When I decided to start cycling to work and back (a round trip of on average, 30 miles) the prospect of doing the distance as well as coping with the hills (2200ft up and down) was daunting. Although I did cycle everywhere as a student, including trips covering fair distances (50 miles +), I had not done any decent sustained exercise since I stopped running due to knee problems and job constraints in 1987. I was therefore a bit out of condition! Cycling since then had always involved short trips with the children – usually 5-10 flat miles. Although I had no doubts about actually succeeding in doing the trip to work, I was worried about time constraints.
Browsing the web one day, I came across the concept of electric motor assisted cycling. Investigating the further, I came to the conclusion that the best system available as a "bolt on" to an existing bicycle was the Heinzman motor. I duly placed an order with Kinetics in Glasgow and awaited the goods with anticipation. The motor arrived already built into a front 700c wheel with the battery and controller in a separate box.
I then set about attaching the beast to my old 1987 Dawes Galaxy bicycle. The battery rear rack fitted fine and simply replaced the existing pannier rack. The front wheel was also easily fitted. Attaching the thumb controller was more of a problem with the drop handlebars and could not be integrated. I therefore put the thumb on a short piece of copper water pipe which I attached to the right hand horizontal portion of handlebar to the left of the brake lever.
The cables were routed along the top bar and front forks and attached with zip ties and insulation tape. All was then ready to go!
The first thing I noticed was that the bicycle was a lot heavier. The battery, cables and motor together all came in at over 12kg. The road legal 200W motor was not strong enough to drag me and the bicycle up anything more than about a 4% incline but it did help! I took the whole contraption for a couple of 10 mile rides up to Stannage Edge and back and it all seemed to work out OK. I managed to get up the hills and back down again and did not die in the process. Two further trips were made to the Norton Roundabout and back (about 1/2 way to work) and so I was all set to try the full trip to work.
I packed up the charger (3 hour intelligent pulse charger) into the pannier and set off at 7:30 on the first fateful day. The run down the hill to Forge Dam was, of course, no problem. Up Ivy Cottage lane, the motor helped out fine (~350W) before dropping to a lower output (200W) after a few minutes. I managed to maintain about 8-9 mph at to the top of the hill. The hill then flattens out and 12mph came fairly easily until the long downhill stint from the Ringinglow fire station to Abbeydale Road.
Then there is a gentle uphill to the Beauchief Roundabout followed by 1:7/1:10 up Bocking Lane and Greenhill avenue - back down to 9 mph. After the Norton Roundabout its a fast flat section to a 1km gentle climb to the top of the Dronfield bypass. 5km downhill to Whittington Moor. On the initial commuting trips, I then turned up to Brimmington and Calow before dropping back down to the Chesterfield Royal. The first motorised trip took me just under 1 hour and 15 minutes. Not bad, I thought - I can cope with this - the battery was flat and needed charging. I felt tired but satisfied. Bicycle was installed in my office and plugged in.
The trip home involved more uphill than the morning and was slower at 1 hour 20 minutes.
Over the next few weeks, I got more used to cycling again and fitness improved. My times to and from work dropped to 55 minutes out, 65 minutes home - still flattening the battery each way. I then stopped doing the Brimingtom route for the more direct route on the bypass and up Hady Hill - about 0.8km shorter.
I found that I was using the motor in an "on/off" basis; the thumb controller was therefore pretty redundant and I eventually replaced it with an "on/off" switch instead, simplifying the arrangement considerably. Other problems I encountered hinged on the weight of the battery - the rear carrier kept working loose until I eventually strapped the carrier to the frame with flat straps to stop it moving.
After about 3 months, I found that my times had dropped further (52 minutes out, 58 minutes back) and I was only using 1/2 the charge. I then stopped charging the battery at work, leaving the charger at home. I usually ran out of juice at the bottom of Chorley Road, some 100 yards from home!
This then remained the status quo for another ~6 months or so of commuting. The motor provided welcome assistance up the hills and kept the commute times sane. I was very happy with it.
Then, one fateful day, I broke some spokes on the motor wheel (curse these Sheffield potholes!) and had to take it in for repair. Rather than stop commuting, I decided to give it a go without the motor. Certainly, the hills were tougher and slower - where I used to go up at 12mph, I now did 8mph, where I used to to 10mph, I now did 6mph. The first commute to work came in at 65 minutes and the trip home 70 minutes - barely acceptable. However, at the same time I made the decision to replace my pedals and clips with “clipless” eggbeaters and started learning proper "spinning" techniques. Climb rates increased as did the speeds on the flat. By the time I got my wheel back, commute times were 55 and 60 minutes. The motor did not go back on. The bicycle was more responsive, easier to handle and more of a pleasure to ride and, after 6 months of stagnation, my fitness was again increasing. Within 3 months my commute times were back up there with the best times I did with the motor. Withing 6 months of ditching the motor, I was regularly beating my best "with motor" times. To date my absolute best times of 44 minutes out and 51 minutes back (~20mph and ~18mph average) have been done without the motor.
Was it worth it? Definitely, in asmuch as the motor put me back on the bicycle and ingrained in me the habit of daily all weather cycle commuting. The cost of the motor was less than the fuel cost saved by not driving during the time I used it. It was a valuable crutch to keep me going. My only regret is that I probably used it for too long - I should have ditched it after about 3 months once my fitness level could cope with the trip in a decent time. I have since sold the motor and have no intention of buying another.
Would I recommend it to anyone else? Depends. For people who cannot make the fitness grade in hilly places, a motor aid would serve them very well. For others starting out and timid about hills and distances, it can provide the crutch to get them going. For anyone with reasonable fitness, no - with a decent, light bicycle and proper fitness training they will easily outperform any road legal electric bicycle.
You also need to be mindfull of the limitations of electric motor systems. The maximum continuous power allowed for a road legal motor is 200W. This will give you about 12mph on the flat without pedalling and no headwind. The battery is also a limitation. NiCad is the lightest option for the abusive high power drain required (15+ Amperes peak at 24 volts). A reasonable battery pack size will give you about 175WH - enough for about 7-8 miles on the flat with no pedalling or about 15-20 miles on the flat with pedalling. All road legal motors are speed limited to 15mph maximum. Non "road legal" motors are avaiable but with increased power comes reduced range and the liability of having to be a licensed motorcycle.
Personally, I found that once I was fit enough to maintain 17-20 mph on the flat, the motor weight became a liability and, although hill climbing speeds were faster, overall times were not much different and the extra comfort of having a light, responsive 14kg bicycle instead of a 26kg beast outweighed (if you pardon the pun) the time benefit of having the motor. The other problem with a motor is that it is a dead weight once it runs out of juice, limiting your cycling excursions to about 20 miles. I am now doing 200k and 300k Audax rides; unless there is a sudden 100 fold increase in battery capacity for the same weight, a motor system like this is worse than useless for such an activity!
Enjoy
Pieter, June 2004
Cost: £700
Weight: ~12kg
Power
output: 200W nominal (~350W initially)
Battery: 24V NiCad
7.5Ah
Charger: Intelligent 3 hour Mains charger
Carrier:
Heinzman supplied black steel 4 point fixation
Range: No pedaling
- ~10km (flat), moderate pedaling - ~25km.
Access Count: