i have a new bike

[a415]

i have bought a new electric bike. it is this advanced model :
izip

it makes a lovely noise. are the newer models quieter?

i want to know about any conversions for this model such as:
1. adding a 2nd battery on a rack above the back wheel and how to wire it (could i add two 12v batteries?)
2. where to get and how to wire 24v lights to the battery
3. how to reduce the noise it makes, does it come from the motor or the gearing?
4. can i get a more powerful motor so that i don't have to push it up hills? should i get a stronger chain?

anyone know what how many amphours the battery is? is there a battery of the same physical dimensions that has more amphours in it?

 

[flecc]

I'm afraid it isn't an advanced model, the Currie Electrodrive system is one of the oldest there is in e-biking. Variants on your bike are sold under various names from many outlets including Tesco who sell it as the Meercat Metro.

There's nothing that can be done about the noise, newer designs usually being much quieter. It's a heavy bike and without rider gears it won't handle the steepest hills. E-bikes are electric assist, not electric bikes, and motors don't come very much more powerful than you have there.

My advice is to enjoy it as it is and not spend money on what is essentially a basic old design electric bike. Better to get the maximum pleasure for it's life as it's a reasonable performer and save your money for an upgrade to a more expensive and more capable modern bike at some future date.
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[fishingpaul]

you could get a more powerfull motor,but it would cost far more than you have paid for your bike,single speed bikes are a poor compromise, and are not really suitable for hills,where rider input is needed on all legal electric bikes.if you are mechanically minded it might be worth buying a cheap second hand bike (£15 ish) for parts to add gears to the bike.

 

[a415]

thankyou for the info. i bought this partly because the motor is unboltable so it seems i could put something better on it sometime (unlike bikes which have the motors in the centres of wheels), and because its 24v, so couldnt i add 2 12v batteries? do you know where to get 24volt lights from?

 

[flecc]

You'd probably need to swap the wheel as well as the motor if you swapped to a different bike, due to the drive arrangement.

You can certainly add two more 12 volt SLA batteries, and if they are identical in size and type, you could connect them in parallel (pos to pos, neg to neg) to double the range. You cant connect them to increase the performance without a new controller, and the motor would probably fail on double voltage anyway. The trouble is that the SLA batteries are a major part of the weight of your bike and limiting the hill climbing, so adding two more would further reduce the climbing ability, the opposite of what you wanted. In answer to your earlier question, more ampere hours means a larger battery.

I'm sorry I don't know of a source for 24 volt lights, they usually come with some bikes. Again there's a catch 22 situation, since you are wanting to increase the range, but using the main battery for lights would reduce it. It might be better to buy independent good lights with their own batteries, since you could swap them to any future bike, regardless of what voltage that is. Most e-bikes are 36 volt these days.
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[a415]

thanks for info