Help needed for choosing powerful ebike/kit

[RobinG]

First of all, great site and discussions! THANKS!

I'm in need of help/advice for which bike / kit to choose.

I live in the south eastern part of France (between Nice and Monaco), I'm Dutch (so I've been used to biking all of my life), and I've been taking my mountain bike in this region for years now, almost every day.
However, since 2 years my home - work trek is slightly longer and more uphill and over time I stopped taking my bike, mainly due to having to take a shower & 40 minute trek uphill (instead of a 10 minute car ride).
I miss my biking so I'm going electric.


Here are my needs:
- I weight almost 100 kg
- Home to work (Antibes --> Sophia Antipolis) is 40 minute uphill (230 meters elavation difference)
- (preferably) more than 8 gears needed due to my weight & steep hills
- A bike that works even when the battery is dead
- No speed limitations (on average on the flat I go slightly over 25 km/hour)
- Robust bike since I continuously have to go on off curbes / into forest trails to avoid traffic (there are no bike paths here )

I've tried about 6 different bikes and the BionX kit. Each of the bikes, although great in many ways, had some problem that prevented me from wanting to buy them (noise, vibrations, speed limitations, not enough gears).

The only option that I really liked was the BionX kit mounted on a mountain bike. It was wonderful: silent, quick, easy.
Vibrations when braking (due to the battery recharging) was slightly annoying but nothing serious.

Having said that there are two things that I have slight problems with:
1) the price - around 1500 euros.
2) the power & lifetime of a battery - after having arrived at work the fully charged battery was flat

The battery was new. I'm a bit concerned that the battery, since it is Lithium, degrades over time and that in no time I'll have to buy another one (and the replacements are expensive). I do the home --> work route 5 times per week.


Considering options and what I've seen I'll most likely go out and buy the Bionx or a Matra iStep (which has a BionX motor).
However, the price is REALLY putting me off. It'll be over 2000 euros, with probably a new battery every year.

A yearly bus subscrition is 2/3 the price of a new battery, so biking will actually cost me money...

Does anyone have any suggestions for a cheaper option than the BionX (with at least as much power)?

Robin

 

[flecc]

i think you've already found the best option Robin, many in Canada using the BionX on rough roads and trails where it seems to work well and reliably.

The Panasonic powered bikes with their mid motor/battery placing are fine on the rough, but they are slower and less powerful. Front hub motors are far from ideal for rough land and can cause lots of vibration and discomfort. With rear hub motors there's always a question on the rough with the strength of the hollow spindle (for cables) with the high load that a rear motor has to carry.

Assuming that it's fairly even, the climb that you have is quite gentle and the more powerful hub motor bikes would handle it with ease with minimal pedalling, or even no pedalling. I have one gentle climb route of 146 metres elevation over 8 kilometres and the eZee Quando cruises that at 25 kph average for 20 minutes without pedalling, the eZee Torq 1 at 30 kph for less time with light pedal assistance. I'm 28 kilos lighter than you, so your speeds on bikes like that would be reduced a bit, but they would cope ok.

However, with most geared hub motors you might need need to be cautious on the rough, leaving the BionX as still best for you. The price is high, the battery price even worse, though I understand it's a long lived one. As for the economics, it's a fact of life that e-bikes are not necessarily a cheap travel option, and a moped can be a better option to save money. I ride e-bikes because I enjoy them, but they have been a more costly option for me.
.

 

[john]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a cheaper option than the BionX (with at least as much power)?

Robin

A TongXin motor would certainly do the job, probably as well as BionX and considerably cheaper. The issues with this are reliability (and availablity but that applies to many). You should check this and other forums to decide if you were confident with this motor.

 

[Tiberius]

(Antibes --> Sophia Antipolis)
.......(there are no bike paths here )

Robin

There are no pavements, either.

Hi Robin,

I have to go to ETSI at Sophia Antipolis regularly. I was there 2 weeks ago and got severely rained upon. Its a nightmare if you are a pedestrian too. They have re-created a little bit of the USA there.

Nick

 

[wgaBloke]

I'm only new and still have alot to learn here but ive reciently fitted a kit to my bike. In Australia we are currently limited to 200watts. Im unsure what the regulations are in your part of the World. All i can say is im more than happy with my 200watt motor setup. Using a 7speed cassette and with no speed limitations im pulling over 40kms an hour on flats even on slight inclines and going back a couple of gears its still running 30kph. Heres a pic of a kit, im using a cheaper copy of these;
Electric bicycle DIY kits kit e-bike DIY kits Electric Scooter Electric bicycle DIY kits kit e-bike DIY kits Electric Scooter Electric bicycle DIY kits kit e-bike DIY kits Electric Scooter Electric bicycle DIY kits kit e-bike DIY kits Electric Scoote

 

[flecc]

In Australia we are currently limited to 200watts. Im unsure what the regulations are in your part of the World. All i can say is im more than happy with my 200watt motor setup.

That's the same as the old British law which is changing to the EU 250 watts.

However, all these are just notional figures and not actual outputs. They are supposed to represent the power applied at the road surface for the duration of a journey, and the figures only exist for the purposes of the law. No-one to my knowledge has ever shown how they could be reliably measured.

The actual motor peak outputs are much higher, the motors on our UK market currently ranging from 272 to about 680 watts peak gross power, with net powers of about 80% of those, plus or minus 5%.
.