Advise regarding kit choice please.

[SCL]

Hi all, having decided 4 days ago that I am going to start riding to work rather than get a new car when mine goes off lease in 2 weeks time and for other reasons. I have done the journey a couple of times on my MTB and know my fitness level needs some electrical assistance to make happen everyday in a reasonable time scale.
Having read through a lot of different posts on here since Friday when I discovered this wonderful forum I have changed my view from just buy a cheap! new e bike around the £1000 mark and hope it does what i need which sounds unlikely from reading a lot of posts on here!, or to convert my 2009 Diamond Back Sorrento hard tail mtb which is in good condition with a lot of upgrades done over the years. ( I like to modify most things, not very good at leaving things as standard )
So time scale to get parts and fit etc is 2 weeks which I assume will discount the BMS options that seem favourable on here due to delivery times?
So I am looking at a 26inch wheel rear hub drive (if my general reading on here is correct that it is a better option than front wheel drive?)
It seems UK stock availability seems to be limited at present where I have been looking but have found this 250/500w kit from Cyclotricity on the powerbikes site which going by the details on the site will fit my bike fine.
https://powerbikes.uk/shop/conversion-kit/dual-power-250500w-switchable-conversion-kit-rear-wheel-motor/
with the PA and torque arms, and either a 14ah totalling £594 or at a push the 21ah which works out at £694
Is this a okay kit or is there more better options available in my time scale for delivery etc?
My route is mixed road, cycle paths, gravel paths, country lanes and even a few bridal ways depending which route I take.
The distance is 12.5 - 13 miles each way and I am a 44 yr old male 5'10" and 100kg and not the fittest anymore. The elevation chart of my average route is below if that helps?
Charging the battery at work is not an issue and as I tend to work 10-16 hours a day it will have plenty of time to charge which is more than I can say for my legs and fitness after my shift!!.



Many thanks in advance for any help and advise.
Steve.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I guess you mean the large heavy direct drive kit. If your main requirement is to get a kit quickly, go ahead with it. That kit will not get you up many steep hills. They're very inefficient when running slowly and lack the torque a 100kg rider needs for hill-climbing. They're very good when you can run them constantly above 20 mph, where they become more efficient. Avoid if you have stop-start type journey or want to ride legally.

 

[SCL]

Thanks for the reply and advise d8veh. Naturally I would rather spend my money on something that was suitable for my needs so I will give that kit a miss. Back to the drawing board and more research I guess.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I can give some general advice based on my 30 mile a day return commute. Everything about your commute is similar to mine - distance, rider weight, hills etc, so I can relate very well to what you want/need.

Anything faster than about 22 -24 mph is nor very pleasant on a bicycle. It's not at all relaxing because your tyres and brakes are on their limit and cars etc, don't recognise your speed, so they still cut you up and pull out on you all the time. In the rain, you'd be riding on your nerves. Also, higher speed means higher battery consumption, so you need a bigger heavier battery that get's you away from the pleasant cycling experience of a light bike.

Nearly all the off-the shelf 250w kits are a bit weak on hill-climbing power for a 100kg rider and are not really powerful enough for sustained 20 mph or more, but the same motors with 48v instead of 36v give 30% more speed and torque, and don't have any problem running at the higher voltage provided you don't run them close to stalling speed for very long, which probably wouldn't happen because they have more torque to get you up the hills.

At the moment, nobody provides an off-the-shelf 48v kit, though Woosh might have one soon, so give them a call, otherwise you make your own kit by buying the motor and controller from China. If you look at what I have, it would be perfect for that commute. I can cruise at around 22mph without much pedal effort or at about 24 mph if I pedal harder and I'm only using a 14A controller, though I'd recommend the 20A one if you want to make the hills easy. I have the Q128C motor. For simplicity, we'll say it's the 48v 328 rpm one. I have a 14A 6FET KT Sine wave controller that makes the motor silent and smooth, and an 11.6Ah 48v Dolphin battery, which gives a range from 20 miles up to 100 miles, depending on how hard I pedal. for your commute with normal pedalling at an average of say 20 mph, I would expect a range of about 25 miles. The whole bike weighs about 20kg.



Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to keep taking the battery off because you can burn the terminals, so maybe a 15Ah one would be better. Mine's 3 years old and cells have improved capacity since then so a 15Ah one would be the same weight and size. You can get good batteries from Eclipse Bikes at more or less the same price as the Chinese ones.

You need puncture proof tyres, like Schwalbe Marathon plus, which don't have much grip, so you need good brakes. I'd recommend hydraulic discs. It's not about stopping power, but more about the control of the braking force. On slippery salty winter roads with dodgy tyres, the last thing you want is grabby brakes.

I'm assuming that you want to go faster than the legal limit. If you don't, then the only difference from the above is that you want a low speed motor (48v 201 rpm) rather than a high speed one.

In the first place, I used a very basic ready-made ebike with a 9Ah 36v battery. It was OK at the time, but the journey took about 75 minutes. I then went to 500w geared motor with a 20Ah 36v battery, which could do it in 50 minutes. What I have now is faster, more efficient and a lot more pleasant. I guess that just about anything would be OK. It's just a question whether or how much more you want it to be better than OK, and what you consider better.

 

[Powerbikes]

These kits climb hills perfectly fine I found. I have some pretty steep ones round here that they have no problem with. Not that I've tested them with a 100kg rider though. However D8veh is right in saying these are more efficient at the higher speeds and they are quite large and heavy. If you keep it in the 250w setting then it is perfectly legal unless you have the throttle fitted.

I have plenty of happy customers using these kits, some using for a 20 mile commute which include long steep hills.
I'm not saying it is the perfect kit for you but it will certainly do the trick.

There is also a 48v version here is you wanted more torque.
https://powerbikes.uk/shop/conversion-kit/dual-power-2501000w-switchable-conversion-kit-rear-wheel-motor/

I'd actually like to find out how you would get on with this kit on the terrain you have there. So if you did go ahead with it please let me know and post your findings here and I will offer 60 day returns if it turns out to be unsuitable.

Richard

 

[SCL]

That is a very good reply d8veh and has got me looking in the right direction. Not too bothered about going at light speed but a little extra over the 15mph never goes a miss at times, but yes it was mainly torque for hills I was worried about and you have steered me in the right direction.
Thanks for the heads up on tyre choice and I had been looking at those exact ones but was getting a little bewildered by the vast choice nowadays as not had to buy tyres for about 8 years due a good stock of Schwalbe nobbly nics and racing ralphs that i got very very cheap for 6 sets for under £100 back then which has kept me going.
Brakes are already covered and converted a while back.
Not sure if I am going to try and find a way to increase my time scale allowance to allow importing from china and building a kit or settle for something sourced from the uk for now to get me by for a while as any electrical assistance might be better than nothing.
I have been pointed towards the new Woosh Bafang SWX02 48V 250W 26in Rear Hub Kit WITH 48V 12AH Battery ? If you have any thoughts on this before I go surfing and searching with my new shopping list?

 

[SCL]

Thank you for your reply and offer Richard and I have not totally made my mind up which way I am going yet, but I do think the 1000w beast is a bit large and hungry for me, but happy to give it a free months road test and review if you would like
Again thanks and I do the like your website and might be looking at one of your kits or bikes for the much lighter wife in the not too distant future.

 

[soundwave]

That is a very good reply d8veh and has got me looking in the right direction. Not too bothered about going at light speed but a little extra over the 15mph never goes a miss at times, but yes it was mainly torque for hills I was worried about and you have steered me in the right direction.
Thanks for the heads up on tyre choice and I had been looking at those exact ones but was getting a little bewildered by the vast choice nowadays as not had to buy tyres for about 8 years due a good stock of Schwalbe nobbly nics and racing ralphs that i got very very cheap for 6 sets for under £100 back then which has kept me going.
Brakes are already covered and converted a while back.
Not sure if I am going to try and find a way to increase my time scale allowance to allow importing from china and building a kit or settle for something sourced from the uk for now to get me by for a while as any electrical assistance might be better than nothing.
I have been pointed towards the new Woosh Bafang SWX02 48V 250W 26in Rear Hub Kit WITH 48V 12AH Battery ? If you have any thoughts on this before I go surfing and searching with my new shopping list?

http://shop.crystalyte-europe.com/product.php?productid=16589&cat=313&page=1

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I have been pointed towards the new Woosh Bafang SWX02 48V 250W 26in Rear Hub Kit WITH 48V 12AH Battery ? If you have any thoughts on this before I go surfing and searching with my new shopping list?

That would be OK performance-wise, but it's a freewheel motor, so OK for up to 7 speed gears. More speeds can be done but is tricky. If you have cassette gears 8 speed or more, you'll have to make changes to your gear system.