New to this thinking of commuting

[Deleted member 4366]

The Marin went pretty well. That was about 5 years ago when things were different. The bike arrived cheaply, and that was the only motor I had to hand at the time. Top speed was about 22 mph, IIRC, and hill-climbing was very good because it ran at 30 amps, which is about double most of the OEM bikes. It had two 10Ah 36v batteries in parallel. They were left over from other projects.

You can fit a motor to a front wheel if you know what you're doing, but I wouldn't advise it unless you have steel forks. A back motor is better anyway. If you look very carefully, you can see steel reinforcements running up the front of the fork from the drop-outs up to about 6". They're tapered, so hardly noticeable.

 

[0omo0]

That's a difficult one. Cables are a waste of time. They're easily cut with pocket tools. They're OK for occasional parking, but when you park in the same place all day every day and someone likes the look of your wheels, they can bring whatever they need. I heard of one guy that had his nice hydraulic brakes nicked - three screws each can be gone in about one minute.

Another consideration for commuting is the time. 15 miles will take over an hour at the legal 15 mph. An unrestricted bike with a speed of 20 mph would make the journey a lot quicker. Some OEM bikes can be derestricted by secret (known) settings or other methods. Some can't. A person that I know very wel used to commute 15 miles each way. At first he kept his bike restricted, but soon realised that nobody has ever been prosecuted, as far as we know, and nobody is checking, so he adjusted his setting and felt very guilty for the first few days, but as the months went by, that feeling disappeared and journey time went down to 45 minutes.

If you're handy with the spanners, you can convert any cheap bike to an awesome commuter. Here's one i did with a £5 donor bike. Total cost about £500. The battery bag could easily have been made removable, by putting the battery in a bag with a couple of handles, like a strong plastic carrier bag, inside the black zip bag. One connector and you could take it with you. That bike did 1000 miles during one month (January) with absolutely no maintenance, cleaning or adjustments:

Wow i have my touring bike in the garage and had not thought of this. How difficult is it to attach all the bits and get it working well?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's not difficult. We've had people do it successfully even though they were completely ham-fisted and had no previous mechanical or electrical experience.

Show us a picture of your bike, so we can advise if it's suitable. Ideally, you want a bike with a triangle frame and disc brakes - something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/barracuda-mountain-bike-/272483822182?hash=item3f714d2a66:g:YQgAAOSwHMJYI3XP

 

[LeighPing]

Wow i have my touring bike in the garage and had not thought of this. How difficult is it to attach all the bits and get it working well?

Yes, this stealthy approach to commuting would save you quite a bit. You could even keep a second, new, nice shiny bike at home, as a fair weather back up, if you liked, and still be in budget. I have 2 myself.

You've had some great info on this thread. Decisions, decisions, eh..

Commuting, you'll probably benefit from a bikerack and bag. My stealthy little old kit bike is a bit of a 'sleeper', in that it'll do 20 mph (motor cuts off at 19 mph). That's achievable by adjusting a couple of buttons on the lcd screen.

With all the junk on the bars (camera, mp3 music player, mirror, lights, horn and bell), new brake blocks, disc brake at the front, gel seat, suspension seatpost and a bikerack bag, it was still less than £500 second hand from a member here. I love it. Even though it's technically a girls bike.

I don't clean it either. I just grease the chain up. It's a mess and subsequently less desirable.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Wow i have my touring bike in the garage and had not thought of this. How difficult is it to attach all the bits and get it working well?

On a touring bike if it has a standard BB and you have the tools about half a day in the shed to fit the GSM from Woosh:
Combo GSM 18A kit + 36V 15AH HL battery (offer, save £25): £628. Don't buy the smaller battery to save money the bigger the better with this motor. If your bike doesn't have disk brakes put a Magura HS11 hydraulic rim brake on the front, another £50.

You will have about 650W on tap for your two steep hills. I get by with about 540 W on my hills but now that I am fit I use a lot less than that. The battery will give you about 50 miles of lazy rider assistance and much more than that if you pedal harder.

Don't put the speed sensor magnet on the wheel and the GSM will assist up to about 40 km/h (25 mph) on the flat depending on what gear you are in and how much you are pedalling. If the law ever stops you for going too fast you can look at the wheel, frown and say "damn the magnet fell off" and try and lie your way out of trouble...

 

[0omo0]

On a touring bike if it has a standard BB and you have the tools about half a day in the shed to fit the GSM from Woosh:
Combo GSM 18A kit + 36V 15AH HL battery (offer, save £25): £628. Don't buy the smaller battery to save money the bigger the better with this motor. If your bike doesn't have disk brakes put a Magura HS11 hydraulic rim brake on the front, another £50.

You will have about 650W on tap for your two steep hills. I get by with about 540 W on my hills but now that I am fit I use a lot less than that. The battery will give you about 50 miles of lazy rider assistance and much more than that if you pedal harder.

Don't put the speed sensor magnet on the wheel and the GSM will assist up to about 40 km/h (25 mph) on the flat depending on what gear you are in and how much you are pedalling. If the law ever stops you for going too fast you can look at the wheel, frown and say "damn the magnet fell off" and try and lie your way out of trouble...

Sounds good. Can you send me a link I will look into it more.

 

[anotherkiwi]

google.com or top right hand corner search function to find pages about the kit on the forum and my signature below

 

[0omo0]

a test ride is still the only way to avoid wasting your money.

If you let me know the bike shop you'd like to try from I'll do my best to get a Roller to them when they next come back into stock during the second week of 2017.

If possible i would still love to test one of your bikes when there available.

 

[JuicyBike]

If possible i would still love to test one of your bikes when there available.

I'll do my best to get one out to Coulsden after they arrive again in the new year. This is a little embarrassing for us to have sold out so quickly, but there is one in Drayton Bikes at Portsmouth if you can face the journey.
Drayton also stock other brands and so are an ideal place to visit if you're thinking which is best for you. Hopefully it will be a Juicy Bike!
Phone 0123 9234 2847