{"id":361,"date":"2018-07-29T03:47:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T03:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=361"},"modified":"2018-07-29T04:53:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T04:53:44","slug":"getting-my-kicks-on-route-66","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/07\/29\/getting-my-kicks-on-route-66\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting my kicks, on Route 66…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Route 66 from Slick’s cockpit…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is Phase II of our CSC City Slicker range testing.\u00a0 Phase I<\/a> examined how the bike performed in the Eco mode. In this phase, today I tested the bike\u2019s range in the Power mode.<\/p>\n

Bottom line first: The bike went further then Zongshen said it would. Zongshen claimed the bike would go 37 miles at 37 mph. I managed to go\u00a0 40.7 miles when starting with a 100%-charged battery.\u00a0 I attribute that to the fact that part of the course I ran today had a gradual downhill slope.<\/p>\n

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The next big thing…the newest bike in America on the grandest road in America: The CSC City Slicker on Route 66!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a lot more to this test than what I did in the Eco mode testing. I should start out by telling you that this was not a test run on a perfectly flat, uninterrupted test track (I\u2019m pretty sure if I did that I would have managed to get even a few more miles out of Slick). Nope, this was real world testing on American roads. In fact, I\u2019d say it was real world testing on what is arguably the most famous road in America: Route 66.\u00a0 (Cue in the theme music from the \u201860s TV show, Route 66<\/em>).\u00a0 It was that cool. Call me Todd. Arjiu can be Buzz. All we\u2019d need is the Corvette.\u00a0 But I digress…back to the main attraction.<\/p>\n

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Power mode, Amigo! It’s like kicking in the afterburners!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, I live a little over 16 miles east of CSC at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. My home is at 1700 feet above sea level. CSC, from my home, is headed toward the ocean, and that means a gentle downhill slope all the way. CSC sits about 610 feet above sea level. You might wonder why all the topological details, and here\u2019s the reason: I found during my Eco mode testing that Slick uses less energy going downhill than it does going uphill. The bike covered about a mile for each 1% of battery charge going downhill, and about 0.4 miles for each 1% of battery charge going uphill. One of the things I wanted to find out in today\u2019s Power mode testing is how the bike would perform from an energy consumption perspective in the Power mode, going downhill and then uphill.<\/p>\n

I guess I ought to point out that I had a difficult time staying at 37 mph during this test, which is the speed for which Zongshen provided the range statistic.\u00a0 Every time I wasn\u2019t really paying attention, I found myself going 42 or 43 mph (and those higher speeds use more energy). It was a challenge watching the road, watching the battery charge indicator, watching the mileage, and recording the data on my high-tech data logging system.<\/p>\n

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The ExhaustNotes.us high-tech data logger…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bottom line here is I probably penalized the bike a little because I spent more time than I thought I would above 37 mph.<\/p>\n

Oh, and in case you’re wondering what’s magical about 37 mph, I\u2019m only hanging on that number because that\u2019s the data point Zongshen gave us for range and speed in the Power mode: 37 miles at 37 mph.\u00a0 And in case you\u2019re wondering why Zongshen picked the number 37, they really weren\u2019t being cute about it.\u00a0 Zongshen\u2019s real magic number was 60.\u00a0 37 miles at 37 mph is 60 km at 60 kph.\u00a0 They’re on the metric system.<\/p>\n

To cut the chase, here are the results…<\/p>\n

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Lots of good info. The top line with the yellow dots was the ride out. The bottom line with the green dots was the ride home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know that\u2019s a complicated chart, but hey, I\u2019m an engineer, and there\u2019s a lot going on here. Let me explain it a bit.<\/p>\n

I only recorded the data with each 5% decrease in battery charge for this test. I was moving a lot faster than I was in the Eco mode test, and I didn\u2019t want to try to capture data points with every 1% decrease in battery charge.<\/p>\n

The top line (the one with the yellow data points) was my ride out to CSC and beyond. It was downhill for the first 16.4 miles (from my home to the CSC plant).\u00a0 Starting with a 100% battery charge, my ride to the CSC plant took me down to 65% charge remaining.\u00a0 Stated differently, I used 35% of the battery charge to get from my place to CSC.\u00a0 I was impressed.\u00a0 If I was still a working stiff this would be a cool commuter bike.<\/p>\n

I wanted to run the battery all the way down until the bike quit, and that meant I kept riding back and forth between Azusa, through Duarte, and into Monrovia.\u00a0 Those are the yellow data points on the upper line after reaching the CSC plant. I kept doing that until the battery hit 30% charge remaining (at which point the red plug to the left of the charge indicator started flashing, just as it had in the Eco mode test).<\/p>\n

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The dashboard battery charge indicator. The red plug lights when the bike is being charged by the external charger. It will start flashing when the charge level gets down to 30% while you are riding the motorcycle. It also lights up during regenerative braking.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I got down to 15%, the bike went into its \u201climp home\u201d mode again, just as it had in the Eco mode. When this happens, it accelerates much more gradually (that’s a gentle way of saying Slick is getting tired), and the bike tops out at about 20 mph.<\/p>\n

I kept going in the CSC parking lot, riding in circles until the bike hit 6% charge remaining. I rode for another 0.4 miles at 6% charge when Slick called it a day. I watched to see if it would indicate 5% just before giving up the ghost, but I didn\u2019t see that on the dash. I think when the bike drops from 6% to 5%, you don\u2019t get to see it indicate 5%, but that\u2019s where it quits.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, I blew right through Zongshen\u2019s claimed 37 mile range. I made it to 40.7 miles. And, as I mentioned in the Eco mode test, the odometer is about 5% pessimistic, so the indicated 40.7 miles is actually 42.7 miles. This is good, folks.\u00a0 Again, though, the fact that I went more than 37 miles is at least partly due to the fact that this leg of the test was slightly downhill.<\/p>\n

I mentioned in the specs that the bike has regenerative braking. When that occurs, the red plug to the left of the battery charge bar illuminates. I never actually got it to cause the indicated charge percentage to increase, though. If it was at, say, 67% and it went into a regenerative braking mode, there wasn\u2019t enough regeneration going on to bump it back up to 68%. The bike is obviously consuming less energy and it is charging, but not enough to register on the numerical percentage indicator. You do see the charge bar go up sharply (it swings to the right) while the red charging plug flickers on during deceleration. It\u2019s cool.\u00a0 You feel like you’re giving something back.<\/p>\n

The other thing I could not discern is how the algorithm operates the regeneration function. It seemed to me that the regeneration light came on while I was decelerating as my speeds dropped below about 10 mph and I was braking. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s because there\u2019s a lag between when the regeneration actually starts and when it is displayed on the dash, or if Zongshen has programmed something into the bike to prevent too much regeneration. I\u2019m emailing them to find out, and I\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n

My big disappointment today? \u00a0 There was only one:\u00a0 When I got to CSC, all the burritos were gone. Saturday is burrito day at CSC. But I\u2019m still young, and I\u2019ve been working on handling disappointment.<\/p>\n

Steve had a freshly charged battery waiting for me, and I wanted to do a video of the battery removal. One of the guys following the ExhaustNotes blog asked for that, so here you go…<\/p>\n