Dahon vitesse d8 has anybody converted one please

[cwah]

To be honest, I really liked the torque from my BPM and Mac.

But with 1 mac + 2 bpm down, I decided to switch to direct drive for anything over 1500W. I have too many dead motors...

That makes me think that the reason manufacturer are rating their motor to 500W is for reliability. If we overvolt it, of course it works... but for how long?

 

[selrahc1992]

To be honest, I really liked the torque from my BPM and Mac.

But with 1 mac + 2 bpm down, I decided to switch to direct drive for anything over 1500W. I have too many dead motors...

That makes me think that the reason manufacturer are rating their motor to 500W is for reliability. If we overvolt it, of course it works... but for how long?

As an aside does anyone know whether filling the BPM with oil will do anything to make the clutch/gears last longer (aside from cooling it)? Or is there nothing one can do?

 

[Todd]

Hi all, this is a pic of the bike I want to convert,I've received an email from Mac and they say the battery is to heavy and will un balance the bike at speed, so 500w rear motor, has anybody goy any ideas on the battery placement and the maximum capacity.
Once again thanks for all your help

 

[trex]

I think you will exceed the safe limits of this bike if you fit a powerful motor to it.
The bike does not have suspension, it's not safe to hit a pot hole at 20+mph.

You also need to solve the following:
1) good brakes. Those V-brakes can cope with a 250W motor, not double that.
2) good rim and good wheel truing. The torque on Mac motors is high and the motor is large and heavy, anything less than a perfectly built wheel will break the spokes shortly after you finish the bike.
3) sufficient battery power to support 20A+
The location for the battery on your bike is limited to the rear rack or front bag.

The easiest solution for converting Dahons is to use the BBS01 crank drive kit and rear rack or front bag battery.

 

[Todd]

Thank you for the advice,
what speed and range would I get from a crank drive,
what make should I look for, and who would be able to fit the motor, or do you have another suggestion for a fast powerful enough to pull a camping trailer bike. Thanks for your help it's much appreciated

Todd

 

[trex]

speed: only limited by your legs
pulling trailer: easy.
range: that depends on the battery. With a 15AH battery, you get about 60 miles from a full charge.
brand: there is only one polular at the moment, 8-Fun BBS01 that is legal.

 

[selrahc1992]

I think you will exceed the safe limits of this bike if you fit a powerful motor to it.
The bike does not have suspension, it's not safe to hit a pot hole at 20+mph.

You also need to solve the following:
1) good brakes. Those V-brakes can cope with a 250W motor, not double that.
2) good rim and good wheel truing. The torque on Mac motors is high and the motor is large and heavy, anything less than a perfectly built wheel will break the spokes shortly after you finish the bike.
3) sufficient battery power to support 20A+
The location for the battery on your bike is limited to the rear rack or front bag.

The easiest solution for converting Dahons is to use the BBS01 crank drive kit and rear rack or front bag battery.

I'm not saying you shouldn't get a crank drive,but for the sake of you making an objective,informed decision I should point out,as the owner of a 2.5 to 3 kW hub drive pedelec that everything trex said here is untrue.

 

[trex]

OK, if what I said is untrue, give me a single example of a happy outcome from a conversion with a large hub motor, BPM or Mac or Crystalyte on a non suspended 20" bike, nevermind a Dahon which has a proprietary fork.

 

[Todd]

Dear all,

I think it's back to the begining, a foldable as I live central London and don't want it to be theft magnet, a bike that's capable of pulling a small trailer for camping and a bit of speed when off road for a bit of fun, Quando out of stock for 8 weeks, as suggested before, convention not advised with a Mac motor as the battery would be to heavy. Any ideas please ????

Thanks Todd

 

[trex]

I don't think you can with the Dahon Vitesse 8.
If you convert yourself, the battery and a big motor are signposts for thieves.
If you use a small motor and a small battery then it won't do what you want.
The woosh Zephyr-cdn is about as stealthy as you can find a 20" e-folder
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?zephyr-cdn

 

[anotherkiwi]

Any geared 350 or 500 Watt hub motor. Large battery in trailer for camping, otherwise battery in frame bag.

or

A BBS01 with the controller set to 18 Amps.

 

[Todd]

Ok thanks but have been told, frame battery would be to heavy on a folding bike ? Do you have any suggestions for a convertible folding bike please

 

[Todd]

With a 20" wheel is the problem

 

[trex]

yes. It's very difficult to build a 20" folding bike that is lightweight, with lots of torque, fast and has good range and stealthy looking.
D8veh's Dahon P8 Jetstream conversion is the nearest to this set of design goals if you cover the battery with something.
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/electric2011-dahon-jetstream-p8.10584/page-4


For your Dahon Vitesse, something like this is easy to do:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8Fun-Ebike-Electric-Bike-Conversion-Kit-36V-250W-20-26-700C-Wheel-/190694074560

Otherwise, look on bmsbattery.com website for ideas and come back here with your plan, we'll help you.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I thought about putting the 09 battery on the rack of a Decathlon BFOLD 500 using a couple of aluminium brackets to screw the battery holder to. That way if you need to park for a while you take the battery off with you. The problem with the above bike is that it needs wheels and tyres + various other bits to replace the stock ones, budget creep did away with the idea. £130 for two wheels with a Nexus 8 hub and I would put a Magura hydraulic brake on the front, another £40. But that way you could have a 350 Watt BBS01 with a very healthy 36V 14.5 Amp battery or a BBS02 500W with 48 V battery. And the battery weight in a sensible place low down because of the smaller wheels.

My own security problems were solved for my main destination yesterday when I discovered a rail card that doesn't need an address in Spanish Basque Country. This rail card also opens the closed bike shed at the station on arrival! There is a nice CCTV system in there, if it does get stolen the insurance company won't be able to hum and ha about paying the claim.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

There's a new kit from BMSBattry that would work on a folding bike, but I wouldn't use that Dahon as a donor because its brakes are insufficient and its gears are over-specified. I'd get something like this one, which has disc brakes, freewheel gears and is a lot cheaper.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281761036750&alt=web

A 201 rpm Q100H in the back wheel and this battery/controller kit and you're home and dry:

https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-kit/633-q100h-36v350w-rear-e-bike-motor-wheel-ebike-kit.html?search_query=Q100h&results=5

That's weird. The batteries have gone. A few days ago, I saw on their website black plastic rack batteries with a rack with an included 20A sinewave controller, like the 09 bottle battery kit, but as a rack battery. It's not there now. Did anybody else see it or was I dreaming?

 

[anotherkiwi]

Yep we talked about it for my friend. They also had a whole heap of batteries with Samsung cells up the other day marked as new. Change is afoot, new range of batteries coming perhaps which were announced before they got rid of the old stock?

 

[Todd]

Thanks all, you've all been so helpful !
I'll let you know how it works out

 

[cwah]

Here is a setup to decently handle london potholes:

I remove the battery to charge twice a day:

 

[Todd]

Hi

Here is a setup to decently handle london potholes:

I remove the battery to charge twice a day:

Hi,
Thanks for the pics what motor do you use, I see you also have disk brakes and what kind of range do you get with your battery's they look Hugh