Powerful conversion kit for my mtb

[Garythegoose]

Greetings folks,

I've been trawling through the forum looking for ideas and have a few questions.

I'm looking to convert a Cube LTD Race 29r into a mix of commuting and big boys toy. I ride around 9 miles to work and back, the first 8 miles are across country, round farmers fields (I have permission as he's a good friend) then the last mile or so is a track, then road, its a great ride taking in a couple of hilly sections and a couple of jumps. So I need something that can be road legal for the last bit, but then I want to go fast and tear it up round the fields. I'm a fairly big lump at 6ft2 & around 90kg.

I was looking at the cyclotricity 48v 1000w kit. Would this kit be overkill? And what kind of battery capacity would I be looking at? I've seen people mention that this size kit is quite heavy, how much of a trade off would it be vs a lower powered kit in terms of speed, weight, and range of distance? Any suggestions on alternatives welcome if my plan isn't ideal, I'm new to ebikes but am fairly confident with technical stuff.

Thanks,
G

 

[soundwave]

depends how much you have to spend as any mid motor bike can hit 30mph with a dongle and range wont be a problem for a 400w batt and look nicer than diy.

https://www.mtbmonster.com/cube-acid-hybrid-one-400-29-red-green-2019-electric-mountain-bike-trapeze/?setCurrencyId=2&setCurrencyId=2&gclid=Cj0KCQiA5Y3kBRDwARIsAEwloL4wyzjU11ylc4FzVkL_Xbumf5EXWaHNm5xAq6cGDJOYQFqDZ94iegsaAoH9EALw_wcB#fo_c=302&fo_k=67ffd37a5653f94157447c9ce0235397&fo_s=gplauk&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_keyword=

 

[Garythegoose]

My plan is to sell my cannondale cyclocross bike and buy a kit for my mtb, I can't be spending more than 5 or 6 hundred really, I'll be well in the doghouse if I come rolling through the door with a £1600 new toy! That does look nice though. Would a DIY mid kit be a better option?

 

[vfr400]

The Cyclotricity 1000w kit would be good for high speed commuting on the road as long as you had the 16Ah battery, which I think is still a bit low for your journey. It's not so good for trudging through fields because of its low efficiency at low speeds. You get about 10 miles per 10Ah on the road if you use the power. Off-road will be much worse.

From your description, I would say that a BBSHD kit would be a better solution, though more expensive. You need to make sure that your battery is high enough spec to give the power to the motor. You need one with high discharge rate cells. For 18 miles mainly off road you need about about 15Ah with that motor if you're going to use the power.

 

[Garythegoose]

Hmm, looking around it seems a bbshd kit is going to be around £600, then with the battery on top will be over a grand. A bit out of budget really. If im going down that route, I'd be tempted by that cube acid bike ^ up there ^ but I presume the bbshd with a 52v battery would leave the cube acid for dust, or would they be similar performance?

 

[vfr400]

The Cube is around 18 amps at 36v and the BBSHD is 25 amps at 48v, so 1.85 times more powerful. To get the power from the cube, you have to pedal hard. You can get the power from the Bafang with a throttle and without pedalling.

 

[soundwave]

the bbshd will kick the cubes ass if you up the amps but this means a bigger batt and more waight.

and because you can change the settings like this it is not road legal if you kill someone on it but not happens yet.

with mid motors you can fit a dongle over the speed sensor that can be fitted and removed in seconds as all you have to do is move the wheel magnet and back to stock, others need wiring in to the motor but will give correct speed ect.


https://www.badassebikes.com/en/

 

[Fat Rat]

Hi welcome
you seem to be torn
you can't have a legal road bike and higher powered off road bike at the same time
you will have to decide one or the other
Happy hunting

 

[Garythegoose]

When I looked into the cyclotricity kit there is a code to unlock speed restriction, which means you can ride it on the road legally and restricted, then when off road you enter the code and it removes the restriction. Unless I'm wrong?

Is there a similar way to flip between restrictions on a bbshd setup, or is it just a case of programming the unit and that's that?

If I had to decide one or the other, I'd go for high powered, it's only a mile after all!

 

[danielrlee]

When I looked into the cyclotricity kit there is a code to unlock speed restriction, which means you can ride it on the road legally and restricted, then when off road you enter the code and it removes the restriction. Unless I'm wrong?

Is there a similar way to flip between restrictions on a bbshd setup, or is it just a case of programming the unit and that's that?

If I had to decide one or the other, I'd go for high powered, it's only a mile after all!

Any ability to switch between high and low powered configurations, password protected or not, is not legal. Cyclotricity know this but continue to claim that it is legal.

All Bafang BBS kits allow reprogramming via a computer, using a special cable, but they do not allow switching between configurations on the fly.

 

[vfr400]

The Cyclotricity is a 1000w motor. Entering codes in the LCD can affect how much power you give it, but doesn't change the rating of the motor. Only motors up to a rating og 250W are legal.

We all known that if your bike is limited to 15.5 mph, you're unlikely to get into any trouble, but when you limit the Cyclotricity to that speed, it becomes even more inefficient and becomes pointless. I'm pretty sure that most owners of those kits just set them to full power and hope that if they ever got pulled by the police, they'd be able to set the code before having to answer any difficult questions, but that's not going to work if you've been seen cruising along at over 20 mph without pedalling.

Check your bike on a downhill run to see how fast you can physically pedal. On some bikes, you lose contact at as low as 20 mph. Yours has a 40T chainwheel, so low 20s is my guess. You'd need to change it to around 48T to get to 30 mph, pedalling like a demented kid on a BMX kid, or even a road bike crankset with 53T would be more like it.

 

[Garythegoose]

Oh right, so it really is a case of legal bike or illegal bike with no sweet spot grey area in between. Damn.

My bike I can physically pedal it up to about 18 or 19 before I'm flat out I manage to max it out quite regularly even sometimes on the flat with the wind behind me.

I don't think I'll bother doing the conversion if I can only ride a restricted bike everywhere just to stay legal, so my options are to stick to leg power, or build a bbshd bad boy and ride it sensibly for the last stretch of my commute.

Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated!

 

[Wicky]

As mentioned before a 1000W* bike isn't be all and end all / jack of all trades. But consider a nominal 250W hub motor more for torque (it will still pump out up to 600W when required as dicatated by your legs) That way you can hurtle around off-road with bionic legs and still gain assistance for the mile or so on tarmac roads.

Have you test ridden any pedelecs to experience what they can offer?


* What you think you need

And in the real world

KTM eRace P 29 – Review

 

[Garythegoose]

I'm sure those bikes are fun to ride, but I know what I'm like and after a couple of months I'll be wondering how much more fun could be had if I had a bigger faster bike.

The only ebike I had a go on was a front hub 250w girls bike a few years ago, it was a bit gutless, so haven't really had a go on a good modern mtb one, perhaps I should try one out, is there anywhere I can test ride one? I'm in Somerset area

 

[Eagle]

Bicycle Chain in Taunton:
https://www.bicyclechain.co.uk/

In Bristol:
Atmosphere Electric Bikes:
https://www.electricbikes.org.uk/

Electric Bike Sales:
https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/

The Electric Bike Shop:
https://www.theelectricbikeshop.co.uk/

 

[Wicky]

https://www.nationwideebikes.co.uk/pages/nationwide-ebikes-taunton-store

"From our 20+ brands we have a really wide selection - around 40 bikes - ready to test ride from our Taunton store.

Give us a call or pop in and try 2 or 3 different e-bikes. After riding front motors, rear & central crank mounted systems, you'll know what's right for you. Be our guest, we have National Cycle Route 3 to the rear of the building, along the River Tone, come for a test ride. We can chat over your requirements in size & style, and give advice on what ebike would be right for you and your budget. "

 

[Wicky]

"I'm sure those bikes are fun to ride, but I know what I'm like and after a couple of months I'll be wondering how much more fun could be had if I had a bigger faster bike."

Its the same in the motorcycle world. For overland travelling folk think they need big 1000cc 150mph Beemers with all the bells & whistles after seeing Ewan and Charley (who needed a host of support vehicles with crew to help push em up after falling off) However 400cc is more than enough as one of the early World overlanders (Austin Vince - Mondo Enduro) years before Long Way Down etc. used DR350cc dirt bikes to travel 40,000 miles with all their gear.

Off-road - More fun a 1200cc beemer or a ickle relatively lower powered & lighter 350cc tiddler...

 

[Wicky]

Maybe what you want and could offer more performance than any pedelec would be a 125 / 250cc dirt bike

 

[soundwave]

The only ebike I had a go on was a front hub 250w girls bike a few years ago, it was a bit gutless, so haven't really had a go on a good modern mtb one, perhaps I should try one out, is there anywhere I can test ride one? I'm in Somerset area

bosch performance motor 63nm ,bad ass dongle

 

[vfr400]

Great video, but don't forget that there's a difference between riding to work and a bloke in sports clothing showing off to Youtube how hard he can pedal on a Sunday exercise session.