ScooterMan101 said:
And what about 12 -14 % grades as well , like around where I live ?
We need some reports from people who ride up the Alp's / Pyrenees / Dolomite's , Long and high Grades in Norway .
modaniel said:
Hello,
How do people find the 350W version of this motor on 10% grade hills?
How fast can you reasonably go without peddling like mad?
I live on the side of a hill and travelling home is 4k ride at about 10% grade and the temperature reaches 38 degrees centigrade in the summer!
Report from Norway, you say? Here goes: 10% grades I rarely manage to go faster than 10-15 km/h unless I start off at a higher speed. I imagine I could have gone faster, but the optimal rpm from the tsdz2 seems to be lower than my own preferred cadence where I can tackle steep hills like that. I used to ride these same hills at the same speed even before I had the motor. I would be sweating more, off course, but for me the problem is that my own max power is not where the motor's max power is.
On the other hand, the motor really shines when on slightly lower grades. It helps me accelerate and hold my speed, but I'm definately not flying up hills with it.
Mind you, this is on a loaded cargobike, so on a regular bike you'd probably be able to go faster.
Have a look at this strava ride from this weekend. It might give you an idea of how it does up hills. I'm pulling my 30 kg daughter, her 12kg bike and some 15kg of books with my 85kg body on a 35 kg bike: https://www.strava.com/activities/785990342/analysis/857/1436
That's about 10-15 Km/h up 10-15% grade hills. Unloaded there is a little difference, but strangely enough it isn't as big as you'd think.