My wife and I took up recreational cycling, recently (fresh air and exercise), but she has suffered a frozen shoulder which has made upright cycling impossible for the moment. I bought a Kettwiesel delta trike for her to use and this has worked quite well but I would like to motorize it because there are hills where we live.
I don't want to interfere with the existing gears - rear 9 speed derailleur and Schlumpf Mountain drive - which seem to work well and provide a good range. A geared front hub (on the front, steered wheel) wouldn't interfere with the gears, shouldn't be too heavy, would be reasonably quiet, and shouldn't drag perceptibly if used without power (I hope).
Initially, I was interested in the Xiongda 2 speed motor (Panda Ebikes sell these in kits) because the gearing gives two speeds at which the motor can work efficiently but I've seen complaints that the motor can lock up and break if the wheel is pushed backwards. The nature of trikes is that they get pushed/pulled backward frequently so I suppose that this motor won't do. Although I saw mention that Xiongda might be taking steps to fix the problem, I haven't seen any postings that confirm that they have done so. Is anyone able to comment?
My attention is now taken by the Bafang QSWXK5 and the Mxus XF07. These motors seem comparable. One seller seems to be saying that the Bafang model has been superceded by QSWXK2 but I haven't been able to find out any more about it. Does anybody know more about this? I guess I would prefer a motor that has Hall sensors since they have a reputation for operating more smoothly than those without (with an appropriate controller).
I would like to use a bottle battery as there is provision behind the seat for 2 bottle holders. This would make the installation quite inconspicuous (which is one of my goals). A black anodized bottle case would be even more discreet. The controller could be mounted on the frame beneath the seat close by the battery. One of my concerns, though, is that this style (capacity) of battery may not be able to supply enough current to power the machine up hills. I've seen a comment about that somewhere but I don't know if it would apply in this context.
I would require a motor cable of about 1.6 - 1.7 metres to go between the motor and the controller. Presumably this is not so long as to cause a significant loss of energy to the motor. The rest of the gear would seem to be about as close together as on a conventional bike.
I have seen a kit offered by Cyclotricity and I am tempted to get this. It seems to use an XF07 (although Cyclotricity doesn't explicitly state this). The kit doesn't include torque arms but I would want to fit these to both sides of the (substantial but alloy) forks. The XF07 seems to have a short captive power lead leaving the motor via the axle. Is it possible to push the attached connector through the bolt hole on a torque arm? Does anybody here have experience of this? I don't fancy disassembling a new motor to break and re-make these electrical connections. Incidentally, the forks are spaced at ~101mm and the dropouts are ~10mm. The inner face of the dropouts is flush with the inner face of the forks above.
The Kett has 20 inch wheels using 32mm wide rims (basically, BMX rims). I can't see any supplier who offers a kit with wheels like this so I think I would, at a later date, take the motor out of the supplied wheel and relace it in a rim more like those already on the machine (if I can find one); the kit wheel would do to start with.
Hub manufacturers supply the motors with different windings to suit differing sized wheels. Again, suppliers don't seem very forthcoming about this information in their adverts; I guess they think this would be confusing for buyers. I have a persistent mistrust that they might supply the motors that they have in stock rather than ones which have the correct specification so what should I be looking for with either of these motors?
Kits generally supply replacement brake levers but I would prefer to keep the existing Avid BB7 components and operate some sort of microswitch to cut power to the motor. Also, Ive seen pedal sensors that split in two that look preferable to the sensor supplied by Cyclotricity. Are all these sensors interchangeable (they seem to have different numbers of magnets)?
Perhaps I want to change the kit to such an extent that I would be better off just buying the components but I fear that, if I attempted to do that, I would get nowhere with the project but just stall from inertia.
All helpful suggestions considered! (Actually, this will be invaluable help with my research for my forthcoming novel about ebiking in Russia.)
John
I don't want to interfere with the existing gears - rear 9 speed derailleur and Schlumpf Mountain drive - which seem to work well and provide a good range. A geared front hub (on the front, steered wheel) wouldn't interfere with the gears, shouldn't be too heavy, would be reasonably quiet, and shouldn't drag perceptibly if used without power (I hope).
Initially, I was interested in the Xiongda 2 speed motor (Panda Ebikes sell these in kits) because the gearing gives two speeds at which the motor can work efficiently but I've seen complaints that the motor can lock up and break if the wheel is pushed backwards. The nature of trikes is that they get pushed/pulled backward frequently so I suppose that this motor won't do. Although I saw mention that Xiongda might be taking steps to fix the problem, I haven't seen any postings that confirm that they have done so. Is anyone able to comment?
My attention is now taken by the Bafang QSWXK5 and the Mxus XF07. These motors seem comparable. One seller seems to be saying that the Bafang model has been superceded by QSWXK2 but I haven't been able to find out any more about it. Does anybody know more about this? I guess I would prefer a motor that has Hall sensors since they have a reputation for operating more smoothly than those without (with an appropriate controller).
I would like to use a bottle battery as there is provision behind the seat for 2 bottle holders. This would make the installation quite inconspicuous (which is one of my goals). A black anodized bottle case would be even more discreet. The controller could be mounted on the frame beneath the seat close by the battery. One of my concerns, though, is that this style (capacity) of battery may not be able to supply enough current to power the machine up hills. I've seen a comment about that somewhere but I don't know if it would apply in this context.
I would require a motor cable of about 1.6 - 1.7 metres to go between the motor and the controller. Presumably this is not so long as to cause a significant loss of energy to the motor. The rest of the gear would seem to be about as close together as on a conventional bike.
I have seen a kit offered by Cyclotricity and I am tempted to get this. It seems to use an XF07 (although Cyclotricity doesn't explicitly state this). The kit doesn't include torque arms but I would want to fit these to both sides of the (substantial but alloy) forks. The XF07 seems to have a short captive power lead leaving the motor via the axle. Is it possible to push the attached connector through the bolt hole on a torque arm? Does anybody here have experience of this? I don't fancy disassembling a new motor to break and re-make these electrical connections. Incidentally, the forks are spaced at ~101mm and the dropouts are ~10mm. The inner face of the dropouts is flush with the inner face of the forks above.
The Kett has 20 inch wheels using 32mm wide rims (basically, BMX rims). I can't see any supplier who offers a kit with wheels like this so I think I would, at a later date, take the motor out of the supplied wheel and relace it in a rim more like those already on the machine (if I can find one); the kit wheel would do to start with.
Hub manufacturers supply the motors with different windings to suit differing sized wheels. Again, suppliers don't seem very forthcoming about this information in their adverts; I guess they think this would be confusing for buyers. I have a persistent mistrust that they might supply the motors that they have in stock rather than ones which have the correct specification so what should I be looking for with either of these motors?
Kits generally supply replacement brake levers but I would prefer to keep the existing Avid BB7 components and operate some sort of microswitch to cut power to the motor. Also, Ive seen pedal sensors that split in two that look preferable to the sensor supplied by Cyclotricity. Are all these sensors interchangeable (they seem to have different numbers of magnets)?
Perhaps I want to change the kit to such an extent that I would be better off just buying the components but I fear that, if I attempted to do that, I would get nowhere with the project but just stall from inertia.
All helpful suggestions considered! (Actually, this will be invaluable help with my research for my forthcoming novel about ebiking in Russia.)
John
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