Looking for a reliable ebike to do the London knowledge on, please help!

[Trevormonty]

Hub drive or mid drive with hub gears(expensive) . If you buy bike from London shop they should let you charge there overnite.

Good features to have. Rack and panniers, kickstand, lights wired to battery, mudguard, high viz vest.

 

[Woosh]

OP weighs 18 stone. That's 114kg. He'll be lucky to get 25 miles.

Try it next time you come to Southend. I think he'll get to keep a good enough range.

 

[2Lazy]

If you buy bike from London shop they should let you charge there overnite.

Good call. Hadn't considered that as an option and could well solve the battery charging problem.

The other option might be to speak to local shop keepers or cafe owners in the hope of finding a friendly one who'll let you charge overnight. Maybe offer them a small payment for their trouble. The electricity cost is pennies so that ought not to be a concern.

 

[phil01]

... Not a good call. I am also suggesting that a 12v to 220v AC invertor /convertor , used in conjunction with your vendor supplied battery charger rather than a specialised 12v charger Is the way to go. The difference being that you require a 350w inverter not the powerful beast suggested. That type of inverter is intended to power a chop saw or similar power tool, while the engine is running.
A bigger inverter will not charge the battery any faster, and will discharge your vans battery quicker.
As an example the Bosch battery charger needs 220v AC at a current of 1.5amp and will output a DC voltage rising to 41v at a current of 4 amps is input power of 330w and outpost power of 160w. The 330w number would be a worst case turning on load and would probably be closer to 200w after switch on. The inverter will draws maximum of 27amp from the car battery and would need to be connected accross the battery rather than via the cigarette lighter socket
Other chargers from other bike vendors will be different, but in the same ballpark.
I would agree that bringing the battery with you into coffee shops and charging up for an hour on the trot, while taking lunch or breakfast would be the way to go.

But if the OP only did regular 1hr charges, wouldn't that upset the cell balance and reduce range/performance?

 

[Trevormonty]

Good call. Hadn't considered that as an option and could well solve the battery charging problem.

The other option might be to speak to local shop keepers or cafe owners in the hope of finding a friendly one who'll let you charge overnight. Maybe offer them a small payment for their trouble. The electricity cost is pennies so that ought not to be a concern.

If you are eating there everyday should be free.

 

[Danidl]

But if the OP only did regular 1hr charges, wouldn't that upset the cell balance and reduce range/performance?

Charging the ebike battery from the car van battery would be equivalent to having the main beam headlamps on full for 5 hours, .. not to be recommended unless the engine was running.
At the risk of being facetious, nothing reduces range and performance more than a fully depleted battery, so even short charges will help keep the supply up. So using the coffee shop or family restaurant would be a better deal than nothing. Even if the cells go out of balance , they have still accepted charge. Losing balance is not a catastrophic failure and a longer charge periodically would set things to rights.
The better arrangement would be an agreement by a coffee shop, newsagent , bike shop to use their supply every day. That was what i was hinting at in my earlier post.

 

[Tugwell Gibson]

I feel that if you bought your bike from a london shop. Do a trial tell them what your doing. Talk about the extra battery and charging. I'm sure you could get them to throw in a charge every day your doing the knowledge. It's not weekends probably not needed Monday's or maybe Friday's. Then there is breaks and holidays etc. Pitch it at 3 days a week maybe. If they are getting a sale. Plus the fact that they are often ebike enthusiasts and may well be really intrigued at what your trying to achieve.

 

[Woosh]

. Plus the fact that they are often ebike enthusiasts and may well be really intrigued at what your trying to achieve.

or they'll be worried about the mileage you are going to put in.

 

[Danidl]

or they'll be worried about the mileage you are going to put in.

He is only going to be putting in 150 max per week . That's not excessive.

 

[Woosh]

150 miles a week is not excessive at all.. Why did I think he needs to do 80 miles a day? Must go get new glasses.

 

[flecc]

I feel that if you bought your bike from a london shop. Do a trial tell them what your doing. Talk about the extra battery and charging. I'm sure you could get them to throw in a charge every day your doing the knowledge.

But being of a suspicious and cautious nature, if you do this I'd recommend you scratch your intials on the battery.

You wouldn't want it swapped for a suspect one at some future date.
.

 

[Tugwell Gibson]

Hi . Knowledge boy. I came across so one on here about this time last year asking for similar info re the knowledge. Called lee from Luton. I presume it's you mate. Presumably you left it at the time.

 

[Knowledge boy]

Hi . Knowledge boy. I came across so one on here about this time last year asking for similar info re the knowledge. Called lee from Luton. I presume it's you mate. Presumably you left it at the time.

Hi tugwell, yes thats right mate and i may leave it again this time yet but it is something i really like to do if i could, completing the knowledge is one thing but to do it on a ebike would be another! It does seem like it could be too much flaffing around, theres so many issues to think of and charging batteries is just one of them, others include parking the van somewhere in a decent location preferably free, eating, washing, studying, sleeping, weather conditions to name a few off the top of my head. Im up for a challenge but sometimes things seem too much hard work, doing the kol is hard enough why make it even harder?! And because of where i live this seems the easiest way of doing it. Another option would be to get a van with a scooter rack on the back and use that as some others have suggested but ill still have the other issues to contend with. You have a very good memory btw! I think last time i was going to go for a whisper, after id been upto the bike show and test drove a few, but i decided against it because of parking issues

 

[Knowledge boy]

Let's just take a step back a bit. Firstly, charging from the van won't be an option whether you use a Bosch 12v charger or an inverter, because it'll flatten you van battery, then bothe vehicles will be stuck. 500wH is an awful lot to take out of any car-type battery, and bear in mind that your van battery is not meant to be discharged. Even if you had a separate deep-cycle battery (also called leisure battery), you should,'t discharge them past half-way. Driving the van around the block a few times won't be enough to charge it back up. Charging from a van or car is OK to top op your ebike battery as a one-off event, but won't work for charging every day.

Two batteries would work if you can find a friendly place where you can leave a battery on charge and call in once a day to swap them over. You'd need a mains timer socket as well because you wouldn't be able to rely on anyone else to switch off at the right time.

A generator is another option, but that might cause some annoyance running it every evening for 5 hours. Most likely someone will break into your van and steal it before long anyway.

Crank-drive bikes wouldn't be my recommendation. The bosch unit is nice and reliable, but 40 miles a day will soon see off the chain, sprockets and derailleur, which means time-out to fix them. Plus, all the gear-changing would become very tedious. There's plenty of good reliable hub-motored bikes that don't give problems with the drive train and you don't need to keep changing gear to keep the motor in its operating range. Crank-drive bikes are great for sporting use, but, for me, they just don't cut it for long commutes, touring or this type of use. H

Have a look at the KTMs with the Panasonic hub-motor, which are light, powerful and reliable.

http://e-motionevc.co.uk/store/product-info.php?pid298.html

All things considered, a twist and go 50cc moped would be cheaper even with tax and insurance.

Thanks for your advice but sounds like id still need two batteries so estimate itll nearer 3k where as the whoosh bear inc spare battery is about 1300. I had thought about a gen but agree the noise and smell could be an issue. Depending where im parked i estimate ill do 40 miles a day 3-4-5 days a week so roughly 160 a week TOPS, and ill beable to give the batteries a full charge once a week at weekends when i come home

 

[Knowledge boy]

Hub drive or mid drive with hub gears(expensive) . If you buy bike from London shop they should let you charge there overnite.

Good features to have. Rack and panniers, kickstand, lights wired to battery, mudguard, high viz vest.

Thats a good idea about charging them up in the shop but it does mean ill have to go there daily or every other day which could be a pain in the butt as the days are going to hard enough as it is.

 

[Knowledge boy]

a light assist bike with skinny tyres and a large capacity battery can be a solution.
We sold a few Karoos to London commuters who reported an average 70 miles from a 13AH battery, so it's possible to get the required range from a single 15AH battery.
We'll have 17AH battery in the same HL format from May.

How far are you supposed to go on a 17AH battery on a bear and yes im 18st and reckon ill need to do 160 miles a week tops on them. Thanks

 

[Knowledge boy]

If i do go ahead with the idea, after a year or so i will be going to a school where im sure theyll let me use a plug socket so shouldnt be an issue after that but its the first year thatll be the hurdle..

 

[soundwave]

https://www.anker.com/deals/powerhouse2

a custom built 5kw one would do it like a tesla power wall.

 

[Tugwell Gibson]

Hi. No memory me. I wasn't even on here. I was intrigued being a new convert to ebiking . I happened to google "doing the knowledge on a bicycle ". And a few hits down was you on this forum.

Hi tugwell, yes thats right mate and i may leave it again this time yet but it is something i really like to do if i could, completing the knowledge is one thing but to do it on a ebike would be another! It does seem like it could be too much flaffing around, theres so many issues to think of and charging batteries is just one of them, others include parking the van somewhere in a decent location preferably free, eating, washing, studying, sleeping, weather conditions to name a few off the top of my head. Im up for a challenge but sometimes things seem too much hard work, doing the kol is hard enough why make it even harder?! And because of where i live this seems the easiest way of doing it. Another option would be to get a van with a scooter rack on the back and use that as some others have suggested but ill still have the other issues to contend with. You have a very good memory btw! I think last time i was going to go for a whisper, after id been upto the bike show and test drove a few, but i decided against it because of parking issues

 

[Knowledge boy]

Hi. No memory me. I wasn't even on here. I was intrigued being a new convert to ebiking . I happened to google "doing the knowledge on a bicycle ". And a few hits down was you on this forum.

Blimey nothings a secret anymore is it lol