DIY Kit - Which one?

[kenl]

I am about to buy a DIY kit, probably front wheel 26".
They are all 36v 250w kits.
Do they differ in torque?
What should I be looking for?
My usual route is hilly, but not too steep, and about 40 miles round trip.

 

[Nealh]

For hills you need low winding of about 190/210 rpm for slow speed torque.

 

[Woosh]

I am about to buy a DIY kit, probably front wheel 26".
They are all 36v 250w kits.
Do they differ in torque?
What should I be looking for?
My usual route is hilly, but not too steep, and about 40 miles round trip.

there is little difference in the amount of work fitting a front or a rear hub or a crank drive motor. The front hub may present specific problems in some cases:
1. Some suspension forks have 'fat' lower legs, one of them hits the side of the motor.
2. Some rigid forks have a tapered shape, causing the same problem.
3. You have to run a longer motor cable and make a drip loop, the loop is prone to snagging on something unless you cabletie it properly, but if you do that, it will take you longer to remove the wheel and refit.

If you need a high torque motor, choose a large geared hub like the 48V SWX02 or Bafang BPM.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#swx02-48v-kit

 

[Benjahmin]

If you show us the bike you intend to use we can get more specific. I've done both blade and suspension front hubs and not had the problems Tony mentions. The drip loops do stick out quite a bit but then I only ride road so nothing for it to snag on.

 

[kenl]

If you show us the bike you intend to use we can get more specific. I've done both blade and suspension front hubs and not had the problems Tony mentions. The drip loops do stick out quite a bit but then I only ride road so nothing for it to snag on.

It's an old Specialized Hard Rock

 

[kenl]

there is little difference in the amount of work fitting a front or a rear hub or a crank drive motor. The front hub may present specific problems in some cases:
1. Some suspension forks have 'fat' lower legs, one of them hits the side of the motor.
2. Some rigid forks have a tapered shape, causing the same problem.
3. You have to run a longer motor cable and make a drip loop, the loop is prone to snagging on something unless you cabletie it properly, but if you do that, it will take you longer to remove the wheel and refit.

If you need a high torque motor, choose a large geared hub like the 48V SWX02 or Bafang BPM.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#swx02-48v-kit

Thank you for your reply Woosh, but my rear wheel has a 7 gear system.

 

[Woosh]

the old Specialized Hard Rock is easy to electrify. You can use BBSes, BPM, SWX02 - if you need loads of torque, the 48V SWX02 is very good. You will need a new 7-speed freewheel, the old one I think is 11T-32T, the new ones are all 13T minimum, so that has an effect on your cadence.

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#swx02-48v-kit

 

[Laser Man]

Your bike looks a similar age to my Saracen that I electrified recently (also with a 7 speed sprocket on the back wheel).

You can read about my build here -

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/my-build-of-a-woosh-xf08-cst-kit-onto-an-old-saracen-andes.31943/

You would need to send Woosh close-up photos of your bottom bracket/chain wheel so that they can advise on the best pedal sensor to use, but other than that it's all pretty straightforward.

Don't expect to do your first conversion in the 3 hours suggested (that's for if you have done several conversions before!) - allow at least a whole day to work through it methodically.

Just to add that I'm really very pleased indeed with my conversion - coming up to 100 miles (a lot of which was in the hilly bits near Corfe Castle) with no problems at all and performance better than I had hoped for.

 

[jokskot]

I bought a Voilamart 250w front hub kit from Amazon for under £100 around three months ago. The same model is only available now on eBay for around £125.I also bought a 36v 10.3ah downtube battery for ca. £170 ex Germany via eBay (delivered in 4 days from order).
I found the kit reasonably easy to fit to my 21 gear mountain bike. I use it exclusively on roads. I am 70, weigh around 95kg, not very fit but getting fitter, and have found it copes with quite steep (Pennine) hills and would have no hesitation in recommending anyone to buy this combination.
I have learned quite a lot through building and tweaking the bike and would do some things rather differently if I was to repeat the exercise. I would be happy to provide 1:1 guidance to you or anyone else who might want to consider converting to an ebike using the the Voilamart 250w front wheel hub; it provides a cheap entry to ebiking and IMO gives excellent value, and is educational.

 

[Derrick Lewis]

i have built 5 bikes with voilamart kits too 2 front 1000/250w 2 rear 1000/250w and a rear 500w tbh i can`t fault them although i think when it comes to hills the 1000w aint great you have to still put a good bit of effort in. the 500w climbs a bit better, On my bike i have just upgraded the controller and battery and the 1000w rear wheel handles hills no problem now so think the controller could do with pushing a few more amps on the kits can probably be done with a shunt mod easy enough though

Overall i think the Voilamart kits are great value for money imo and a good first step into ebikes.


Edit* buy some c washers if your bike is alloy and has the grove for quick release wheels