Bristol Show

[Alan Quay]

A rear wheel conversion will be a little harder/more complex, but you should be ok.

 

[trex]

A rear wheel conversion will be a little harder/more complex, but you should be ok.

nah. Rear wheel is easier to fit than front wheel, you only need to spend £10 on the tool you'll need to whip the freewheel or cassette out.
Then it's no different than fitting a front wheel.
I just don't understand why people bother with front wheel conversions. In 99% of cases, the fork on the donor bike cannot support anything more than a weedy SWX motor.

 

[Alan Quay]

nah. Rear wheel is easier to fit than front wheel, you only need to spend £10 on the tool you'll need to whip the freewheel or cassette out.
Then it's no different than fitting a front wheel.
I just don't understand why people bother with front wheel conversions. In 99% of cases, the fork on the donor bike cannot support anything more than a weedy SWX motor.

I'm not saying it's hard, just more to think about. Cassette/freewheel and toolong, Dishing, breaking spokes and weight distribution all need to be considered.

Having done four of five of each I can say that the fronts were more straight forward.

 

[trex]

true enough, but none of these skills are difficult to learn - trueing and dishing: that depends on where you get your kit from. Breaking spokes: also depends on where you get your kit from. Weight distribution: depends on the battery.
Take for example the Woosh CST kit, the wheel is trued by their staff, in Southend not China, the battery is on the downtube. A front kit does not suffer from broken spokes but you still have to keep it true.

 

[Alan Quay]

Just wanted to be sure that Denwyn knows what he's letting himself in for.

Of the bikes I have built, I retain 4. One Front SWX, one Rear SWX, one Front Q100, and one rear Bafang CST.

My favorite bike to ride is the Front Q100, because I like the balanced feel, and the 4 speed Hub.

Personally, I think if you are on road with a low powered motor, it makes little difference.

 

[trex]

the Q100 seems like a good compromise. Does it need torque arms and where do you put the battery?

 

[Alan Quay]

No torque arms, but I have steel forks (No sus, balloon tire).

That said, I also ran the same motor in SR Suntour forks for about 1300 miles, likewise no torque arms, just those anti-rotation washers. I Probably wouldn't do it again though.

Battery in both cases on the back rack, 20ah.

 

[mike killay]

What about this new two speed hub motor?

 

[trex]

how was the Bristol Show?

 

[D8ve]

Some nice bikes excellent weather. And a crank drive that would beat D8vehs two speed.
Mind you that's a nice bike for a fiver.

 

[trex]

he's probably spent £100-£120 on it - new bottom bracket, new cranks, new pedals, new hydraulic brakes, lights.
can anyone upload pictures?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The Oxygen bike was as a good as I had heard. It won the World Championships with rank amateur rider. It was definitely set to 15.5 mph because I checked it. It has very good torque, which helped in the final because the risers had already completed four knock-out heats, so were knackered. It has 27 1/2" wheels, hydraulic brakes, cassette motor (Bafang), Lovely LCD and 13 aH high discharge rate battery. Everybody that rode it liked it. Here's some photos:





Here's a couple of new bikes that I thought were interesting. Freego light-weight minimalist:



Powabyke MTB, which has a cassette motor too. It was 120mm size - possibly a MXUS:

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I also had a go on the KTM with the Panasonic hub-motor. It was very nice to ride because it had plenty of power and nice power algorithms. It was much easier to get the power you wanted than with a Bosch because it didn't care too much which gear you were in, so if you got caught in too high a gear, you could just pedal, and the motor would sort things out. If I were in the market for this sort of bike, I'd get one rather than a Bosch.

 

[pdarnett]

Had a great day yesterday, thanks to D8veh for spending a long time chatting with me and letting me have a go on his two speed! I agree that the Oxygen bike was the best there, great power delivery and fun! Also rode the new A2B Shima, very nice but still prefer my Metro. Also bumped into D8ve on his recumbent and had a good chat.

 

[Trevor George]

I live locally, so it was a 10 minute ride to the show, and fortunately I happened across "d8veh" on my travels, so learned a huge amount about e-Bikes in 10 minutes. I've reposted the link to this thread on the "Electric Bikes in Bristol" Facebook Group I have set up, and I hope Dave doesn't mind, but I've 'borrowed' his image to illustrate the winner of the uphill drag-race on my Group, at -> www.fb.com/photo.php?fbid=10152108704055810
It was a brilliant day, thanks to the hard work by Al McHardy of our local "Atmosphere Electric Bikes" shop in setting up the whole event -> www.electricbikes.org.uk

 

[Deleted member 4366]

That's the sort of ebike I like to see. I was surprise at how many other utilitarian ebikes there were around Bristol.

 

[Trevor George]

Thanks "d8veh" . . . there's quite a good scene in utilitarian / cargo bikes going on in Bristol as we have some self-build enthusiasts, and coupled with the recent parking restrictions (and good weather) it has persuaded people to go shopping by bike, as I have this morning.
More local info on my website -> www.onmybike.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I think that your Mayor is doing a great job. I'm wondering whether somebody has put him up to it as an experiment to see how a city can discourage cars and encourage other means of transport. I went to see my friend in Bristol after the show. He only has a car, and he was having a right moan about all the changes, especially the parking restrictions.

 

[Trevor George]

I did think of converting a bike with motor

I bought the basic sub £400 CycloTricity conversion kit and I am extremely happy with it. It's been ridden hard off-road, down flights of steps, and up all the steep hils in Bristol, and nothing has broken despite the battery-pack getting a real hammering

 

[Marchant]

Absolutely cracking day out! I would strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in ebikes. I had a go on the Oxygen mtb and it was amazing, no surprise at all that it won the race.