Peddling while motor engaged...

[SirJakesus]

I actually pedal most of the time with my engine as the NuVinci hub keeps my cadence and engine RPM in sync very well. I always have a good amount of resistance on the pedals so I'm not hyperpedaling at high speeds and I think it just feels more like a bike that way. These are Motor Assisted Bicycles and not motorcycles after all aren't they? Aside from getting some exercise without straining I can also run my motor with less throttle and accelerate and climb hills faster. I also notice a large jump in MPG when I'm pedaling all the time vs when I let the engine do all the work. I feel that working with the engine completes the human-bike bond and gives you a much better feel of your machine. It's almost like being five lance armstrongs when you really give it your all with WOT.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[Nuttsy]

"I feel that working with the engine completes the human-bike bond and gives you a much better feel of your machine."
He has achieved Zen.
He is at one with his machine. (and the po-po don't know diddly!)
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

 

[andyinchville1]

HI,

You could go larger than 54T if you really need to....PM me if interested.

Andrew

 

[John-Forrest]

When you are peddling like that, do you get the sense it adds speed? Or did you see a significant improvement in miles per gallon? Sometimes 25 mph feels a bit slow, especially if I'm on a long straight highway in flat land; it'd be nice to peddle, get a bit of exercise, and make that trip a bit shorter. Also, it'd be good to add speed when you're moving into the left lane and making a turn - so that big truck behind you doesn't run you down!

 

[StevePA]

I don't get any additional speed except when going up hill. If your engine is bogging down the pedaling will help. If your engine is at it's max rpm then pedaling isn't really going to do much to get you additional speed. The main impact the pedaling will have is to improve your gas milage. Every kw of energy you put into the pedal is a kw that the engine does not need to produce therefore saving that fuel.

 

[John-Forrest]

Do you think that's true even if your peddling is not catching up with motor? Let's say you slowly turn peddle while you're cruising at 25; does it save strain on engine?

 

[lennyharp]

I used to actually know what speed I was going by cadence and gear ratios (gear inches). I don't remember the formulas but you can certainly pedal to add power to your motor if you have the right gear ratios to do it.

A 54 X 12 or 54 X 11 gearing will get you easily to 30 mph. A racer would pedal enough faster to get 40 mph out of the same gears. A world class athlete has about (1/2) .5 horsepower for a short sprint. So if you have a 1.5 hp motor you can help in bursts to approach 2 hp between the 2 power sources.

This is the beauty of the simple motored bike that is designed properly, that you can assist it to go fast if you want to or up a steeper hill than it usually could. And as you condition yourself to do this you can get faster so you can assist to higher speeds and quicker accelerations.

 

[lennyharp]

You do have to pedal fast enough and with enough power to make a difference. It truly is exercise to ride this way. I am out of shape but did learn to pedal about 250 cadence or times per minute. I doubt I can do much more than 180 pedal strokes per minute anymore. This gets me up to about 27 or 28 mph which is 3 or 4 mph faster than my motor wants to go on flat ground.

A bicycle with a 26-inch wheel, a 48-tooth chainring, and a cassette with gears ranging from 11 to 34 teeth has a lowest gear of 26 × 48 / 34 = 36.7 gear inches and a highest gear of 26 × 48 / 11 = 113 gear inches. Gear inches is the inch total one revolution of the crank and rear cog move the bicycle, so each pedal stroke can, in this example move you 113 inches. A smarter person than me can tell you from this info how fast to pedal for different speeds.

This part of the figuring is wheel diameter times chainring divided by rear cog, 26 X 60 = 1560 / 11 = 141.82" You can see from this that If you want to pedal slower or go faster get with Andrew and get a bigger set of chainrings. You could probably do a 60 / 48 / 38 or some such triple set up. You don't want more than 10 or 12 teeth between chainrings or shifting gets worse. I do shift a lot as I ride because I am looking for a comfortable cadence to help my motor. Every time I stop I change from high gear of about 113 gear inch to 36 X 18 or so which starts me up easily.

Sorry I am so long winded but I must give a warning also. Knees are a bike riders friend but if you have knee problems they can stop you short. Lance Armstrong and most other great modern cyclists could pedal hour after hour at 120 cadence. That is each second the pedal on the right goes around 2 times, and same with the left pedal. For he and most trained cyclists this allows the leg to work aerobically and the heart and lung supports the work. They are using gearing to lighten the weight they are moving with each pedal stroke.

Some cyclists insist on pedaling slower and powerfully in a larger gear. This tends to wear the knees out and causes problems, including fatigue and lactic acid build up. There are few Lance Armstrong's but he was a quick study about what would help him win and this is a key that will translate to anybody and making their riding less stressful on knee joints and less tiring.

 

[StevePA]

No, if you don't feel resistance on the pedals then you aren't helping the motor. The gearing on my bike tops out at about 25mph... and even that is too fast of a cadence for me to keep up for long. As indicated by other posters, you may need to change to taller gears if you want to be able to pedal your bike at 25+mph.

 

[StevePA]

Thanks for that explanation lennyharp. I did notice it in my knees when I first started riding my bicycle again. Sounds like I need a higher cadence in smaller gears to reduce the strain. Good to know!