CobyRupert
Super Member
If you want another simple test get a 10 speed bike and see how it handles the grades...when I use to ride one soon learned how to down shift or strain very hard on slopes.
Yes! Nothing like 1st hand (or leg) experience!
There’s three concepts to be aware of: Energy, (horse)power, and torque. 4, if you include time.
It takes the same amount of ENERGY to climb a hill no matter how much horsepower, how fast / how much time it takes, or how much torque (the 10 speed’s chain and your legs (the motor) experience).
(Horse)power is just a measure of how fast you burnt that energy. Hp=Energy/time. If you climbed hill in 1/2 time as another person, your horsepower output was 2x the other persons.
As every 10 speed bike rider knows, Torque is the tension the chain, and your (motor) legs, are experiencing. ICE motors and your legs have a maximum output. This we have to pick a gear and rpm that doesn’t exceed this. This determines maximum climbing speed.
So, if you want to climb the hill (Energy) in the same amount of time (same horsepower), in 10th gear as in 1st gear, your torque has to be off the charts, while your rpms are minimal. You won’t have the strength and will stall. Conversely, in 1st gear, your rpms are off the chart, and the chain is experiencing very little tension. You will blow the motor or your heart.
Basically, or theoretically, any horsepower motor can pull any load up any hill if you have enough mechanical advantage (“low gears”) and an infinite amount of time to go that slow.
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