hello,

I am fairly new to the electric bike scene and have been trying to do some research in hopes of getting my first one. I like the bionx system but am unsure which one I would be better off buying.

I plan to commute to work and back almost everyday. The trip is 40km round trip. I live in New Westminster, BC and work in downtown Vancouver. Anyone familiar with this commute knows that it is not the flattest of ground.

So to save money I am looking at the Bionx P-250 but would this give me enough power for the trip. I can recharge the battery at work so that isn't so much of an issue but is the 250W going to be enough to get me up the steep hills without breaking a sweat? I would probably use level 4 on the pedal assist or straight throttle most of the time. The price difference between the 250W and the 350W is quite a bit but is the 350W that much better.

any advice on this or other alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

For that kind of distance and terrain, you'll need the 350. I had the PL250 for a couple of years. While I really liked it for my needs, it'll fall a little short for you. I think initially, you can get by on level 3 with those hills and barely make it there before you run out of charge. Once the battery goes down even a little, you won't have enough to make it all the way. The 350 is perfect for your needs.

OK. Here's another question about the same system. My commute will be between 12 and 15 miles. It's mostly flat, with a few hills (more like slopes) in the last 3-5 miles. I'm going back and forth between the 250 and the 350. The main reason I'm considering the 250 is weight. I'd rather have a lighter system if I choose to pedal on my own.

Which is best for my needs?

OK. Here's another question about the same system. My commute will be between 12 and 15 miles. It's mostly flat, with a few hills (more like slopes) in the last 3-5 miles. I'm going back and forth between the 250 and the 350. The main reason I'm considering the 250 is weight. I'd rather have a lighter system if I choose to pedal on my own.

Which is best for my needs?

I can't answer your question but can give you my recent experience.

The weight difference between the 250 PL and the 350 PL is only 1.6 pounds, so I don't think that really matters. That's about what a water bottle weighs or what you sweat out on a modest ride.

I tried out several bikes at Nycewheels in NYC a couple of months ago. I weight 190 lbs. I rode around quite a bit near their shop in the upper east side. There are actually some modest hills in the area. The only Bionx they had set up was a 350pl on a Dahon. That was quite zippy. Without pedaling I could go up a roughly 5 degree slope at 17-18 mph. It was great fun out racing the taxis and such.

I also tried out some of the Ezee bikes they had. I rode both a 250W and a 350W model. In terms of power, I found the 250W adequate for my needs. With light pedaling I could go 15 mph.

But I definitely preferred the torque sensing system on the Bionx. I decided on the 36V 350PL purely for range reasons - I want to be able to travel at least 30 miles with modest assist. If I didn't need the range, I would have gone with the 250PL.

But I'm really glad I got the 350. I was a moderately strong rider. I could typically average about 15 mph over a 30 mile ride. But I have a degenerative disorder that is really slowing me down. I'm still strong in the legs but I can't average over 12 mph (on a good day) due to fatigue. And I can't get too hot or I set off symptoms. With the 350PL I can cruise along using the same effort I use to achieve my 12 mph pace but be going around 18 mph in assistant level 2. In level 3 I cruise around 20 mph. Even in level 1 I can get close to 20 mph, but it takes much longer to accelerate to that speed.

In level 2, my trip averages for 10 miles has been around 16 mph. That's pretty good since I have a lot of lights and stop signs. It's really fun and allows me to travel much further distances than I've been doing lately on an unassisted bike.

Also, it is very low sweat which is nice when I use my bike for appointments. Even at my low speed of 12 mph, the moment I stopped I would be drenched with sweat during summer weather. With the Bionx, even though I'm putting out the same effort, the air flow is so much greater that I hardly sweat at all. After riding 10 miles in 90 degree heat and high humidity to an appointment, I was no more sweaty than if I had strolled a couple of blocks in the heat.

Anyway, good luck in making your choice.

hello,

I am fairly new to the electric bike scene and have been trying to do some research in hopes of getting my first one. I like the bionx system but am unsure which one I would be better off buying.

I plan to commute to work and back almost everyday. The trip is 40km round trip. I live in New Westminster, BC and work in downtown Vancouver. Anyone familiar with this commute knows that it is not the flattest of ground.

So to save money I am looking at the Bionx P-250 but would this give me enough power for the trip. I can recharge the battery at work so that isn't so much of an issue but is the 250W going to be enough to get me up the steep hills without breaking a sweat? I would probably use level 4 on the pedal assist or straight throttle most of the time. The price difference between the 250W and the 350W is quite a bit but is the 350W that much better.

any advice on this or other alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

Ha Ha. Kudos to you. I also live in hilly New West, and that is a pretty good ride to downtown. I go from around the RCH to just past Hume Park. But mostly do riding on the weekends for a workout. I tried out the 350 from Cambie Cycles, and it should do the job for you. Which way do you go? Canada Way, Lougheed Highway? I really don't trust the drivers around here.

I rented a PL-350 from JV bike on the weekend and actually tried my commute. Starting downtown, I took the adanac route, then turned on to the mosaic bike route and down lakewood. Through Trout Lake and then up to 29th ave skytrain. I followed the BC Parkway (which mostly follows the skytrain) all the way to Central Park. At this point the charge on the battery was quite low and there was no way I was going to make all the way to New West. Mind you, the battery wasn't completely charged when I started but it was pretty close. So, I turned around and headed back downtown. I made it back with barely any charge and only did so because I was being careful with the assist and trying to use the regenerative brakes when I could.

These are my findings:
Because this is going to be my daily commute, I wanted to save time so I was on level 4 or full throttle most of the time. This contributed alot to the battery drain but I didn't think it would be as bad as it was. It still had trouble on some of the hills and was dissappointed with the power assist, even on level 4. What I ended up doing alot was using full throttle and easy pedalling on top of that to keep the speed around 30km/h. My goal is to maintain around 30km/h without breaking a sweat, if I want to sweat, I have another bike for that. I think with the bionx system, if I want to maintain the 30km/h and not totally drain the battery in an hour I am still going to have to put in the quite a bit of effort.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the system but maybe my expectations were too high. I think I am looking for a longer range system with a little more omph. The thing is, I had high hopes because I had rented the same bike a couple of weeks earlier and it zipped along and the battery lasted over 2 hours. Mind you, the terrain was flatter and I wasn't using full throttle alot (but some) but it just seemed to handle the hills better and the level 4 assist seemed more powerfull.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for a system. Would a crystalite system work better?

If the hill is a 5% grade and you want to maintain 30 kph up the hill, then according to a bike power calculator, you are going to need a motor that can supply about 850 watts during the climb. (250 lb rider plus 65 lbs bike plus motor plus batteries and luggage). Some lower rated motors can supply this amount for a short period of time.

For a 40 km ride with an average slope or wind equivalent of 1%, the total energy is going to take about 600 watt-hours (used a 15% adder for losses, did not take into account acceleration from stops but hopefully the 1% average slope did this). Add in another 100 watt-hours if any of the slopes are long.

I don't know the actual %grade of the hills you ride, but if 5% is close then most of the higher power Crystalyte motors could easily do this. Add on a 48V 20AH battery (assuming a 48 V motor) and you should have the range you need.

A 500 series outght to do it. but weighs 24 lbs. The Eonyx Li batteries one dealer recommends weigh just over 29 lbs. So I under estimated the weight in my calculations above. But even with the weight, this motor could get you up a 7% slope ( if I understand their output ratings correctly). If you have steeper hills, you're going to have to look at their more powerful motors