Kit for a recumbent?

[Quicken]

I'm thinking I would like to get a Challenge Mistral or something similar:

Challenge Recumbents
(preferably in the red!)

I am wondering what sort of electric kits one could fit to this, and how well they would work. For reference, the Mistral has 20" wheels.

I think the cyclone kits would probably work. They show a recumbent swb trike (KMX X-Class Recumbent) with one attached on their website. Then there's the nano, the bionx kits. Any thoughts? I would probably want something just to power up hills.

Cheers,
Q

 

[flecc]

Most important thing to bear in mind is the fact that these have 20" wheels, so if you use anything that drives the wheel directly, hub motor or Currie, the top speed with the motor will drop by 22%. On the other hand, the hill climbing will improve by the proportional amount, so for your hill climbing that's ok.

So the powerful Currie and the various geared hub motors on the market will all perform well for your purpose.

The BionX, like other direct drive hub motors, doesn't have that good a reputation for hill climbing. Reduction geared hubs are better in that respect, and I don't think the BionX would be a good choice for a recumbent, given recumbents' poor hill climbing reputation. It's putting two matching potential weaknesses together.

The standard Cyclone frame clamp is for the small twin tubes on the rear frame, so something might have to be specially fabricated to clamp it to the large single tube. Otherwise a good choice as you say.

If you want to retain the normal 15 mph top assisted speed, the Heinzmann high speed version gives 19 mph in 26" wheels, so would give just about 15 mph in a 20" wheel.
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[Quicken]

Further to this, I have now decided to get a Bacchetta Giro, which has a 26" rear wheel, and a 20" front:

Bacchetta Recumbent Bikes - Giro 20

Its listed weight is 30lbs (13.6kg), but the actual weight will depend on options. Chain drive is to the rear 26" wheel.

At some point in the future, I expect I will want to fit an electric kit. In terms of usage, I won't need electric power for cruising (I'll generally be doing more than 15 mph anyway). It might be useful to have some help off the lights, and I'd look for some help on the hills. I think a throttle control would work better than pedelec here. So, which kit will work best on a bike like this?

Cheers,
Q

 

[flecc]

Heinzmann are well proven in the rear wheel of trikes, but are rather expensive. The Crystallite motors in various powers should be ok, but I haven't had personal experience with them. The Currie Electrodrive seen here on a trike will fit most trike's rear wheels, but it is a bit noisy.

And of course the Cyclone can be fitted on the boom, and electrodrive have also done that in the past.

The Nano would seem to be ok for climbing with a very light folder, but there are question marks online about this motor's reliability and strength.

As said before, I wouldn't use a direct drive motor like the BionX if hill climbing was a major reason for having a motor. The US 350 watt version would be better, but still not as good as a geared hub for hills. The other thing is that the BionX battery is ridiculously expensive. $900 in the USA, I dread to think what it would be here.
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