so that the drag won't be noticeable.
A bit like what Specialized did on 48V motor.
The graphic bellow, from Velomotion Youtube channel, shows the difference between Specialized Gen4 motor (48V) and Bosch "Gen5", regarding assistance over speed limit.
In all thruth, once reaching 25km/h, the motor could assist, to compensate the motor drag.
I believe motor drag will be reduce in coming years, but presently, it's something noticeable, and with your data to back up, it really shows what I (and all) "fight" to overcome 25km/h - at least on Bosch motors.
PS: I tried a hub motor, and drag isn't as noticible as Bosch.
