Is regenerative braking really worth anything?

[John in CR]

But when you spin the axle and it costs more to fix it than to get another motor, that feels not so good.

Reversing torque does that to pedals, to cranks, and to the axle nuts of hub motors. Using a freewheel rather than a fixed gear prevents it for pedals and cranks, and using forward-only drive prevents it for hub motors.

If your axle budges at all (loosening axle nuts, clicking when you hit regen, etc.) then you don't have proper torque arms and/or the flat area of the axle isn't of sufficient design.

You'd think so. But cranks mounted on square tapers don't "budge", and neither do pedals that have been tightened upon mounting. But both can move enough under reversing torque to back the fasteners off, and then everything goes sideways.

The remedy, if you must use fixed gearing, is to check and tighten these things often. I'm willing to bet that not one in ten people running regen braking do that.

You can prevent the problem by using clamping dropouts. I'm willing to bet that not one in a hundred people using regen do that.

It's not a plane where a preflight checklist is a mandatory safety precaution. You are obviously the 1 in 100 that likes doing all that crap on bicycles. The rest of us want the convenience of a car, not fiddling with brakes all the time, checking that nuts are tight etc. The way you advise people regarding ebikes is the polar opposite the way I do, whether in person or online, and mine is to build it right the first time which without fail includes to properly attach the motor axle to the bike, so they can enjoy absolute reliability.

 

[Balmorhea]

But cranks mounted on square tapers don't "budge", and neither do pedals that have been tightened upon mounting. But both can move enough under reversing torque to back the fasteners off, and then everything goes sideways.

The remedy, if you must use fixed gearing, is to check and tighten these things often. I'm willing to bet that not one in ten people running regen braking do that.

You can prevent the problem by using clamping dropouts. I'm willing to bet that not one in a hundred people using regen do that.

It's not a plane where a preflight checklist is a mandatory safety precaution. You are obviously the 1 in 100 that likes doing all that crap on bicycles. The rest of us want the convenience of a car, not fiddling with brakes all the time, checking that nuts are tight etc.

You misunderstand. The checking I do all the time is on other people's bikes, at work.

I don't do those checks often on my own bikes, because I don't have to. Because I don't use fixed gearing or regen braking. I use regular bike frames can go back to being pedal bikes any time, like most of us do.

The easiest way to avoid predictable problems isn't welding stuff onto your frame. It's not doing the thing that brings the problems to begin with.

 

[John in CR]

But cranks mounted on square tapers don't "budge", and neither do pedals that have been tightened upon mounting. But both can move enough under reversing torque to back the fasteners off, and then everything goes sideways.

The remedy, if you must use fixed gearing, is to check and tighten these things often. I'm willing to bet that not one in ten people running regen braking do that.

You can prevent the problem by using clamping dropouts. I'm willing to bet that not one in a hundred people using regen do that.

It's not a plane where a preflight checklist is a mandatory safety precaution. You are obviously the 1 in 100 that likes doing all that crap on bicycles. The rest of us want the convenience of a car, not fiddling with brakes all the time, checking that nuts are tight etc.

You misunderstand. The checking I do all the time is on other people's bikes, at work.

I don't do those checks often on my own bikes, because I don't have to. Because I don't use fixed gearing or regen braking. I use regular bike frames can go back to being pedal bikes any time, like most of us do.

The easiest way to avoid predictable problems isn't welding stuff onto your frame. It's not doing the thing that brings the problems to begin with.

And because you're too lazy to build it properly and lack understanding of how motors work you end up with a less efficient, lower performance, shorter range, poorer handling, more dangerous ebike. That's fine since it's your bike to suffer riding. The problem comes into play when you litter the forum with incorrect information that reinforces all too common misconceptions.

 

[Bigwheel]

I use front hub motors on my drop bar bikes and find the regen feature to be only be outclassed by the cruise control feature. The red button on the left hood is a momentary switch and when I want to slow down it is the first thing I go to. I can fully utilize the front lever while holding it also for full stops. Also works well as a drag brake when I don't want to go too fast downhill and will keep me at around 30 or so nicely while modulating it. As mentioned this is great for saving on pad wear.

thumbnail_IMG_1982.jpg

If you don't think it would work for you then it is easy to leave off the program.

Hi , Can you tell me who's kit your using with cruise control please ? I have the Magic Pie Black Pie 1000 watt and the cruise is a must ...Just wondering who else sells them with cruise control ...

You can set up cruise control on just about any hub bike with a CA3 and compatible controller. I have a 9c and an AnyAxle, both 1000w. I use it with a throttle in place of PAS.

 

[donn]

If for whatever reason you don't want to run e-brake and throttle controls through a Cycle Analyst computer, cruise control appears to be fairly common in run of the mill controllers, with the KH6xx infineon circuitry. Since controllers would mostly be Chinaware, it seems you will usually find them presented with no information at all about what's inside, but if there's a "wiring diagram", that will tell the tale - it should come with a pair of wires to enable cruise control (depending on whether circuit is closed or not.)

It's an excellent feature, for a controller with voltage throttle.

 

[donaldallen3797]

Hello All , I have come to think this regen Braking is OK .. I just tap the rear brake lever a little bit and it turns on the regen in my front motor ..If I clamp the brake harder I get the rear brake and the regen front ..if I need even more I just clamp both ..At average 10 MPH The regen braking usually slows me down enough .. Works Great ..Magic Pie 1000 watts ..

 

[99t4]

Just a reminder to tighten up that rear wheel QR before riding. :wink:

 

[Chalo]

Just a reminder to tighten up that rear wheel QR before riding. :wink:

Looks like we might have a wingnutter on our hands. Some large fraction of The Public believes that a QR cam is for twisting the skewer.

 

[john61ct]

Looks like we might have a wingnutter on our hands. Some large fraction of The Public believes that a QR cam is for twisting the skewer.

Please ELI5

 

[Chalo]

Looks like we might have a wingnutter on our hands. Some large fraction of The Public believes that a QR cam is for twisting the skewer.

Please ELI5

Okay.

Some folks, when confronted with a quick release skewer, treat it like a wingnut or a thumbscrew-- a handle for wrenching the skewer tight rather than flipping the cam lever to tighten it. This is depressingly common. One sure sign of this practice is finding a QR skewer that's kind of tight, but with the cam lever all the way open.

That's what the photo above looks like.

The Public is the category of people who come into your shop and make you wish you did some other job, that didn't require you to deal with The Public.

 

[markz]

I broke my seat post qr, it was a good one to, because it had a allen key. With the 604 bike the rear rack, with the plastic mud guard there was little room so I had the lever all the way tight and just tightened the other side with the allen key. I obviously tightened to much. I was placing my square 36V battery on the top of the top tube butted up against the seat post. QR lever facing back. Such a shame I it broke, better in the garage then out riding needing to mess with it. Such a shame about its chain stay break.

 

[john61ct]

The Public is the category of people who come into your shop and make you wish you did some other job, that didn't require you to deal with The Public.

LOL definitely agree.

With your skillset I have to believe you could get such a gig

let others do the front end, you be the secret tech at an offsite location.

But of course those others, whether boss / co-workers, partners whatever, would need to be rational / reasonable folk,hard to find these days

 

[markz]

To bad you can't spit in 'The Public's' food or drink.

 

[ZeroEm]

Non technical people irritate me to no end with lack of commonsense (don't know why they call it common) and technical skills. Don't know how someone can drive a car all there life and not know the engine needs oil or that tires need air. Still learning to keep my mouth shut and play stupid.