Thinking about an eBike purchase

[ChrisF]

 

just putting it out there: Chilled Squirrel (Cape Town, but they collect and delv=iver Nationally) is having a bit of a special on RETRO-FITTING non E-bikes to an e-Bike - I did mine 5+ years back with very good results indeed.

 

I hold no 'brief' for them, but received a newsletter from them this morning, with THIS special; use it/dont use it!

MAY 2021 SPECIAL BDAY PROMOTION Take advantage of our 8th Birthday Celebration Promotion this month ! We are happy to offer you:

• Nationwide Free Delivery to/from your Home / Office / Farm ( we will pick your bike up and deliver it back to you Free of charge )
• Conversion Includes Front USB rechargeable LED Lights on your bike ( see here )
• Conversion Includes Rear USB rechargeable LED Lights ( see here )
• Conversion includes an adjustable Kickstand ( see here )

 

 

VERY nice people at Chilled Squirrel.

 

I almost went this route ....

 

 

Worth noting they have MANY different options !!  Both in terms of technical options, as well as the options for a D.I.Y. or complete build .....

[Grease_Monkey]

Yeah i also thought they were all the same and diff comes in from the levers

 

 

Obviously not since grease monkey is sure his are two pot

 

 

2 pot calipers and those d0gsh#t bottom of the range guide levers makes the terrible brake performance kinda expected

 

 

Bit of confusion. I though it was 2 piston due to terrible braking performance and small caliper size (besides for G2 and Code I am not too clued up on Sram brakes). When I actually checked on the bike (it's not mine), I saw it is actually 4 piston - the caliper is just quite small compared to other 4 piston calipers I am used to.

 

But yes, they are "R". 

 

It's my old man's bike. He uses it twice a year, and when he does it is on Jonkershoek circle route at a leisurely pace. So no point in even trying to improve performance as for what he does there will be no difference between v-brakes and Codes....

Edited May 6, 2021 by Grease_Monkey

[aquaratza]

One thing though - manufacturers really need to spec good brakes. On this Levo there are Guides with 200mm rotors front and rear. Felt like a bloody death trap, I pulled the brakes and absolutely nothing happens. These things need 4 pot brakes as standard - good to see the new ones are coming out with it. And to be fair, I think even good old 2 pot Deores would stop better than those Guides. It was quite interesting descending Helderberg in the dark, on a heavy ebike with crappy brakes that were the wrong way around for me, with a short travel dropper post - not something I am going to do again.

My 2017 Levo came with Guide Brakes. They were okay, but I found them to be inferior to my Stumpjumper's 2-pot Formula Cura brakes, so I treated myself and upgraded the SRAMs to Formula Cura 4 Black units, which are four pot. The guy that installed them didn't bleed them properly and for 4 months I thought I had wasted my money. Then I bought a bleed kit and bled them myself and they've been AMAZING ever since.

 

I am the guy that asks for tow. Have yet to find an ebiker who obliges.

That is my chirp. Furthermore I cant be bothered. But it irks me when people tell me I should get an ebike!

I have allowed normal bikes to draft me up parts of Vissershok Road before (a steepish climb if you aren't from the WC). I'm a kind ebiker plus I have respect and patience for anyone willing to try and improve themselves.

 

Don't be a P03SSY.

Just get stronger and fitter and ride your bike with him.

What is he going to do when there is load-shedding?

My friend ran out of battery recently about 15km from home, 70km into a ride. That was fun.

The local troop of Veloworld kids were able to keep up with him during some loops on Lombard's Terra, but only after a few laps when he started getting tired.

Edited May 6, 2021 by aquaratza

[Grease_Monkey]

My 2017 Levo came with Guide Brakes. They were okay, but I found them to be inferior to my Stumpjumper's 2-pot Formula Cura brakes, so I treated myself and upgraded the SRAMs to Formula Cura 4 Black units, which are four pot. The guy that installed them didn't bleed them properly and for 4 months I thought I had wasted my money. Then I bought a bleed kit and bled them myself and they've been AMAZING ever since.

 

 

I rode 2 piston Curas for around 3 years, then bought myself the 4 piston version just over a year ago. I have long been a Cura fanboy, I don't think there is anything better out there rand for rand. 

 

Maybe I have just been spoiled for too long and my expectations of the Guides are a bit high. 

[Chadvdw67]

I rode 2 piston Curas for around 3 years, then bought myself the 4 piston version just over a year ago. I have long been a Cura fanboy, I don't think there is anything better out there rand for rand.

 

Maybe I have just been spoiled for too long and my expectations of the Guides are a bit high.

I wish I had just taken the plunge and got Cura 4 when I got my Shimano SLX 4pot brakes, I have really liked the Shimano brakes, but everything I read about the Cura 4 makes me wish I had just got them

[jackievs]

I thought I might do a follow-up in case some of my cultural learnings help anyone.

 

I've come to own a 2017 Specialized Alloy Turbo Levo. Originally I was thinking of getting something new and carbon, but after much research it seemed like carbon wasn't worth the cost (at least for me)... and something second hand had the benefit of being both cheaper and hackable. It's on my todo list to snoop on the battery comms.

 

20200901_180456.jpg

 

The bike's in great condition. I took it for a ride, it was perfect except for a creaking noise which sounded like dodgy pivot bearings. I took it to the local Specialized agent, "Pro" service, still creaked. I took the motor covers off and found a motor-mount nut had come off and slid between the motor and the frame. I put it back in place with Loctite, creaking gone. Lesson #1 you should be prepared to do your own servicing

20200905_122658.jpg

 

I asked in the thread if eBikes emit rider power data (as in rider power data, like a normal power meter). In the case of a 2017 Turbo Levo, the answer is yes, they do emit rider power data.

20200901_182804.jpg

 

Despite it's weight (23.5kg), the bike is very rideable when turned off.

Despite it's age the motor is quieter than a 2019 Giant Trance E... it also seems to be more powerful.

 

My bike didn't come with a handlebar remote, but Neil from EBikeAdventures sold me a wireless Garmin unit... it seems to work reasonably well. It is possible to retrofit the 2018 wired Levo remote to a 2017 frame, but blergh, more cables?

 

The bike integrates really well with a Garmin Edge 530. Loads of data fields are exposed, like battery as a percentage, cadence, power meter data, assistance mode, etc. I haven't checked everything. This doesn't require any third-party apps on the Edge 530.

 

The bike competes favourably against my friend's 2020 Carbon Turbo Levo S-Works with a 700Wh battery. It appears that the technology really hasn't advanced that much. Maybe the response latency is better, but they both climb the hill.

 

For longer rides I got an extension battery installed today by Neil from EBikeAdventures. He did a really good job of installing it. I still have the original wiring harness/Rosenberger plug. Neil made a small hole in the top motor cover. The covers can be fairly easily replaced, so I'm not fussed. This brings the bike's power supply up to ~750Wh.

 

20200911_150149.jpg

20200911_140836.jpg

 

Finally, and this is another awesome/scary thing Neil showed me: the battery control interface isn't waterproof on these bikes! Which is crazy. Turns out my battery has had some water leak into it already, so I'm going to seal this up asap. The control membrane is easily removed using bare fingers.

20200911_174555.jpg

 

Replacement bearings are available for the motors from Performance Line Bearings, but Neil also stocks them. The motors do seem to experience water ingress fairly easily, despite the fancy gasket. 

Enjoy your e-bike...heheeee

[jackievs]

You should have bough one of these... so you can ride comfortably through the mud while you relaxing....and pretending you getting a workout...

 

[Hairy]

e-bikes ................................ 

[Hairy]

You should have bough one of these... so you can ride comfortably through the mud while you relaxing....and pretending you getting a workout...

 

I am really liking that commuter bike in the vid!!!!!

[Hairy]

I am really liking that commuter bike in the vid!!!!!

Ok, at 52K for the single speed commuter I do not like it that much

 

https://darkhorsebikes.com/product/eclipse-al-blt/

[ChrisF]

On 5/11/2021 at 10:07 AM, jackievs said:

Enjoy your e-bike...heheeee

Jackie I saw you on the trails yesterday, or at least your doppelganger .... (no I wont spoil the story with facts)

 

Riding along Bloemendal, then D'Aria, back to Bloemendal ... doing the short sharp climb to the half way short cut .... uhm, sorry, half way to the half way shortcut we stop to catch our breath.  I mean, 6,5km and all of 35m of elevation can take it out of you, you know.

 

So standing next to my biking, sipping some water, a gent which we will call "Jackie" rides up the hill with 4 lovely ladies .... and I can SEE through his dark tinted wrap around glasses that he WANTS to tune me.

 

Offence is the best defense, so I tune him first !  "My battery is pap".

 

Thought he was going to fall off his bike laughing ....  He finally gets enough of breath together to chirp: "Maar dan moet jy maar TRAP".

 

Me: "Maar hoe trap mens die ding sonner n motor?"

 

 

Once my second time on the trail buddy caught his breath we quickly caught up to the omie and his Charlies Angels .....

 

[Hairy]

21 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Jackie I saw you on the trails yesterday, or at least your doppelganger .... (no I wont spoil the story with facts)

 

Riding along Bloemendal, then D'Aria, back to Bloemendal ... doing the short sharp climb to the half way short cut .... uhm, sorry, half way to the half way shortcut we stop to catch our breath.  I mean, 6,5km and all of 35m of elevation can take it out of you, you know.

 

So standing next to my biking, sipping some water, a gent which we will call "Jackie" rides up the hill with 4 lovely ladies .... and I can SEE through his dark tinted wrap around glasses that he WANTS to tune me.

 

Offence is the best defense, so I tune him first !  "My battery is pap".

 

Thought he was going to fall off his bike laughing ....  He finally gets enough of breath together to chirp: "Maar dan moet jy maar TRAP".

 

Me: "Maar hoe trap mens die ding sonner n motor?"

 

 

Once my second time on the trail buddy caught his breath we quickly caught up to the omie and his Charlies Angels .....

 

This could be funny ..... pass someone on the climb and say you do not have the battery and motor fitted as it is in for a service, so now the bike is light and climbs faster ... now you need to play this right and not speed off, but slowly slowy increase the pace while the other person tries to keep up

[jackievs]

Hehehe.... I am not certain it was me ... I don't ride trails... I am on a road bike... I rode through the Cradle on Friday morning did try to hang in with 3 lovely angels going up the ramp (little climb before the hill towards Bidon) to the Nedbank conference facility .. it was around 11:00 ... just before the climb we did pass a couple on blue e-bikes but i didn't chirp ... was to  out of breath... fortunately I had to take a phone call and pulled out into the Netbank entrance ... it saved me as the 3 angels were dropping the omie!

Enjoy your bike!  Its all a lot of fun to get out in the fresh and now chilly air and do some riding...  please ride safe!!! 

[jackievs]

17 hours ago, Hairy said:

This could be funny ..... pass someone on the climb and say you do not have the battery and motor fitted as it is in for a service, so now the bike is light and climbs faster ... now you need to play this right and not speed off, but slowly slowy increase the pace while the other person tries to keep up

I agree.... that will shut me up completely!

[Hairy]

1 hour ago, jackievs said:

I agree.... that will shut me up completely!

I would fake a puncture or a mechanical ????

[Grease_Monkey]

And I am returning the ebike today. It was fun... but I can’t say I am too heart sore giving it back.

Money no object I’d buy one as a +1, but every time I get on my normal bike I realise I actually like the suffering somewhat.