How far do you want to go?

[Cyclezee]

For a number of years eZee have had an optional dual battery setup available, now the guys at Grin Cyclery / ebikes.ca have designed a new battery rail specifically for eZee FP batteries.

The rail makes it possible to secure and lock the FP battery to a standard rear carrier and it also makes it possible to carry multiple batteries as shown below.

With the option of carrying multiple batteries there is the possibility of substantially increasing range, something that may be of interest to touring cyclists.

Three eZee FP LiPo are currently available 37v 10Ah, 37v 14Ah and 48v 10Ah and the maths is not difficult, carrying 3 x 10Ah gives 30Ah, 3 x 14Ah gives 42Ah.

Of course the down side is an increased load to carry, in the case of 3 x eZee 37v 14Ah LiPo batteries it would come to 11.4Kg.

Grin are also suggesting that if someone has the desire to travel extreme distances non stop and a strong enough rack, as many as 5 FP batteries could be carried giving the possibility of a massive 70Ah battery capacity.

 

[SRS]

Why not stick the batteries in a small trailer. Surely more stable than loading up a rack?

 

[Cyclezee]

Why not stick the batteries in a small trailer. Surely more stable than loading up a rack?

I can see your point SRS and it could be useful to use a trailer if you were touring so that you can carry extra luggage too.

Personally, if I were intending to tour, I would probably load up my Bob Yak with a couple of spare batteries and just call it a day if I wasn't able to recharge on route or ran out of power.

However, I like the stuff that GC do and have a couple of their battery anchors on order to try out.

 

[SRS]

I can see your point SRS and it could be useful to use a trailer if you were touring so that you can carry extra luggage too.

Personally, if I were intending to tour, I would probably load up my Bob Yak with a couple of spare batteries and just call it a day if I wasn't able to recharge on route or ran out of power.

However, I like the stuff that GC do and have a couple of their battery anchors on order to try out.

Never hurts to take a look at new products and options. Looks as if they are extremely well machined.

 

[mountainsport]

Hi John,

It is good to know that you are at least catering for every aspect of peoples needs, because sometimes I would love the thought of heading out on a very long 50-70 mile round trip without constantly peeping down on my fuel gauge. The other thing that I would like to ask you, will you have to upgrade the power controller in order to cope with the added weight including x2 side panniers and remembering at the same time that this bike is being used for touring the whole entire country.

Mountainsport.

 

[Scimitar]

Oh, that's neat. I think the standard ally rack would be in danger of snapping though, so steel would be my option. Even so, the standard mounting points will fracture eventually, both on the rack and the frame and that's bloody awkward all around.
Honestly, some stuff like this is designed by some people who simply don't know any better and have no real materials experience or knowledge.

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi John,

It is good to know that you are at least catering for every aspect of peoples needs, because sometimes I would love the thought of heading out on a very long 50-70 mile round trip without constantly peeping down on my fuel gauge. The other thing that I would like to ask you, will you have to upgrade the power controller in order to cope with the added weight including x2 side panniers and remembering at the same time that this bike is being used for touring the whole entire country.

Mountainsport.

Hi Mountainsport,

The standard 20amp eZee controller is capable of handling this type of setup when connected in parallel.

Of course you don't need to have all batteries connected to the controller at the same time, we can and do supply 'Y' splitters for connecting 2 batteries in parallel, it would just take a bit more work to create a multiple battery splitter.

We do have a customer who recently bought an eZee kit, he has 4 FP batteries with intention crrying them all at the same time, I haven't seen photos of his setup yet.

 

[Cyclezee]

Oh, that's neat. I think the standard ally rack would be in danger of snapping though, so steel would be my option. Even so, the standard mounting points will fracture eventually, both on the rack and the frame and that's bloody awkward all around.
Honestly, some stuff like this is designed by some people who simply don't know any better and have no real materials experience or knowledge.

Hi Dave,

I would suggest that anyone thinking of trying this does have a good quality strong rack that is securely mounted, but most have a load capacity of 25Kg and should be capable of handling this load.

 

[amigafan2003]

Hi Dave,

I would suggest that anyone thinking of trying this does have a good quality strong rack that is securely mounted, but most have a load capacity of 25Kg and should be capable of handling this load.

I've just bought an Axion journey rack that says it's supports up to 70kg and looking at it I don't doubt it.

I've been carrying 12 kg (5kg battery and two laptops + commuting gear) On my Trek FX for nearly two years now - and the original rack (25kg rated) and frame mounts have been just fine.

Of course - if you're worried about frame mounts then get a steel frame.

 

[jackhandy]

Any idea of price yet, John?

I carry a FP in a boot bag, but it would be good to have it secured.

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Jack,

$48 for the plain Aluminium and $50 for anodised black. A set of clamping blocks is an additional $15.

Then you have the delivery cost, import duty and Vat to add.

No, they are not cheap, but they are not going to selling them by the container load as they are only designed to fit the eZee FP battery, so I can understand why.

A cheaper alternative is the eZee City type carrier at £50 and you can add more batteries by fitting them into a FP soft bag which attaches with Velcro straps to the top and/or sides of the carrier as shown below.

The downside of this option is the soft bags are not locked to the carrier.

 

[flecc]

Why not stick the batteries in a small trailer. Surely more stable than loading up a rack?

That just adds the drag of the trailer wheels, which is unnecessary.

I've done large mileages on my eZee bikes carrying three 36v batteries*, one in it's frame mount in use and one in each pannier on the standard eZee alloy racks which are easily strong enough. On one of these bikes my custom rear trailer hitch is entirely mounted on the eZee rack and used for very large loads. The same rack is also used for two very large panniers which are often heavily loaded, sometimes with an additional heavy top load item, all with never a single problem.

*These were mostly the older series batteries, two 4.5 kilo li-ion and a 5.5 kilo NiMh, so 14.5 kilos of batteries in all. I believe three of the current 10 Ah batteries would only weigh some 10.5 kilos.

 

[piotrmacheta]

Racks are generally very strong but on rough terrain the constant flexing will damage them. I went on a cycle tour (unpowered) with 2 panniers (total 16kg) on an aluminium (Reise and Muller) rack and it was fine on smooth roads but failed (after 4 weeks) due to very rough tracks.
If I were touring with lots of batteries I would try to distribute the batteries and weight around the bike more. Front panniers, frame mounts, handlebar bag etc. Great product John.

 

[hopper_rider]

I think anything that provides the potential for extra powered distance is a good idea, provided it doesnt make the bike too heavy or unstable.

 

[funkylyn]

For a number of years eZee have had an optional dual battery setup available, now the guys at Grin Cyclery / ebikes.ca have designed a new battery rail specifically for eZee FP batteries.

The rail makes it possible to secure and lock the FP battery to a standard rear carrier and it also makes it possible to carry multiple batteries as shown below.

With the option of carrying multiple batteries there is the possibility of substantially increasing range, something that may be of interest to touring cyclists.

Three eZee FP LiPo are currently available 37v 10Ah, 37v 14Ah and 48v 10Ah and the maths is not difficult, carrying 3 x 10Ah gives 30Ah, 3 x 14Ah gives 42Ah.

Of course the down side is an increased load to carry, in the case of 3 x eZee 37v 14Ah LiPo batteries it would come to 11.4Kg.

Grin are also suggesting that if someone has the desire to travel extreme distances non stop and a strong enough rack, as many as 5 FP batteries could be carried giving the possibility of a massive 70Ah battery capacity.
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You know John, that really looks like the dogs doo dahs compared with the Infinium setup from 2008 which didnt really take off due to their inability to get the batteries to stay safely attached to the bike whilst going over the smallest of bumps !!
Not sure if they have fixed those teething problems by now or just given up,but quite frankly I lost interest, as well as confidence, on hearing of the first debacle.

When I decide to do a marathon ride I think I will definitely go your Ezee route because I like to go all the way and its always better if your batteries dont fall off half way......

Its kind of got my brain cells going a bit (always dangerous), Im having visions of an Ezee Sprint, triple or more battery set up, trailer for the dogs and camping gear and heading off for Nordkapp to see the Northern Lights and all those Whales .......mind you, on second thoughts I may be being a bit ambitious, but then again, why not...hmmmm....trip of a lifetime and a real test, could I ? should I ? ....

Or could we arrange it as a more ambitious Pedelecs members "day out ".....

Maybe I should see if I can get up Alistairs hill in Bristol first.......then decide......


Lynda

 

[RobF]

Or could we arrange it as a more ambitious Pedelecs members "day out ".....

Lynda

Speaking of which, what happened to the forum ride in County Durham?

 

[funkylyn]

Speaking of which, what happened to the forum ride in County Durham?

Well Rob....thats a long story, but major mitigating circumstances for its delay were Willin being on holiday around the two possible weekends and me trapping a nerve in my neck which rendered my right arm almost useless and painful for the last few weeks, which I suppose some might say makes my idea of cycling to Nordkapp a rather dodgy one......but I am getting better and I can still dream.

The Durham trip is, however, just delayed ......we WILL do it, but maybe for me it will be easier once I have actually moved up there.

Lynda

 

[RobF]

Well Rob....thats a long story, but major mitigating circumstances for its delay were Willin being on holiday around the two possible weekends and me trapping a nerve in my neck which rendered my right arm almost useless and painful for the last few weeks, which I suppose some might say makes my idea of cycling to Nordkapp a rather dodgy one......but I am getting better and I can still dream.

The Durham trip is, however, just delayed ......we WILL do it, but maybe for me it will be easier once I have actually moved up there.

Lynda

Thanks, pleased I haven't missed it.

Hope you get the move sorted.

 

[funkylyn]

Thanks, pleased I haven't missed it.
.

As if we wouldnt tell you...........

You obviously dont realise how keen I am to see that smart new bike of yours

Lynda

 

[Caph]

I am absolutley mystified by this. Those batteries prevent you attaching panniers to the pannier rack. Surely you'd be better off just popping the batteries in your panniers? This looks like a solution lacking a problem??? Keeping the batteries in the panniers keeps them safe from bumps and jolts plus leaves you free to use the rest of the storage space in the panniers.

Am I missing something here?