I absolutely love my Mondraker Neat. And thankfully, I rarely have to use the walk mode. But when i do, it’s rubbish.
So my question is - am I doing something wrong, or is it genuinely rubbish?
It's a bit flaky, but if you put the bike into a higher gear it works better, somewhere in the middle of the cassette, gear 7/8 ish
Sorry, no help on the actual question but a question for you if you dont mind. What sort of range do you get from the Neat? I am tempted by one but wondering if it is too light weight and I am better off going for something with a bigger battery and more power. Also curious how easy it is to remove the battery, would it be an option to take a 2nd battery for big days out.
What sort of range do you get from the Neat?
I dont have a neat - but have a trek fuel exe, but in this case the bikes are similar enough to not be a determining factor in the range you would get.
Its a tricky question to answer, as the range I get is potentially going to be very different to the range you would get, but about 2800 feet of climbing over about 14 miles is doable (for me) from the main battery with a fair amount of assistance from the motor, ie using the middle mode mostly. If you really want to get more range you can, and I have had 5000+ feet of climbing out of it when I really wanted to, by turning it off on the flats and downhill, and only using eco mode on the climbs - but doing this is V hard work, it didnt feel much easier than a similar day on a regular bike.
The range extender will add approx 44% onto the above numbers.
It varies so much (not just on the TQ, but any ebike) based on the following:-
- The speed you ride at
- The power you put in (the more power you put in the more power the motor puts out) - this is related to how fast you go
- The configuration you choose for each assist mode
- Your weight
- your terrain - if its straight up and then straight back down again with little riding along the flat then you'll get more vertical feet/metres out of it - if thats your measure of range, or conversely, if you want more miles, then flat will get more miles than up/down.
- your cadence - spinning faster give a little more range - not a big factor though
- The conditions - cold is worse for range, thick mud is worse for range etc.
- To a lesser extent the tyres you use, slow rolling tyres suck more juice - but this is not as big a factor as you might think
Thanks for the info @julians. I realise it is a hard question to answer and the answer is normally "it depends" but that gives me an idea.
@hooli: I own a range extender, but I’ve never had to use it yet. If I have what is a big day out for me, which is about 3 hours, about 15-20k and about 800m of climbing, then I tend to have around 30% left - without using the extender.
But I need to add that I tend to ride differently than many folks I see on full fat bikes. My entire ride is typically spent in eco mode, except for short , intense technical climbs, when I switch to medium mode. Normally on a ride, I almost never use the top mode.
Ive noticed that most “normal” e-bikes fly past me on the climbs. But this is part of the appeal for me - I ride my Neat as if I was riding a normal bike. It feels just like a normal bike imo, but it just feels like I have super-powered legs. Where my typical lunchtime ride on a normal bike would be 4-5km with maybe 250m of climbing, now my normal weekday ride would be 8-9km with 600-700m of climbing. I’ve found myself riding down hills purely to ride another technical climb back up.
Your last question - about removing the battery. It’s really not difficult - undo two hex bolts and slide the battery out. I used to do this to charge the battery before I got leccy installed in my garage. So I did this after every ride. But I’d say that two range extenders is a better plan than an extra battery. You can put two extenders onto the frame, and they’re a doddle to use. Fidlock mounts.