Patent ID: 6957129

Claim:
A control unit for a motor-assisted vehicle including a manual powered drive system for transmitting a manual drive force to rear wheel and a motor drive system for transmitting a motor drive force by a motor to said rear wheel, said control unit comprising: means for detecting that said vehicle has started a pedaling operation; means for detecting an actual running resistance of a vehicle; means for controlling and generating an assist drive force corresponding to the actual running resistance of said vehicle, wherein said means for controlling and generating increases the drive force generated by said motor drive system at a start of a pedaling operation of said vehicle; means for detecting a vehicle speed change amount for a predetermined period of time; and means for detecting a total drive force obtained by adding the assist drive force of said motor to the manual drive force for the predetermined period of time; wherein the actual running resistance is calculated as a function of the vehicle speed change amount to the total drive force.