Hello!

[ChrisGla]

Just joined, considering adding electric kits to my partner and myself's Genesis Croix de Fer 20's to electric to ease some of Scotland's hills and give us more scope for our leisure rides.

Currently getting lost in the pro's and cons of hub vs mid-drive, and cadence vs torque- it's great to have this site to see the available options and what problems each has for retro-fitting!

Thanks for all your contributions!

Chris

 

[Deleted member 4366]

We'd need to know more about you and your rides to give suitable advice. Weight and hills are the most important things. Do you manage OK now without electric assistance? Those are lightweight bikes. It seems a shame to load them up with heavy kit.

 

[ChrisGla]

Seems odd to hear the steel framed CDF called light...it's around 12kg, but everything's relative!
I'm around 90kg and Gillian around 57kg.

We do have to get off on some club climbs- done the Cumbrae loops at the weekend and the upper loop is 3km/100m and shows as grade 1:3 overall. Probably on foot for the last 5%. Glasgow is surrounded by these so it's more about getting us over so,e of these hills so we can enjoy and venture further beyond them!

At start of looking at the forums was thinking that md torque options were better- but think they'd mess up the current gearing too much.

Just read the lightweight trekking bike and like the sound of it:-
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/lightweight-trekking-bike-build.28276/

I did come across the 2 speed Xiongdha as well, it seemed quite a good compromise without the full mid drive complexity.

Hubs also have the benefit that I can change wheel- have a really good wheel builder locally ( wheel craft) so would probably prefer the, to build a new/ second pair rather than buy a whole single wheel if I go that way.

Definitely don't want a throttle type perma-elec- really want minimum controls possible for a bit of assist

 

[Tabs]

Welcome ChrisGla,good to see yet more folk from Glasgow getting into electric bikes.

 

[ChrisGla]

d8veh, I know you built/ tested a lightweight with the Xiongda.

It sounds as thought this might be enough for our needs- we really don't want lots of power, just a bit of a help sometimes.
There's a couple of ytw-06 on ebay just now along with some other kit:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lightweight-electric-E-bike-front-hub-motor-kit-plus-spares-/263172437630?hash=item3d464cb67e:g:~nUAAOSw3GFZnupT


What's your thoughts on this as a starting point? From the prices you indicated I don't think it's that cheap for "untested"- but with the two motors, controller, one display and a rim it's maybe a low cost way to let us give it a try, thinking along with a 8wH battery