Battery blank for E-bike

Was doing a bit of idle googling and came across this blanking plate which would allow you to remove the battery from your e-bike: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/852741755/yt-decoy-e-mtb-dummy-battery-cover

Which looks like a nice idea – does anyone ever use something like this on their e-bike?

For me, one of the main things that puts me off an e-bike (apart from not being able to afford or justify another bike!) is that I’d want it to be long travel downhill monster for laps of dh centres and golfie etc

But then there’s times where I’d still like a long travel downhill monster but reeeally wouldn’t like the extra weight (lifting my bike onto uplift trucks, flying to the alps etc)

So a product like above to remove a chunk of weight seems ideal. Obviously you’ve still got the additional weight of the motor etc to lug about but 9lbs/4kgs is still a decent saving…

Initial thoughts/concerns are the rigidity of the frame (are batteries designed to give anything structural to the frame? Seems a wasted opportunity if not…) and potentially an upset weight balance? Although the mass of the motor would be centred around the bottom bracket and nice and low so maybe not much of an issue either. Also envisaging electrical terminals being vibrated loose if they’re not engaged properly – no idea if that’s realistic or not…

I think this is good for transport purposes if the cover is part of the battery but I wouldn’t want to be riding a batteryless ebike as they are still super heavy.

If you are flying to the alps or doing uplifts, a normal bike will still be better / easier than an ebike with no battery.

Initial thoughts/concerns are the rigidity of the frame (are batteries designed to give anything structural to the frame? Seems a wasted opportunity if not…) and potentially an upset weight balance? Although the mass of the motor would be centred around the bottom bracket and nice and low so maybe not much of an issue either. Also envisaging electrical terminals being vibrated loose if they’re not engaged properly – no idea if that’s realistic or not…

No, the batteries are not structural.

Cant see anything being shaken loose either

I suspect it would work just fine without a battery for the use you are talking about, but it would still be compromised in certain ways compared to a similar travel/geo bike without the weight of the motor.

The additional weight of an ebike actually seems to help them in some ways compared to a normal bike of similar travel – the ratio of sprung to un sprung weight is higher with an ebike and this seems to enable the suspension to work better – or at least thats how it feels on my ebike compared to the normal bike, but then the ebike is a bit harder to hop about and lift the front or rear compared to the normal bike.

Yup definitely agree that I’d be better off with a normal bike for the times I don’t need an ebike

But just that eternal struggle to justify and afford extra bikes, especially a very un-cheap ebike!

Interesting that the bikes aren’t designed for batteries to be structural. Maybe it makes battery design more difficult but I thought it would’ve presented an opportunity to save some weight and bulk from the frame… although again perhaps marginal gains when you’ve still got a big motor on the bottom of it!

Yup definitely agree that I’d be better off with a normal bike for the times I don’t need an ebike

But just that eternal struggle to justify and afford extra bikes, especially a very un-cheap ebike!

Interesting that the bikes aren’t designed for batteries to be structural. Maybe it makes battery design more difficult but I thought it would’ve presented an opportunity to save some weight and bulk from the frame… although again perhaps marginal gains when you’ve still got a big motor on the bottom of it!

yep, everythings a compromise with bikes, choose where you want to compromise….

I dont think its a bad idea at all .

I’ll mibbe get one for the gondola, as there’s no need for the battery, and it takes a bit of pressure off your tyres.

That is neat – I’ve thought about making a similar thing for my Levo for uplifts but what with the pandemic and life in general I haven’t done any since I got it! I do have a suspicion though that the only benefit will be when lifting it on and off the uplift trailer.

I couldn’t justify a second full-sus once I got the Levo as it pedals perfectly well with the power off and is only slower on steeper climbs, so the Spitfire got sold. Between the Levo and a Bird Zero AM 150mm hardtail I feel pretty well covered (I took the latter when I flew on holiday).

I do have a suspicion though that the only benefit will be when lifting it on and off the uplift trailer.

Haha I think so yeah, just checked and the YT Decoy Shred has a quoted weight of 24.2kg – remove the battery and you’re down to a mere 20kg!

I think @retrodirecteven made a substitute for motor if an ebike onc. you could strip it all out.

Would it make enough difference Vs just riding it with the assistance dialed down to the minimum?

One thing I’ve not understood is why E-bikes have 1 big battery which you can’t then transport on a plane. Why not use the same trick camera batteries use and break apart into 3x 160Wh sections. You could also then run it in the low assistance modes with just once battery too.