Thinking of getting my first ebike, will be used 59/50 road , light gravel . Has anyone any advice based on experience which type of motor works best for them . The Bosch type bikes seem a fair bit heavier than the Fazua type . The terrain to my east is pretty flat , I can average 28-30 kp/h for a couple of hours . The terrain to my west is fairly hilly, 50 km ride up to 1000 m ascent . Would an ebike be pointless on the flat or would you still manage a similar ride less fatigued . I’m coming up to 60 and have a dodgy knee that is never 100% . My incline is towards the Bosch motor as i don’t think the Fazua would have the grunt on gravel/forest tracks .
So, here's what I have experienced...
I bought a HT ebike with a Bosch motor and I used it initially primarily on singletrack type routes with the odd bit of road riding. I mostly rode it around in ECO mode and I averaged 1% of battery per mile regardless of the terrain/ ascent profile when in ECO with the odd extra assistance up long steep hills. When riding on the road it was fine up to the 15.5 MPH limit but trying to keep it going much over about 18MPH on the flat for any length of time was hard work and I struggled to keep up with my group of roadies because the bike weighed 23kg+ . On a 50mile road ride with 1000m of climbing I would use about 40% of the battery though. The Bosch motor is excellent but has more power than is needed for a road bike and is even overpowered for an off road bike that is used on forest road type tracks. Inclines over 10% and you'd want some extra power on a heavy bike but still the Bosch has more than enough.
Now, over time I have started doing more road riding than off road and I looked at a few road ebikes but they mostly seemed to favour a hub motor and I didn't want that. I was also concerned that I wouldn't have enough power to get up the hills and not enough range to do the sort of distances I wanted (regularly 60 miles and more occasionally) as the motors are generally smaller along with the battery.
Enter the Specialized Turbo road bike.... What a machine! It's unbelievably good. For reference as I type this I have just completed a 140KM fairly flat ride with only 1000m of climbing and used 40% of the battery - staggering performance. Yesterday I did a hilly (ish) ride of 63KM and 1000 meters and used 40% also but I was not 100% in ECO as wanted to save my legs for today!
The thing is that because the road ebike is so much lighter I am regularly pedalling above the 15.5MPH motor limit and so use a lot less battery on the flat. The relative lack of power from the motor is also less relevant, again because of the weight - I have not struggled to get it up any hill at all and earlier in the week went up a hill so steep it had handrails for pedestrians!
Recently, however I went out with a friend who has just bought a Ribble with the Mahle (I think) hub motor and he was having to keep it in high assistance to keep up with me because he said it was draggy and so his range was going to be an order of magnitude less than mine.
I don't know about the Fazua but I suggest you ride one up a hill and see how much you feel the assistance - I suspect it will be less draggy than the Mahle but the Specialized is in a league of it's own - you can ride it with the motor off and as far as I can tell you would not notice the difference between that and a bike without a motor..
HTH.
I’m a similar age and have the same terrain options as you and I’m really happy with my fazua. But I wouldn’t bother with it on the flat if you can manage ok under meat power. For the hilly rides you have 3 levels of assistance and within each level you can have 3 levels of power as well as 3 levels of torque so you can really optimise your settings to suit your riding and of course range. I very rarely go above minimum assist except when I come to a busy road junction where I need to pull out quickly. Mrs S also has one so if I want to go out on my own on an all day epic I can pinch her battery and put it in one of the bottle holders. The only down side is that fazua don’t have a great reputation for reliability.
As with oceanskipper, I also have a Spesh Creo, and it’s a great bike. I rode it a lot last year, though haven’t had it out for quite a while as have been on regular gravel and road bikes mainly this spring.
I also have a Spesh Levo SL, which is now my only MTB. I really like the lightweight Spesh e-bikes and on average use them about half my rides.
The big plus for me is that I can go out the day after a decent longish ride on an analogue bike and have another 3 hours of fun riding on an ebike without fatigue. age 57.
Worth having a look at the new Trek Domane+ with the TQ HPR50 motor. I've an SLR7+ which comes in at ~12kgs so it's pretty light and can be quite economical if used sensibly eg 75miles/4000ft with 40% battery life left. Because it's comparatively light there is no real need to engage the motor on flattish routes (although there is definitely a noticeable difference compared to the standard Domane) but it really comes into it's own on the lumpy bits of which there are plenty in my locale. Has 3 tunable boost modes and a range extender is also available. No regrets so far, 67 years young but with 2 dodgy knees.
Boardman ADV 8.9e here, Fazua motor
so far more than happy, it lives with full guards, emergency jacket and a comprehensive tool kit on board..
I think its 16kg from factory
Most of the time its ridden off the motor but i do appreciate it on the hills as its my commuter bike and getting to work fresh (ish) is pretty useful to me. I tweaked the stock profiles based on the app questions, i generally ride to work on mid power and home on low. Low is barely noticeable. I don't want to switch modes mid ride and this setup works perfectly for me.
If i were to ride it on full power its very easy to spin to 15.5 and then its like hitting a wall due to the lack of assist.
My other drop bar bike (nukeproof digger) is more engaging to ride and a little faster (possibly due to lighter carcass tyres) but obviously without the assist, i can only imagine how nice a real light e road bike would feel
