EricJ
12-14-07, 11:13 AM
This is probably going to become self-evident once I have ridden both types, but I hope someone can describe the difference in operation. I have never even SEEN an ebike and would have to burn 6-10+ gallons of gas to do so. I'm interested in pedal-assist mainly to help me up some local hills pulling a trailer with a recumbent. Here's my understanding of how it works.
With the BionX system, I can set how much pedal-assist I want, the system will sense when I am having to pedal harder than I want to pedal, and will mix in enough power from the motor to bring me to the level of assist I selected.
With a Crystalyte system, I'm a little confused. Some "throttles" seem to just be on/off switches. Is that true? If that is the case, how do I use it for pedal-assist? Do I just turn it on and reduce my own pedalling or even stop pedaling if it goes too fast? Seems like I would be doing a lot of switching on and off.
Other throttles seem to be more proportional like a motorcycle throttle or a potentiometer. In that case, can I just crank in enough power to ease my pedaling effort to a level I am comfortable with? That would make it, more or less, a manual version of the BionX system.
I am leaning towards the Crystalyte systems, obviously because of price. But I've bought enough crap through the years on price that required me to buy TWICE instead of just a little more ONCE so I want to make sure the decision is sensible. I'm also leaning towards the Crystalyte systems because of simplicity. The more sophisticated BionX controller with regen braking and all that means more proprietary things to go wrong and no dealer nearby.
I fly electric RC airplanes with brushless motors and lipo batteries and have 50 years of experience in electronics, so maintaining the Crystalyte system myself is not a problem. I just want to make sure that in actual operation, it is going to do what I need.
Eric
With the BionX system, I can set how much pedal-assist I want, the system will sense when I am having to pedal harder than I want to pedal, and will mix in enough power from the motor to bring me to the level of assist I selected.
With a Crystalyte system, I'm a little confused. Some "throttles" seem to just be on/off switches. Is that true? If that is the case, how do I use it for pedal-assist? Do I just turn it on and reduce my own pedalling or even stop pedaling if it goes too fast? Seems like I would be doing a lot of switching on and off.
Other throttles seem to be more proportional like a motorcycle throttle or a potentiometer. In that case, can I just crank in enough power to ease my pedaling effort to a level I am comfortable with? That would make it, more or less, a manual version of the BionX system.
I am leaning towards the Crystalyte systems, obviously because of price. But I've bought enough crap through the years on price that required me to buy TWICE instead of just a little more ONCE so I want to make sure the decision is sensible. I'm also leaning towards the Crystalyte systems because of simplicity. The more sophisticated BionX controller with regen braking and all that means more proprietary things to go wrong and no dealer nearby.
I fly electric RC airplanes with brushless motors and lipo batteries and have 50 years of experience in electronics, so maintaining the Crystalyte system myself is not a problem. I just want to make sure that in actual operation, it is going to do what I need.
Eric