Looking to convert

[Feav66]

Hi.

First of all, congratulations on a great forum. I've had a good read through of many of the theads and learned so much useful stuff.

Anyway, this summer i thought i would dust off my old mountain bike in the garage and go for some nice rides through the countryside round here. I have been enjoying being out on a bike again, getting fitter and there is somthing very satisfying about getting from A to B and not having it cost anything.

Now that the weather is starting to change, wind and chilly days, the temptation to just jump in the car and nip to the shops or into town means the bike is loosing its appeal again. But being a big fan of gadgty stuff i thought why not convert to electric.

After reading though many of the threads on the forum i think im looking for a front wheel conversion with a pannier rack battery. I like the stealth look of the pannier batteries and its handy for carring shopping.
Been looking at this kit http://www.electricbikeconversions.co.uk/product/250w-front-wheel-electric-bike-conversion-kit/ .It seems like geat value for money but im a bit concerned the battery may be too small at 11ah.

Thers not too manys hills around here in Norfolk but im a pretty big fella at 6'2 and 14 stone plus shopping and whatever else i need to carry. So any advise on a kit with a 15ah battery front motor for balance and ease of fitting. Did consider the woosh big bear but want the cost closer to £500 than £1000.

Feav.

 

[G5rry]

Hi
From another Norwich convert.
I would have to say go for it, fitted mine on a few weeks back and it makes a world of difference, can be a bit too easy sometimes.
Picked my set up off eBay, a proper kit that had been fitted to tow a child trailer but the kids didn't like it so he sold it off, cost £190.00 for everything except the rack, I think it was a good deal.
It only took about 45 minutes to fit it all myself, no major problems and I'm no bike mechanic.
With regard to battery life, I sort advice from the shop who originally fitted it and was advised to recharge each evening after use, even though I may have only gone about 10 miles on it.
This surprised me somewhat but he assures me it was the right thing to do and would do no harm at all to the battery, I guess over the years these batteries have changed a lot and it's what you would do with an electric car, so guess it makes sense.
So unless you are clocking up serious miles each day you shouldn't have any real issues.
If you are local to Stoke Holy Cross you are welcome to have a go on mine to see what you think.

 

[D C]

I'm a big guy like yourself and have used both rear pannier rack battery and in frame battery. Chalk and cheese, I find the balance even with a front wheel motor is so much better with the battery in the frame and you can always get a separate rear rack for your shopping.
Welcome
Dave.

 

[Gaz]

The bigger capacity will obviously make a difference, but just for interest, I'm 6'4", around 16st and our 9ah Wisper 705SE bobs me along nicely. It'll even go up Norfolk-esque hills on throttle alone with me on it.

Gaz

 

[Feav66]

Thanks for the replys.

You could have a point about the frame battery, with luggage ect on the back along with the battery it may be a bit rear heavey. Also with the kit i linked to the frame battery is 13ah rather than 11ah for the pannier at the same price.

I suppose i should get over the aesthetics and not being able to pretend im fitter than i am to onlookers . I will be an ebiker and proud.
Most of the jouneys i do will be around 15 miles but in the summer it was nice to go for a ride along Marriots way for about 40 miles, how do find using the bike without asstance if the worst should happen and i run out of juice?
I would like to think i could get home although slowly under my own steam.

 

[G5rry]

Thanks for the replys.

You could have a point about the frame battery, with luggage ect on the back along with the battery it may be a bit rear heavey. Also with the kit i linked to the frame battery is 13ah rather than 11ah for the pannier at the same price.

I suppose i should get over the aesthetics and not being able to pretend im fitter than i am to onlookers . I will be an ebiker and proud.
Most of the jouneys i do will be around 15 miles but in the summer it was nice to go for a ride along Marriots way for about 40 miles, how do find using the bike without asstance if the worst should happen and i run out of juice?
I would like to think i could get home although slowly under my own steam.

Added a fair bit of weight to mine I have to say, never run out of power yet but I wouldn't fancy going up hill on it now without assistance.
My kit was second hand and came with a rear carrier bag but I would assume you could get a carrier bag for the frame to put it in if you wanted, takes up a fair bit of space with the battery and controller in there.
The battery on mine is 14a/h and travelling from Stoke Holy Cross to Hall Road (I'm sure you know this as your local) to work and back twice, about 16 miles, left 2 bars out of 5 on the battery gauge (how accurate that is, is questionable), I was using the throttle a fair bit and not changing gear very much, must learn to put in more effort.

 

[Feav66]

From what your saying I suppose you could get 30 to 35 miles from your battery if you needed to maybe more if you knew you had to make it last.
With 90 per cent of my journeys being less than 20 miles a 13ah battery should be fine. For longer leasure rides i could pick up a cheap light weight bike for summer and have the best of both worlds.

 

[Tabs]

I'd say go for it,I fitted one of these lits (rear wheel version) and am very happy with it and am 6ft 1in and 20+ stone,on a good day I could probably get about 40 miles from a full charge,a good day being no wind and flat canal path and using the lowest setting.

 

[Benjahmin]

An 11Ah battery has 396 Watt/hours, at 36v. You can reckon on 10-20 watt/hours per mile. Giving you a range of approx. 20 - 40 miles. Bit vague I know, but there's so many variants. Hills (not many for you) wind (ooer yes) weight, amount of rider effort, temperature etc.
I have a rack battery and carry panniers full of shopping. The only time this has noticebly affected handling is any tricky manouvres . As long as you're not seriously off roading it won't matter. My big front hub can get a bit skittish on steep hills with mossy/loose road surface. Doesn't sound like that'll affect you much. In any case getting out of the saddle and over the bars soon sorts it out. Front hub is a good first instal IMO.

 

[Feav66]

Well its reassuring that nobody ever seems to be disappointed with the 250w covertion kits. I've just got to decide between the 13ah frame battery or 11 ah rack. Given the calculations above the extra 2ah would make about 5 miles differance if you take an average of 15 watt/hours per mile.
I think I'm leaning towards the rack and if i want to go further it will encourage me to get fitter.

 

[Benjahmin]

250w is merely the motors continuous rating. The actual power consumption is down to the maximum current the controller will deliver. The link you give doesn't specify the controller current. But a 15A controller will give you a max power consumption of 540watts, so long as the battery can deliver that current.