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As above, I have just got back from a trip abroad & have seen first hand that E-bikes are now mainstream, which was surprising as I was in Croatia/ Slovenia which I had obviously wrongly assumed as places where people didn't spend the equivalent of £3-5000 on a bike. But one thing got me, they all had small, like 20 tooth, front chain rings even in the flatter lake regions, why? I had assumed that with assistance a bigger than normal front ring would be required?
Why have I got this the wrong way around?
Cheers.
I have no idea but motorbike ones are even smaller.
Could it have something to do with helping reduce torque demands from the motor meaning a smaller lighter motor can be used?
Just an idea I threw in my thought wok!
no idea mine has a 30t and a sram 10 40 something cassette it rides just like a normal big fat heavy bike
A lot of the chainrings aren't driven directly from the cranks and there's a gearbox in between the two, so the chainring size isn't comparable to normal bike gearing.
Chief, that makes sense to me, but surely it would add weight?
Cheers anyhow for all the answers.
Probably because most of them will rarely go above 25 KPH so low gearing is what they need .
The motors are low torque motors and you want them to last as long as possible on a single charge. Also at some point the, usually, overweight and unfit person sat on top of the e-bike will have to pedal the bike at some point, and they wouldn't stand a chance without low gearing. Have you felt the weight of an e-bike? I wouldn't want to pedal it unassisted for any length of time.
As above, I have just got back from a trip abroad & have seen first hand that E-bikes are now mainstream
We're in Somerset and every other bike we've seen (and there are lots) has a motor.
We're just back from 3 weeks wandering around France and there were a lot more E-bikes there than I'm seeing here in the UK. Mostly cheapo ones though, and being ridden even slower than my wife and I were going on our cheap non-electric folding bikes (although that was on the flat - probably would have spanked us uphill).
Unsure all ebikes cost over 3k...mainland Europe has far more cyclists than the UK and things are priced differently so more people have access to affordable biking...
I have no opinion on them other than they are good if it gets more people biking...
Power = speed x torque.
Torque = size/cost
if your electric motor only goes slowly it needs to make a lot of torque, which means it's big and costly. Make a small fast motor to save money, and fit a smaller front chain ring so you don't need to gear the motor down as much as before. Riders torque can be applied at a further reduction ratio