Is this common with all e-bikes?

I've got an Aventon Level 2, and for the most part I love it. I'm an old dude who bought an e-bike to help me with hills and wind. When there are no hills or wind, I'd like to ride the bike without any assist, just as a good ol' fashion bicycle. But when I switch off any assist (Power set to zero), pedaling the bike is very difficult. It's like the brakes are set to about 50%. There's a lot of drag, I'm guessing from the hub. For some reason I thought when the power was turned off on an e-bike it would ride like a non-e-bike. Is there something wrong with my bike? Did I set it up improperly? Or is this typical of all e-bikes? Do mid-drive bikes have this drag when not in any power assist mode?

Sorry if this is a "duh" question.
yes, it happens on my Trek with Bosch Performance CX motor as well.

Larger weight apart, when you switch power off, the motor is not mechanically decoupled from the rest. So there's a lot of mechanical friction, plus the inductance of the permanent magnets in the motor itself.
 
most of these heavy cheap ebikes i own feel like trying pedal through sand with the motor off.
 
I think a properly setup ebike can pedal just fine. Part of the problem is 98% of the people are never going to pedal the bike manually so they do not set it up for that. With my addition of a 50 and 43 tooth sprockets in the new rear cluster, I have achieved a bike that is easy to use without the motor. The Shimano Cues system is many times setup with a 30 or 32 tooth front chainring (sprocket). With the Bafang M620 motor and the Fatbike setup I have, the 42 tooth chainring is about as small as I can go while not rubbing the chain on the rear chain stay. The larger 43 and 50 tooth gears in the rear cluster make up for this and makes for a reasonably easy to pedal the bike. 26" Fatbike tires are a similar diameter to 29" mountain bike tires which also makes having lower gears more important. A larger tire circumference requires more effort to pedal given the same set of gears verses a smaller circumference tire.
perhaps an ebike is wasted on your ability?
 
I finally made a decision on ebike purchase after riding four different ones all with hub drives.
Trek Dual Sport +2 had the most drag (just 38 lbs). Slight drag with Aventon Soltera .2 (46 lbs), and Veltoric T1 ST (36 lbs).
Propella C9 V2 Pro, no sense of drag feels completely free wheeling & rolls very nicely.
 
Maybe, but I do like to pedal. There is nothing wrong with a properly set up bike and if you can make it the way you want it...
as long you can actually pedal the thing,i see rideoneup and a couple others have some ebikes that actually weigh in the low thirties, my current bikes i am only able to pedal those things on the level a or a slight downgrade,did try a specialized once and that thing could be pedaled through the grass with the motor off, the only trouble was the lack of "greenstamps"
 
I finally made a decision on ebike purchase after riding four different ones all with hub drives.
Trek Dual Sport +2 had the most drag (just 38 lbs). Slight drag with Aventon Soltera .2 (46 lbs), and Veltoric T1 ST (36 lbs).
Propella C9 V2 Pro, no sense of drag feels completely free wheeling & rolls very nicely.
going to have a look at the propella,how many speeds? single speed is not a deal breaker for me as long as i can maintain 12 mph
 
looked at the propella v4,now if i can conquer my balnce problems there might be one of those in my bike rack!
 
I've got an Aventon Level 2, and for the most part I love it. I'm an old dude who bought an e-bike to help me with hills and wind. When there are no hills or wind, I'd like to ride the bike without any assist, just as a good ol' fashion bicycle. But when I switch off any assist (Power set to zero), pedaling the bike is very difficult. It's like the brakes are set to about 50%. There's a lot of drag, I'm guessing from the hub. For some reason I thought when the power was turned off on an e-bike it would ride like a non-e-bike. Is there something wrong with my bike? Did I set it up improperly? Or is this typical of all e-bikes? Do mid-drive bikes have this drag when not in any power assist mode?

Sorry if this is a "duh" question.
I noticed that a lot of E-bikes are very heavy. My husbands is 48 lbs. I could not pedal a bike that's 48lbs at my current age and do well. It would certainly be a struggle. His is a pedal assist and he uses that from time to time. He's a lot stronger than I am. I have a Trek fx+2 and it's also a pedal assist but only 38 lbs. I pedal with out the motor engaged but I definatly notice the difference from my traditional Trek which was only 28lbs. I have had the new one since April and am just now able to bike on my regular 8 mile run without using the assist at any point. (I used to do that with my old bike no problem.) So the extra weight made a huge difference for me initially till I built up a bit more muscle and stamina. I wonder if you just need to get used to the extra weight and build up the muscle and stamina to handle that. It might be why the bike feels like there is drag. It's the weight you have to pull??
 
yes and no,if you re border line anemic like myself and never really possessing muscle mass,its hitting a stonewall after a bit,my low "t" and age do not help matters,so weight and drag are both factors. i ride for enjoyment and exercise never worrying about "improving"
 
going to have a look at the propella,how many speeds? single speed is not a deal breaker for me as long as i can maintain 12 mph
Propella C9 V2 Pro has 9 spds & 5 PAS modes. There is absolutely no sense of drag with or without PAS, the bike rolls very fast & smooth.

Now that I have 65 miles on the bike (about 8 on single track, rest all paved). I'm finding that I spend most of my time in 5- 9 with no assist or PAS 1 - 2. Only on steep Seattle hills do I need to go into very low gears & use PAS higher than 2. On hills 1/4/ - 1/2 mile hills that would leave practically unable to stand & breathless while crawling along at 2 mpg I can now go up 8-9 mile mph with some huffing & puffing but not anywhere near exhausted.

I did upgrade it with Kinect Suspension Seatpost and Stem. The bike handles "easy" single track trails with moderately steep but short climbs & some rocks & roots very well. I originally thought I might want to put on more more aggressive gravel type tires but at 40 PSI, the OEM tires handled the dry trail with no problem.

I am very pleased with this bike thus far.
 
My hub motor bike is mostly ridden without the battery installed and it does just fine for me. But for long hills I install and use the battery assist. Sure seems like you may have brake drag.
 
I've got an Aventon Level 2, and for the most part I love it. I'm an old dude who bought an e-bike to help me with hills and wind. When there are no hills or wind, I'd like to ride the bike without any assist, just as a good ol' fashion bicycle. But when I switch off any assist (Power set to zero), pedaling the bike is very difficult. It's like the brakes are set to about 50%. There's a lot of drag, I'm guessing from the hub. For some reason I thought when the power was turned off on an e-bike it would ride like a non-e-bike. Is there something wrong with my bike? Did I set it up improperly? Or is this typical of all e-bikes? Do mid-drive bikes have this drag when not in any power assist mode?

Sorry if this is a "duh" question.
I have an Evelo Omega, mid drive, Enviolo hub, and I don’t feel drag if I’m not using PAS. But I generally use at least PAS 1, and I probably wouldn’t ever do without it, especially on grades or hills. FYI, I’m 75, but I’m in pretty good shape.
 
For me pedals are a necessary, but redundant system mainly used as an emergency back up in case of power failure. Kind of like carrying oars in a motor boat. To a lesser degree they also help facilitate riding the loophole.
So you basically want an electric motorcycle.
 
I have the KBO Breeze and when I turn off the controller it pedals like a regular bike, although a heavy bike. It weighs 70 lbs. with the battery plus my 200. There is no drag from the hub. I don't understand why people that buy ebikes claim they ride without assist. Why buy an ebike? They are meant to be ridden with assist!
 
So you basically want an electric motorcycle.
No, an electric motorcycle is too limited. I prefer a bike that can function as a bicycle, eBike, or motorcycle whenever I feel like it. This is the future of eBikes, and judging by all the new so called high power eBikes coming out, the future is now.


Electronaut 2024.jpg
 
I have the KBO Breeze and when I turn off the controller it pedals like a regular bike, although a heavy bike. It weighs 70 lbs. with the battery plus my 200. There is no drag from the hub. I don't understand why people that buy ebikes claim they ride without assist. Why buy an ebike? They are meant to be ridden with assist!
have to agree,these strong people just need acoustic,a good moderate weight jamis would be a good choice for some of them(it should last forever) maybe a candidate for a rubee or hill topper. some of the new carbon bikes are fantastically light.
 
I have the KBO Breeze and when I turn off the controller it pedals like a regular bike, although a heavy bike. It weighs 70 lbs. with the battery plus my 200. There is no drag from the hub. I don't understand why people that buy ebikes claim they ride without assist. Why buy an ebike? They are meant to be ridden with assist!
I have a traditional bike and I credit it with my continued health and stamina. I think it's allowed me to be able to be more active in my older years. I bought the e-bike so I could go longer distances with different terrain (hills). We recently did Franconia Notch and in one direction it's a 600ft increase in elevation over 9 miles. I don't know if I could have done that with my traditional bike as some hills were fairly steep. The plan for me is to use assist only when I can't manage the hills. The bike I bought has a 20 mile range and is pedal assist. So the pedal assist allows me to try more trails and destinations than I could have done with the traditional bike but still get the cardio. If you always need assist and that works for you I think that's great. I don't want to give up the exercise just yet because I get so much out of it.
 
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