Assistance with Brightbike

[TonyH]

Hi. I'm new to forums and to electric bikes, so apologies if this request is in the wrong place.
I have just bought a Brightbike GR-8 from a neighbour who's had it in his shed to 6 years or more and didn't get a manual with it. Searching the web doesn't come up with much apart from a review of the bike done in 2004 (and loads of links to brightbike lights!) I think it is about 8 years old, but hardly ever used. Does anyone know where I can get some more information from and maybe where I can buy spares?
Thanks

 

[Benjahmin]

Hi Tony,
Unfortunately names and numbers mean nothing in the e bike world. Anyone can set up selling bikes they've put together from parts bought and stuck together.
Put up pictures of The whole bike, then detail of the motor(with any markings), the display, the controller (if you can find it), the battery (which is likely to be duff - but not the end of the road) and the bottom bracket area including any disc there.
Then there may be some help/pointers available.

 

[Nealh]

It's a folding city bike.

I found this with bike specs.

Bright Bike GR-8 Sets New Price and Performance Standards fo Electric Bikes

(PRWEB) December 10, 2004 -- The superbly stylish Bright Bike GR-8 lightweight folding electric bicycle is to be launched in November 2004 across Europe.

www.prweb.com

 

[Nealh]

Mechanical componentswill be run of the mill components available from any bike shop/store retailer or online.
The electrical components will be like wise but pics of any items will be needed to match them up, the main item that you are unlikely to get a direct replacement for will be the controller pcb and maybe display in which case you would replace both with another make/brand.

 

[TonyH]

Ok thanks. Photos attached. Can't see any serial nos anywhere but I do know some of the specs: the rear hub motor is a brushless 180w, battery is 24v 13Ah Ni-MH. It has pedal assist and throttle mode.





As you can see it's a lightweight folding bike with front and rear suspension and is meant to be able to have a range of 25 miles on pedal assist and 15 miles in 'throttle' mode. the battery appeared to charge up OK - the light went from red to green in about 4 hours. I wasn't able to remove the battery as the neighbour is still looking for the keys!
Thanks for your assistance.
Tony

 

[TonyH]

Sorry, just seen the other replies. There isn't any display, nor any 'user' controls other than the twist grip throttle. That link you sent from prweb site is the one I found which detailed the specs (but then couldn't find again!). I thought is was really strange that nothing exists under brightbike.com - I would have expected some form of onward link to whoever took them over.

 

[Nealh]

I expect they went out of business as do a lot of these sellers after a few years.

 

[Nealh]

As I mentioned everything will be quite generic component wise.

 

[Fat Rat]

Welcome and good luck

 

[TonyH]

Hi. Eventually my neighbour found the key, so I have now run the bike. It works well on both throttle mode and pedal assist. However, the range is terrible - after about 2 miles the battery meter is down to 3 bars (out of 10)! Its a 13A/hr 24v NI-MH battery pack which is easily dismantled showing the 20 1.2v cells. Has anyone experience of changing these to Li-Ion batteries? Apart from a new charger, will I need to change anything else on the bike?
Thanks very much

 

[vfr400]

It should be no problem to stick a 24v lithium cell pack in there as long as you make sure that it can provide enough current. the controller should have the max current written on it. Add 5 amps as a safety margin.

One thing others don't seem to have spotted is the optical pedal sensor, which I haven't seen sold in years. They require a specially long bottom bracket spindle, which are also extremely hard to come by, and they get bent if you fall off and bang the pedal. All is not lost because all this stuff can be replaced without spending a lot if things go wrong. The sensor also requires a special controller because the signal is completely different to a conventional magnetic pedal sensor.

If it were my bike, I'd be thinking of upgrading to 36v, which would mean a new controller too.

 

[TonyH]

Great. Thanks very much