I bought a Senada Saber Pro fat tire ebike and it rides great. I however, like to pedal manually alot without power but unless the ground is very flat this is not easy. I really can only use 1st and 2nd gear for this as anything else is too hard to pedal. Going up hills is almost impossible without power. My ebike is heavy at 78lbs. Are all ebikes like this or should I have purchased a lighter cruiser style?
North woods gal
New member
The gearing and wheel/tires can make pedaling even a heavy e-bike without power, doable, so weight isn't everything. I have a 70 pound recumbent trike with e-assist that I can pedal a lot without using the motor because it rolls on fast tires and has the low gearing I need to do it. On a fat e-bike, then, definitely look at tires and gearing. With fat tires, especially, some roll much faster than others.
m@Robertson
Well-known member
A 78 lb ebike is not going to be easy to pedal without power. You should consider an ebike to always need power, and if you want to make all that excess weight melt away, turn it on to its lowest PAS setting.
Changing the tires will help. A little. So will increasing air pressure to max. Also a little. Next would be re-gearing the bike. None of that will overcome a 78 lb bike. Ebikes are just heavy period thanks to the motor and battery and the oftentimes bargain construction parts.
Changing the tires will help. A little. So will increasing air pressure to max. Also a little. Next would be re-gearing the bike. None of that will overcome a 78 lb bike. Ebikes are just heavy period thanks to the motor and battery and the oftentimes bargain construction parts.
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After adding the rear rack, extra BTRpower block battery and a few extras my Aventon Aventure is a little over 100lbs.
I could not imagine trying to pedal it to any speeds over 8 mph
I could not imagine trying to pedal it to any speeds over 8 mph
JerryB
Well-known member
I agree.....pedaling these ebikes is not easy. I ride for exercise and stay in PA1 almost all the time. My 7 gears allow me to adjust the level of xercise I want. On hills.....I move into PA2 but ususally not for long.......I have a very long and steep driveway.....I need PA3 to get up it.....it's the only time I use PA3......I don't use PA4 or 5........I am 70 yrs old.......love riding and the exercise.
Just to see how hard it would be to pedal without power, I dropped the power assist to "0" and rode for a while on a flat trail. Not a problem on the flat trail and as long as I'm not too far from home I could manage. I have the KBO Breeze with the 2.4" wide tires that are inflated to 45lbs. I rode it up one fairly steep incline going over a bridge and was able to pedal without assistance but had to drop down to 2nd or 3rd gear. That was not so much fun for this 72 year old but I wanted to make sure I could pedal this thing without power. The bike weighs 62 lbs with the battery so still fairly heavy for a pedal bike but compared with some fat tire bikes relatively light.
North woods gal
New member
Just for the record, not all e-bikes are heavy tanks. There is a class of e-bike called super lights. These have motors and batteries about half the power of typical e-bikes, but about half the weight, too. SL e-bikes typically weigh only 6 to 10 pounds more than the same model without e-assist. My Specialized Turbo Levo SL mountain bike and my Turbo Vado SL urban bike both weigh under 40 pounds and yeah, I can pedal them very easily with the motor off. They handle and feel very much like riding a regular bike. Good choice if you don't need or want a lot of power/just want a little assist at times.
My 36 pound turbo Levo SL. Have to look closely to even tell it is e-assist. Ride it most of the time with the motor off. Only use assist when I want help on some hills.
My 36 pound turbo Levo SL. Have to look closely to even tell it is e-assist. Ride it most of the time with the motor off. Only use assist when I want help on some hills.
flyingjack
Member
Aventon Level (tires 2.20 with 2.10 knobby on front) pedals close to the non-ebikes I've got on the flat; still heavy, so uphill I use Pas accordingly. Also tire PSI stamped on sidewall is max=65 as noted.
F
Freddy1
Guest
Maybe I missing something, but it should be as simple as selecting the appropriate PAS level from the display. Set it to "0" on the flat (if that's your thing) and bump it up a notch two when climbing hills depending on the slope.
As mentioned, most e-bikes are heavy and fat tires give a fair amount of rolling resistance. BUT . . . the motor is there and you shouldn't hesitate to use it. The beauty of e-bike exercise is the ability to customize the pedaling effort to match your current level of fitness. There's no need to create a bumpy ride with high tire pressure, and you don't get any bonus points for pedaling with zero motor assistance!
I ride primarily for exercise, and secondarily for enjoyment. I use PAS 1 (set at 12%) for 90% of my riding time. It's slow, varying from 4-10 mph except on the downhill slopes. I live in an area where flat ground is rare...tons of hills. On some of the uphill portions, I bump the PAS up to 2 or 3 briefly, but most hills I can struggle up with PAS 1. I don't mind the struggle...it's excellent exercise, and the battery charge lasts a very long time when PAS is low.
Enjoy that new bike!
I never had a chance to test ride a heavy ebike but did ride a Electra Townie Go (40lbs) in the REI parking lot. It felt the same without using assist as my old Schwinn Voyageur. I recently purchased a slightly used Wing Freedom (40lbs). My first ride was 20 miles with no assist. Last weekend, I used the assist against the wind and up a few larger/longer hills. I use my legs as shock absorbers, which saves weight. It is exactly what I wanted.
nsfbr
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My e-bike weighs 11kg (24.3 lb.). E-bikes do not have to be heavy.
Penfield E. Farthing
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To be fair, how much did you pay for that weight reduction?
Truly, ebikes don't have to be heavy....just how much do you want to pay?
"A"
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I'm used to pushing 400+ lb. motorcycles in my driveway & garage, having pedals on a 80 lb. ebikes makes manual movement much easier.
I'm also used to sub 18 lb. racing bikes that I can easily pedal up steep hills, knowing that with proper gearing & cadence, I can pedal myself across most terrain.
For ebikes, you really need to clearly define your expectations & needs before making a decision, prioritize what's important to you and your purpose for the ebike.
Old bike shop has a sign:
Light, strong, cheap. Pick two.
If you want light & strong, it ain't gonna be cheap.
If you want cheap & strong, it ain't gonna be light.
If you want light & cheap, it ain't gonna be strong.
I'm also used to sub 18 lb. racing bikes that I can easily pedal up steep hills, knowing that with proper gearing & cadence, I can pedal myself across most terrain.
For ebikes, you really need to clearly define your expectations & needs before making a decision, prioritize what's important to you and your purpose for the ebike.
Old bike shop has a sign:
Light, strong, cheap. Pick two.
If you want light & strong, it ain't gonna be cheap.
If you want cheap & strong, it ain't gonna be light.
If you want light & cheap, it ain't gonna be strong.
m@Robertson
Well-known member
Sounds like it is in the ballpark of a Lemond Prolog (12 kg). $5795 before you get to the available upgrades. Or a top end Turbo Creo which is still down only to 12 kg and is in the $14,000 range.
These sorts of bikes are purely recreational with very limited practical utility. Now, I say that having a Vitus-framed road bike with Mavic SSC group parts (from IIRC 1984), and even as a 59cm frame it tips the scale at 9 kg. And it was my daily driver for years, including groceries in the backpack. So I have a pretty good idea of how generally useful a bike like that is, and how suitable it is to the general public (in short: not very and hardly, respectively).
An 11 kg ebike is a wonderful choice for what it is, I am sure. but thats a specialty bike well over on an extreme. There is no free lunch and if you take that low weight you are giving up something else.
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discerningcyclist.com
My problem is riding with my wife. I have to ride without power or Pa1 so she can keep up. She has a basic non power beach cruiser bicycle and rides painfully slow. I wish the Senada’s has torgue sensors, maybe I could get a better workout when riding with her.
"A"
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The reason that I ride with wife is mainly just to hangout with her and carry different conversations with her, so I don't care so much about the speed.
I know when I ride with my wife, the average speed drastically goes down from when I ride on my own.
Before I got into ebikes (pre 2003), we were riding a recumbent bicycles,
so I can sit in the saddle longer without getting butt/back/shoulder/arm/wrist pain on my regular bicycles with aggressive riding position.
I do know that wife would also enjoy some electric assist on her rides, so I modify the ebikes to her fitting (4' 11").
Average speed on rides with wife is still around 14-15 mph, but at least she feel comfortable enough to ride a little faster on ebike vs her acoustic bicycle (10-13 mph).
As long as she's on a bike, any bike & enjoying her time; I try not to complain to her.
Just make sure you have plenty of fluids & snacks along the ride.
Mysery
Well-known member
All I know is I ran out of power coming home the brewery the other day and having to pedal 2 miles without any assist killed my buzz. Good thing the route was flat and the stiff wind that was blowing was mostly at my back.
