Bike and Electric Motor Kit

[Dill]

Hi everyone

Im looking to buy a bike and an electric motor kit but Im not sure which one to buy. Im 6ft 2 and 14stone and have been looking at so many I cant make my mind up. The bike is easy I will just get a well known hybrid make and add the kit. But the kit seems to be the cheapest on ebay but many dont have the make of them which worries me. I think i have narrowed it down to 500w brush less rear motor with 36 volts with speeds up to 30mph (Off road) 15mph on road. It looks like if you use a 1000w motor you drain the battery faster so dont get the distance like the 500w and 250w seems rather low power. I think the hub motor would be best and rear power seems to make sense.

My journey would be 6 miles a day.

Are the Golden motors or E bike or BMC ? Most are from China but some of them must be ok ?

My max budget is £1000 for electric motor kit and bike. What I dont want is a cheap bike or kit that does not last.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Dylan

 

[JohnCade]

Look at some of the threads here about conversions, and also the crank drives as well as hub. You can buy them from trade members here and will get proper after sale service if there are problems. Not always the case with eBay sellers. The 250W is a nominal figure and most motors will peak at much more and some at over three times that. Which is plenty of power for most people and will get up almost any hill with a bit of pedalling. Particularly if your journey is only 6 miles a day.

The off road stuff which eBay sellers sometimes mislead buyers with is nonsense. All those 500W and 1000W kits are illegal on or off road unless you have a private estate.

 

[Dill]

Thanks
I thought the crank drives were noisy ? Im trying to be getting about it stealth mode so want to keep the noise down as much as possible. Would a 250w get a speed of up to 30mph ? 15mph seems rather slow and I assume that the top speed they suggest is always lower ?

 

[JohnCade]

CDs aren’t any more noisy. Unrestricted the 350W crank motors may get up to around that. That is quite fast on a bicycle if you are only used to going fast downhill, and you will be mixing with traffic which will not be expecting you to be going as fast as that and will pull out in front of you. Then the brakes have to stop you too. S Pedelecs, which are not legal in the UK but are in some countries don’t even go quite that fast, and they have better brakes and a requirement for helmets and registration. I assume you are in the UK.

If you only want to go three miles each way do you need the complication of a motor? Is is very hilly?

 

[Dill]

Im uk and its as flat as a pancake here in Portsmouth. I would rather buy a bike and kit all in one for ease but most bikes seem to be unknown

 

[Yamdude]

I'm not happy either with this 15.5 mph law, but it is the law nonetheless. It all comes down to whether you care about breaking that law, which i dont. But i would feel that 30 mph will be drawing too much attention to myself.
Its like riding my motorcycle or driving my car, i often go over the speed limit like most people, the trick is not to do it excessively.

 

[Dill]

Thanks Yamdude I just want the option to break the law lol THere is not enough reviews out there on good frames and kits so if anyone on here could give me an example of a good kit and bike set up I would be grateful Spec being 250 500w motor good batteries hybrid bike style hub drive rear or front not sure

 

[Alan Quay]

I'm not happy either with this 15.5 mph law, but it is the law nonetheless. It all comes down to whether you care about breaking that law, which i dont. But i would feel that 30 mph will be drawing too much attention to myself.
Its like riding my motorcycle or driving my car, i often go over the speed limit like most people, the trick is not to do it excessively.

I agree with the dude. Probably because I'm out in the country side, the law seems to be largely an irrelevance. It's still the law, its just unlikely that I'll be caught, especially on a technicality like a 350w sticker where it should say 250w

None the less, I stay in sensible limits.

20mph is plenty fast enough for me.

Getting back to your questions, you have to make an important decision. If you stay with hub drive (more stealthy in my opinion) then you need to decide between geared and direct drive motors. Generally speaking, geared = more torque (better for hills, acceleration), DD= speed.

If you are really dead set in 30mph you will have to sacrifice somewhere. In my opinion, 20mph is a more reasonable goal.

 

[Yamdude]

Yeah, i think around 20 mph is probably about right for me...... and what i will be setting on my next kit.
Also anymore than that and its gonna start killing the range

 

[Benjahmin]

Hi Dill,
Have a look at this thread, has some pictures. Bike was £255 from Halfords. Ezee Kit would put it over your budget but its a good strong motor and way more battery than you'll need for 6 miles. However electric biking has a certain addictive nature and I bet you end up going much further.
Have a look at the kits on Woosh. Good rep on this forum and very helpful.
Converting a Carrera Crossfire3

 

[Dill]

Hi Benjahmin

Thanks for your info I will have a look now

I agree with the dude. Probably because I'm out in the country side, the law seems to be largely an irrelevance. It's still the law, its just unlikely that I'll be caught, especially on a technicality like a 350w sticker where it should say 250w

None the less, I stay in sensible limits.

20mph is plenty fast enough for me.

Getting back to your questions, you have to make an important decision. If you stay with hub drive (more stealthy in my opinion) then you need to decide between geared and direct drive motors. Generally speaking, geared = more torque (better for hills, acceleration), DD= speed.

If you are really dead set in 30mph you will have to sacrifice somewhere. In my opinion, 20mph is a more reasonable goal.

Ok so thats another thing i haveto consider Direct Drive or Geared And no hils about i will be better with DD

 

[Dill]

Hi Dill,
Have a look at this thread, has some pictures. Bike was £255 from Halfords. Ezee Kit would put it over your budget but its a good strong motor and way more battery than you'll need for 6 miles. However electric biking has a certain addictive nature and I bet you end up going much further.
Have a look at the kits on Woosh. Good rep on this forum and very helpful.
Converting a Carrera Crossfire3

OK will have a look at those now thanks. And yes my work is around 3 miles away but I can imagine using the bike for fun on longer journeys.

 

[Dill]

OK will have a look at those now thanks. And yes my work is around 3 miles away but I can imagine using the bike for fun on longer journeys.

So you would recommend eZee Retro Fit Conversion Kit from £795 rather than ebay equivalent for around £400 ?

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Dill,

Just to let you know that eZee kits start at £795 and are available with front or rear hub motors. There is the option of downtube or rear rack mounted batteries from 11 to 15Ah.

 

[Dill]

Hi Dill,

Just to let you know that eZee kits start at £795 and are available with front or rear hub motors. There is the option of downtube or rear rack mounted batteries from 11 to 15Ah.

Hi Dill,

Just to let you know that eZee kits start at £795 and are available with front or rear hub motors. There is the option of downtube or rear rack mounted batteries from 11 to 15Ah.

Hi thanks... What would you recommend a rear drive hub or front or does it depends on the bike ?

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi thanks... What would you recommend a rear drive hub or front or does it depends on the bike ?

Hi Dill,

It depends more upon where you want to ride the bike.
A front motor gives in effect 2 wheel drive, human powered rear wheel and electric powered front, but a rear motor gives better traction off road and on loose gravel or slippery ground. On roads and cycle paths there is not much to choose between them.
It really comes down to personal preference.

 

[Yamdude]

Everyone has their own opinion of what system is best, whether that be front or rear hub or crank drive. You really have to decide yourself.
Personally i've become fussy on how a system looks on a bike (probably got a bit of ocd) and the look of the front hub motor on my bike bugs me.
Aesthetically i think a rear hub motor seems to fit in with a bike better. I would also like the controller to be fitted in with the battery to make the kit even neater. Its what i'll be after with my next kit.

 

[SteveRuss]

Read this thread.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/bbs01-cube-sl-road-pro-conversion-and-long-distance-commuting.20706/

I have a Boardman Hybrid Pro that I am thinking on doing a conversion with and I am at present considering the Bafang BBS001 or the GSM kit. The GSM kit is cheaper. Here's a previous conversation about the two motors.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/gsm-vs-bbs01.22126/

As I own a Kalkhoff Pro Connect with the Impulse 2 motor and an Alfine 8g hub, i'm pretty smitten with the hub geared crank drive combination.

Most bikes are suitable for conversion with either of these kits. As long as the bottom bracket is a compatible size. If you don't care about the consequences of the law, you could also go for either the BBS002 500watt kit, or the 750watt kit which claims a noticeably high torque figure.

20mph is a sweet spot for me though my Kalkhoff gives out on helping me at 17mph I can still push past that on the flat, on a good day!. The idea of riding at 30mph on the flat in a city; on a pedal bike does not appeal to me. As mentioned, drivers of cars don't normally see bicycles at that speed on the flat so I believe the risk of getting pulled out in front of is much much higher than at the more expected cycling speeds.