When you just want to get out for a nice long ride, the last thing you want to spend all your time thinking about is “will I have enough battery power to make it back home?” If you like to go long, it’s important you select a bike that has the power and capacity to help you get there and back. Our e-bikes are built for the long, hard adventures- or simply getting back and forth to work without having to carry an extra battery or buy an extra charger to keep at work, just so you can feel confident about having enough range. We take the guess work and the worry out of the question with Trax that can reach a whopping 110 miles on a single charge!
How to Choose
There are a number of factors to keep in mind when selecting the perfect e-bike for your long range needs. Cost is always a consideration, but remember that getting the range you want and need may cost a little more up front, but it can be cheaper than having to buy additional batteries or chargers.
The number one consideration, however, is a realistic assessment of what you need the bike to achieve and how much work you are able to put into the ride. If you have a lot of hills on your route and know you want the motor to do the work for you, or you have heavy loads you want to carry with you, you’ll want to plan accordingly with both motor and battery size. Or, maybe, you want to get there as fast as possible, cruising along at highest 28MPH speed the entire distance? Again, you‘ll want a motor and battery matched to the distance you want to cover at full power.
It might sound daunting, but the folks at Electric Bike Report have an excellent article on how to pretty accurately calculate what a battery and motor can realistically deliver. Remember, computing actual range is a fairly inexact science, due to the vast array of contributing factors (weather, distance, rider and payload weight, hills, rider input, pedal assist mode used, etc), but you can get a reasonable estimation of what to expect before buying. Once you’ve gotten your dream e-bike, experimentation will help you better understand real world range expectations.
Useful Tips
Some useful tips will help you get the most out of your e-bike’s motor and battery, helping prevent running out of power before you reach your destination.
The most obvious tip, of course, is to make sure your battery is fully charged before starting your ride! It sounds silly to point that out, perhaps, but sometimes we forget to plug the battery in after the last ride … and then we’re in trouble on the next ride. It happens to all of us, eventually. If you’re a daily commuter, it’s a bit more of a habit to make sure the battery gets charged regularly, but if you ride less frequently, remember to check your battery before you plan to ride and make sure it’s got the necessary charge for your needs.
Using the lower power assist modes for more of your ride, rather than full power the entire time, will help extend your range as well. If you put a little more of your own leg power into the journey, you’ll obviously get a better workout, but you’ll also save more of the battery’s charge for when you really want that extra power from the motor- like getting up and over those steep hills, or when you’ve got one of the kids in the child seat behind you. Save the bigger assist modes for when you need them most, and they’ll be there when you really need them.
Riding in smaller gears, where you are pedaling at a comfortably higher cadence can also help extend range. Using smaller, higher RPM gears puts less strain on the motor, thereby saving battery power. As the expression goes in bicycle racing, “spin to win!” Higher cadences have the added benefit of putting less strain on your knees, for an added health benefit.
Another potentially obvious tip; choose your routes wisely! Selecting routes with fewer starts and stops, as well as fewer long hills, will help the motor work more efficiently and save battery power. Experiment with your routes, if you have the option. Perhaps you can take the shorter and quicker route to work, and then save your battery and motor for the longer and more scenic route home to help destress!
Which Troxus Model is Best For You?
Our e-bike models are all long range bikes, by design. “Expand your playground” truly is in our product DNA. And we mean it!
The Troxus Lynx 20” fat tire bike has a 48V/ 20Ah battery using Samsung Lithium Ion cells, with a Bafang 750W motor, delivering a range of up to 62 miles on a single charge. The 20” wheels give it a nimble feel for tight urban environments.
The eXplorer 26” fat tire bike has the same powerful Bafang 750W motor, paired with the same 48V/ 20Ah battery with Samsung Lithium Ion cells. The larger wheels roll smoothly over potholes, rough terrain, and trails far away from the roads. And the eXplorer has both step over and step thru frame options.
Our true range monsters are the Trax series, with four models using two motor sizes and three different battery options. All models use a 48V battery with Samsung Lithium Ion cells. The Trax series uses Bafang 500W and 750W hub motors, for reliability. The Trax 750W motor and 30Ah battery version has an astounding 110 mile range. All Trax models also use larger diameter and narrower width 27.5” x 2.2” or 2.4” tires, for less rolling resistance.
And, of course, all Troxus models come with a rear rack to carry what you need, as well as front and rear lights to keep you safe and seen.
