this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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Unrelated, but the pedaling cadence people have on ebikes bothers me. I'm always seeing folks in a high gear slowly pedaling. I'm like dude you're sacrificing watts! Pedal faster on a lower gear, you'll use the same energy but go faster.
I thought it was the other way around, where doing the higher force version results in higher efficiency, so you use more energy to achieve the same effect (when you use the lower gear and pedal more). It's easier to generate force but takes more energy to apply that force over the same diatance (because the converted distance you're applying it to on your end is longer).
The optimal method for range is basically PWM (pedal then pause and repeat) at the highest output that you can sustain (up to a limit, where both increased losses from the speed during bursts and from your muscles becomes too high)