Converting a tandem with 500w Bufang Rear Hub Motor - powerful enough?

[Barefoot_Wanderer]

Hi All,
I'm in a bit of a quandary with this. I have a 26" wheel Dawes tandem and want to know your thoughts about a THIS Bufang conversion kit. I have been told the 250w won't do any good on hills and wondered if this might have a chance. We just want something to get us up steep hills etc. My wife and I combined weigh about 320lb (not sure what the tandem weighs). I realise the 500w is not legal but visually is less suspicious than the big 1000w which I originally wanted. I realise I put my licence at risk (6pts) and a fine but honestly, this kit does look inconspicuous and my main concern is power - would I be wasting my money with this kit - would 1000w be required? If so, are they any small 1000w motors? something which won't look suspicious? Your thoughts and any recommendations/ advice would be warmly received.

 

[jimriley]

Intractable autoimmune diseases have a lot to answer for. If episodes are triggered by cars, would keeping them further away using Oxford lollipop(s) on extension arms, and reducing noise using ear defenders help?

These are great:

3M Peltor Optime III Ear Defenders

High attenuation and comfort. Low profile, height adjustable headband and unique 2-point ear muff attachment.Approved to EN 352-1:1993. Especially effective against low frequencies yet allows good speech intelligibility. • One size - adjustable• Modern, stylish cup design• Unique low profile...

www.toolstation.com

A self inflating body suit would be great. The thing is, while her body has shut down she is fully conscious, similar to sleep paralysis, so she knows the big truck is bearing down on us!
In the stoker seat on the tandem she is fine, I stop in case her feet drop off the pedals, not happened yet but would be a bugger if they did. The sleep meds help, she rarely has an instant full drop to the floor these days.
Best to just crack on with life and enjoy what we can - we went swimming last week, 4ft pool, I swim close by and we've rehearsed the rescue technique. We don't tell the pool staff cos they wouldn't let us take the risk .

 

[Jodel]

Barefoot_Wanderer, I have a Woosh DWG22C kit fitted to my Orbit tandem and have been very happy with the result. If you look at some of my earlier threads, you'll get a feel for my experience of it: https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/orbit-tandem-woosh-dwg22c-48v-rear-hub-kit.40584/

I haven't tried a KT controller which Saneagle recommends (but I'd like to) and will probably get round to trying one in due course. The Woosh kit isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good in terms of allowing an old git like me to keep on tandeming. The motor was / is more powerful than I expected and most of the time the lowest speed we see when climbing is about 8mph. I believe that riding at lower speeds than that means too much power is being converted into heat rather than forward motion so we try to avoid that situation.

As a team we're a bit lighter than you (125ish Kg) but I think the Woosh kit would still be OK. On my solo bike with the same motor fitted I've never found a hill it can't climb easily. On the tandem, a long climb of over 20% gradient would probably be asking too much and (very) occasionally the stoker has walked up a hill while I rode the tandem to the top. We still put in a fair bit of effort ourselves, but the motor assist means that we can tackle hills / headwinds which would previously have stopped us.

If you can build your own wheels, I'd recommend using a stronger rim with Sapim strong spokes laced as single cross - the 'Grin' web-site shows their wheel builder lacing a wheel in this way. We had broken spokes with the original Woosh wheel and I rebuilt it with a Ryde Sputnik rim and Sapim spokes. That wheel has now been fine for a few thousand miles. The motor and associated electronics have been faultless and have covered about 4,500 miles now.

We did have a Helton tandem carrier for the car, but an electric tandem is quite hefty so heaving it on top of the car may be a bit awkward depending on how big / strong you are (I'm neither). We ended up buying an old MPV and just wheel the thing up a ramp straight inside it - great!