Rebuild a Woosh-supplied DWG22c into a 20" wheel

[chris667]

Hello all

I have a bike with one of these. Love it, but I have my eye on something that takes up a bit less room and is better to loan to people.

I'm interested in the idea of a minivelo. To those not familiar with them, these are bikes with 20" wheels that don't fold. The most successful was the Raleigh Twenty. There's lots of advantages to these, and for many years when I lived on a narrowboat I regularly used to own Twenties because they would fit in the boat more easily and (at the time) were cheap enough to replace - I don't think I've ever paid more than about a tenner for one.

I quite like the idea of rebuilding one with electric assist, but I see Argos has brought out a minivelo called the Challenge Urban for £250.

It has 135mm rear spacing, so in theory my DWG22C rear wheel would fit if I rebuilt it into the rim.

Am I right in thinking that I'd get more torque but a lower top assist speed? That would be fine by me. Anything else I need to think about?

 

[saneagle]

Assuming that it's unrestricted, whatever speed you get now will change in direct proprtion to the wheel sizes. You can get the speed back by increasing the voltage from 36v to 48v.

 

[esuark]

put Raleigh Twenty in the search box above plenty will come up

 

[Woosh]

Assuming that it's unrestricted, whatever speed you get now will change in direct proprtion to the wheel sizes. You can get the speed back by increasing the voltage from 36v to 48v.

the DWG22C I sell runs already on 48V.

 

[guerney]

I'm interested in the idea of a minivelo. To those not familiar with them, these are bikes with 20" wheels that don't fold.

Dahon made one of those which did fold, the "Bullhead". Quite popular, reportedly fast and very good to ride. There was a bare frame on ebay, but it's probably unsuitable for a rear hub motor and you don't want a folder.

Home - Folding Bikes by DAHON

Official website of DAHON, World Leader in Folding Bicycle, RIDE ANYWHERE, ANY TIME, ANYTHING. Freedom Unfolds.

eu.dahon.com

 

[Woosh]

Minivelo?

This bike is converted with a DWG2XNC + 8-speed cassette, 10AH or 15AH 36V bag battery.
Optional bottom bracket torque sensor. From middle of October.

DWG2X: 135mm dropout, 45NM motor, 320RPM max. 36V 15A, 3.6kgs
Shengyi DGWX2C/DGWX2S Heavy Duty Electric Bike Rear Hub Motor For City Bike (syimotor.com)

 

[chris667]

Nice! Would there be any way to use it with my existing 48v battery?

 

[guerney]

@48V: 416RPM and 24.7mph?

 

[Woosh]

Nice! Would there be any way to use it with my existing 48v battery?

Your initial plan is very doable, the only downside is the weight.
The DWG2X is optimised for 36V and an alternative solution.

 

[guerney]

I quite like the idea of rebuilding one with electric assist, but I see Argos has brought out a minivelo called the Challenge Urban for £250.

£199.95:

20" INCH WHEEL URBAN CAMPER UNISEX MENS WOMENS BIKE FRONT REAR DISC BRAKE SILVER | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 20" INCH WHEEL URBAN CAMPER UNISEX MENS WOMENS BIKE FRONT REAR DISC BRAKE SILVER at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[chris667]

£199.95:

20" INCH WHEEL URBAN CAMPER UNISEX MENS WOMENS BIKE FRONT REAR DISC BRAKE SILVER | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 20" INCH WHEEL URBAN CAMPER UNISEX MENS WOMENS BIKE FRONT REAR DISC BRAKE SILVER at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Tempting, but I am always a bit concerned when they say "customer returns". Packing even a little bike up to return is a bit of a faff.

 

[chris667]

Your initial plan is very doable, the only downside is the weight.
The DWG2X is optimised for 36V and an alternative solution.

Yeah, I see the advantages, especially with the rack battery on my bike.

I'm just reluctant to have two bikes with batteries to fail and they're the pricey bit - I am not sure I'd get enough use from two bikes, one of them would probably end up being neglected. Very limited storage here, I can only have one bike out and the others are in my lockup.

How would the torque/hillclimbing ability of the DWG2X compare with my existing hub? I'm still up in the peaks, but I would do something to extend the gearing range of the Challenge if I bought one. I have a compact double chainset here, and it looks like cable routing might be possible for a front mech.

 

[guerney]

Tempting, but I am always a bit concerned when they say "customer returns". Packing even a little bike up to return is a bit of a faff.

True, and one never knows what condition the bike will be in, by the time it's delivered by whoever their "Other courier" is, if it's delivered to you and not some other address. At least if you buy it from Argos, you can drive it over to a shop for a return attempt. That being said, the buyer's rating is bloody good for the number of sales.




It's probably a good idea to pick through the seller's (negative and neutral in particular) feedback ratings looking for reports of horrible issues regarding bikes.

 

[Woosh]

How would the torque/hillclimbing ability of the DWG2X compare with my existing hub?

the torque on your DWG22C gives about 60NM max, the DWG2X 45NM but because the tyres on your Twenty is smaller ISO451 compared to 26" tyres ISO559 , so it can climb with about 90% ability. The main thing is the new kit is very efficient at 15mph and lighter.15mph on 28-451 tyres = 277RPM.

​	(no-load)​	(rated output)​	(max output)​
(speed)​	320±5﹪rpm​	290±5﹪rpm​	260rpm​
(current)​	≤1.8A​	≤12A​	15A(depend on controller)​
(torque)​	0​	12N.m​	16N.m​
(output)​	0​	350W​	450W​

(efficiency)​

N/A​

≥78﹪​

78﹪​