Canberra to Melbourne electric bike ride
Recently the Glow Worm crew decided to put our electric bicycles to the test and ride almost 700kms from Canberra to Melbourne where we held a stall for the Ausbike Expo. Robin, a Wisper owner in Canberra kindly saw us off on a windy but sunny morning, accompanying us from The Old Parliament House to the Barton Highway. The bikes from left to right: The Kona Ute, a cargo bike with eZee electric conversion kit, Robin's Wisper 905, the Wisper 706 Alpino, the eZee Quando folding electric bike, and the eZee Torq. Thank you Robin for taking the wind, and giving a sense of occasion to the start of our trip. Happy electric cycling!
The Silver Happy Pants act as a parachute for headwinds, a sail for tailwinds.... unfortunately today was a headwind, with rain to cheer the spirits. After 70kms of pedaling and motoring even on downhills against the ferocious winds and wet, we decided to call it a day and spent the night in a cabin in Yass.
Daytime battery charging was at info centres or cafes. With 4 days left until the expo and only 70km covered , the four riders needed all the battery power we could get. In the morning we were greeted with frost-covered seats, fortunately the bikes were unharmed and off we went.
The next 4 days were much better weather, with occasional rain and mostly mild to medium headwind. We needed to cover an average of 150km a day, with the biggest day being 180km from Chiltern to Seymour. Aiko managed a 170km day on the little folding eZee Quando. Not bad for her first touring effort! We found that electric bikes were a great way to allow everyone to pedal at their own pace but still stick together in a group. The distance we could get from a single 10ah battery ranged from 25km when used constantly on full throttle (when we were in a big hurry) to 80km (when conditions and fitness were good).
We had a total of 7 punctures, one throttle failure and 4 sore bums on our trip. Thank you to all who lent a power outlet on the way.
Want to see more photos of our Canberra to Melbourne ebike ride? Check out our flickr page.
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- @chuanp Story of Canberra re distances. Ebike of course is the answer :) — 31 min 2 sec ago
- @bikemelbourne Cars are dangerous. Drivers therefore can be dangerous or more dangerous — 1 hour 14 sec ago
- @CycleTerrorist @bikemelbourne +1 blaming only 'dangerous drivers' misses the point. The space given to all drivers endangers cycling — 1 hour 57 sec ago
- @chuanp And how is Canberra? — 1 hour 7 min ago
- @chuanp Ive used ROK straps for roof rack tie downs. Do they make bicycle specific ones? Length is important to suit pannier rack size — 1 hour 7 min ago
Where can I get some silver
Where can I get some silver happy pants like Jeremy's?
You can't find the silver
You can't find the silver happy pants, the silver happy pants have to find you.
Hi folks, thanks for the
Hi folks, thanks for the report on the ride, and well done! It was great to catch up with you guys in Canberra and share part of the ride. My return trip that morning worked out to 46 kms. I don't have a cycle analyst but I measured the battery voltage as 36.4V when I arrived back home which inclines me to think the green/amber /red battery lights err on the conservative side, and I reckon the 14AH battery on the 905 SE Sports would have gotten me through to Yass OK in spite of the headwinds, which left me wishing I had gone that far with you and stayed overnight in Yass.
Kilometres covered on the Wisper 905 now closing in on 5,000 kms of pure enjoyment and fun - a big recommend to anyone thinking about getting into electric bikes!
Cheers,
Robin
Thanks Robin! Was great to
Thanks Robin! Was great to meet you too. Our Wispers arrive in around 2 weeks so hopefully you'll be spotting them around Canberra time as the weather warms up!
It sure was a windy day, so thanks again for the windbreak. We used two 8Ah batteries getting to Yass so it may have been a close call for your 14Ah. It's amazing what a wind can do, two days later we went 170km on the same two batteries with less effort than the first day's 70km to Yass!
Maurice
Hi Glow Worm, Really enjoyed
Hi Glow Worm,
Really enjoyed the account of the ride to Melbourne. Real world examples are very interesting.
It was a beneficial workout
It was a beneficial workout for me to go through your webpage. It definitely stretches the limits with the mind when you go through very good info and make an effort to interpret it properly.