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Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

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Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#281

Post by t-writescode »

dayofthedaleks wrote: post #69
jeffbee wrote: post #3

Seems pretty OK, I personally do prefer hub motor ebikes over mid-drive, but without any lugs for racks I don't know if this is truly the pinnacle of versatility. Also the handlebar is not the right place to mount the front light. I don't know why manufacturers keep making this mistake. I guess it's because Americans just don't understand the bicycle as a utility vehicle. The light belongs on the fork crown.

Thanks for pointing out the lack of rack attachment points. That is a design failure.

Front basket and rack mounts are add on attachments, see the option when attempting to order one

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#282

Post by fulafel »

fulafel wrote: post #261
reportingsjr wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Belt drives can be nice, but the reason they aren't as common is because they are incredibly expensive, unless you're getting a single speed which many, many people aren't going to want. I don't know if part of the reason they are so expensive is because they are a niche bike item, and bike stuff is already hideously overpriced, or if there is another reason.

They are not expensive, lots of sub €500 city bikes have them them.

Never mind, thought we were talking about internal gear hubs.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#283

Post by wiredfool »

kwaugh wrote: post #164
wiredfool wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one (basically) is going to care about the difference between a 46/11 and a 40/11 when the assist drops out at 25kph. If anything, you’re much more likely to be able to use the 40/11. At the other end, the assist is going to cover a lot of gearing, and it’s going to make the gaps in a 1x setup a lot less important. (FWIW, I ride a 1x42/11-42 and a 2x 50/34-11/32. And a triple on the tandem, and I lived with a cx g…

I definitely agree that high gears are overrated except for racing, but when the bike markets itself as a lightweight semi-aero bike, isn't the point to go fast? If you're not going faster than 25kph, then why are you need deeper rimmed carbon wheels?

The 25kph cutoff is the legal limit for this category of ebike in the EU, 20MPH in the US.

I think some of the price of the carbon comes out of the marketing budget. In a way, the difference between a 4k ebike with cheaper looking parts vs a 4.5k bike with "premium" parts comes down on the side of spending the money.

I'd estimate that bike would sell for ~2k without the electrics. It's nice, but it's not super speccd. High end carbon rims are expensive, but they're not _that_ expensive compared to aftermarket aluminum rims. Niceish rims are basically 80-100 now. Carbon is probably 150 or so. (That's retailish, but not MSRP, what I could get them for, not what a bike co could get them for wholesale)

OTOH, it's lighter than my gravel/commuter, which doesn't even have electrics, so there's that. But I'd need rack/panniers for the commute, and I'd have range worries there.

What I'd like to see is a lightweight system that adds ~100W to my output for ~ 4hours. Something that's not painfully heavy if it's off, but makes the last hour of the commute better. (I do 2hrs each way when I do it.)

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#284

Post by enriquto »

slim wrote: post #237
closeparen wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decoupling transportation and exercise is valuable even if you are in shape.

why? if time is your most precious asset, coupling them makes the best value you can get

> if time is your most precious asset, coupling them makes the best value you can get

I regard time spend during my bike commute through the forests as very valuable. Sometimes I even slow down a bit to cherish the moment.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#285

Post by jerome-jh »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

That makes an e-bike that is also fun to pedal with no assistance. It is a combined commuter and weekend bike and I think there is a market for it. Although I would not buy it, only the wheel upgrade at 1800e looks overpriced to me.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#286

Post by cycomanic »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

You're making several incorrect assertion. First while carbon frames are largely marketed at the expensive high performance crowd they are not very expensive to make (for example the production costs of top of the line specialized or trek frames which sell for 3000-5000 USD for the frame only, have cost including shipping to the US of approximately 300 USD). Second every professional cyclistbis always limited by their physical abilities, compared to many other sports, material has very little impact on the performance of pro cyclists. Mind you they still take that 1% gain because it can make all the difference between a win and a place in the top 10.

There are also significant amount of carbon commuter bikes around by other companies so this is nothing new. Particularly the prices of e bikes are significantly due to the motor etc.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#287

Post by titzer »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

You completely misunderstood what this bike is for.

It's for making as money for the bike designer, manufacturer, and reseller as possible.

As such, it targets a market of people who have a lot of money and want to buy status symbols, the latest gadget, or virtue-signal some green thing or other. These people are highly unlikely to be pro cyclists or highly steeped in gear knowledge.

It's about profit, pure and simple.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#288

Post by benhurmarcel »

mulmen wrote: post #226

This is really cool from a tech perspective. I’m sure it’s a great product too. The thing that bothers me about e-bikes in the US specifically is that we seem to be rediscovering scooters but worse. Among other things I am a motorcycle rider. I took the class. Before the pandemic I commuted on a 1970 Honda CB450. I know the risks, and the rules. These are mopeds at best . Electric motorcycles at worst . Europe and es…

Ebikes in Europe are limited to 250W and electric power cuts off above 25km/h (15.5mph). Ebikes don't act differently than normal bikes on the road/path. They go the same type of speed, and they are silent. They're not scooters.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#289

Post by mulmen »

benhurmarcel wrote: post #288
mulmen wrote: post #226

This is really cool from a tech perspective. I’m sure it’s a great product too. The thing that bothers me about e-bikes in the US specifically is that we seem to be rediscovering scooters but worse. Among other things I am a motorcycle rider. I took the class. Before the pandemic I commuted on a 1970 Honda CB450. I know the risks, and the rules. These are mopeds at best . Electric motorcycles at worst . Europe and es…

Ebikes in Europe are limited to 250W and electric power cuts off above 25km/h (15.5mph). Ebikes don't act differently than normal bikes on the road/path. They go the same type of speed, and they are silent. They're not scooters.

I don't live in Europe. My buddy has an ebike that can go 30mph for 30 miles. I see the same model on the bike path at least a few times a week, often at high speed.

The rules are irrelevant to capability.

I do own a European car, it is happy to go 120mph on the highway, even if that's not legal anywhere in my country.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#290

Post by timwaagh »

gameswithgo wrote: post #178
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an engineer and a biker. If you only look at the numbers or try to run simplistic calculations, it's easy to think that bikers are just deluding themselves. But there's more to it than just numbers on paper, and there's more to biking than just riding in a straight line from point A to point B. Carbon fiber frames aren't just about saving weight. The Carbon Fiber has different flexibility and damping properties t…

if you do the math you can quickly prove to yourself that reduced inertia isn’t doing anything for you. you then either have to conclude that newtonian mechanics does not apply to bikes or perception can’t be trusted! if you do a blind experiment, where you don’t know the wheels under you, or a third party adds weights to the rim you can demonstrate this. be sure to use the same tires, at the same pressure, as tires…

If the pack accelerates out of a corner faster than me due to reduced inertia i will be off the back and can do the rest of the race on my own. That's something i have some experience with, unfortunately. If its a sprint i will lose the sprint. This is all normal mechanics. The only situation it doesn't do anything is in a flat time trial which starts with everyone already at the speed they will hold for the race, which doesn't have any change in road or wind conditions nor any corners. I doubt a race like that exists. maybe the triatlon comes closest because of the very long distances involved.
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