RebornRider
Well-known member
There have been many threads here about ebikes not providing the same level of assistance after a firmware change, or motor change, or some other event. If I get involved, I always ask to see ride data so I can be sure the assistance change is really happening, or is the rider being fooled by his senses. Human senses are very easily fooled.
I have my own version of this issue on a particular 0.7 mile / 1 km steep climb on my regular ride. In the summer, when it's 95F / 35C, I'm convinced that the motor is not giving me the level of assistance that I'm used to (and that I am expecting). Sometimes I need turbo mode to finish the climb. I wondered if the motor was getting too hot and so the software was backing off the assistance. I logged one of those summer rides with BLEvo.
Today it was 70F/21C, and I had no trouble with the climb. Motor assistance felt normal all the way up. I logged my ride today and was really looking forward to comparing the mild day climb with the hot day climb.
The Excel spreadsheet results are clear. I added a column to the hot day log and the mild day log with this calculation: assistance = motor power (W) / rider power (W). Nobody should be surprised that assistance was the same on both days. However, the rider power on the hot day was about half of the mild day power. On the hot day I felt like I was giving 110% because the motor wasn't doing its part. Today was relatively easy.
The difference is not the bike. It's the rider.
BTW, I realize that motor power in BLEvo is motor input power from the battery, not motor output power to the pedals. Given that I ride with a narrow range of cadence, typically 80-90 rpm, I don't think motor efficiency varies enough to invalidate the calculation.
I have my own version of this issue on a particular 0.7 mile / 1 km steep climb on my regular ride. In the summer, when it's 95F / 35C, I'm convinced that the motor is not giving me the level of assistance that I'm used to (and that I am expecting). Sometimes I need turbo mode to finish the climb. I wondered if the motor was getting too hot and so the software was backing off the assistance. I logged one of those summer rides with BLEvo.
Today it was 70F/21C, and I had no trouble with the climb. Motor assistance felt normal all the way up. I logged my ride today and was really looking forward to comparing the mild day climb with the hot day climb.
The Excel spreadsheet results are clear. I added a column to the hot day log and the mild day log with this calculation: assistance = motor power (W) / rider power (W). Nobody should be surprised that assistance was the same on both days. However, the rider power on the hot day was about half of the mild day power. On the hot day I felt like I was giving 110% because the motor wasn't doing its part. Today was relatively easy.
The difference is not the bike. It's the rider.
BTW, I realize that motor power in BLEvo is motor input power from the battery, not motor output power to the pedals. Given that I ride with a narrow range of cadence, typically 80-90 rpm, I don't think motor efficiency varies enough to invalidate the calculation.
