Hi, newbie from Cornwall

[kernow60]

Briefly, I am soon to officially become an OAP, or as a close friend of mine put it an "old git".!!!
Many moons ago I was a member of a local cycling club, and use to partake in time trials, randonnae's etc.
I tend to try and keep myself reasonably fit these day's by spending 30-mins a day, er' well most days, on a spin bike, which is all well and good but tends to get a bit boring when the sun is shinning, it's fine though when is lashing down outside.
So I have recently treated myself to a new MTB a Diamondback Sync 3.0, it's a hardtail with suspension forks and hydraulic disc brake's in a rather eye catching blue. What I propose to do in the coming weeks/months is to convert it to electric to give me some assistance, and the probable road I like to go down is to fit a mid position drive for the hills down here in sunny Cornwall.
I am aware that new laws were introduced this year regarding what power options you can and can't use, but would like a 2-stage power option where I'm legal on-road and another option where I can switch to more power off road when required.
Some things I guess to consider here are the fact that the bike has hydraulic disc brakes and most kits seem to favour changing the levers with levers with built in sensors which I'm not sure is possible in my case.?
I'm also looking to get around 50........ish miles on a fully charged battery, which I assume is possible with some care on how it's used.
Would really appreciate some expert advice and opinions here please, I don't want to spend good money on something that's unsuitable, please feel free to ask me any more info or questions.
Thanks in advance for all or any help, much appreciated.

 

[Footie]

Before I comment, let me say I have been out of the electric bike circuit for a few years, so I am not up to speed on modern advances.

I have an old (9 year old) heavy MTB electric bike.
I also have a second electric bike, which is a kit on my 30 year old mountain bike but it has never left the shed, other than a short run up the road and back.

I am also based in beautiful Cornwall and sadly the rolling Cornish hills have been killers for my electric bike batteries.
Admittedly I am only a leisure rider but that has also meant my bikes have lasted well due to low usage.

I have had different batteries over the years but all have fallen by the wayside due to the mighty Cornish hills.
My originally electric bike came with 7Ahr SLA batteries, which gave me a range of around 10 miles, at first.
After about 8 months of light usage they started to fail and when the range dropped to 7 miles I switched to a li-po4.

Sadly, my eye watering £250 li-po4 battery only gave me a range of 18 miles, due to the Cornish hills.
The li-po4 has served me well but it too has now died and I just can't see the point of paying out several hundred pounds for a replacement li-po4 battery again.

Instead I have spent around £100 and switched back to SLA but increased the power by going for 9Ahr SLA.

I have yet to fully test the new set-up but in reality I am not looking for a massive range, I know the hills will kill my battery, all I need is a range of about 10 miles to do all I want, 5 miles there and 5 miles back

Anything further and I will use the car.

 

[kernow60]

Hi thanks for the reply nice to know there are fellow Cornish members around.
I noticed the batteries you described which seemed to have let you down are with quite a low a/h rating, of course this may have been all that was available years ago when you were using your electric bikes. Like you said modern technology has moved on, and battery power is pretty immense nowadays, but this usually means so has the cost.!!!

 

[Footie]

It seems there are a number of 48v batteries about these days, 36v used to be the tops a few year ago, technology dose not stand still.

Rebuilding my battery has rekindled my interest in E-bikes generally and yesterday I found a nicely priced 36v bottle battery.
My kit e-bike has never had a battery of its own, a bottle battery would be perfect for it and it would mean I would be able to finally use it out on the open road.

In comparing the two against each other, the weight of the SLA battery aside, I think the kit E-bike would likely give me a better range (even at 36v).
It is far lighter than the be-spoke E-bike for starters, so the rider will be able to input more, while saving on battery power.

Regeneration used to be popular, not sure if it still is.
My be-spoke E-bike has regeneration in the back wheel (built in dynamo), while this is fine for flat areas it has been a pain here in hilly Cornwall.
An E-bike without regeneration will clearly run a lot freer and potentially have a greater range in hilly environments (IMO).

I will be interested to know what you do in the end

 

[D8ve]

Tech hasn't changed to allow 48volts, it's just adding another 12 battery in series. And lining them up in parallel Alows big current. The only real change has been in reducing weight.

 

[kernow60]

Regeneration used to be popular, not sure if it still is.
My be-spoke E-bike has regeneration in the back wheel (built in dynamo), while this is fine for flat areas it has been a pain here in hilly Cornwall.
An E-bike without regeneration will clearly run a lot freer and potentially have a greater range in hilly environments (IMO).

I will be interested to know what you do in the end

I'm definitely going to go with a mid-position drive set-up, no particular hurry still researching at the moment. I'm pretty sure this set up doesn't have the option of regeneration.?
And like you said I guess it would be a load on any system, having to generate a charge.