I'm interested to hear.
We did 87km with 1155m climbing on the eTandem recently, though I did use the assist sparingly on more gentle ascents up the goyt valley. I'm finding that it's the climbs that kill the battery rather than distance - we finished that ride with 1 bar on the battery meter and about 7km on the estimated range, but since then I've done a series of 4 local rides with 900m climbing over 62 km, and 2 rides with 900m over 45 km, to leave the battery indicator at a similar level.
If I set assist super-low, maybe. but at that point I'd rather be riding a normal bike.
(levoSL)
Given that power assist levels are customisable, pretty sure even my Mahle x35 with a 250Wh battery could manage that, with me being 95Kg and Bolt being ~16.5Kg with two bidons.
I'm currently using 100, 150 and 250W for my three custom levels.
Last night I used ~75% battery to do approx 37 miles and 2250 feet in 2hr20mins.
I'd guess that 250W turbo was used for 15-20mins max, which would have consumed 25-33% of the battery. Mid assistance maybe 5-10mins... Hard to be certain because I know three sections I used it, but there were times I went above the 15.5mph assistance cutoff.
I'm trying to build myself up to do an approx 50 miles 2500 feet loop to climb the long hill north of Petersfield to Warren Corner, similar to my final normal road bike ride before long covid on Queen Liz's funeral day. I suspect I will need to reduce eco mode to 75W max and freewheel down inclines when under 15.5mph to get round.
yes, more than likely. For us (Mrs SSS) in the real world Cube Reaction Hybrid (Bosch) and Spesh Vado SL (Brose) on a split of Tour/eMTB and occasional Turbo will get 70km and 800m. Ive had the occasional play on them too.
So on Eco, id say yes, but YMMV with inputs such as rider fitness and how you use power settings.
I'd think yes on a Orbea Rise with the 600 battery. As others have said, it is going to depend on rider input/weight/cadence etc but
Probably just barely.
I've got an e-gravel bike with a 400 battery. The app will routinely show that it has a sort of 90-100km range when fully charged but I think that assumes flat riding in Eco. It will change as well, it's a "smart" system that looks at previous rides and bases its guess on that info. Once - after a short and very smashy ride where I used high power for a lot of it - the next recharge showed an estimated range of about 60km based on the "rides you have done before" info available to it.
My normal rides on it are about 55km and I can usually finish those with about 20-30% spare capacity (depending on headwind, terrain, riding style, high power mode etc) so I reckon I could eke it out to near 100km.
It depends on so many factors, I don't think you have mentioned terrain or bike type etc which is the biggest variable.
I tried to upload some screen shots but failed.
I have a Mahle X35 gravel bike. Yesterday I did 30km with 370m of climbing max 11% incline. Because it rides like a normal bike I did not use the battery for 73% of the time. Level 1 21%, level 2 6% and about 1% at level 3.
I used 27wh out of 250wh so in theory I have a max range for that style of riding of 270km. If it was a longer ride I would clearly lean on the battery more and you cannot use 100% of the battery. 100km would be fine.
Depends on the rider (yes, that still matters). My other half's Rise (original small battery) uses about 1/4 of its battery for 500m of climbing. That's a light rider on a light bike looking to get a work out though.
Longest I've done on my Levo with 700w/h battery was 1327mtrs and 62km. 84% was in Eco, 13% in Turbo and 3% Microtune. I had 6% left
Eco is set at 25% assist with 50% peak power currently, so drop that to 15%/25% and I reckon it would get close
Pretty sure my Rise with it's 360wh battery + range extnder would manage it, i can do 40km with 1000m of climbing without my range extender on and i'm not sparing the horse as i'm riding with the lads on full fat bikes in their eMtb mode.
Even in eco it's massively easier than climbing on a normal (admittedly more enduro'y) bike
Orbea Rise 630wh here
This is something I’ve considered. Current setup I can get 35ish miles 4,500ft climbing on full power/half ish power
Tp do longer distances I’m thinking a 2nd wheelset with XC type tyres and running about 25nm support
That works fine but the 2nd you put it in higher power settings you feel like low is hard work
I do get the comment above about using an analogue bike which is where my thoughts go sometimes, but you have to be fit enough for that!
A mate posted this as pretty much his first ebike ride. Its a Amflow. So I’m going with yes
Image upload broken
87km 1600m ascent
I'm pretty sure you could, I'm not so sure why you'd want to though.
yes just about but I would rather ride my non e bike than an ebike in eco
When I first got my Moterra I did a 30miler with careful use of power - mostly in eco cos I didn't know how long it would last. Could easily have got 60miles out of it, that's nearly 100km innit?
The moterra SL version - eco practically gives you no assistance, so it probably would do it, but there's no way I could! 😀
Too many variables, but if I was VERY lenient with the assistance then yes. Not the point of the bike for me though.
Heckler SL, Fazua Ride 60 with 430wh battery. Biggest ride so far has been 39km, 1385m elevation, 2hr30 moving time and 15% battery left at the end. Standard motor profile, mostly using mid setting with a good amount of boost and a small amount of lowest power.
It'd be different if the often-promised range extender was actually available...
Yes. Orbea Wild with 750w battery. Can get 1200m climbing out of it without sitting in eco ( I alternate between trail and tour most of the time with the occasional boost for fun). As others have said, its the climbing that kills a battery so im sure the distance would be less of an issue.
I'm pretty sure my Heckler would. The longest I've done is 55.9km and 1881m ascent and I had 34% battery left, riding in Eco with analogue riders
Of course it depends on how much support you use even from each mode.
If I rode hat route the way I would ordinarily ride solo or.with other ebikers, then I wouldn't have made it round the 55km, or maybe only just.
No idea. But probably not
Vala, 600wh on Bosch Gen5.
Trail mode (max 60nm) gets me 5000ft/1500m in around 30miles. Could probably eeek it out to 6000ft.
95kg in kit
Ive just done Coast to Coast ride - 3 x 100km days with 1500 - 1800 m climbing every day on a Specialized Creo gravel bike and creditcard touring kit (spare clothes, shoes, food and charger) on backroads and gravel paths. Creo has 320Wh battery and max 320W 50Nm assist, and I typically had about 30% battery left after each day - varied between 0 - 50% assist using increment mode depending on gradient and how my back felt (injury). So depends on if the rider is relying on the assist all the time or not.
Not a chance for me. I doubt I could get 60 miles on the flat out of my 625 Bosch ebike.
The bike...? Easily...
Me...? I'd probably rather ride my XC bike over 100km and 1200m ascent route as it's half the weight and has much faster rolling tyres... But then I'd probably rather ride the eBike in Tour+, and I'd be confident it would make it too... 24kg Mondraker Crafty with Gen5 Bosch CX and 800Wh battery, have been getting 1700m+ of ascent with 30%+ of battery left out of a ride in Tour+ mode (albeit over more like 50-60km than 100, but it's ascent that kills range rather than distance)... I reckon in eco the bike would do approaching 3000m of vert on a single charge, it's just that there's no way I'd manage that myself!
A friend on his Bosch 800wh hardtail quite often does 80+ mile rides with 4000ft of climbing, mainly on old railway trails and comes home with quite a bit of battery left so it's a yes from me a well
My Orbea Gain can do it easily 80 - 120 miles range Orbea state 4000m climb In Eco full power 1500m
My other half's Rise (original small battery) uses about 1/4 of its battery for 500m of climbing. That's a light rider on a light bike looking to get a work out though.
Also worth noting that this does NOT mean it will do 2000m on a full battery as battery consumption is definitely non-linear on all the bikes I've known. I'd guess that would mean maybe 1750 total.
And higher power modes absolutely rinse the battery in the last 25%. Impact is much less in lower power modes.
I ride my 500w battery Levo almost exclusively in Eco mode. I'm a hefty 115kg, probably nearer 120kg with clothes and kit on (my wife insists), and the best off-road I've squeezed out of my bike is around 70km with 1000m of climbing in the Cairngorms.
If the 1200m climbing is at a moderate gradient to sit in eco and do the work then, yes. If it's a steep 1200m climbing in turbo only then unlikely. Also, having climbed the 1200m, the downhill will be for free so no need for assistance across the whole 100k.
Current Gen Levo SL - yes, with care.
Caveat being I'm not partiuclarly light at 80-something-kg but I do seem to eke out more mileage than most others report.
You've got to be turning a high cadence to get good efficiency, like most ebikes, and that suits me well. None of this soft pedalling lark you see the full power ebikers doing.
Specializeds Microtune option also helps massively here.
Turned out my 37 mile 2250 feet ride the other day was ~83% battery consumption, not 75%.
I'm thinking of tweaking my gravel ebike setup ahead of my Warren Corner climb 50 mile ~2700 feet ride, given my tiny 250Wh battery even though bike is only 15Kg before bidons etc...
Fit my Vel 50RL front wheel with 25mm Schwalbe Pro (currently heavy brick gravel wheel with 35mm Marathon Supreme).
Maybe replace rear 40mm Marathon Supreme with 32mm GP5000.
Maybe fit my clip-on TT bars that have been sitting around in packaging for several years.
Losing some more of my excess weight will help, down to 94.x Kg, still a long way from the 80Kg I was three years ago but it all helps!
Done a few 50 + mile rides with over 1500 + m of climbing whilst we have been away over the last 3 months. Mainly used Eco and Trail with a bit of Turbo if the steep was very techie. Usually had around 20% left on battery.
Turbo Levo gen 3
We did 40miles and just over 4000 ft over cut gate the other day and I had 20% battery left. That was just using battery as needed. Orbea Rise 2023 with 540 battery
Creo SL - Easily, I regularly do rides of that nature. I’d have about 35-40% battery left depending on if it was road or gravel riding - more if I tuned the assist off on the flat.
I think a lot of it depends on how the elevation is gained. 1200m split over 50 short climbs is a whole different experience to 3x 400m climbs.
for me, the latter would be a lot more difficult with a much higher reliance on the battery.
A ride around Surrey Hills for 30 miles, 3500' is a lot easier than a jaunt around the Black Mountains with the same stats. Terrain makes a big difference too, smooth trails are far less tiring than trialsy, rocky ground.
I reckon my Rise would do it it. I'd defo take the extender though. I'm on a 540wH battery. A couple of rides last year were ~40 miles with 6500' finishing with at least 20% battery. It's doable, so long as you've got a bit of fitness to bring to the party. I'd never do it in boost.
I have a 750wh bosch full-fat enduro thing. It's got DH tyres on now, but before that yes, it would make that distance.
I did these sort of rides when I first got it, until I realised its more fun and often quicker, to do it on an XC bike!
On the Bosch Flow app if you put the gpx in, it will sort out the assist levels so you won't run out of battery.
On the Bosch Flow app if you put the gpx in, it will sort out the assist levels so you won't run out of battery.
That sounds like wonderful functionality!
I know this isn't the point of an ebike but you can always ride them with the motor off if you have the time. Ideally this needs to be at the start of your ride because your brain and legs don't notice as much. Once you've used the motor its a different story.
We were away camping over the last few days so I had no charger till day 4. Plus one of my rides was with the family at Llandegla so I ride motor off with them, apart from the pedally fun bits, to even things up. Not losing my ability to pedal without assistance is important to me so I don't mind.
The second ride I went in search of some fun between campsites so did the first 500ft/5 miles motor off as a warm up/battery saver.
27 miles, 3,400ft = 73% battery left. Gen 3 Turbo Levo.
Ride number 3 was exploring Gwdyir on my own in Trail (turned up a bit). Time was of the essence. Almost every part of this ride was up or downhill apart from crossing Llanwryst.
17 miles, 3000ft = 15% left from my 73%.
one of my rides was with the family at Llandegla so I ride motor off with them
respect going up that first climb without the motor !
I do rides from Llandegla starting on that first climb, ending doing 30-40 , 4,000ft climbing
My legs would be cooked if I did use the motor up that first hill. I’m convinced the type of tyre makes a big difference to what you can pedal
@FunkyDunc I don't find that first climb very steep, whereas some of the shorter climbs further round feel very tough, even on a non e-bike. Although at that point I was lending my bike to either my wife or son and riding his Bronson, that fits me, or my wife's Aether 7, which doesn't fit, so I had to stand up and pedal!
Probably helps that my local riding is Calderdale so steep everywhere.
As I say, I love the Levo's positives, particularly from an exploring or sessioning point of view but I also love being fit and strong so don't want to lose that. In fact, I think being strong is even more important on a 24kg bike, especially when faced with the odd gate or stile. Or occasionally when I set of down a trail that is harder than my meagre abilities and have to carry it down 🙂
The other week we were hikeabiking in the Lakes without an ebike and earlier in the year doing a 200 mile North York Moors ramble over 3 days.
@Kramer, I'm interested to hear why you asked this, and what you've taken away from the responses
@ Kramer - As FunkyDunc alludes to up there, the beauty of these is that you can tour on them even proper tyres, instead of compromising on grip to remove drag.
Last week I dropped my van in Castleford for some work then rode a 60 mile route home to Brighouse on my hardtail on trail tyres. When I went to pick it up I had less time so just took the Levo and went a more direct 30 mile route on Eco and could even have roll the trails at Queens Park when I got there.
As I say, especially on the flat you turn the motor off if you have the legs for it.
Probably not probably not even got enough to get home tonight ...
It's done 62k/500m so far
A
You shouldn't have much of a problem with those distances with a Turbo Levo.
I'm lightish but on the same rides Kevin's uses about 5% more, he weights 83 kg + he has more in his back pack than me.
His is also a Turbo Levo
I was lucky enough to be able to rent a gen 4 Levo for the day on a recent trip. I was very impressed. Great fun going down hill and I had to try pretty hard to rinse the battery by riding around everywhere in Turbo. I managed 75km, but that was with some non-pedalling uplift.
The impression I got from riding it was that I could probably have made 1800m of (steep) climbing in Turbo.
I’m on the verge of buying a Gen 4 Levo
The Levo forums are full of people moaning that the range of the Gen 4 is worse than the Gen 3 despite a bigger battery
But.... it weighs a bit more AND has more power, so the consensus seems to be that they are probably just rinsing them about at max power, or at least higher levels of power compared to the Gen 3's and probably just need to get their battery management sorted via the settings
I noticed the (micro tune?) function on the Specialized ebike app too late to try it on the Center Parcs hire emtb in March, but being able to adjust assistance in (10%?) steps is handy.
We're off to Longleat again in two months and I'm still trying to decide whether to hire the Specialized (white Turbo Tero 4.0?) or equivalent, which has a 710Wh battery and you can swap batteries at bike centre during their opening hours... Or take my GT Bolt, that will have more tarmac suitable tyres; ~8Kg lighter*; more aero position*; but much smaller 250Wh battery.
Train ticket with Bolt will save me ~£30 (hire premium emtb £75 for midweek stay collecting from 1100), if I can keep my sleep pattern under control I could arrive there earlier and make more of day1, but rest of family will still need two cars.
If I was fitter, the Turbo Tero should get me to Old Bristol Rd; Ebbor Gorge; Draycott Steep; Cheddar Gorge climbs, a recreation of the ride I did November '17 on my fat bike fitted with 29*2.35" G1Speeds.
* Weight and aero will only effect things when above motor assistance 15.5mph cutoff, which I did manage a few times on very shallow gradients.
On the Bosch Flow app if you put the gpx in, it will sort out the assist levels so you won't run out of battery.
That sounds like wonderful functionality!
Similar arrangement with the Specialized app and 'smart control'. Put in either distance/height gain or time/height gain and what percentage of battery you'd like to have at the end of the ride and it will meter out the assistance accordingly.
Similar arrangement with the Specialized app and 'smart control'. Put in either distance/height gain or time/height gain and what percentage of battery you'd like to have at the end of the ride and it will meter out the assistance accordingly.
Do you happen to know what the maximum distance/height gain the app will allow you to put in?
Similar arrangement with the Specialized app and 'smart control'. Put in either distance/height gain or time/height gain and what percentage of battery you'd like to have at the end of the ride and it will meter out the assistance accordingly.
Also with Spesh you can link your bike to your Garmin (don't think you can with Bosch) and it will tell you whether your battery will last your planned route - plus other metrics
Also with Spesh you can link your bike to your Garmin (don't think you can with Bosch) and it will tell you whether your battery will last your planned route
Is that a function on the bike, or on the Garmin?
Also with Spesh you can link your bike to your Garmin (don't think you can with Bosch) and it will tell you whether your battery will last your planned routeIs that a function on the bike, or on the Garmin?
Garmin, but obviously the bike is giving it it's data. It'll also give cadence/power input etc for Strava rides
I noticed the iGPSort 300T GPS computer claims to link up with ebikes and can be had for ~£130, but it's a bit lacking in details about what is will show and which brands/models.
Mahle do their own Pulsar One, but it costs ~£90 and is lacking on general functionality (eg. offline mapping) besides giving alternative +/- assist level buttons and battery health.
I tried the Mahle MySmartBike app on my mobile early on, but I wasn't terribly happy having my old mobile held by the spring loaded mobile holder outside, that I normally use on the turbo... Plus it went through mobile battery life at light speed (Mi A2 mobile from '19, but can still handle ~60min Zwift sessions on the mobile no problem).
@nbt - I’m on the verge of buying a Gen 4 Levo, and am musing on it’s viability for off road touring.
I think the only way to know for sure is to suck it and see.
It's worth noting that owners of Gen 4 Levo's have been reporting terrible range/efficiency compared to what you might expect from a modern system with a massive 840Wh battery... I have seen this first hand, me on my Gen5 Bosch bike with 800Wh battery finishing with 40%+ battery left when a Gen4 Levo rider has run out of battery!
Independent tests regularly show the Bosch CX motors to be about the most efficient of the bunch, though usually not much in it with most other brands, though the new Gen4 Levo does seem to suffer from being particularly thirsty from what I've seen so far...
It's worth noting that owners of Gen 4 Levo's have been reporting terrible range/efficiency compared to what you might expect from a modern system with a massive 840Wh battery... I have seen this first hand, me on my Gen5 Bosch bike with 800Wh battery finishing with 40%+ battery left when a Gen4 Levo rider has run out of battery!
Independent tests regularly show the Bosch CX motors to be about the most efficient of the bunch, though usually not much in it with most other brands, though the new Gen4 Levo does seem to suffer from being particularly thirsty from what I've seen so far...
It's not something I found a particular issue when I test rode one, but I am thinking of test riding a Trek Rail as well for comparison.
Similar arrangement with the Specialized app and 'smart control'. Put in either distance/height gain or time/height gain and what percentage of battery you'd like to have at the end of the ride and it will meter out the assistance accordingly.
Do you happen to know what the maximum distance/height gain the app will allow you to put in?
I've been and looked! Its 160km/5hrs with 3000m elevation.
Regarding devices, I've treated myself to a quadlock type case for my phone as the Spesh app/OSMaps/Komoot are better on the big screen than a small Garmin. It remains to be seen what the battery life is like on a ride.
Mine did woodingdean to eastbourne (600m ascent and about 40km) with a 375WH battery and 2 bars left the other day. DH tyres. trail mode on most hills. so eco i recon i could probably go there and back. (when its warm and dry - battery life isnt as good in teh cold!!)
e8000 and eco in the factory middle setting (whatevert that is) trail in low and boost in low. With my range extender i could easily do 100km and 1000ft.
One of the things I've realised/ found out the hard way is that it's easy to focus so much on battery conservation that you burn your legs out to early on.
I've found forcing myself to stick in eco or battling uphill with the motor off just means I'm more dependent on the battery later on in the ride.
I've finished countless 'big' rides absolutely exhausted with legs like jelly but still with ~25% battery remaining.
There's a definite learning curve to owning an ebike and I think it's important to experiment with settings and power modes etc to get the best from it.
Using my garmin to track rides, I can see assistance level and power mode over the duration of a ride. I can see that even climbing something sustained and ridiculously steep in boost , I'm only getting 80% of the assistance even though I know I'm giving everything I've got.
In that situation, it's good for battery conservation but bad for rider energy conservation. Similarly, if there was a section where I know I was just bimbling yet the bike is giving close to max assist, then I know I'm drawing more from the battery than I need to and could get away with turning down the assistance in whatever power mode i was in.
viability for off road touring.
Few years back I took a well loaded eBullitt cargo bike through the Bavarian Alps. Mix of asphalt and gravel roads.
I managed 320km >2000m of climbing and still had ~15% battery when I got home. Admittedly most of it was ridden (at a snail's pace) without any assistance, only using the motor when it got too much for my little legs.
