Turbo Vs Eco Vs Tour: Cycling Power Mode Battle

A few months ago, Conor, Hank and Ollie took three Haibike e-bikes on a bikepacking adventure and loved it so much, they’re back for another challenge. As they can’t decide on which power mode is best, they have planned a route for a race. It’s turbo setting vs tour vs eco and it’s a whole lot of fun!
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[@gcn]

Did the results surprise you?

[@RYTHMICRIOT]

Absolutely. I was expecting Hank to deplete his battery near the halfway point and have the punishing task of riding the heavy machine with no assistance all the way back.

[@Sthilboy56]

Not much of a surprise , I try and ride over the 15.5 mph limit so you still are cycling hard and getting fit and the battery only cuts in every now and again

[@stuartmisfeldt3068]

Not really, since Connor is much heavier and Ollie was saving battery life by pushing above 25kph. What would have happened it they all would have to stay at their max battery output, or under 25kph?

[@llsudsll]

Why is Connor wearing a ski helmet? Lol. To be fair I can't say I haven't been considering it for the colder weather.

[@prestachuck2867]

I expected that exact finishing order, but I thought Hank would run out of battery with around ten miles to go…yes, and still beat Ollie.

[@simonparker3842]

Shoulda had Manon on a 4th one, able to switch between modes as she felt like as a comparison. Greta vid though!

[@paulworth70]

Another brilliant video. Brought my wife an ebike last year and she leaves me for dead on the hills, not good for my ego, but great for exercise. More seriously it's meant that we can ride out together on longer rides. She has a touch of arthritis in her knee and previously could only manage about 10 miles by which time she would be struggling and in pain, now we can ride out and do 20 joy filled miles no problem.

[@Neilhuny]

That is a great post! Cycling can be great for everyone nowadays

[@Pseudynom]

Connor is winning the style challenge.

[@Dinckelburg]

Where is the love?

[@izi941]

And also in general…we all love cycling, so being longer on the bike is better, more fun/joy 🤷

[@chkhamis101]

😁ebikes are brilliant, I have one and I have done 117km ( I live in Spain) with some serious hills. I use the bike for fitness,only using high power on big hills. Hopefully people can now see its not cheating, the motor bike /car is cheating. I could not do these distances on a normal bike with the hills in Spain. I am 61 years old.😉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇸

[@gcn]

Anything that gets more people out on bikes is great for cycling! Of course it's not cheating

[@darrenwarby32]

I live in Spain too with upto 12km climbs near me and I love getting out and about on my e mtb. And I'm 54 yes old . It's given me a new lease of life .

[@gcn]

Amazing to hear!

[@TimpBizkit]

You can if you have a low enough gear and can be bothered with the added time consumption of not having a motor, but for useful transport and avoiding the "Sod it I'm taking the car" decision, the motor is best. Also for busy roads where you have a queue of 5 mph cars behind you on the steep hill.

[@sanatandharma4435]

I live in Asturias and have not used my non electric bike much due to the hills. Now I am convinced I need to get an electric bike.

[@bakerhalI]

When Hank said he was "climbing like bloody Contadore", my first thought was that Ollie once dropped Contadore.

[@markowsley4954]

Loved the Top Gear on two wheels episode. These three are awesome. I would like to see a test between Connor and Manon over the same course. Have them both in the same mode and see how much battery life they have left at the end. This would be a great real world test showing the differences with rider weight and aerodynamics.

[@Seppster58]

What a brilliant video. I thoroughly loved this one. I would have never picked that the mode Ollie rode in would be the best on battery life. I have a gravel e-bike and now stoked on trying this challenge in each mode to see what is the best. GCN comes through again with another excellent segment!!

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it! let us know how your experiment goes

[@rohanscaysbrook3364]

Currently sitting in a flood ravaged area of Australia, I can think of nothing better then a long ride and a few beers with good mates. Great video. Really cheered me up. Thanks guys.

[@gcn]

Hope you're all ok and you can get back out on the roads soon!

[@philipbutler8958]

I’m an ebike owner and mechanic, I love it when customers say they mostly use eco but the diagnostic software says no😂. Only once has it been true to date. I sort of treat the three settings on my shimano steps like the three options of a triple chainset with eco being the big ring.

[@ingecan6331]

Is that Hank at 10:46?, is he charging the E-bike or something? Hahaha

[@robatkins6432]

I noticed this as well! I just thought they were all meeting up in Ceddar...

[@liamsutcliffe2846]

Glad I wasn’t the only one to see this.

[@izi941]

Camera crew maybe?

[@DKofDAH]

@@izi941 in Full bike cloth? Why would they? No. Think they all meet their and started according to their time getting there.

[@238949]

Good for Ollie seeing the plusses in e bikes and fitness, great video, loved it

[@JLW3113]

I loved this video. It was hilarious but also incredibly helpful. I think a lot of cyclist snobs have a tendency to look down their noses at e-bikes as nothing more than leisure commuters. Sure, they're great for folks who want to get into cycling for the first time, for folks who aren't in super great shape, for injured folks, etc. But, they are also great for experienced cyclists who just want to extend their ride! A great point was made about how the fitter you get, the less you have to rely on on the battery, which is truly a fantastic feature as its measurable. My gravel bike is an e-bike and though I would consider myself a fit person, I LOVE that I can spend twice as long out on the roads and trails since I didn't have to kill myself on climbs or if I want to ride out far and want to get back home quickly after demolishing my legs.

[@evanking920]

Besides the subtle humor, the beautiful scenery is unparalleled. Images that evoke poetry from Robert Browning. Production values, as always , are amazing. Great video....

[@gcn]

Thank you!

[@larter_larter]

Hank riding on the turbo setting was definitely a condition for him to be willing to participate in this video, wasn't it!? 😅

[@jessejamesv]

Can't believe Conor was a pro bike racer. He seems to never be in a hurry or competitive in anything.

[@onenotesolo256]

“Bloody hell, do you do a smaller block?” - made me properly laugh, and it’s a fair point!

[@bubblesezblonde]

Great vid ...actually I was impressed with the battery life of Hanks' machine.

[@gcn]

We were surprised how long it lasted

[@galenkehler]

He was running faster, so spent more time above the limit, thus using no power more often

[@ThisIsJoe07]

So great to see the how well Conor thinks of his colleagues… 😂 “One thing I wont’t call him, is smart” … of Hank 😁 “Probably (buy) something nerdy, like Stilton”… of Ollie 😁😁 stylish comments from the style winner 🍻

[@peternewton2200]

Cut to Hank riding with his hands on the forks 😳

[@gcn]

@@peternewton2200 Definitely not smart

[@andrei0525]

14:08 Hank: I‘m climbing like bloody Contador! Careful there Hank, Ollie dropped Contador

[@gcn]

👀

[@karlcycles4504]

15:31 Hank’ line “I’m cream crackered me”, so cheesy but pun-gent! 😂

[@rddoms9301]

I commute to work on an Ebike and waiting for my Cairn Brave which i called a Monster Gravel in June. Looking forward for my backpacking adventure on my ebike. Thanks GCN for featuring ebikes👍

[@gcn]

Thanks Ronald - where are you going bikepacking?

[@struancochrane753]

Olli Bridgewood in beast mode, great banter between the you boys.

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Relevant_Irrelevance]

And here I was, wondering when Hank will be in a video with the other GCN presenters again. Brilliant timing.

[@gcn]

They weren't going to get rid of him that easily

[@chrisridesbicycles]

I was sure that Hank would run out of battery. The batteries have got so good, it might even be a good idea to size down and save a bit of weight for better handling. Good that not all e-bikes are ridden by ex-pros and amazing light climbers. I overtook about a million of e-bikes in my 100k loop today. In the end, souplesse wins - with our without motor.

[@seanhalldorson1746]

I've been commuting with an ebike for the last month or so. And I agree with what they said. Cycling through the different modes is the best way to do it. Once I get to the second half of my trip to work, it's a gentle down slope with very few lights or stop signs. I typically turn my E-Assist off at that point.

[@hugothisway]

Interesting and entertaining. I have a road e bike for commuting. On a known route I build up knowledge of range. Harder to estimate range on new routes when there are so many factors as explained in the video. I agree that ebikes offer something to stronger riders as well as those who feel they need the assistance

[@tonyjenkins7733]

This was a fun video. I would like to see this race again on a 100 mile route instead as battery management would definitely come into play then. It shows how good the Haibike was on this challenge though.

[@lankyjeep8432]

I’d love to see a rerun of this a bit longer in length and one person stuck in Turbo one person stuck in touring mode, and one person allowed to use all the modes, it would be a good comparison on just how far you can stretch a battery if using it as they said at the end of the episode switching between everything vs the two methods that were quicker though like Ollie said he was going over the limiter he still had a ton of battery left, would be an interesting comparison between regular riding and being stuck in one mode

[@greyguy.960]

I just did a 30-mile cycle in the lake district with friends. I hired a 3k plus e-bike out from Keswick for 50 pounds to build in battery all the travel you need etc. We mostly did walkers roots up to two mountain passes. I found the bike I had made it incredibly easy. Even on a route where a normal couldn't get up. By the next day, all my friends ditched their normal bikes and hired out top e-bikes. It made it explore 4 times further than we could normally go and went up Scafell twice in one day just because we could. It's amazing how good these bikes are, takes a while to get used to the torque and weight but after 30 mins you riding like a normal bike but much much further and higher

[@TreyGruel]

"Cheese, Gromit!" Thank you, Hank! I was hoping for that!

[@__-bk6mm]

YES YES! The point you made around the 12:07 point is exactly how I feel when I ride my ebike, the assistance encourages you to go further and exercise more! ebikes are also amazing for mental health in the same way because the assitance gives you the motivation to ride!

[@kenblair2538]

Great video, GCN. I always look forward to these Sunday morning episodes, in the winter. Thanks

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ivansemanco6976]

I wanna see way home, especialy Hanks after he remained batery life. Thanks for video folks, very nice.

[@justinbouchard]

Absolutely love these guys. Conor at the end too saying he's gonna ride home definitely in turbo mode was awesome lol

[@LynnetteFishburn]

Great video! This friendly competition really showed how to effectively use the capabilities of an eBike

[@s0nofp2l]

I ride pretty much ch everywhere in tour, boosting up the steep hills in turbo. As a pretty fit cyclist anyway I tend, like Ollie, to be saving battery by riding just above the Max speed for assistance. The beauty is as I'm commuting I don't turn up all sweaty and I can lug all my kit about. Then at the end of the day I have the option of full gas turbo home if I want to save a few minutes.

[@danhasnedl_CZ]

Leaving a bike outside of the shop unlocked - this is when you realize you are watching a movie. In reality, this would be a half-way trip.

[@Songbirdstress]

I love how even the attitudes in the shop are spot on lol

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it! Are you an Ebike rider? 👀

[@Songbirdstress]

@@gcn Yes, have luxury bike packed. I'm like the last guy :) Except I use my "modes" like extra gears. Where I live it's very steep. So I've learnt to save my battery on the downhill parts. I practically never get fast enough for the cut off point...I average about 18km per hour in general.

[@CEUOTC]

E-bikes are underrated and an excellent way to keep fit. Currently nursing a dodgy left knee, however, I can smash out 60+ Km using 20% of a Swytch bike pro battery, as generally keeping over the legal limit and the motor does not kick in. (Also a more friendly way to cycle to work!). Great video all, very good work!

[@ToThePointCT]

I find tour mode perfect. Great battery life ,spot on assistance

[@MasticinaAkicta]

Cool race. Yeah, I always find all settings are useful. For obvious reasons. Eco is my most used setting, I don't need to win races, I do like though the bike to take away the little losses in speed you get without. It allows you to relax through flat city areas, still able to stop and go at traffic lights and adjust to the speed of the traffic just on your legs.

[@sybianorgasms5531]

I enjoyed this video very much. Next, do a video using a Specialized Turbo Creo because it is a TRUE ROAD eBIKE.

[@sanatandharma4435]

Brilliant! This has finally convinced me. Thank you.

[@knarf_on_a_bike]

"And I thought to myself, 'A little fermented curd will do the trick,' so, I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles!"

[@ColinBroderickMaths]

My ebike has a battery about a third of the size of this one, but still gets great range. It rides just like a normal bike so if you're reasonably fit you barely touch the battery, usually being over the 15.5 mph limit. On the day I got it I did a 70 mile ride with a massive mountain on the way there and the way back, and still had ~40% left in the battery!

[@johnking3863]

Commuting twenty plus miles a day it quickly became apparent pedalling a bit harder only shaved minutes off my journey but massively increased battery range.

[@renzlazatin677]

I think a better test for this would be a range that can zero out the touring mode battery. That way, you got an empty battery turbo-mode bike for the remaining 30-40% of the ride; an empty battery tour-mode bike for the remaining 10-15% of the ride; and a full ride bike on eco mode. See how they all fare

[@Tethysmeer]

Next time 150km. Would love to see hank suffer with a empty tank.

[@gcn]

Haven't we made him suffer enough already??! 🤣

[@nzmarty]

Great video. Very Top Gear. Enjoyed this thoroughly - visited Bath a few years ago and was nice to see it again.

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it! And Bath is great to visit!

[@MadTrapper1]

Ollie had a haircut. Means business!!

[@jacquelinesim9578]

My 3 favourites…. Oh and Si and Alex, Manon and Mark and anyone else I’ve not mentioned 🤣

[@richaw6689]

Another fun vid.. good to see you all in agreement at the end too!

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@fb19700101]

Hank does a mean Peter Sallis / Wallace impression - Aardman will be in touch!

[@mradelphi02]

Ollies hair! How is it so pristine!!

[@Mububban23]

The only people who dislike ebikes are people who've never ridden one. Anyone who has should immediately be able to see the benefits they offer in enticing people out of cars and onto two wheels. Even super fit roadies don't always want to turn up somewhere sweaty and wearing lycra. But because most common ebikes are very heavy, with heavier puncture proof tyres and basic non-performance rims, you *really* don't want to run out of battery mid-ride!

[@stoyanom86]

Doing this challenge with ex-pros (and Olly) distorts the outcomes, given that the support cuts out at 25km/h. A mortal would use the battery a lot more to keep at the max speed.

[@andreemurray7039]

Great show if it gets more people on bikes great e bike tech is getting much better and if switch between modes longer range awesome 👌

[@kennethward9530]

Need to test Hank's hands on fork supertuck versus Ollie's doggie paws on stem tuck in a wind tunnel...;-)

[@joshuahaslam3317]

On those bikes Ollie & Hank look like that guy who shows us to watch a football match in full kit.

[@pauldamian2988]

You guys should rerun this with one rider stuck in turbo, one rider allowed to switch between turbo and tour, and one rider with all three modes available.

[@hotsky83]

Awesome video. These guys are pretty funny.

[@slowturn5664]

Oh, Please! That was such Cheese! Another good show! Was fun to watch. Thanks 👍

[@chrisbaum998]

Great Video and challenge guys with e-bikes!

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it Chris!

[@sgtpepperz25]

the race should have been both ways!

[@timerd5173]

Hank in super tuck with a block of cheddar in his mouth... its this content that keeps me coming back to GCN :D

[@gcn]

Haha

[@richardluvsford7849]

That single pannier on Conner's was a big impediment as well.

[@misaelramos83]

12:00 Exactly. Let's think of eBikes as hybrids. Pedal electric hybrids. Pedelecs if you will.

[@Best-mx2of]

This is a great video really shows that you still have to work if you want to on an ebike.

[@gcn]

Absolutely! e-bikes are great for helping people stay fit , while assisting them to go further or up harder climbs than they would otherwise be able to

[@oadka]

Very useful video! Thanks The haibike is truly awesome!

[@gcn]

Glad you liked it!

[@scooty-puffjr5588]

I use my e bike like Ollie describes. If you have normal sized wheels, it is pretty straightforward to do 25kph where the motor cuts, so you just end up flying up hills and extending the battery. When some bright spark fits regenerative braking on bikes like electric cars it will be amazing.

[@hogroamer260]

I love the contrast of European motorists to American motorists! A vehicle closes in, then a line forms and that is the expectation!!! In the US, the cars would be blowing their horns, recklessly passing (likely within a couple feet of the cyclist) while waving with the middle finger. Two very different worlds.

[@DorDor400]

Would love to see the comparison of Tour Mode vs Tour + Mode. Massive differences between the two modes!

[@swites]

Was really funny a few rs ago had some tourists fly past us on the summit rd on their hire e-bikes. 10k's up the road the were off pushing their 25kg bikes as batteries had run out. Would have been great to explore our flat city, but not such a good idea to take them up 400m+ hills that I'm sure these ones weren't really designed for lol

[@towhee7472]

When I first had a Haibike as a rental, I was in Eco mode all day in order to not run out of energy. At the end of the day I returned a bike with 70 % charge left. LOL.

[@carlseddon2392]

Brill as always lads

[@gcn]

Thanks Carl!

[@fr3heart]

I appreciate the Monty Python Cheese Shop sketch reference, thank you.

[@gcn]

Glad someone picked up on that!

[@liferestarted]

Hank had beast mode!! He was relentless, don't think people took that into account lol!

[@jimmythelips]

When Connor was walking out of the cheese shop... Who was the person in GCN kit stood outside the door... Or just a coincidence 🤔🤔🤔 10m 45 if you wanna peek 🤣🤣

[@effyleven]

Very interesting. I had always thought the way to extend range was to ride too fast to need the assistance... and it seems I was right.

[@stephen_pfrimmer]

Cheese-shop music! Any Venezualan beaver cheese? Any Wensleydale? Cracking good episode!

[@immothep101]

10:45 Seing someone that looks an awful lot like Hank waiting outside the cheese shop kin of ruined the video for me lol

[@Gibbo63]

I went with Oli…hank smashed it though! These presenter challenges are great.

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it! We're all a little competitive here so presenter challenges are always fun to make

[@izi941]

We all love cycling…so being longer on the bike would be better, meaning more fun/joy 🤷 wouldn’t it?

[@boingboing1211]

Is that Hank waiting outside the shop when Connor is in there ? 👀 👀

[@artgreen6915]

Music for Connor at the cheese shop made me think of the Monty Python sketch.

[@francodellamura7471]

Great video!

[@gcn]

Thanks Franco!

[@JoeBManco]

I love my e-bikes. Haibike looks like a great brand, but they're more price than I'm willing to pay.

[@Darsithis]

Hank at the end, voice cracking, desperately praying he’s still ahead… 🤣🤣

[@gcn]

He was giving it his all

[@ChrisGuarraia]

Love these challenges!

[@gcn]

Glad you enjoyed it Chris - we love making them too!

[@dnomyarg32]

I imagine the low top speed regulated limit played into the turbo mode bike winning. With a higher regulated speed, turbo mode would be active much more, and lose range accordingly.

[@jascollinscork]

Great video guys very funny at the end….but Hank AND Ollie need to banned for using illegal UCI position 🤔😜😂

[@fimbles1015]

Yamaha motors have an auto support mode depending on torque and inclination it sets the required assist level itself.

[@trevejenkyn9888]

A nice video well done

[@929subsonic]

Nice Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross at 5.05

[@jade4805]

Great stuff guys, love it. Should use a drone for some quick overview comparison 😉

[@gcn]

That would be cool! And thank you :)

[@jayw900]

I'm glad you guys are doing more ebike content. Manual bikes are cool but a lot of the stuff you show and test isn't really relevant to me right now. Although at some point i'll also get a "normal" bike when i get in better shape.

[@manuelamichaela811]

Ollie put off the helmet and had a bloody perfect barnet 👌🤩

[@misteralexandre11]

hank on the back on conors buying the cheese scene

[@greigs9384]

I had the 45kph version. Riding around at speed was fantastic. I’ve never understood why we don’t go with the American 20mph assist limit opposed to our 15 one?

[@jackandrew3579]

Only Conner would do a race/challenge in civvies and have pannier on 🤣