folder ebike with "large" frame feel vs hybrid conversion

[sandyman44]

interestingly it was when I asked CHW if they could uprate the front brake on a node to maguras that they gave up. I was having the exact same reasoning regarding stopping power, hydraulic rims as a minimum.
as for motors, I am afraid I have little/no knowledge of what motors good and bad and what is feasible to diy fit versus needing professionals (if there is a good primer, please feel free to point me to it), I saw you suggested a GSM (I think thats a crank drive ?) in previous post any reason one versus the other on different bikes?

 

[anotherkiwi]

Were they worried about regular folding with the hydraulic line? That is the only issue I can see. The Magura is very easy to mount yourself you just have to do it somewhere it is easy to clean up the oil from the cut line as I found out...

I think the big wheeled bike (Joe 27.5) would work better with a crank drive than the smaller wheeled ones that is all. Just a question of personal taste rather than hard scientific evidence.

You could get a wheel maker to lace the hub motor into the existing rim or maybe a Halo 24" rim fits the Node frame?

 

[MikelBikel]

Were they worried about regular folding with the hydraulic line? That is the only issue I can see. The Magura is very easy to mount yourself you just have to do it somewhere it is easy to clean up the oil from the cut line as I found out

Think i read something about hydraulics not being recommended for folders coz they can get airlocked if the handlebars fold with the lever master cylinders upside down ?

 

[sandyman44]

nah wasn't that. I think they just didn't to make the effort to do something different to their normal (I wanted uprated brakes, tweaking the bar for reach, lightest/smallest battery I could get away with...).

there are other folders (tern vektron is one) that sell with hydraulic discs so I don't see the folding / upside down as an issue. Also I hang my full size bikes (3x hydraulics) on garage wall, some of them end up facing downwards. only issue I get is when take bike down, sometimes need pump levers 10 times to get the pressure back in the right place (when first taken down they can feel really soft).

think I am slightly biased towards crank for weight distribution / handling reasons - any issues with crank drive on smaller wheels in terms of fit?
were you suggesting before to put in a double chainring? I thought all crank drives came with a "default" single? It would be nice to have a 52 for hammering it and something smaller for hills / dead battery.

 

[anotherkiwi]

nah wasn't that. I think they just didn't to make the effort to do something different to their normal (I wanted uprated brakes, tweaking the bar for reach, lightest/smallest battery I could get away with...).

there are other folders (tern vektron is one) that sell with hydraulic discs so I don't see the folding / upside down as an issue. Also I hang my full size bikes (3x hydraulics) on garage wall, some of them end up facing downwards. only issue I get is when take bike down, sometimes need pump levers 10 times to get the pressure back in the right place (when first taken down they can feel really soft).

think I am slightly biased towards crank for weight distribution / handling reasons - any issues with crank drive on smaller wheels in terms of fit?
were you suggesting before to put in a double chainring? I thought all crank drives came with a "default" single? It would be nice to have a 52 for hammering it and something smaller for hills / dead battery.

Yes they all come with one except some Yamaha powered bikes. I have mounted a spider and two: 32 and 42. I am slightly under-geared a 44 would be better. The 32 permits climbing most hills around here at about 20 km/h and in assistance level 4 saving battery. For general riding at 25 km/h a single 38 would be the best choice. All those numbers for a 700C - 28" wheel and an 11-34 cassette.

 

[PaulNorwich]

I'm new to ebikes, but for what you describe, and your budget I'd keep any eye on the classifieds section here. Currently there are a couple of bikes on there that sound well cared for, almost new, very low miles, that would provably give you much greater quality than buying new.

Whyte Coniston:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/whyte-coniston-for-sale.29277/

Wisper 905 torque:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/wisper-905-torque-575w.28271/

I'm not selling these or related to the sellers, just noticed them, and thought they were amazing value... prices are crazy low for what they are in my opinion.

I don't know if these would meet your requirements or not. I'll leave any advice on the particular suitability of any model to more experienced members.

 

[sandyman44]

as the man said, is all about the bike. spent a large part of saturday test riding pedal folders at Fudge Cycles in london (who I can thoroughly recommend) they have a large range, the most different folders I've seen in any one shop - lots of dahon, pacific, birdy, montague, brompton of course. A few pedelecs but only one folding one (raleigh stow-e-way) which I've already discounted due to poor fit. they don't do conversions themselves.

The Dahon Vigor (20 inch wheel) seems like a folder I can actually potentially get on with to ride. cranks into corners at speed nicely (unlike brompton) , not too heavy (11kg), nice gearing (53:11-32, 94 gear inches top) 20mph at 70cadence and the top tube fit is nice and long with a syntace double-clamp stem rotating forward, standard 25.4 clamp so I can play with the fit by bar tuning.

dropouts are 75mm front 135mm rear, so thinking rear hub motor? want to keep it front-rear balanced (for ride and carry) and as light as possible, so smallest battery I can, towards the front of the bike, either on bottle holder (just in front of fold hinge) or in bag on front luggage truss (mounts on frame front). are there conversion experts on here?