Fuel EXe Trek Fuel EXe - Trying to understand range and altitude possibilities

[Emailsucks98]

The EXe seems to get equal or more range if I use all mid and high assist (trail and boost) the entire ride and do not use eco mode. I am not sure why, but I have heard about motor drag with no assist.

My old Norco Sight VLT did the same thing, it basically came down to cadence. If I had the legs to pedal a 55lb bike uphill in eco mode & 90rpm cadence, range was great (but that really sucked and I'd rather just pedal a 30lb meat bike). Once the cadence dropped below ~75, the efficiency fell way off too. But who knows, could also be motor drag!

 

[Cell4soul]

My old Norco Sight VLT did the same thing, it basically came down to cadence. If I had the legs to pedal a 55lb bike uphill in eco mode & 90rpm cadence, range was great (but that really sucked and I'd rather just pedal a 30lb meat bike). Once the cadence dropped below ~75, the efficiency fell way off too. But who knows, could also be motor drag!

You are probably correct. I did notice the motor felt less resistant the higher the cadence. I think I am just going to ride it in only trail and boost moving forward.

 

[jabar1975]

Third charge,
98% of battery used. Most in eco (recalibrated to 80W and super slow response).
Maybe 50m of altitude was pushed up the hill (by the way walk assist sucks), and 50m in recalibrated turbo mode (all settings max).

 

[mitea]

Third charge,
98% of battery used. Most in eco (recalibrated to 80W and super slow response).
Maybe 50m of altitude was pushed up the hill (by the way walk assist sucks), and 50m in recalibrated turbo mode (all settings max).

View attachment 115219

Which app is that? I like the style of it.

 

[mitea]

by the way walk assist sucks

I noticed while reading the manual of the TQ that its possible to deactivate the walkmode and instead use the long button press to switch through the different displays by doing the same long press on the remote. Maybe something for you if you dont lile the mode

 

[jabar1975]

Which app is that? I like the style of it.

Garmin Connect,
Settings as below

I went now below that (to 72W and 49% of support)

 

[jabar1975]

I noticed while reading the manual of the TQ that its possible to deactivate the walkmode and instead use the long button press to switch through the different displays by doing the same long press on the remote. Maybe something for you if you dont lile the mode

It is bot about like it or not, it doesn’t really work for me, not comparable to ep8 or brose system.
Hope they will correct it with software, good the bike is light so no issue to push or lift the bike

 

[mitea]

I went now below that (to 72W and 49% of support)

have set mine very similar to your settings.

Thinking about using this setting for longer tours to maximize range and altitude. Maybe even lower max power for ECO and MID for then like having ECO1 and ECO2 but keeping HIGH at 300W for the short moments where the extra boost power is needed to tackle a technical climb. But most of the time just switching between the two very low assisted Modes.

Great thing about the bike is if you are not in a hurry you can even ride without any support in the flat terrain. I personally dont feel any drag compared to my old xc-bike. Maybe brand new xc bikes pedal better than my old one

 

[jabar1975]

have set mine very similar to your settings.

View attachment 115260

Thinking about using this setting for longer tours to maximize range and altitude. Maybe even lower max power for ECO and MID for then like having ECO1 and ECO2 but keeping HIGH at 300W for the short moments where the extra boost power is needed to tackle a technical climb. But most of the time just switching between the two very low assisted Modes.

Great thing about the bike is if you are not in a hurry you can even ride without any support in the flat terrain. I personally dont feel any drag compared to my old xc-bike. Maybe brand new xc bikes pedal better than my old one

Make sense, I did not touch Mid settings, but also did not find it very usable.
In my area trails are rather long (40-60km and 1200-1600m of altitude) so have to save juice at least until range extender arrives (i hope for 2200m of altitude on 520Wh batteries.
Worth to mention I am riding on grippy heavy WTB tires (vigiliante and verdict) and coil on rear (no able to lock it fully)

 

[jabar1975]

Did today test ride using only 2nd level of support (oem settings)
28km 900m up and 81% battery used.

As a part of test I get to trail start w/o any support - 8km 100m up - very normal (and comfy) bike

 

[Emailsucks98]

First “dual battery” backcountry adventure today. 4000’ vert, 22 miles, 10lb pack, all in boost. Swapped batteries when #1 was at 10%, #2 finished at 50%. Felt like riding a FF eBike. Recharging off solar!

 

[Cell4soul]

First “dual battery” backcountry adventure today. 4000’ vert, 22 miles, 10lb pack, all in boost. Swapped batteries when #1 was at 10%, #2 finished at 50%. Felt like riding a FF eBike. Recharging off solar!

View attachment 116827 View attachment 116828

Awesome, that is exactly what I wanted to hear. How did the 10 lbs on your back feel and how much water were you carrying?

 

[Emailsucks98]

Awesome, that is exactly what I wanted to hear. How did the 10 lbs on your back feel and how much water were you carrying?

It was an epic day! Early season and LOTS of trees down. I brought a folding saw and spend some time clearing. The climb was 11 miles on service roads, I was happy to spin that out in boost.

I had probably 40oz of water in pack + 16 on the bike, camera & clothes, pads,

saw, tools & a bunch of other junk. The pack weight was not bad at all, I could have brought a water filter and hauled a lot less water.

 

[mitea]

It was an epic day! Early season and LOTS of trees down. I brought a folding saw and spend some time clearing. The climb was 11 miles on service roads, I was happy to spin that out in boost.

I had probably 40oz of water in pack + 16 on the bike, camera & clothes, pads, View attachment 116860saw, tools & a bunch of other junk. The pack weight was not bad at all, I could have brought a water filter and hauled a lot less water.

View attachment 116859

Wow. Stunning scenery! Looks like an awesome bike adventure

 

[Cell4soul]

It was an epic day! Early season and LOTS of trees down. I brought a folding saw and spend some time clearing. The climb was 11 miles on service roads, I was happy to spin that out in boost.

I had probably 40oz of water in pack + 16 on the bike, camera & clothes, pads, View attachment 116860saw, tools & a bunch of other junk. The pack weight was not bad at all, I could have brought a water filter and hauled a lot less water.

View attachment 116859

I am really looking forward to my battery for some epic rides.

 

[Swingset]

Did a drag up a fire road yesterday. 2500 feet of climbing in 7.5 miles then back down. About 90% in ECO and the rest in Trail. Got back with 40%. I was saving the juice as the road continued on for another 9 miles but it would have needed turbo ludicrous mode for the next mile and I was cooked. If you can use ECO this bike has plenty of range.

 

[thomasbran]

I did 1800 meters (ca. 5400 feet) over 16 km (ca. 10 miles) all in Eco (max 80 Watt and 50% assistance) and came back with 10%. It was all just uphill half on asfalt, half on gravel. this bike is made for ECO for long climbs and for mid assist for afterwork rides...and handling on technical terrain is great!

 

[mitea]

Today I rode the first alpine tour of the season. The so called "Albula Haute Route".

It started with over 800m climb on forest roads and then some pretty demanding single trails (not wider than a towel) traversing along the albula valley. In the end 1680m climb came together. Ended the day with 85%Battery used so almost 2000m elevation gain could be possible with my settings/fitness.
Used Eco most of the time. Trail and Boost only for technical or very steep sections.

My settings

Some impressions

I'm pretty impressed whats possible with the bike regarding range after some settings tweaking.

Trailer about the Route

 

[jabar1975]

Did today Landwasser epic trail in Davos 1300m of elevation (starting from mid station of Jakobshorn) and 46km, used 125% of battery (whole RE and 75%) of main battery. Whole trip in trail (135W and 98% assist) and turbo (all max)
Seems with this way of using 3m of altitude on each Wh.

It was first charging cycle for RE and fourth for main battery

 

[mitea]

Did today Landwasser epic trail in Davos 1300m of elevation (starting from mid station of Jakobshorn) and 46km, used 125% of battery (whole RE and 75%) of main battery. Whole trip in trail (135W and 98% assist) and turbo (all max)
Seems with this way of using 3m of altitude on each Wh.

It was first charging cycle for RE and fourth for main battery

You did the Alps Epic Trail? This one is on my bucket list for this summer. Maybe I have to think about an RE or second battery also. On forest roads I don't need lots of support but the alps epic trail is almost all singletrail, right? If it gets more technical some extra watts can help.

 

[jabar1975]

You did the Alps Epic Trail? This one is on my bucket list for this summer. Maybe I have to think about an RE or second battery also. On forest roads I don't need lots of support but the alps epic trail is almost all singletrail, right? If it gets more technical some extra watts can help.

Easily doable with single battery. I had to add 500m of altitude to reach starting point.
In my opinion Bike ticket to ride - Black in Lanzerheide is more epic

 

[Emailsucks98]

Todays dual battery adventure! 5,860 Up & down in 20 miles. So good! This was two separate loops from the same trailhead, so I was able to swap batteries at my car mid-ride. The first half was with 3 friends who were all on full-power ebikes, I was mostly in trail mode. Then they peeled off and second half was with another friend on a full power ebike. I was in trail/boost for lap 2. The descents were steep loam and conditions were incredible.

It’s been such a fantastic 3 days. Thursday I got 3000’ in, and last night we did a social ride with a mid-ride BBQ with a view of Puget sound. Pure joy.

 

[Cell4soul]

Todays dual battery adventure! 5,860 Up & down in 20 miles. So good! This was two separate loops from the same trailhead, so I was able to swap batteries at my car mid-ride. The first half was with 3 friends who were all on full-power ebikes, I was mostly in trail mode. Then they peeled off and second half was with another friend on a full power ebike. I was in trail/boost for lap 2. The descents were steep loam and conditions were incredible.

It’s been such a fantastic 3 days. Thursday I got 3000’ in, and last night we did a social ride with a mid-ride BBQ with a view of Puget sound. Pure joy.

View attachment 118766

Looking forward to those epic, huge rides. I think my extender will be here on Monday.

 

[Rorschach84]

Hi All

Have had a couple of rides on my EX-e now and it's a great bike but the range has me a bit concerned, in that it's lower than I think it should be.
Settings are stock, rode basically all of both rides in Trail. I'm 110kg geared up including water

Ride 1: 28km, 500vm and around 3 hours on bike time. 98% battery used, and thats me nursing it the last 2 km
Ride 2: 12km, 250vm and a bit over an hour bike time. 41% battery used.

That does not seem right?
I know riding an ebike is different, and I spent the second ride spinning a higher cadence on purpose but thats a lot of battery to use

 

[BenQ77]

Hello, do I need additional screws for the retaining strap (for the range extender) or are they included?
If not, what screws do I need?

 

[Mteam]

Hi All

Have had a couple of rides on my EX-e now and it's a great bike but the range has me a bit concerned, in that it's lower than I think it should be.
Settings are stock, rode basically all of both rides in Trail. I'm 110kg geared up including water

Ride 1: 28km, 500vm and around 3 hours on bike time. 98% battery used, and thats me nursing it the last 2 km
Ride 2: 12km, 250vm and a bit over an hour bike time. 41% battery used.

That does not seem right?
I know riding an ebike is different, and I spent the second ride spinning a higher cadence on purpose but thats a lot of battery to use

These numbers seem about right to me, based on your weight etc.

The battery does need to be allowed to run down to absolute 0% in order to calibrate what 100% battery range actually is though, so you may find that if you allow it to run down until the point where the battery shuts off that you get a few more percentage points of capacity after doing that.

 

[Rorschach84]

These numbers seem about right to me, based on your weight etc.

The battery does need to be allowed to run down to absolute 0% in order to calibrate what 100% battery range actually is though, so you may find that if you allow it to run down until the point where the battery shuts off that you get a few more percentage points of capacity after doing that.

Thanks. Thats not fantastic though. My riding buddy is 85kg geared up and finished on 30%
I'll run it dry and see if that helps.

 

[jabar1975]

After 400kms and 65hrs of ride (in Swiss Alps), I see it is great bike and range (with RE) is sufficient for me (2000m is achievable). But this is all possible only if you are using bike in eco mode (ideally tuned down) or you are fit and rather light.
I am geared approximately 83-85kgs, bike is approximately 21kg (with RE, heavy tires with inserts and heavier suspension).
My fitness level for my 47yrs is not bad (but not great as well) cycling FTP is 223w and vo2 slightly above 50 (if can trust garmin).

Using higher level of support drain battery very fast.

I find my setup ideal for my long, slow, enjoying landscape trips, in case I will be more bike park guy I would invest in second battery and replace it after two hours of using in boost mode.

360Wh is great for afternoon power hour - as this is more than sufficient.

Unfortunately due to rather small torque and power compare to full fat bikes, ex-e heavily depends on our weight, fitness level and support level.

 

[mitea]

After 400kms and 65hrs of ride (in Swiss Alps), I see it is great bike and range (with RE) is sufficient for me (2000m is achievable). But this is all possible only if you are using bike in eco mode (ideally tuned down) or you are fit and rather light.
I am geared approximately 83-85kgs, bike is approximately 21kg (with RE, heavy tires with inserts and heavier suspension).
My fitness level for my 47yrs is not bad (but not great as well) cycling FTP is 223w and vo2 slightly above 50 (if can trust garmin).

Using higher level of support drain battery very fast.

I find my setup ideal for my long, slow, enjoying landscape trips, in case I will be more bike park guy I would invest in second battery and replace it after two hours of using in boost mode.

360Wh is great for afternoon power hour - as this is more than sufficient.

Unfortunately due to rather small torque and power compare to full fat bikes, ex-e heavily depends on our weight, fitness level and support level.

Can confirm from my side. Its definetly a bike that depends on the rider fitness. But imo its the ideal hybrid between a regular MTB and an electric MTB. You get a lighter more agile bike compared to a regular EMTB. It brings a relatively fit biker further than he would be able to ride on a regular MTB. If you do long tours its more for the guys that get a reward from putting more of their on leg power into the pedals. Every other should by a full fat imo or do shorter tours. Not tested now but I think its also a great emtb for "hike a bike" tours. Don't know how it works for the bike park guys.

 

[Bullit]

The range is optimal for me to do a quick after-work lap.
Did the lap only with trail and boost mode.
The settings are all original, my weight is 85 kg.
93 percent battery used.