Conversion or new bike - advice

[falmouthtony]

Hi.
I'm new to this forum and would appreciate some advice. I have a Specialized Globe Pro Hybrid with carbon forks and seatpost, lx/xt 27 speed etc. which I have enjoyed using quite regularly over the 6 years I've had it from new.
I live in hilly Cornwall and owing to recent health issues find the hills so much of a struggle now I don't cycle much at all. I think electric assistance would help to reverse this situation.
I weigh in at just over 100kgs and have a budget of around £800. When I look around this forum at some of the bikes that Dave (d8veh) has converted it makes me think this may be the way to go. Even if I only had one chainwheel (if it was a CD conversion) it seems to me that I'd have a much better specced bike for the money than buying one new - and possibly could have a little extra power if required (for off-road only of course)
ONLY PROBLEM IS I DON'T HAVE THE TECHNICAL ABILITY TO DO THE JOB, even if it was viable.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anyone who might be prepared to actually give me advice, give a price, and do the work if I decided to go ahead?

If not, I have more or less made up my mind to go with a Woosh Sirocco CDL - which seems very good value for money, and from all I read - Woosh in general and Hatti in particular - seem really genuine and helpful people.
Thanks in advance for any help. Tony

 

[trex]

For about £700 budget, you could ask the LBS to fit an 8-Fun BBS01 kit to your bike for you. Whipping out the BB, fit the motor, brake handles and a seat post or bottle battery should take about 2 hours for someone doing it the first time.

 

[falmouthtony]

Who are LBS please.

 

[trex]

LBS = local bike shop or mobile bike mechanics, they charge about £30-£35 per hour or pay a friend with beer. Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irmyv9G9WyU

[video=youtube;irmyv9G9WyU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irmyv9G9WyU[/video]

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Falmouthtony,

We have member, Jackhandy who is not too far away from you in the St Austell area.
He has a lot of electric bike experience and recently fitted one of our eZee conversion kits.

I would suggest that you contact him through the forum as I feel he would be happy to give impartial advice and help.

 

[falmouthtony]

Thanks. I'll do that.

 

[jackhandy]

Thanks. I'll do that.

Hi Tony,

Come &have a ride. I have a bog standard 8fun-converted bike as well, so you can compare a 250 watt bike with a 250 watt Cyclezee-converted bike up my test hill: That'll give you a pretty good idea what you actually need, power-wise.

It'd be good to see you - we're a bit thin on the ground around here.

 

[falmouthtony]

Thanks JH PM sent

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Tony

Dont bother fiting a kit to your bike I can do yo a nice kit 48 volt 500 watt If you come to banbury it takes 4 hours BUT with a 48 volt 10AH battery £1200 total will climb most hills no pedaling if you are under 12 stone

For your £800 Buget you shold BUY a woosh Sirocco CDL Hatti BUYS direct and cuts out the middel man

So Great value for money and Great support


Frank

 

[averhamdave]

I thought this type on blatent commercial advertising was not allowed on this forum I'm sorry Frank but every time someone comes on here with a question along the lines of "what should I buy?" you dive straight in with your sales speel.

What's more you basically only sell "illegal for public highway use" bikes and should be making that clear. The kit you are offering for £1200 is illegal for use on the road. Correct?

The chap's got £800 and for that he'll build himself a very nice bike thankyou. Give it a rest for a while why don't you.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi averhamdave
OUR kit are NOT ilegal As the speed is set to 15MPH the same as many other bikes on hear and if you want to do 22 mph you just reprogram the display

Unlike you I pay to be on hear AND I know he only has £800 to spend Which is why I recomended
Tha Woosh Bike and Said Dont bother converting the bike And NO he wont convert his Bike for £800 If he has to pay sombody to do it And forget the Cheap kits from China the Carreirs have put a STOP to shiping batterys from china

Frank

 

[103Alex1]

Hook up with jackhandy and try his bikes. I'm pretty sure you'll sort something decent out .

And forget the Cheap kits from China the Carriers have put a STOP to shiping batterys from china

It sounds like TNT are still shipping them from actual reports on here so it isn't over yet. Plus you can still buy decent kits from China and source a battery here if push comes to shove.

Appreciate it must be frustrating for UK kit suppliers not to be able to get their £500 mark-up but some people just don't want to pay that and shouldn't be forced to. Air freight is not the only method of shipping batteries either and if suppliers can't send them courier then they may well position a European warehouse stock instead in the foreseeable - just like they have with CREE lights. They can then send over a few hundred of them on the slow boat from China into UK bond .

 

[averhamdave]

Hi averhamdave
OUR kit are NOT ilegal As the speed is set to 15MPH the same as many other bikes on hear and if you want to do 22 mph you just reprogram the display

Unlike you I pay to be on hear AND I know he only has £800 to spend Which is why I recomended
Tha Woosh Bike and Said Dont bother converting the bike And NO he wont convert his Bike for £800 If he has to pay sombody to do it And forget the Cheap kits from China the Carreirs have put a STOP to shiping batterys from china

Frank

He could convert his bike for £800 - fact

The site rules are the site rules and were the same before you joined. The fact that you pay to advertise ( in a separate area of the site) doesn't, according to the wording of the rules exempt you from the blatant advertising restrictions.

Most of the stuff discussed on here comes from China and most members are pretty satisfied with what they have got.

You can still (easily) source batteries from China - fact

Where are Whoosh bikes made?

And finally isn't a "500w" kit illegal for use on the public highway in the uk?

 

[falmouthtony]

Well chaps - thank you all for your input. I really didn't want to start WW3!!
As suggested by two of you I have been in touch with Jackhandy, who I reckon has sorted out my dilemma. Very grateful to him, and to you all for your advice.

 

[averhamdave]

Good luck with the project and let us know how you get on. Please don't be put off by some of the negative stuff that's ben posted on here. You'll get a cracking job done inside your budget

 

[jackhandy]

Not even close to ww3, Tony:

Just another skirmish in the daily life of the forum

 

[103Alex1]

Not even close to ww3, Tony:

Just another skirmish in the daily life of the forum

A full-on battle only commences when someone mentions the words "Kalkhoff" and "Endeavour" in the same post - and omits to include the word "ILLEGAL" in CAPS.

 

[falmouthtony]

Well - All done now - 'jackhandy' has been kind enough to convert my Specialized Globe Pro Hybrid.
I'll try and add a couple of photos but suspect I'll have problems with the sizing. - No success I'm afraid

If so maybe my friend jackhandy could re-size post them on for me.

He did a brilliant,tidy job and overcame the minor hiccups with no fuss at all. I’m really grateful to him and would wholeheartedly recommend his work to any forum readers in this neck of the woods who may be thinking of going down the conversion kit road, but like me, do not have the confidence to undertake the work themselves.

As far as the CYCLEZEE CONVERSION KIT with 14AH battery and rear hub motor fitted in a 700c wheel is concerned, the following is my first impression from a forty mile ‘shakedown’ ride yesterday.

The Ezee conversion behaved impeccably. The assist it provided when I needed it was awesome. I think we travelled along about 20 miles of seriously hilly lanes – about 3,500 feet of height gain in total – and about 20 miles of off-road well surfaced trail.

Most of hilly lanes were relatively easily dealt with on only level 2 of assistance with not too much effort from me. Just enough to feel I was getting some decent exercise. On the occasions I upped to level 3 out of 5 it felt as if a huge hand was pushing me up the hill.
On the very gently rising trail level 1 was adequate for an easy ride and returning slightly downhill on the trail I didn’t feel the need to use any power assistance at all.

The thing that really impressed me was how comfortable it felt being on my own bike. The geometry was right, and on the very slight downhill eight or nine miles of the Camel Trail the bike felt almost as it did prior to conversion. The extra weight not really noticable, if anything helping the bike feel more ‘planted’ to the trail.

Absolutely delighted. Many thanks to Cyclezee and Jackhandy.

To help any new readers I'll repeat this review in the separate section on the forum.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Don't use the forum photo hosting. Do it like this instead for better quality pictures:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/announcements-feedback-support/15268-does-forum-picture-upload-work.html

 

[falmouthtony]

Don't use the forum photo hosting. Do it like this instead for better quality pictures:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/announcements-feedback-support/15268-does-forum-picture-upload-work.html

Thanks D8veh - I'll give it a try