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Anyone sacrifice range for a lighter wheel on purpose?


Sketch

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Hi guys,

 

I know most people here like to have maximum range with their wheel, but does anyone opt for a smaller battery? Does anyone desire the smaller battery just to keep the weight down or does it matter?  Just curious.

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I think it depends on the kind of riding you do. If 10 miles is a long ride I would opt for the smaller battery to save weight. I have a cheap wheel that gets about 6 miles. It probably weighs 20 pounds, and is great to keep in the trunk of the car, etc. I'll take it to the grocery store sometimes and throw it in the bottom of the shopping cart. So a small light wheel can have its place.

But when I'm out riding for fun I want range, or the option of range (I don't want to be second guessing whether I can make the trip). The wheels that have a lot of range are going to be heavier to begin with, so adding a couple more pounds for the big battery pack is a no-brainer for me. So now I'm always going to go for the biggest battery that I can get.

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I started with a 260Wh battery and due to some fortunate circumstances got to upgrade it to 520Wh. I liked that the max range went from about 15 miles to 30 miles, but yeah that extra weight is no fun at all. I definitely don't think I would get a bigger battery for a new EUC even if one was offered. We need lighter batteries!

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@Sketch I am definitely one of those who prefer weight over range. I use the wheel mostly for fun, and typically don't need more than 20-25 km for a single session. I also like control the most - therefore the agility of the wheel is very important to me. The 2 factors affecting the wheel's maneuverability and agility are size and weight. I'm currently using Gotway mcm2s and among my dream wheels are Inmotion V5F+ and V8 (due to their relatively low weight and quite reasonable range at the same time).

At the same time, I'm a big fan of KS18 - but I used it for entirely different purpose during my vacation at White Salmon, WA. There are so many nice small roads and trails there available to explore the area, gravel roads, unpaved primitive roads, forest trails, etc. For this type of activity - the heavy KS18 with lots of power for heels and off-road  feels a lot more preferable. 

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@Sketch, if I could choose between a 9kg wheel with 30km range and 15kg wheel with 100km range, it would be a no-brainer for me: the first would win hands down without any hesitation. It might be a different situation if I already had a 9kg wheel with 30km range :P

In my decision making weight is a bigger factor than battery size. I would be much more excited to see a wheel which weighs 5kg (1/2 of what we have now) on the market than to see a wheel with a range of 150km (2 times of what we have now). Apart from added weight, larger batteries also raise the price quite significantly.

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