Best kit for Marin Muirwoods 26"

[Stephen]

Hi all.
I've been looking to convert my hybrid for some time now, and as Christmas is coming I reckon Santa owes me one!
I have a 2003 Marin Muirwood (steel frame and forks) hybrid, which is a fantastic bike and I think would make a perfect platform for a conversion. The main reason for buying a kit is because I like fiddling with anything mechanical - bicycles, motorbikes and paramotors, and just for fun! I don't need it for commute, just pleasure. A typical ride would be say, 12 miles up and down gentle slopes (Essex) for a pub run using mainly leg power for exercise and cruise back using mainly battery power.
I'm guessing that the steel forks would be fine for a front geared hub, but also like the idea of the higher power possibility from the rear hubs - say 500W.
I'd appreciate your comments on a suitable kit. I've been looking at the EBC kits (250W geared front and 500W direct rear) and the Oxydrive 250W geared front if I can get it on offer (maybe black Friday)?
Would the geared 250W be significantly less practical power compared to the 500W rear?

Many thanks
Steve

 

[D8ve]

Ignore the power ratings ask about torque, amps and volts. The 250 watt is a mith currently with many legal 250 watt bikes having peak powers of over 750 watts.
The 250 watt geared front would probably beat the 500 watt direct drive system, lots of odd reasons for that.

 

[Tabs]

I recently fitted an EBC 250w rear geared hub kit and am happy with it,like you I was thinking 500w(or even bigger) would be better but after speaking with some folk on here and doing a bit of research I went with the 250w kit.i would still like to try out a bike with a bigger motor to compare it to mine but al just need to wait until I meet someone with one fitted to try it.

 

[Stephen]

Thanks. For the extra £25 the 500W EBC kit looks like good value. It looks bulky and heavy though - I guess being direct drive. I wonder if it would be too much to put on the front?

 

[Tabs]

The 250w geared hub was a lot lighter than I was expecting and a lot smaller than the 500 DD hub,what about a 500w geared hub if there is such a thing?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The big 500w direct drive motors are very heavy. Rather tham the 500w one, I'd get the 750w or 1000w one and run at at least 48v 25A otherwise they can feel a bit gutless on hills. These motors are better for sustained high speed on the flat rather than hill-climbing.

A rear motor would be better than a front one. They're quieter, better traction and better handling. Small low power front motors are OK.

Just about any rear geared 48v motor will give you plenty of torque for steep hills. £6v can be OK too, but you need at least 20 amps.

 

[Stephen]

Thanks all.
I've taken the plunge and gone for a bit of a compromise. I'm 72kg and the bike is light so I went for a rear wheel hub 350W kit from EBC. The motor is a BFSWX02 36V 350W(10) 26-1602278715-1 mated with a KT36ZWSRT-LCD controller max current 17A. Speed set 1-4.2V.
Ordered yesterday and arrived today. Great service.
Any tips on fitting and opinions on the set-up greatly received!
Steve

 

[Tabs]

I found fitting the kit pretty straightforward, probably working out where to fit the controls on the handlebars took the most time to work out,ended up with the throttle on the left with the front gear changer in a strange position which isn't a problem cause I hardly use it,just take your time with the wiring loom and make a tidy job of it, also check the spokes on the rear wheel before you ride the bike and check them again after a few miles, I had a problem with a broken spoke which seems a common problem, apart from that it's all good, happy Ebiking!!!

 

[Nealh]

Thanks all.
I've taken the plunge and gone for a bit of a compromise. I'm 72kg and the bike is light so I went for a rear wheel hub 350W kit from EBC. The motor is a BFSWX02 36V 350W(10) 26-1602278715-1 mated with a KT36ZWSRT-LCD controller max current 17A. Speed set 1-4.2V.
Ordered yesterday and arrived today. Great service.
Any tips on fitting and opinions on the set-up greatly received!
Steve

It will be interesting to here your comments on how the kit performs once up and running. The code 10 wound BPM's are approx 300rpm so I expect the SWX02 is similar so should be quite fast, how you find though the climbing ability will be interesting. My 250w Bafang CST code 10 is about 270rpm AFAIK and climbs very well albeit at only 6 -9 mph on steep inclines.

 

[Stephen]

I switched on the battery last night and didn't get any leds light up? I put it on charge for 4.5 hours and got all green leds apart from one red. Another hour charge didn't change this .
Does this sound normal? I suppose I could measure the voltage .

 

[Tabs]

Yip, same as mine, always got a red light on the battery but LCD will show full charge, your good to go!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The LEDs are incremental as the battery charges up. No LEDs means that the battery is knackered. Red means empty battery. Red plus green is low, red plus two greens half full, and so on.

 

[Stephen]

Thanks guys. Voltage is 42.2v 12hrs after removal from charger. 3 green leds and 1 red. Looks OK then?
Tabs, is yours also an EBC battery?

 

[Tabs]

Yip, the type that mounts onto the downtube on the water bottle mounts

 

[Stephen]

Mmm. This isn't going to be as quick as I thought!
I removed the LH crank to fit the pedelec sensor and found the bottom bracket held in with internal splines. I thought these were metal until I tapped one with a screwdriver and hammer. Oops, plastic and minus a spline! I also realised that this is probably a spacer for the bb and even if I did remove it I probably wouldn't be able to fit sensor ring without messing up spacing.
The sensor ring ID is 35mm and the OD of the plastic spacer is 36mm. I could dremel the sensor ring to fit over the top of plastic spacer and hold with a few blobs of araldite. Do you reckon this is acceptable? Seems a slightly better way that removing sensor from ring and attaching directly to the frame.

 

[Tabs]

I just removed the sensor from the bracket and stuck it onto the frame, works a treat, on the bottom bracket the retaining ring/cup things are metal on one side and plastic on the other (well it was on mine).

 

[Stephen]

Took the Muirwoods out for it's first proper ride this morning. It was magic!
Only problem was that the speedo only registers when pedalling or throttling and reads about twice the value. Could I have got a connection wrong?

 

[Tabs]

Don't know about the connections but av read about that problem before on here somewhere am sure one of the clever folk will be along soon to help you out.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Took the Muirwoods out for it's first proper ride this morning. It was magic!
Only problem was that the speedo only registers when pedalling or throttling and reads about twice the value. Could I have got a connection wrong?
View attachment 16971

It's using a motor hall sensor to get the speed signal. There's a stting in the LCD that has to be correct. P2 =1. If that doesn't work, try P2=0.

Hopefully they gave you the manual for the LCD, otherwise you can find it at the bottom of the page on The BMSBattery.com listing of their S-LCD3.

To get the correct speed, you need either a wheel-speed sensor (spoke magnet) or a hub-speed sensor inside the motor. If they didn't give you a wheel-speed sensor, ask them if there's the separate sensor in the hub.

If there's no sensor in the hub and you don't have the connector for the wheel sensor, then you have to do a simple hack to connect the wheel sensor.

 

[Stephen]

Yes, thanks, P2 was set to zero. I set it to 1 and all is well.
The motor tops out at 19mph, which is my top pedaling speed with highest gear, so it's perfect. It will fly up the steepest hill with minimal input from my chicken legs!