E-commuter build

rangersac

Medically diagnosed OMS
I've always been a bike commuter where possible as it's the most time effective way to maintain and include a fitness regime into family life. Having moved house a couple of years ago though, it became increasingly difficult to sustain as it was a longer commute and the post school kid activities ate into work time. My commute is a 58km round trip with 700m of climbing which was taking around 2hrs 20 at a minimum, and often longer when weather intervened. So after the last year of being mostly car bound and having the body to show for it thoughts turned to an e-bike solution to get back on the road.

Ideally I was looking for the e equivalent of my commuter, a steel drop bar framed Wayward Cape York which is very much designed for loaded touring. At a minimum it had to be able to accommodate mudguards, lights and a rack as I hate commuting with a backpack. However such a steed doesn't seem to exist, the closest I could find available were the Orbea Gain series but they lack mounting points, and the frames look a bit lightweight to be carrying racks and panniers. The other major consideration was how much time an e-bike saved over the analogue equivalent. If I was going to drop coin I wanted 30kph+ average to get the total commute time under two hours.

As luck would have it an old mate moved from interstate and kindly lent me his Trek Verve as test to compare timings which showed about a 10 minute each way improvement on the analogue bike despite the 25kph limiter on the motor. Nothing a Speedbox chip couldn't improve..

So after all that Black Friday came around and I jumped on a Polygon Path-e at 2.6k. Upgrade-itis followed with a decent saddle, a longer stem, Ergon GP5 grips and hard wired lights in the form of a Magicshine ME 1000 and a B+M Toplight View E. Oh and one of those Speedbox chips... Only done a few shakedown rides so far, but the commute is down to around 1hr 45 now which is a decent time saving. Still playing around with the hand positions, so might end up chucking on some riser bars but it's pretty much good to go once holidays end.

 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Wow massive commute .
I can recommend having an ebike with a throttle so you can go as fast as 38 km/hr on the flat , it halves my commute.
Your handlebars look wide though it looks like a good value bike for $ 3 K also I find the 185 km range from a 504 W hr battery a bit improbable ?
 
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rangersac

Medically diagnosed OMS
The spec is pretty reasonable for the $$. 1x10 Deore, Shimano hydros, even if they are only 200 series they are enough for a commuter and parts can be easily swapped, and the battery is nice and chunky. Generic contact points were pretty cheap and nasty but also easily upgradeable for not much coin. Wheels are generic and could be a weak point, will see how they go. You are right though, 185km might be possible on a totally flat run in Eco, but no chance otherwise. I use a mix of Eco and Normal modes and cruise on the flat at 40km pretty happily. Total range given the Speedbox chip and the fair chunk of climbing I do is roughly 60km
 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
The spec is pretty reasonable for the $$. 1x10 Deore, Shimano hydros, even if they are only 200 series they are enough for a commuter and parts can be easily swapped, and the battery is nice and chunky. Generic contact points were pretty cheap and nasty but also easily upgradeable for not much coin. Wheels are generic and could be a weak point, will see how they go. You are right though, 185km might be possible on a totally flat run in Eco, but no chance otherwise. I use a mix of Eco and Normal modes and cruise on the flat at 40km pretty happily. Total range given the Speedbox chip and the fair chunk of climbing I do is roughly 60km
The spec on Polygon is good value .
Yeah 700m of vertical will take a bit of battery out.
My first few ebike trips I believed the battery LEDs rather than my brain and it went flat and I walked the hills.
I now have a small charger at work.
I like the hard wired front light.
You have an EV dont you ?
With the accurate battery monitor you can really see the effect of climbing.
 
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rangersac

Medically diagnosed OMS
Yeah, have one BEV and one PHEV. The commute/ drive into town includes 10km of around 5% grade at 100kph. It's a real battery sucker
 

rangersac

Medically diagnosed OMS
Update on this, the battery BMS seems to have died as it won't charge when connected, but turns on and provides power to the motor fine. Kudos to bicycles online who I got the bike from, responded within the hour to the issue, and had a courier organised to get battery back to them to take it up with Shimano. Now to see how long they take to come to the party...
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
I've been commuting every couple of days between Penguin and Cooee (good Tassie names hey?) at 25km each way and 135m on the way in and 192m elevation on the way home. As I only have two bikes my trusty old 2015 Norco Sight and my Levo SL, the SL has gotten commuting duties as it has 29er wheels and a motor so it's a no brainer. Takes me an hour each way and I usually average 26-27kph on worn MTB tyres. Being that it is reasonably flat I can get just over 100km on one charge.
I've been contemplating whether getting another set of wheels built up and use the standard rims with some semi slicks for commuting duties or get a dedicated bike for commuting.
The commute has certainly helped my fitness!
 
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rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Update on this, the battery BMS seems to have died as it won't charge when connected, but turns on and provides power to the motor fine. Kudos to bicycles online who I got the bike from, responded within the hour to the issue, and had a courier organised to get battery back to them to take it up with Shimano. Now to see how long they take to come to the party...
Mine did that, it was just a simple blown fuse on the charging side,hasnt happened again.
 

rangersac

Medically diagnosed OMS
I'm pretty sure the battery is the issue with mine, tried two different chargers in separate locations and no dice.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Penguin and Cooee (good Tassie names hey?)
The commute has certainly helped my fitness!
Do a lap of the nearly heritage listed iconic town bins to add a few bonus km's.

I've seen them and thought they were fitting for the town but didn't know there was 12 of them and they have been part of the town for 40yrs.

dggfhdfgh.jpg
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Do a lap of the nearly heritage listed iconic town bins to add a few bonus km's.

I've seen them and thought they were fitting for the town but didn't know there was 12 of them and they have been part of the town for 40yrs.

View attachment 399674
Oh, the Penguin bin debate is a hot top around the town! :D

The councils want to put in new work safe standard bins along the coast that are better for the garbage collectors to empty and are all the same. I think they should be reused as something like a flower bed but some are staunchly against using them for anything but bins. It's pretty funny the passion some have for them.
 
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