Hoping for advice.

[KPNUTS#]

Hi all,

I hope you can help bring me into the world of the pedelec. I know you have to pay a good amount of money for a decent electric bike. However, I don't have more that £1500. I wondered if anyone had some good suggestions?

The bike will be mostly be for commuting on the road about 18 miles each way to and from work. There are a few mild hills along the way. I would also like the option of sometimes going on easy trails. Not full on mountain biking, but I also prefer that kind of look on the bike (as some pedelecs look a bit like granny bikes).

I am 6ft 2in and about 90kg. Not super fit, but not unfit either.

I have found the following bikes and wondered what you think. A local company also does ebike conversions with Panda mid drive motor. I have a good condition mountain bike already and they have said they could carry out a conversion for about £900 for the type of setup I would like. I have placed the companies response at the end. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I really like the integrated battery look as you can see in some of these options:


http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rio-mtb - Woosh Rio MTB

https://www.kudoscycles.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=359 - Kudos Mistral

https://www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk/brands/oxygen/oxygen-s-cross-mtb - Oxygen Mtb

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?karoo Woosh Karoo




The response from the ebike company to convert a standard front suspension mountain bike with hydraulic disk breaks and 27 gears. I quite like the idea of a mid drive motor, but Im not sure the DIY look is what I am after:


"I think the best solution would be a mid-drive kit (fits to bottom bracket) so as not to disturb the front/rear wheels or brakes or rear gear-set. Mid-drive = https://www.pandaebikes.com/shop/conversion-kits/panda-m-drive-36v-250w-bottom-bracket-mid-drive-ebike-kit-lcd-screen/

The mid-drive kit also has the advantage that the controller is in the housing which makes for a very neat installation without too many cables.
I’ll have to check with Panda how sturdy it is; even with light off-roading it might be vulnerable if it gets bashed.

I’ll also have to check whether you can re-use your front chainrings; I don’t think you can, but I’ll ask them.

Range and Batteries:

The mid-drive controller claims to work on thumb-throttle only (for off-road use only, as they say on the website). That surprises me as I thought Panda’s road-legal kits couldn’t do that any longer since the regulations changed, but maybe this kit does; again I’ll need to check with them. If it does then that solves the throttle-only operation.

1. That leads to batteries. I did a comprehensive test (download from this page… http://wealdelectricbikes.co.uk/how-far-does-it-go/) which just about got 30 miles from a 250w front-wheel kit with a 10Ah battery on a typical hilly ride around the local roads. Details are in the report. On the old railway track, which is much easier to ride, I got about 50 miles but that’s exceptional. It’s pretty much linear – a battery twice as big will go twice as far, but take twice as long to charge. These are downtube batteries, which I think are the way to go. https://www.pandaebikes.com/product-category/batteries/downtube-batteries/
2. You can now get 10Ah, 13Ah, 16Ah and 21Ah batteries with correspondingly longer range and higher prices. Charge times, if fully drained are about 2A/hour – so a 10Ah battery will take 5 hours to charge if it’s drained right down. You can buy a rapid charger for the 21Ah pack as it has cells that will take higher current and this reduces charge time (from empty) to about 2 hours which is impressive. You shouldn’t do that every time as the cells won’t like it, but if you need a rapid charge it can be done. Just use a standard charge when you can afford to wait.

So, most of what you ask is possible. As a guide, you’re looking at the following costs:

• 36v 250w mid-drive kit = £350
• 16Ah battery (medium sized) = £400 (21Ah = £600 plus £100 for a rapid charger)
• Fitting = £150"

Sorry for the long post. I look forward to the response.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 4366]

All the bikes you listed are good, and would give you what you want.

The mid-drive conversion, if done properly, shouldn't look too much DIY. The cabling is pretty neat. If you like the bike, a conversion would make sense.

There's very little I can say to choose between any of those. Choose the one that you like the look of or is the cheapest.

 

[Trevormonty]

A middrive is better for steep climbs but is harder on drive train components. If you are only looking at light offroad with moderate climbs hub motor has some advantages. Build a whole new wheel with motor plus gears and you can switch between heavy ebike and normal MTB by swapping rear wheel and removing battery. The other plus is considerable less wear and tear on drivetrain.

 

[Gaz]

Pop over to Bristol and buy the 905 in the classifieds for £100. Save yourself a wadge of cash and have a blast. Robert's your Mums brother

Gaz

 

[basicasic]

If you haven't got somewhere local to buy a bike, then one of the advantages of buying a bike from one of the guys off here is that they monitor the forum often and can usually offer advice and support at times other than shop opening hours. Plus the fact they are still here and haven't been 'driven out of town' shows they must be doing something right.

 

[Mal69]

The Oxygen with 13AH battery is at the top end of your budget and will do the miles on full power and PAS level six, I live in a hilly area and can confirm that, my worry about conversions is that the spokes and wheels might not be good enough to deal with a motor, although I am no expert on that but I did a lot of research before buying an E-Bike.

 

[Moaten]

See you are in Sussex, if your not far from Freeborn in Horsham it's worth calling or paying them a visit ..... they have some discounts but don't go by what their website says.

 

[KPNUTS#]

Thank you all for your advice.

I have decided to up my budget and likely go for one of the following:

What do you guys think?

https://www.evanscycles.com/haibike-sduro-cross-4-0-2017-electric-hybrid-bike-EV299278


http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/giant-bikes/road_e-2_2016.html


Interestingly I went in Freeborn in Horsham yesterday. Thanks for the recommendation. Great shop and the guy in the shop very knowledgeable, but he had never heard of Haibike? I thought Haibike was a major player in the e-bike world?