Electric Bikes

As electric bikes make their way into the main stream, I thought I should fill you all in with how we at Rodriguez are approaching the eBike in a much different way than other companies.  The differences in eBikes is much greater than the difference between regular bikes, and too many folks are jumping in without considering all of the options and variables.  After this read, you'll be educated about eBikes in general, as well as the seemingly subtle, yet astronomical differences in how we've approached it.

A quick bit of history:
Way back in 2000 (wow that's 2 decades ago now) there was a lot of buzz in our industry about electric assist bikes.  We even made a few Rodriguez eBikes back in the day using Heinzmann, German made motors. One of them, we made for the Owner's of Pike Brewing Company, Charles and Roseanne. It was fabulous Rodriguez 8-Ball Tandem/Single converter with a big battery that lived in the rear rack. 

Not ready for prime time:
That interest faded away as there were some major obstacles to overcome. Some were immediately obvious, and some were yet to be discovered.

Battery technology:
Batteries of that era were very heavy, and provided only enough power to ride the bike 4 or 5 miles before it died. Then, the rider just had a really heavy bike with a lot of DC motor drag to overcome as they tried to finish a ride. In addition to that, the battery had to be run completely down before being charged or the 'memory' would be messed up.  If that happened, it got less and less charge each time.

Underpowered Motors:
The motors back then were much less powerful than what's available today. They could get the bike up to speed ok, but an underpowered motor drains the battery a lot faster.  The more powerful motors available today will give you much better battery performance. Most inexpensive eBikes today still use the low power motors, so consider that when shopping.

Torque Sensor:
Riding an electric assist bike in that era was not a natural 'cycling' feel at all. Charles and Rosanne described it to me as "it feels more like we're riding a motorcycle when we have the motor on the bike." We built their bike so that they could take the motor and battery off easily, and ride the bike like a regular bike. That's the way they ended up using the bike.

The reason for that 'motorcycle' feel was that the motor was controlled by a throttle on the handle bars. Inexpensive eBikes still use this style today. A torque sensor allows the motor to be controlled by the pedals on the bike. It senses how hard you are pedaling, and adds power to it. The amount added is set by you. You can choose just a little help, or you can choose a lot of help. In 2000, there were no reliable torque sensors to be had, and computer technology was not nearly as advanced, so the 'motorcycle' throttle was the only option. 

Fast Forward to 2014:
About 6 year ago, eBike interest started perking up again here in Seattle. It seems that sitting in traffic, watching bicycles fly past is a great motivator for an eBike purchase.  Our customers started asking about them again, so again we locked our investigative minds onto the development of the best eBike for a our customers. Since our customers are cyclists, we went about it from that viewpoint first. What we found surprised us, and moved us to evolve an eBike that was VERY different than what we first set out to build. Let me explain. I'll take through our findings as well as the evolution of the Rodriguez Disruptor model. You may not know it yet, but it is the eBike you want if you're a cyclist, or even if you haven't ridden a bike in 20 years. It's truly a bike that disrupts conventional thinking in the eBike world.

The great news that we found:
1.) The battery problems have been worked out very well! Batteries are half the weight, and 4 times the power of the year 2000 units, so riders no longer have to worry about running out of power. Charging can be done anytime you feel like you want to charge it. This takes away 2 eBike objections that almost everyone I've talked to over 20 years had.

3.) Motors up to 750watts (1 full horse power) are now legal and available to use on an eBike.  That's a whole bunch of 'help' when you need it. Keep motor power in mind when shopping eBikes.

4.) Torque sensor technology has matured to a point that its quite natural feeling.  In 2000, it was mostly an idea (a rainbow unicorn if you will), but a few companies were developing it. 20 years later there are a few very good options. Now, with the right torque sensor, you can ride an eBike just like a bike but you'll feel like a superhero!

The bad news:
As it turns out, once these problems were solved, we discovered some other issues that really needed to be addressed.

As we began our development for the Rodriguez eBike, we initially thought we would try to build a regular bicycle with a really powerful motor and a great battery.  As we went though, we started to discover that a lot of 'regular bike' features and components are not well suited for an eBike. I notice a lot of companies today trying this same thing. They don't realize what we've learned. That the eBike is not supposed to replace your bicycle, but rather, needs to be a vehicle that can replace your car. Our customers still want to ride their bike for bicycling.

Things we found out were many.  
Fit and Comfort: You'll sit all the time on your eBike, and don't need to stand for hills.  This means that you need a whole different fit than you ride on your bicycle. You'll also be hitting bumps in the road at a MUCH faster speed, so you'll want bigger, softer tires. You'll also want a Kinekt seat post to complete your comfort trifecta.

Safety: Since you're riding at very high speeds for a bicycle, you'll want very powerful brakes. You'll also want to be assured that your toes don't hit the wheel or fender when you're turning. Things are happening fast on these machines.

Weight: We found that it was still very important to keep the bike at a 'liftable' weight as many of our customers want to be able to put them on the bus rack, or onto a bike rack for transport. Many of the eBikes our there are well over 60 pounds, and some them near 80.  

These things were surprising to learn, and totally changed our focus on what kind of eBike that the Rodriguez should be. 

Gearing: Here's where things really fall apart!

1.) It turns out that gearing for an eBike is nothing like gearing for a bicycle should be. 27 speeds for human legs is great, but in a car?  Imagine having a stick shift in your car with 27 gears that you had to shift through as you got up to speed after every stop light. You'd be shifting constantly! Of course a car has a powerful engine, and only needs 3 or 4 gears to work effectively. Same is true for a motorcycle. What about an eBike?

On my regular bike, using my 1 Human Power 'motor', I don't mind shifting manually. I ride up hills at much slower speeds than on flat ground. Grinding up a hill at 5mph (really low gear), then riding at 15mph for a few 'flat' miles (medium gear), before bombing back down that same hill at 22mph (high gear). For starts and stops from stoplights I need small increment gear increases for my spindly 1 Human Power 'motor' to get up to speed. 27 gears work very well for this.

Riding an eBike is MUCH different. With my 1 Horse Power motor, I can ride up that same hill at 22mph. Then I ride the flat ground at 22mph, and I bomb down that same hill at 22mph (get the drift?). The only shifting that needs to happen is getting up to speed after a stop light/stop sign. I don't need small increments for that 1 Horse Power Motor. Actually, just like in a car, small increments are annoying because you just have to constantly shift up and down. It's a lot nicer if you have just 4 widely spaced gears like a car.

Shifting under massive force: The proper number of gears is one thing. The fact that bicycle shifting systems are designed to shift under human power, and even then not very well, was a big problem too. As I rode eBikes around our neighborhood, I found myself constantly shifting the gears, and those shifts were much more labored than usual. On my regular bike, I don't mind shifting, but on the eBike it seemed kind of ridiculous to have to shift manually.  

This was the biggest obstacle to overcome really.  Bicycle shifting has not really evolved in 100 years. We have a solution, and it's a great one!

Right in the middle of our quest for the perfect eBike, I got a call from Mark at Browning. I've been hounding him for the last 22 years about a product that they've been working on (I wanted to see it on the market). They've been working on, testing, and producing a bicycle shifting system over the last few decades, and it couldn't be more perfectly designed for an eBike. Just like the batteries, motors, and torque sensor components, it would take another 20 years to develop the perfect eBike shifting.  The great news is that's how long this system has been in development. It's a ready made solution for the eBike shifting dilemma, and it's only available on our new Rodriguez Disruptor models. We're producing it now under the brand Shift-e. The system is 20 years ahead of anything on the market today, and you just have to try it to believe me. 

1.) Shift under any load: I mean ANY load. This bike can be shifted at any point, with any amount of pressure that you or the motor can dish out!  There is NO other bicycle shifting that can do that. Everyone can identify with throwing their chain under a bad shift, but with Shift-e, that's a thing of the past.

2.) Feather touch controls: In manual mode (yes there is an automatic mode) shifting is done effortlessly with feather touch, electronic shifters. Carpal tunnel? No problem.

3.) Automatic shifting: I initially thought that this was cool, but I would never use it myself. Once I shifted into automatic, I never went back. Let Shift-e decide what gear your bike should be in to protect your motor. No more constant shifting, it's just like your car. You've got try it believe it.