June 14, 20169 yr Hi i was wondering if someone could give me some advice about the motors used on the ebikes. I am converting my mountain bike and I have read that there are two types of motor used, Geared and Direct drive. I understand that the direct drive motor causes resistance when the motor is switched off, is this noticeable on a front wheel 250w Cyclotricity kit when pedalling with the power assistance off? i really want to use my bike often without using the power. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the geared motor over direct drive? can anyone help a bit? thanks Paul the confused.
June 14, 20169 yr Hi Paul Quick answer is forget geared IMHO Spanner in the works is - you forgot about crank drives such as bbs01/2 and gsm. Very different power delivery system to a hub Short answer for now as in a rush ! I'll dome back later if others don't Cheers
June 14, 20169 yr Author oh yes i forgot about crank drives, i have seen them, what are they like compared to direct or geared hub motors? Which are most efficient, least noisy, etc? Why do you say forget geared?
June 14, 20169 yr I have (too) many bikes, both electric and vanilla. I would never bother riding any of my electric bikes un-powered. Any motor will add weight and a little drag. Non powered bikes are so cheap that it doesn't make sense. I just have an electric bike and a non electric.
June 14, 20169 yr that bike is 50kg and 10k and the bafang would pee all over it for 10% off the price
June 14, 20169 yr You are getting better at making those vids SW, great job! Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
June 14, 20169 yr Author Wow, how many watts is the bafang? They're really just motorbikes with pedals arn't they with that much power and doing those speeds. If there were no police i'd build a fast one, but i need my driving licence so i'm sticking with building a road legal 250w bike for now.
June 14, 20169 yr he is putting around 1500w in to it max for the motor is 1600w. problem is at that speed will nuke the batt and his in a back pack not on the bike tells you the size off it. id not worry about the police less you hit someone as there not interested.
June 14, 20169 yr also as many here fail to understand even tho the motor is 250w under uk law if you are able to remove the speed limit then its illegal any way as deemed to have a of road switch. but the police dont care so get what you want power wise it makes no difference 250w of 10k
June 14, 20169 yr Author I think these bikes are great but i'm sure that if you crash into something and cause some damage the Traffic Police would be very interested. It would be just my luck to crash into a policecar. From what i can see the Cyclotricity 250w kit is restricted to 15mph and 250w so that should be fine for what i'm looking for, . Edited June 14, 20169 yr by Paulsully
June 14, 20169 yr i dont think there is a kit you cant remove the speed limit lol if my bike only went 15mph id throw it in the canal my m8s ride lot faster than this so id be last on a bike ride every time why i have a dongle.
June 14, 20169 yr Author the Cyclotricity kits do limit the speed to 15.5mph, unless you unrestrict them using a code they can give you, i know its boring but i just want my old mountainbike to go at 15mph and get me places and be legal. I think your bikes great, i've ridden motocross bikes and love speed but now I drive for my job and cant afford to get no insurance, no tax, and no mot traffic offences for an electric moped, but if you were at any point going to throw your turbo bike in the canal , i'll have it!
June 14, 20169 yr Author And when you ride that fast what happens if someone throws a stick in your spokes?
June 14, 20169 yr my bike has a bosch motor but the point that they will give you the code makes the bike under uk law to have a off road switch thus bypass the 15mph limit. my bike has a dongle to remove this and fits over the speed sensor so my bike is over the 15mph limit and can get it to 30 mph on the flat and never had a problem from police ect so id not worry about it less it looks like a motor bike like the bomber as just asking for it on that but still no one has had there bike taken yet. this is my bike http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk37/necromunger666/DSC_0333.jpg
June 14, 20169 yr Author Your bike looks great, not motorbike like at all, looks just like a mountainbike. Where is the battery? I see you have one of these crank type motors, are they better than hub motors in some way? Where do you get them?
June 14, 20169 yr you cant buy the bosch motors as only come on new bikes and atm can get a cube hard tail for about 1500 uk http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cube-cross-hybrid-pro-400-e-bike-2016/rp-prod141464 others to look at here. https://www.e-bikeshop.co.uk/ you can then see my batt is off the bike in that pic. id not use hub motors as go off road on my bike and more for road use bafang mid drive bit more expensive tho to a hub motor. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Model-Bafang-bbshd-48V-1000W-mid-drive-motor-kit-120mm-BB-Without-battery-/131776459933?hash=item1eae7d349d:g:~GQAAOSwHQ9WXjGg Edited June 14, 20169 yr by soundwave
June 26, 20169 yr Hi i was wondering if someone could give me some advice about the motors used on the ebikes. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the geared motor over direct drive? can anyone help a bit? thanks Paul the confused. Hi Paul We have written a blog post on just this topic: http://www.pandaebikes.com/geared-v-s-direct-drive-ebike-motors/ Short answer is, geared motors are the best as you get more power and efficiency. Direct drive motors are the only way if you want regen braking, but realistically there is no point having regen braking (subject of another blog post)
June 26, 20169 yr For a low powered bike, a geared motor makes sense. Once you want to raise power into the multi kW range however, a direct drive is the only way to go if you require any kind of reliability.
June 26, 20169 yr Direct drive motors are the only way if you want regen braking, but realistically there is no point having regen braking (subject of another blog post) Unless you live in the Alps or other mountainous region of course where saving brake linings and pads is the point. The electricity recovered being a byproduct.
June 26, 20169 yr Regeneration would certainly make the wife feel more comfortable in the Alps, riding downhill with the brakes hard on for 6 or 7km is way outside of her comfort zone.
June 26, 20169 yr Unless you live in the Alps or other mountainous region of course where saving brake linings and pads is the point. The electricity recovered being a byproduct. Yes that's a very good point Also - if you're cycling in the Alps you're likely to be covering more than 440m of height, which is the required height we worked out you need to be climbing to make regen braking worthwhile on the average ebike. Check out this blog post for the argument (and some nice pictures): http://www.pandaebikes.com/regen-braking-ebikes-worth/
June 26, 20169 yr Over 1,000m for every ride for me, if it's much less than that I just use the unpowered bike.
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