Preferences

[Flying Kiwi]

I know it's difficult but I want to try.

With regard to home building an electric bike that's much lighter than the best off the shelf models, it is clear to me that the only way you'll reduce weight to the levels you want is if you compromise on either features, longevity or safety There are super light weight racing bikes used by Olympic racers with excellent performance on the track but try using one for your daily commute or touring with hills etc and it will be totally unsuitable.

The stresses due to motor power and propulsion unit weights must be handled by the frame. Additionally the performance characteristics are often higher than unpowered bikes (I'm thinking of the Swizbee website information mentioning superior brakes and suspension were designed in). This means that the overall weight must increase if something else isn't to fail.

By all means try to design a better lighter electric bike but personally if you want the best, unless you're willing to spend a huge amount of time and effort and have the required engineering knowledge, I think your money would be better spent on an off the shelf model - after saving up if needed. You mentioned you enjoyed riding the Flyer T8, the queen of bikes (better than riding a king of bikes I guess ) surely enjoyment and value are the 2 most overiding features for most people and not any single factor such as weight? I dont mean to be a damp squib, I just hope you go into it with an awareness of what you're up against.

 

[flecc]

My general advice to people is the same as Flying Kiwi's, the manufacturer's are much more likely to achieve the best results, since they have the resources and facilities to succeed. This is true of nearly all products, not just bikes. I also very much agree with his sentiments regarding the importance of the qualities of a bike over ultimate weight reduction.

But I sense here that Alberto has seen a challenge that he wants to rise to, hence my wishing him well, as it's a spirit that I applaud. And of course it's also true that a slightly inferior product one personally made can be more satisfying to have or use than the better one that someone else produced. That's why we have a world full of amateur artists, when they could just be buying prints of works by the masters instead of expensive oils and brushes.