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Asus Bike Booster

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Re: Asus Bike Booster

#301

Post by Toutouxc »

bendews wrote: post #232
selfhoster1312 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was shocked by the price, too. I mean a motor and a battery can't be so expensive, especially such a "small" battery (300Wh). That being said, having driven electric bikes for a while, here in France they're ridiculously limited in speed and power. 25km/h limit on flat land usually makes sense (except on long straight lines), but when you get climbing even slightly you get down to ~10km/h and have to provide more e…

I have a heap of ebikes, all 250w and 25km/h limited. A Bosch performance line motor on a MTB going up a steep hill is effortless compared to a budget shimano motor where it can barely make it up no matter how much effort you put in to pedalling. Torque makes a big difference.

I’ll add that none of these motors are actually “250 W” in any meaningful sense. That’s just the nominal figure, the average power over something like 30 minutes. That’s why there are such differences between the lines and makes of e-bike motors, even though they’re all legal and within the 250W limit.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#302

Post by imnotr0b0t »

Funny little gadget but I feel like ASUS is about 5 years too late. With so many alternatives for the same money a friction drive just looks like a solution to problems that don't really exist anymore I can see who might actually buy this: some guy with an old Specialized that he can't bear to throw away, but who doesn't want to show up at work all sweaty. Strap it on, ride in. Take it off, toss it in a backpack. There's something cool about that. But 3.7 kg in a backpack... yeah, no thanks. I'd probably just get a proper city e-bike instead of messing around with this contraption

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#303

Post by freehorse »

jwr wrote: post #239
veunes wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see one audience: someone with a bike they already like who only occasionally needs assistance and wants the whole thing removable

Once you try a (good!) electric bike, you don't really want to go back. Life is just so much better. For urban commuting, you no longer think about heat (getting sweaty), distance, inclines, wind, etc. Obviously I'm talking about good electric bikes, with mid-mounted engines that detect pedaling strength. These feel great, unlike electric motors strapped to bikes, which feel like, well, electric motors strapped to bi…

On the other hand, a motor you can strap can also be unstrapped, and then you can use the bike as a normal bike. When you have an electric bike, it is usually too heavy to work comfortable without battery (ime).

I am not sure if this is enough argument for having this instead of having a decent electric bike plus a normal bike, but it is an argument I guess.

There are cases one may not want to use an electric bike, eg when going out for a coffee, a drink etc and you may not want to carry the battery or risk theft, in contrast eg to biking for 40 minutes every day for work each way.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#305

Post by Contortion »

Fnoord wrote: post #289
Reason077 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversion kits that add a front hub motor are relatively affordable and easy to install. Should work with most cargo bikes if you can find one that's compatible with your wheel size. Something like: https://swytchbike.com/

Here's my cargo bike: (non-e variant): [1]. The company got bankrupt a couple of days ago. It has three wheels. Two smaller ones at front, one back. As such, I'd prefer to install the motor on the back. We do have that speed limit of 26 km/hour (my current e-bike has it as well), but since more force is required, the kit would need to know this as well. I got it second hand, same as my e-bike. Otherwise, these aren't…

Also an owner of a non-electric Babboe. We looked at converting it to electric but very few companies would actually do it and the one that we finally got to give us a quote basically said it wasn't worth it. They would've had to replace the whole brake system due to the higher speed of an electric bike. We ended up just buying a different electric cargo bike.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#306

Post by RobotToaster »

pjmlp wrote: post #140
giardini wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And WTF is it about mud guards now? When i was young all bicycles came with mud guard (then called "fenders") front and rear. Now they seem to be anathema. Every bike I rode w/o fenders put a stripe of mud up my back!

Being cynical I would say it is yet another way to upsell. Here in Germany if you want to get a cheaper bicycle, other than flea markets, usually they make you mount the pedals yourself, doesn't have fenders, lights might also be missing, depending on the offer.

Oddly in the UK pedals are a legally required to be included with any new bike sold. Well, technically it's pedal reflectors that are required, but they obviously need pedals to mount to.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#307

Post by Toutouxc »

michaelt wrote: post #277
Toutouxc wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only commuter and bikepacking bikes have mudguards, almost nobody puts one on a mountain bike or a proper road bike, regardless of whether they’re electrified. This looks like it’s more for these “sporty” categories of bikes.

> Only commuter and bikepacking bikes have mudguards, almost nobody puts one on a mountain bike or a proper road bike I suspect this depends on the weather in your area - road cycling clubs near me often require mudguards for "winter club rides".

That’s interesting. Our winters are often wet and annoying. You don’t see many roadies out there before at least February. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a proper road bike with mudguards in the wild.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#308

Post by lukan »

Galanwe wrote: post #295
lukan wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really get that logic. Cars can do way over 100 yet no one calls for limiting all cars all the time, because some drivers drive reckless. And if we want to limit cars - you know, the number one thing that actually kills a lot of people directly - then I don't think it helps artificially limiting alternatives like E-Bikes. The only difference is with enforcing the rules, but there are solutions for that. Polic…

You are being confused, vehicles by themselves are not limited, their category is. You can have an electric vehicle that runs at 100kph if you want, but that is not a bike, that is a motorcycle. The problem here is people having vehicles assimilated as ebikes, but with radically different specs. I have no problem with these guys driving their vehicles on the car lane, like motorbikes do, but that's not what we're tal…

Ok, but I am talking about being able to drive in city traffic and keep up with cars and not be a blocker - and then go to the forest with my e-bike where I do mind the other people walking around there and drive adequate. Not possible with current legislation.

I can only drive my E-Bike with my car to the forest (like to many people do), or drive slowly there myself.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#310

Post by Toutouxc »

gabriel666smith wrote: post #257
reorder9695 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be quite worried about breaking it in the not unlikely event of a crash, additionally it looks like it could quite significantly limit how low you could put your seat down on a mountain bike, so that would get in the way. Even if you got your seat down, it would add a significant amount of height above the tyre so you mighn't be able to move your arse far enough back to shift your weight property. It's also addin…

When going downhill, any bumps which result in severe movement in the frame that bring the rear wheel closer to the saddle might be problematic, even without full suspension. Hard to say. I’m a road bike guy but I’ve definitely seen some forms of non-full suspension when working on mtbs which would result in that kind of movement. I think the tyres would limit the power output most. Probably quite annoying to have no…

> severe movement in the frame that bring the rear wheel closer to the saddle might be problematic, even without full suspension

Sorry but what? The only alternative to a FS frame is a hardtail. Where “hard” means that the rear wheel doesn’t move relative to the saddle. Your road bike is a hardtail.

If the rear wheel moves relative to the saddle, it’s full suspension (full meaning front and back)

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