Giant Lafree Twist 'Lite' F/S

[stevew]

An oldie but a goodie ! Still one of the lightest E-bikes out there, with a step through frame too.
Still good for 20 miles per charge and all in good running order. New-ish tyres, Marathon on the front and Marathon Plus on the back. Up graded V brakes. Front dynamo light and rear LED. Welcome to come and try. Will miss it but i'm getting a new E-Bike a Momentum Upstart, of a completely different style (as i'm much fitter now) so this one has to go.
£350 Orpington, Kent

 

[stevew]

Oh dear, just found a bike i "need" to buy

Happy to consider offers for the Lafree

 

[selrahc1992]

dear all, apologies if this is hijacking a thread, i couldn't find how to make a new post - but here goes: I've been given a giant la free twist for free - the catch is that its battery is dead. what would happen if i put a hobby king 6s (say a 16000mAh) in the old battery compartment? would it provide a similar enough voltage to the original 24 V NiMH? I gather from Google the old controller used 12V - apparently that was the reason for the third connector on the battery case? What would happen if i joined the 6S with a 3S and connect that to this part of the controller? Many thanks for your help.

 

[stevew]

So long as you get your 24v it's gonna work, I think.
If you pop the new battery on the rack rather than in the existing box you can wire it straight to the wires that go to the contacts at the bottom. Use a marine isolator and all should be hunky dorey
But i'm no expert

If it all goes "tits up" give me a shout and i may be in the position to buy some bits off of you to keep mine going

 

[selrahc1992]

So long as you get your 24v it's gonna work, I think.
If you pop the new battery on the rack rather than in the existing box you can wire it straight to the wires that go to the contacts at the bottom. Use a marine isolator and all should be hunky dorey
But i'm no expert

If it all goes "tits up" give me a shout and i may be in the position to buy some bits off of you to keep mine going

many thanks - I guess i worry most about the LVC - whether the old NiMH pack and a 6S' is similar? if it isn't one could either get very little range or destroy the 6S. While I'm all for wild experimentation, I was hoping to do this in a way that wouldn't go tits up..

 

[flecc]

That Googled information is wrong, the whole Panasonic unit in the Lafree Twist runs on 24 volts, there is no half voltage takeoff within the battery. It has only the positive and negative 24 volt connections on the battery pack, the third connection is for the NTC thermistor included in the case that senses temperature rise and indicates to the charger when the charge should be cut.

That NTC thermistor and the Panasonic charger will only work with a suitable NiMh cellpack, neither will work with the Lipos you suggest, so you'll need the right charger for those. Also the 6S is rather inadequate since the voltage at 22 volts is too low, and if you add three more cells in series it will be too high at over 33 volts. You need just 7 series lipo cells to get a usable voltage of 25.7 volts nominal.

The Lafree might run for a short while on the 6s pack, but the range will be short before the low voltage will be unable to give enough power to continue usefully.
.

 

[selrahc1992]

That Googled information is wrong, the whole Panasonic unit in the Lafree Twist runs on 24 volts, there is no half voltage takeoff within the battery. It has only the positive and negative 24 volt connections on the battery pack, the third connection is for the NTC thermistor included in the case that senses temperature rise and indicates to the charger when the charge should be cut.

That NTC thermistor and the Panasonic charger will only work with a suitable NiMh cellpack, neither will work with the Lipos you suggest, so you'll need the right charger for those. Also the 6S is rather inadequate since the voltage at 22 volts is too low, and if you add three more cells in series it will be too high at over 33 volts. You need just 7 series lipo cells to get a usable voltage of 25.7 volts nominal.

The Lafree might run for a short while on the 6s pack, but the range will be short before the low voltage will be unable to give enough power to continue usefully.
.

many thanks for the great answer - it addresses all the stuff I worried about, and the fact that it's all 24 V is great news. 7S should be doable though, i imagine, either in 4S and 3S or straight 7S (too bad 6S is the most my Lipo charger will do).

 

[stevew]

Or buy a £194, 24v pack from Kudos and strap it on the rack.

http://www.kudoscycles.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_3_12&products_id=153

 

[selrahc1992]

Or buy a £194, 24v pack from Kudos and strap it on the rack.

http://www.kudoscycles.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_3_12&products_id=153

many thanks, that's pretty cheap compared to BMSbattery, i wish kudos would say the capacity (one could get 20 AH worth of 7S lipo from hobbyking for £200)

 

[flecc]

For any other information you may find my support site for Panasonic crank units useful, the old type unit refers:

Panasonic units
.

 

[selrahc1992]

For any other information you may find my support site for Panasonic crank units useful, the old type unit refers:

Panasonic units
.

many thanks!

 

[stevew]

Back to the original post then.................after a long break !!

Got my Thorn Tourer fitted up with a 350 watt 8Fun front hub motor and with the Alfine 8 in the back i have a very rideable machine with a range of about 30 miles. Trucks along at about 18-19mph with pedal input from me and i haven't found a hill it wouldn't climb.

All this means the the Lafree has to go..............make me an offer please



This isn't my bike but it is exactly the same