New Project: Orbit Orion Hybrid/Shimano Alfine 11-Speed Hub Gear/EBC 500W FWD Kit

[Warwick]

I put all of the above points in an email to EBC. I was as constructive as possible and really praised their service. Not a word in reply, which is disappointing...

Anyway, the bike is performing very well. I have some niggles with the twist-grip shifters, but other than that, it's performing very well.

The battery life seems to have improved. Today I took a very long way home (14.2 miles, instead of 8.2) and I still had some life left in the battery. It's still a long way short of the Woosh battery's performance though.

I will have the Alfine wheel fitted sooner or later. For one thing, I'd like to have the rear disc brake instead of the v brake. I'll only need one front chainring too, so that will partially redress the extra weight of the Alfine hub. It'll also mean that the front derailleur doesn't keep jumping out of third into second.

 

[Warwick]

The Alfine wheel will be fitted on Friday, along with some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres F&R. The Schwalbe Land Cruisers have not been impervious to punctures on my cross country route home.

I don't like the 27-speed set up and I only use the large front chainring 95%+ of the time, so having 11 non-overlapping ratios will be nice.

Battery life has improved greatly and I reckon if I limited myself to a legal 15.5 MPH I would get 40-50 miles out of it, but where's the fun in that?

 

[footpump]

glad you got sorted.
I too have ebc rear 250w kit, if you got the usb pen drive which gives you the basic install video, but its the rear 500w kit.
you can via the lcd lower the speed down to 15mph?

my kits fitted to flat bar sirrus elite but has rear rack, and I carry 2 locks.

I find I can pootle along at 10-15mph pas I or 2 and normally first bar goes out at about 14 miles getting about 45miles in general mainly flat though no wind.
did some hills though pas 4 at 14mph round trip 7 miles down to 2 bars battery life.
as regards the wiring one of the lads from ebc who fits there kits stated they tidied up the cable similar to a new shoelace?

all the ebc staff are very helpful including ray who is there cycle computer boffin.
also got the ebc tongsheng mid drive 250w, neater wiring controller in moter no bag.
more power use tour/sport turbo if in a hurry hills get 40+ 10ah battery but torqe sensor

 

[Warwick]

This, I hope, is the final instalment! At last I've had the Alfine hub fitted. (The reason it was such a bargain price is that it was an 8-speed, not 11!) That means the rear brake is now a lovely Avid BB7. The thing stops properly now.

I did some tweaking last night and it's set up more or less perfectly. There may be some minor adjustments to make and I'm glad it has Marathon Plus tyres now, as both wheels would be a faff to remove on the road.

The thread title is now rather inaccurate, as I have an 8-speed Alfine, 250W-powered bike, but I'm happy with the end result.

 

[tpearson]

This is super interesting, what a beautiful upgrade.
I'm still riding my old Orion... non-electric, and I'm often carrying kids on it. As you mentioned, the weak point of the bike overall is the braking, when carrying loads, which makes it a bit scary to be running it at 27 MPH. After a few years of experience, are you stil riding it?