I'm also looking for styles of motors. Do most people like hub motors, front or rear?
I like the idea of a front hub motor because if the motor breaks then it's easy to replace the wheel with a regular one and keep using the bike until a replacement can be obtained.
I can see your point that using the motor through the gears enables it to keep working at its most efficient but I also think that whether attached to the crank or the rear bracket those motor arrangements are ugly.
One of the things I most like about the Cytronex is that it doesn't look like an electric bike.
Another thing I like about the Cytronex is that there are just three power settings - off, low and high - regardless of how hard you are peddling and no twist grip to contend with. It's simple. I'm a great believer in keeping things simple
Where do you like the batteries to be located?
I don't!
I don't want to see the batteries at all. I certainly don't want them to look like some kind of industrial bolt-on. This ruins the look of the bike. The same goes for the controller.
The new Infineum that's coming soon (allegedly) has an interesting solution of piling the batteries up on a rack but they have taken a good looking bike and added a truly ugly black rack that looks quite out of place and ruins the bike. An alloy rack would have looked better at least.
In addition I don't want to see wires strapped all over the place so that the bike looks like a DIY conversion (like the PowerByke X). The Cytronex makes a good attempt at making the bike look like it was designed as an e-bike even though it is still a conversion.
I also like Li-Po cells, although they are expensive, they are light and contain lots of energy!
From what I've read so far there seem to be two sides to this question. On the face of it you want the most Joules per kilogram that you can get as this will give the greatest range for the least weight. However there is also the question of how the power is supplied. A car battery wouldn't be much good if it could power the lights for 3 months but couldn't provide enough current to turn the engine over! Similarly with an electric bike, it's great to have a long range but if the battery can't deliver enough juice to the motor to get you up that steep hill then it has surely missed the point of having an e-bike.
(I'm starting to sound like an advert for Cytronex here
I assure you I have no connection with them)
I want a bike that can go to the supermarket and bring back a load of shopping... or take a toddler on the back for a trip to the swimming pool... or pop round to visit some mates for the evening... and of course... go to the local train station when I have to commute.
Yep, all good uses for an e-bike. Clearly the provision of a decent rack is important to you. Adding a rack and a mudguard and retaining cool looks is quite a challenge - too much of a challenge for most e-bike makers it seems to me. I guess there are lots of people out there who are happy with standard mudguards. I hate them.
4. Better Front Lights - I want to see and be seen when I'm riding round the little country lanes here. LEDs have now surpassed fluorescents for efficiency and make a good choice.
Well you can always fit your own but yes I really like the idea of integrated lighting that is powered by the main battery. In the days when I had a 10 mile each way commute, I used to curse stopping to change the batteries in the lights. The Cytronex seems to get this right.
One question I would like to ask to Cytronex owners is how easy is it to move the integrated rear light from the seat tube to the back of a rack? Do you have to cut wires and make an extension?
5. Better Hill Climbing ability - I want more low gears, more high gears.. or maybe no gears at all (Nuvinci hub). I know the Panasonic crank motor system is better for hill climbing than hub motors, but there's some really steep hills around here with gradients in excess of 20% and I still have to get off and push sometimes. Someone already did a walk-beside mode with the panasonic system which seems like a good idea to me - At least the bike can push itself up the hill when you run out of steam.
A lighter machine must surely help here. I've read that it doesn't but you can't buck the laws of physics. You are raising that weight against gravity. The more weight, the more work needed.
