convert an old tourer

[simonafloat]

Hi all

New here so hello to you all! I have been testing out electric bikes recently with a view to commuting daily on my old tourer, having first done an electric conversion on it.

It's an old school falcon tourer with a decent frame like this:

Any suitable conversion kits out there? The bike has served me (and my father before) well over the years and I'd love to continue using it as my daily bike. The bikes I've tried and liked have all been 250W pedal assist. It's a long old comute though, 18 miles each way in hilly North Devon countryside...

Thanks

Simon

 

[Benjahmin]

Is the old tourer you or the bike?
Seriously though, that's a nice bike. Huge triangle for battery mounting but the bars will be a problem. Kits come with brake handles that have cutoff switches fitted in them, they will not suit drops. Not sure if it would be possible to fit sensor switches to brake cables because of lack of exposed inner cable.
The forks may be a bit old and stressed to take a front hub motor, so a rear hub or bottom bracket motor may be on the cards.
Hub motor would come with new double wall rim, strong enough to take extra weight. How about the other wheel?
To do 36 miles on one charge you would need a 14-15Ah battery, or a 10Ah(lighter) and charge at work each day.
The centre pull brakes with their small blocks may not be adequate for the extra speed and weight, especially on those hills.

It's a nice old bike, practically a museum piece. Why not buy a cheapo hybrid, of fleabay, with front sus and convert that? Keep the nice old machine for summer day leisure rides.

Don't wish to rain on your parade, if you decide to go for it you'll get plenty of help here.

 

[Rohloffboy]

Wow, is that an Ever Ready front lamp I spot, that must be at least 30 years old itself!

 

[simonafloat]

Is the old tourer you or the bike?
Seriously though, that's a nice bike. Huge triangle for battery mounting but the bars will be a problem. Kits come with brake handles that have cutoff switches fitted in them, they will not suit drops. Not sure if it would be possible to fit sensor switches to brake cables because of lack of exposed inner cable.
The forks may be a bit old and stressed to take a front hub motor, so a rear hub or bottom bracket motor may be on the cards.
Hub motor would come with new double wall rim, strong enough to take extra weight. How about the other wheel?
To do 36 miles on one charge you would need a 14-15Ah battery, or a 10Ah(lighter) and charge at work each day.
The centre pull brakes with their small blocks may not be adequate for the extra speed and weight, especially on those hills.

It's a nice old bike, practically a museum piece. Why not buy a cheapo hybrid, of fleabay, with front sus and convert that? Keep the nice old machine for summer day leisure rides.

Don't wish to rain on your parade, if you decide to go for it you'll get plenty of help here.

I don't mind swapping to straight bars if need be. These reynolds frames were built to last so I have every confidence in the forks holding out fine. Recently upgraded the brakes and tyres too. Remarkably it's virtually rust free, been used regularly since the late 1970s [emoji50]

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

 

[OldBob1]

Simon such a same to mess with such a great old original bike, look around on various sites i.e. Ebay etc and you can possibly pick up a e-bike that needs new electrics which you can pick up for peanuts and replace controller and battery to suit your needs.
But make sure the donor bike bike suits you.
Loads of advice on this site.
Regards Bob

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'd fit a 36v 260 rpm Q100H motor from BMSBattery.com. You'll need to find a 36 hole rim the same size as what you have. Have a look at the number on the tyre, something like 635 - 28, not the 28 x 1 1/4 because there's different 28" sizes.

For a controller, there's one on Aliexpress with LCD for £40, or you can buy an S06S with the motor.

For the battery, I'd get Jimmy at Insat to knock you up a 30 cell 10 Ah 36v battery, which will weigh about 1.5 kg. Stick it in one of those toolbags that go in your frame triangle.

That will give you a total installation weight of about 4kg that will give good power and torque, a speed of about 23 MPH unrestricted and a range of about 40 miles if you're sensiblevwith the power. If you want to go fast and use the power above 15 mph, get a proprietry downtube-mounted battery from Eclipse.

 

[Yokel]

I don't mind swapping to straight bars if need be. These reynolds frames were built to last so I have every confidence in the forks holding out fine. Recently upgraded the brakes and tyres too. Remarkably it's virtually rust free, been used regularly since the late 1970s [emoji50]

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

I agree with the above.
I'm very happy with the Bafang BBS01 I bought from Woosh, and a 14.5 AH battery from Eclipse Bikes near Newcastle, after converting my 26 year old tourer to flat bars. All instructions are on line. It's my favourite bike, with the saddle, and general feel the same. I just feel 20 years younger when it comes to hills, and cover much greater distances, and get out more often, than I was before fitting the motor. I keep it on the lowest power setting most of the time, and a higher number for hills. Be very careful with the throttle though. It can be using ten times the normal output, and run your battery flat before the day is out if used more than once or twice on a long journey. It is however very useful for starting on hills, getting out of the way of oncoming traffic or coming round a corner and being faced with a sharp hill. Fit a Blekkie bling ring if you want better gearing ratios. You may have to increase your rear derailleur range, but probably not.

 

[Nealh]

For Q100h and a decent range of controller/kits look at Elifebikes sister site PWSPower.com these are also on Aliexpress. The controller/kits though are all SM type connectors none of the Higo type.
The Q is about $30 cheaper delivered then BMSB and some $50+ cheaper then Ali.

 

[Barnaby81]

I second the bafang bbsxx idea you'll even be able to keep your brakes as they are if you buy the hydraulic cut off - the throw of your levers has the same effect. Lekkie bling ring too and your rear cluster ought to be fine. Fattest tyres that you can reasonably fit.

 

[flik9999]

I use a 250W frontdrive kit from cyclotricity on my vintage puegeot 10 speed. What brakes are you running? Single pull callipurs are weak for ebike.

 

[fendale2000]

I converted my city hybrid recently with a 250w front hub kit from electric bike conversions. I didn't bother fitting the cut out brake levers as I've got hydraulic brakes .... I haven't missed them. With the pedal assist the motor cuts off as soon as you stop pedalling anyway.

On my fairly heavy bike with panniers and my heavy self that kit has at least 35 mile range. Mostly flat. I haven't tried running it till empty yet as my usual run is 18 miles round trip.