Knee issues, heavy rider, good power, 1500gbp budget help please

[Fatterbike]

Hello everyone

so I’m a large chap at 150kg but going down. I have had severe knee issues meaning exercising has been difficult and weight crept up.

im looking for an bike that’s comfortable and has some power. Higher hills where I live.
I saw the wispers are 120 Nm from their own motors but they are just twice what I can afford at 1500 gbp.

I’ve seen lots on amazon and my social feeds full of different makes.

could I have suggestions please for makes and models to consider? Power is key as I’m big as are the hills.
Thanks so much

 

[soundwave]

the road bike wnkers try gang up on me they do on there fkn plastic twigs in try box me in going 25mph 1 left one right and a twat in front off me problem is i can go 40mph it dont end well.



i was a fat blob but now 72kg and eat crap cider and weed for my power supply

 

[soundwave]

Single Stage Big Block Middrive- RHD

The best value in a high performance mid drive kit

lightning-rods10.mybigcommerce.com

fat ppl can fly u just need the power £2500 for the batt

 

[Sturmey]

With bad knees, I would keep away from torque sensors. I think a throttle would be ideal. The bike below is designed for up to 25 stone weigh and I think would be ideal. Best of luck and ignore the negative comments.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bigbearplus

 

[saneagle]

Hello everyone

so I’m a large chap at 150kg but going down. I have had severe knee issues meaning exercising has been difficult and weight crept up.

im looking for an bike that’s comfortable and has some power. Higher hills where I live.
I saw the wispers are 120 Nm from their own motors but they are just twice what I can afford at 1500 gbp.

I’ve seen lots on amazon and my social feeds full of different makes.

could I have suggestions please for makes and models to consider? Power is key as I’m big as are the hills.
Thanks so much

Any Amazon or ebay bike with a 48v battery should be OK except the ones with the big direct drive motors in the back wheel, and obviously not one that has a folding mechanism. The best ones have standard downtube-mounted batteries.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

1st thing is I would take all the torque figures with a pinch of salt - they all have different ways of measuring them and it's measured differently for mid drive bikes to hub bikes. For a first level approximation of how powerful they are use the controller voltage * max current to compare.

This one says up to 25 stone

Gran Camino MTB electric bicycle from Woosh

The Woosh Gran Camino, a 27.5 electric mountain bike with hydraulic brakes 36V 15AH/17AH battery from Woosh. Price range: £1379-£1459. Great bike for trails.

wooshbikes.co.uk

I don't know if Woosh could do you a 48v 17 amp version (basically using their 48v dwg22c kit) ?

The only thing I have noticed that heavier riders are prone to break spokes on hub motored bikes. I had this on my hub bike and I took it into a wheel builder and they rebuilt it and I have no problems now. I guess you could just get a hub motor and ask a wheel builder to build a suitable wheel

Riding electric bikes is great exercise, low impact, you don't get bored, but you can go further (especially hills) in shorter times, without it being totally exhausting - you can turn up / down the assist to suit yourself

The other option is to convert (or get converted) a normal bike, you can get bargains from Facebook marketplace , ebay, Gumtree and add a kit either the dwg22c 48v hub kit from Woosh is a heavy duty hub or a 48v Bagang BBS01 mid drive kit

 

[Sturmey]

.....The only thing I have noticed that heavier riders are prone to break spokes on hub motored bikes. . .....

Front hub motors have a little bit of an advantage here in that they dont appear to have that problem and can be a good choice. Of course, the non motor ordinary rear wheel can break spokes but its generally easier to deal with this and other rear wheel problems / get replacement/ local bike shop repair etc when there is no electrics involved.

 

[Woosh]

Heavy riders are best with front hubs, as others have pointed out.
A large rear hub motor will shorten the spokes considerably, lessening the weight the rear wheel can support without regular spoke maintenance.
If you live in a hilly area, converting a bike with a crank drive like the Tongsheng TSDZ8 is best.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Heavy riders are best with front hubs, as others have pointed out.
A large rear hub motor will shorten the spokes considerably, lessening the weight the rear wheel can support without regular spoke maintenance.
If you live in a hilly area, converting a bike with a crank drive like the Tongsheng TSDZ8 is best.

I hesitated recommending the TSDZ8 because of his knee issues and it being torque sensor - I just saw a post where it looked like there was a setting to make it behave as a cadence sensor ?

 

[AndyBike]

With bad knees, I would keep away from torque sensors. I think a throttle would be ideal. The bike below is designed for up to 25 stone weigh and I think would be ideal. Best of luck and ignore the negative comments.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bigbearplus

A throttle is going to do nothing for fitness, or help drop body weight, and while the OP has knee problems, a bit of exercise will do more towards getting a bit of weight off, than a bicycle shaped moped will ever do.
Less body weight is less strain on the knees(+hips, ankles etc)

 

[Woosh]

I hesitated recommending the TSDZ8 because of his knee issues and it being torque sensor - I just saw a post where it looked like there was a setting to make it behave as a cadence sensor ?

the TSDZ8 comes with a throttle, he does not have to worry about steep hills.

 

[sjpt]

I throttle is going to do nothing for fitness, or help drop body weight, and while the OP has knee problems, a bit of exercise will do more towards getting a bit of weight off, than a bicycle shaped moped will ever do.
Less body weight is less strain on the knees(+hips, ankles etc)

If a throttle is used the whole time that is true. If it is used more discriminately (*) it will help the rider over the bits that would otherwise be difficult and potentially damaging, while still giving him plenty of exercise for the remaining 98% of the ride.

(*) It's odd how 'discriminate' has become a dirty word.

 

[Sturmey]

I throttle is going to do nothing for fitness, or help drop body weight, and while the OP has knee problems, a bit of exercise will do more towards getting a bit of weight off, than a bicycle shaped moped will ever do.
Less body weight is less strain on the knees(+hips, ankles etc)

All my bikes have throttles as well as pedal assist but I generally pedal with pedal assist and use the throttle only as required when pulling away from stops, extra boost on hills, and when dogs chase me down the road. I suppose I might consider myself as a moderate user of the throttle rather than a full blown throttle addict.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Heavy riders are best with front hubs, as others have pointed out.
A large rear hub motor will shorten the spokes considerably, lessening the weight the rear wheel can support without regular spoke maintenance.
If you live in a hilly area, converting a bike with a crank drive like the Tongsheng TSDZ8 is best.

Get a really high spec full suspension bike from ebay - something like this

Pardon our interruption...

check with Woosh the bottom bracket fits the TSDZ8 kit

And add the Woosh (or get Woosh to add) their 48V TSDZ8 kit and you would have something that rivals ebikes costing many thousands of pounds

 

[Woosh]

that Rocky Mountain is a lovely bike.

 

[saneagle]

that Rocky Mountain is a lovely bike.

But can you fit a battery to it?

 

[Woosh]

But can you fit a battery to it?

Yes, I think it's possible. That bike has a large frame, not unlike your old Rocky Mountain.
If you can fit a piece of cardboard 10cm x 36cm then you can fit an HL battery.
Do you want to buy it? I have already got a 10kg full sus bike, I can't justify another one.

 

[AndyBike]

If a throttle is used the whole time that is true. If it is used more discriminatory

My bike has 4 modes. Eco,tour,Emtb,Turbo.
I've ridden it for 2 1/2 years and all that time in turbo.

Humans being humans tend to go mental and stick to one option. So the chances are you'd use throttle all the time.

 

[Woosh]

One good thing with a combo of torque sensing and throttle is people tend to use lower assist level on flatish roads and throttle to climb hills. That gives a good fat burn rate and avoid straining your knees and leg muscles on hills.

 

[Fatterbike]

Thanks everyone. Super helpful. I’ve got lots of choices. I know Southend well so may go to woosh For a look. Two is very tempting and are they Legal? I saw some pie whisper saying they are now but you’re quite right I would probably use it more than I should. Should I be looking at 80 nm plus bikes with big 450 500 or 700 battery something like that?

 

[AndyBike]

Should I be looking at 80 nm plus bikes with big 450 500 or 700 battery something like that?

Probably best. the more torque the better, and the more battery the better range.