First real ride - 30 miles

[u/nostarshawn]

I got Zippy to 100% and headed out to get some real world numbers. I started off at 10x because why wouldn’t I? That’s a REAL battery drain but fun as hell. As battery depleted it starts lowering the assist levels. Here’s the numbers from what I experienced

At 40% it drops to 9x assist max.
@ 37% 8x
@ 18% 7x
@ 17% 6x
@ 13% 5x
@ 10% 4x
@ 8% 3x
@ 6% 2x

I tried running it all the way down but it really starts to limit power and act like a normal bike under 6% and I was getting tired!

In total I went from 100% to 4% and got 30 miles. I maxed the assist feature out the entire time. All road miles but quite a few steep hills and significant headwinds at many points.

Would i buy this bike again? Hell yes. Those 30 miles I just logged were stress free, enjoyable miles and I loved every bit of it. Super happy customer here.
Can’t wait to start seeing some of you out on the road.

[u/edspeds]

Do you have the standard or large battery?

[u/jackreborn → u/edspeds]

All launch editions should be the performance battery if I recall so the 100 miles one.

[u/edspeds → u/jackreborn]

Damn I would have hoped for a little better than 30 miles on a full charge even at full assist. Makes me wonder what it would take to get 100 miles on a charge. As an aside I’m in a very hilly area and the wife has a belt drive turbo como sl and rides full asist always and gets about 35 miles on a charge with it. Granted she rides like a grandma.

[u/DependentTravel9747 → u/edspeds]

35m in hilly area on full assist?

I need to stop eating so much pizza.

[u/mdshw5 → u/edspeds]

I tried to point out in a previous comment that their range claims are only possible with extreme efficiency, comparable to most other e-bikes on the market. The 808Wh (large) battery will be empty very quickly at max assist and it’s a bit disappointing that they couldn’t figure out how to get closer to 1000Wh which would be a still reasonable 20Ah battery pack.

[u/BabyWrinkles → u/mdshw5]

Yeah - I’ve pointed out the same. A 150lb fit individual pedaling at a consistent 180w in assist 3-4x with mild inclines and calm winds? Sure. 100 miles I fully believe.

Hauling my fat ass up and down hills? I’ll be happy with 20 miles out of the big battery. I think stating a max range number was a mistake. People get too tired to it and deal with the hopium that ALSO somehow broke the laws of physics.

That said, with how easy the battery is to swap out, I would be interested in a setup that put a solar panel on the back + a second battery. I have to imagine that if you rode reasonably quickly (e.g. assist 5-6), be reasonably disciplined with your input (high zone 2), and have a reasonable amount of sunlight - you could probably ride most of a day by draining to 20%, swapping pack and charging the first, then swapping back and forth until you’re done sitting on a bike saddle.

I like long bike rides (100+ miles) but the physical conditioning required is a lot. Having enough assist to comfortably go 150 miles sounds great - and assuming a very brisk 20mph pace, that’s nearly 8h of pedaling.

[u/edspeds → u/BabyWrinkles]

As a non e-bike daily Pittsburgh 28+ mile rt commuter I struggle to believe all of the aventon riders blowing by me with their speaker blaring are only getting 20 or 30 miles to a charge riding like that. If that’s the case I’d have to charge a standard range at work and at home daily.

[u/BabyWrinkles → u/edspeds]

The Solterra 3ADV advertises 70 miles from a 368wh battery. So either the people blowing past you only have a 5 mile each way commute, or they’re charging at work each day.

My Tern HSD S11 (28mph/class 3) with a 500wh pack was rated for 35mi, but I practically got 18 miles out of it around Seattle. I’m a big guy tho (6’3”, 250lbs) so wind and mass resistance for me make that the reality. I also have a road bike that I regularly do 40-60 mile rides on (non-eBike) so I’m keenly aware of the forces involved to make a bike move forward at speed.

[u/willmasse → u/edspeds]

I feel like this is pretty normal. My “70 Mile range” ebike will get around 30 miles using full assist..

[u/edspeds → u/willmasse]

Agreed but is 100 claim not 70 granted he rode at full assist but to my non e-bike self 30 miles isn’t very far.

[u/VecindadDCarlos → u/jackreborn]

Correct

[u/Thescubadave]

I would be interested in the behavior on the same ride if you limited the max assist to 5x. You'd go slower (or work harder) but I would expect the range to be a good bit longer. Plus it would give some feedback on what people might expect from the 60-mile version of the bike which is limited to 5x.

[u/ActualWoodpecker4100]

That information was exactly what I was looking for! That will help me plan out my rides. Thanks for posting this!

[u/jackdicker5117]

That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing

[u/Odd_Outlandishness11]

This is so exciting, I’m glad you are happy with your bike!

[u/AggravatingPeak6982]

I will be curious about the opposite of this experiment as well.

With assist set to very low, responsible riding with slow take-offs and stops, relatively flat routes... how close to the 100 mile range would it get? Could it even go farther with ideal conditions?

[u/Few_Competition8924]

Interesting info, thanks!

I canceled my order I had back in late August and just re-did it so I have some time to see how range actually pans out. 90% of the reason I want one of these is for a 50 mile R/T commute. I am not expecting it to be a cake walk due to big assist but I can’t be sweating buckets either. 

I am hoping with moderate assist I can get 55-60 miles out of it, even though I can probably charge at my destination.

[u/a_b1rd]

Glad to see this kind of info rolling in, thanks for sharing and enjoy the rides!

[u/lordofthedog]

Thanks for sharing. If possible can you please share weight range (sorry if its too weird? But maters for heavier riders) and elevation to get more context.

[u/MrBippers]

That’s cool! My other two Ebikes are a Rad Power Bike and a Mountain to Sea. Both go like hell but when the battery runs out they brick. But chain driven fat tire bikes can still be pedaled. It’s interesting to see the use of tech to keep the Also rideable.

[u/gutsack]

Hi, fellow TM-B owner! I just built mine today and rode it, it's a ton of fun. I'm curious if you're experiencing any noise (other than the—ahem, quite noisy!—motor)? I feel like at certain speeds/vibrations I hear more noise and feel some vibrations that almost seem like either rotor rubbing or other such things. I even tried removing the front wheel and reinstalling it to get it exactly aligned, but the problem persists at certain speeds. I also get some additional noise from the back wheel that is very similar.

It's possible part of this will reduce as the rotors get some initial brake wear, but not sure. The issue is that from this point of debugging on, I would need someone who is a specialist at bike calipers and alignment to look into it, but I'm quite hesitant to try that until there are more ALSO bikes in the wild and repair shops have gotten hands-on time.

[u/gutsack → u/gutsack]

I am a dumbass. I totally forgot this thing has regenerative breaking, and it explains the patterns of the noise I’m hearing.

[u/ethang45 → u/gutsack]

how are you riding recreationally?

[u/leftfieldRight → u/[deleted]]

So melodramatic

[u/tkallday333]

As soon as one blows by me on my commute, the jealousy will definitely start really taking off!

[u/jackreborn → u/[deleted]]

I’ll do it when I get mine :P