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120 km on KS-18XL


Seba

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Dear friends,

I've been testing the KS-18XL recently, which I bought with the longest rides in mind. In June I'm planning a trip during which I'm going to go from the north to the south of Poland - to the border with Slovakia. In total, I will ride for over 750 km, making about 110 km per day. Before this will happen, I have to get to know this wheel as much as possible to avoid "surprises" later on.

In the first of my tests I drove about 77 km on one charge. Low ambient temperature (about 2-3 °C) was the factor that naturally limited the maximum range of the wheel. Last Sunday I made another range test, during which I rode about 67 km, including a charging stop for about half an hour. This time I had to struggle with a strong front wind and I still kept the speed of 30 - 35 km/h. So significantly lowered range shouldn't be surprise to anyone.

This Saturday the weather is supposed to be very favorable - definitely spring is near :) Forecasts predicts a sunny day with temperatures about 10-11 °C and relatively weak wind from west. I couldn't miss that opportunity, so I planned another test ride - this time it will be about 120 km long. It will be my longest single ride to date on an EUC. Of course, at least one longer stop for recharging will be a must. This time I'm going to ride with the wind, I'm also going to go a bit slower - about 30 km/h. I'm very curious how it will impact the range. 

You will be able to follow my journey live on the map - https://najednymkole.pl/en/on-tour/ - now it shows my last Sunday ride. Start is planned at about 9:00 CET (+1 GMT) on 16 February from railway station at Slupsk. I will be heading to Gdansk. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

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Cool Beans! I am planning a single day 164 km ride in June. I don't ride at night so the ride has to be completed between sunrise and sunset. I will therefore attempt it close to the Summer Equinox. I will be riding a KS18L with rider weight ~ 108 kg. I will need to do a full charge twice. I look forward to following your ride. I am especially interested in real-time tracking. Good Luck this Saturday!

 

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1 hour ago, Seba said:

You will be able to follow my journey live on the map - https://najednymkole.pl/en/on-tour/ - now it shows my last Sunday ride. Start is planned at about 9:00 CET (+1 GMT) on 16 February from railway station at Slupsk. I will be heading to Gdansk. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

I'm on it man. You're getting me pumped up for the 170km "OD on EUC" tour we are planning for DC Glydiators in the Spring. 

I think that I am actually getting closer to deciding to actually doing the DC to Key West ride so I can join the elite long-distance EUC club 😀👍

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37 minutes ago, Jerome said:

Cool Beans! I am planning a single day 164 km ride in June. I don't ride at night so the ride has to be completed between sunrise and sunset. I will therefore attempt it close to the Summer Equinox. I will be riding a KS18L with rider weight ~ 108 kg. I will need to do a full charge twice. I look forward to following your ride. I am especially interested in real-time tracking. Good Luck this Saturday!

 

On our 170km tour I am planning 3 charge stops which will add 5 to 6 hours depending on the size of the group, wheel model range, and the number of fast chargers available.

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13 hours ago, Jerome said:

Cool Beans! I am planning a single day 164 km ride in June. I don't ride at night so the ride has to be completed between sunrise and sunset. I will therefore attempt it close to the Summer Equinox. I will be riding a KS18L with rider weight ~ 108 kg. I will need to do a full charge twice. I look forward to following your ride. I am especially interested in real-time tracking. Good Luck this Saturday!

 

164 km is really really a big challenge - respect! :thumbup: I found the most limiting factor is the charging process. Until recently I though that 6 Amps charger will be OK, but after my last rides I'm not fully satisfied. 6 amps is about 20 km per each hour of charging. It's safe to assume that KS-18XL have 80 km of usable range (not including struggling with throttling, ugly beeps/messages and tiltbacks during remaining 10 kms). I've just ordered 10 Amp charger to further shorten the charging time, so I can spend more daytime on riding :w00t2:

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28 minutes ago, Seba said:

164 km is really really a big challenge - respect! :thumbup: I found the most limiting factor is the charging process. Until recently I though that 6 Amps charger will be OK, but after my last rides I'm not fully satisfied. 6 amps is about 20 km per each hour of charging. It's safe to assume that KS-18XL have 80 km of usable range (not including struggling with throttling, ugly beeps/messages and tiltbacks during remaining 10 kms). I've just ordered 10 Amp charger to further shorten the charging time, so I can spend more daytime on riding :w00t2:

Amd you can dual charge the KS18XL with both 6 and 10 amp chsrger.

But if I got it right you will need to slow charge the battery every 10ish time to maintain battery cell balance.

Keep us entertained with more stories of you journeys. 😃

Now I got helmet fitted with BT intercom system last night, I am going to test the Komoot app for trail exploration more.

It has 7 hours use at a standad charge of 2.5 hours, standard usb slow charger.

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2 minutes ago, Unventor said:

Amd you can dual charge the KS18XL with both 6 and 10 amp chsrger.

Max total charging current is 10 Amps for KS-18L and for KS-18XL. It would be also impractical to carry two chargers in backpack - each brick is 2 kgs and 21x10x7 cm in size. One 10 Amps will be enough :)

6 minutes ago, Unventor said:

But if I got it right you will need to slow charge the battery every 10ish time to maintain battery cell balance.

Exactly. When during ride I will charge the wheel with high current (up to but not always 10 Amps) to shorten charging, but when charging overnight I will use small current of about 2 Amps.

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13 hours ago, Lutalo said:

I'm on it man. You're getting me pumped up for the 170km "OD on EUC" tour we are planning for DC Glydiators in the Spring. 

With your XL you can do it easily. And I'm pretty sure that with the spring just behind the corner you'll be tempted more and more often by the challenge of a long expedition :whistling:B)
 

13 hours ago, Lutalo said:

I think that I am actually getting closer to deciding to actually doing the DC to Key West ride so I can join the elite long-distance EUC club 😀👍

And this is a challenge I wish you to succeed! I will keep my fingers crossed for your plan and its success. DC to the southest part of Florida - over 2 000 km on an EUC. Cool! :efefae4566:

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I did it! I rode 122 km (according to the GPS, wheel reported almost 150 km) during 5 hrs and 17 minutes, plus 2 hrs and 20 mins for rest and charge. Weather was exceptional as for a half of February. Now I'm eager for more!!! :w00t2::w00t2::w00t2:

seba_slupsk.thumb.jpg.2609a7f260f1b4dff46089286ef4c22e.jpg

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