I'm considering one of these to do a cargo conversion, only problem is the drum brakes make me favour a mid drive set up. Or should I scrap the front wheel and go hub? http://elephantbike.co.uk/elephant-bike.html/
Elephant Bikes
- Thread starter pdarnett
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It doesn't look suitable at all. Can the 3-speed gears take the load of a crank-motor? Where will the battery go? I would say that it would be better to go down the tip to see if you can find a suitable steel frame, and work up from there.
Well I do work at a Cycling recycling project!
Liked the look of the old Post office bikes, especially with a front cargo frame.
I was thinking slim downtube battery, shame there's no mounts for front brakes or I would have gone front hub in a flash.
These bikes were designed for taking a lot of cargo so should be strong enough.
Liked the look of the old Post office bikes, especially with a front cargo frame.
I was thinking slim downtube battery, shame there's no mounts for front brakes or I would have gone front hub in a flash.
These bikes were designed for taking a lot of cargo so should be strong enough.
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unless building it yourself is part of the fun (I can imagine this, having done a self build), why not just pick up an odk replica from alibaba (see the odk thread)? it looks a wonderful cargo bike. speaking of which does anyone have experience of buying over alibaba? is it at all reliable?
As a former Cycle mech for the Royal Mail, have a lot of experience with the 'Mail Star' as was , built by Pashley,they are very heavy, the 3 spd Sturmey hub was reliable as were the sturmey hub brakes , very good in the wet, not so in the dry, generally they were reliable, problems I used to get were mainly due to Abuse ,neglect by the riders such as water ingress into gears and Brakes when used inappropriately, you probably could fit disc brakes to front they have a fitting on the fork blade for the reaction arm for Hub brake.
They used to have a Sram 5 speed , with Sram hub brakes, don't get one of those, brakes and Hub gears were unreliable.
Strange that they are on the market, most of the old bikes taken out of service were shipped out to developing countries like Africa and India or were cut up and scrapped?
Well, I think I went the same route as you, but I never saw these! I found Dutch Batavus bikes, Lorri etc, Donky Bike, Urban Biba and others. I tried finding a frame on AliExpress, but no cargo frames, so I bought a frame almost identical to my Woosh Santana, but it will take a 3-speed, and I'm building up from there, with front hub motor. It arrived okay from China. Best of luck with the Elephant. I would buy new forks with the brake lugs on and put in a hub motor. I ended up getting my forks and mudguards from Germany. I just could not find what I wanted over here. Amazing. I notice it has basket mounting lugs like the ODK cargo bike - very useful.I'm considering one of these to do a cargo conversion, only problem is the drum brakes make me favour a mid drive set up. Or should I scrap the front wheel and go hub? http://elephantbike.co.uk/elephant-bike.html/
Its a totally new mid drive to the UK as well. I'll review it when I've done. Just to keep you guessing.
Go crank drive !I'm considering one of these to do a cargo conversion, only problem is the drum brakes make me favour a mid drive set up. Or should I scrap the front wheel and go hub? http://elephantbike.co.uk/elephant-bike.html/
My Pashley Parabike has drum brakes front and rear. My BBS01 conversion has been a great success, go for it
Paul, where did you get the mid-drive? I got a hint, which drive it might be and would be interested in the performance. Also, do you have an external controller, or the one integrated into the motor?
PS The bike looks like it would be fun to ride with a fast crank drive, imagine the faces when you overtake a road bike with it
PS The bike looks like it would be fun to ride with a fast crank drive, imagine the faces when you overtake a road bike with it
It doesn't look like the elephant bike can carry so much? it's the same as adding a rack to any bike
Cwah, I have been a former cycle mechanic for Royal mail ,these bikes were built very strong,,could carry 20 kilos on the rear rack in panniers, and in the front basket ,which is not shown rated at 10 kilos, but I seen them go out with more than that.
I had been a whistle blower ,telling managers that postys were carrying more than they should, the headsets would wear prematurely because of excess weight, built to a price not to carry heavy cargos.
Yeah but most ebike rack can carry up to 25kg. So my question is if we could carry the same amount of luggage through a bike rack we can install on any bike.
Mid drive is one I'm trying from Woosh with an external controller, haven't had much time this week to work on as doing repairs for folk, so maybe next week will have some tests done. Spins up ok and looks good though.
Cwah, my point was they can carry far more than rated, these bikes had to do this six days a week, be abused ,bumping up kerbs, and going along Britain's marvellously maintained potholed roads,they were given a 'rated' weight so they were safe to ride.
The racks were made from mild steel tubing, not the normal round bar found in most racks.
Hi Paul,
Looking to add mid drive to a friend's elephant bike - any info would be a help.
Cheers,
Fraser
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