Recumbent motor options.

[Paul Young]

Hi there all, I'm currently using a BBSHD on an On One Fatty Trail, with a 48v battery, but, as with all regular bikes you're limited to the size of battery you can either fit into the triangle, on a rear rack ( awful experience with uneven weight, or in a backpack on your back, and with it being my only form of transport, I'd like to be able to do more than roughly 20 miles, keeping the speed at a maximum 0f 20Mph, so that's where I think a recumbent will shine, being able to add a nice big battery box, either under, or behind the seat.

But before I fully commit to a couple of months of research, I would like a couple of things answered so i don't waste to much time on the wrong things. Firstly I should mention the make and model bike I'm probably going to opt for, unless anyone can recommend a better option within the price range of about £1000 or less, I'm looking at the KMC Karts Tornado F8 Adults Sports Trike for £900 Tornado F8 Adults Sports Trike https://www.kmxkarts.co.uk/Recumbent-Trikes.aspx, wich after a short search seams to be pretty spot on for the money especially compared to some makes that are out there.

I'm primarily going to be riding on roads with the occasional rougher ground just to find a decent area to set up a small camp for a hammock, I'm 5 foot 8 and 14 stone, I'm going from a regular bike to a recumbent due to osteoarthritis in my knees and an old back injury, so the sit down position seems ideal, plus it lends itself well to build a decent size battery box beneath or behind the seat for a good ammount of mileage could be possible.

Firstly what type of motor is the best option hub or mid drive, and if it turns out to be a hub motor, should I go for 1 higher powered rear, or 2 smaller powered for dual front wheel drive? If it turns out to be that mid drive is the better option, for the speed I would like that only leaves Cyclone on the table, is it possible to fit them to a recumbent, as the one article I have found the Cyclone is mounted under the seat on what looks to be a second BB housing leaving the front regular drive train untouched.

Secondly, am I better of buying it as a complete kit with the motor, controller etc, or should I build a kit myself, thank you guys I look forward to your feedback, and here are the 2 kits I'm currently looking at feedback on both would also be greatly appreciated or if they suck a point towards better would be awesome, I'm looking at spending about £2500 all in, maybe a tad more for something special.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/48v-72v ... 2ea621ded6

https://lunacycle.com/cyclone-mid-drive ... etary-kit/
or the higher powered
https://lunacycle.com/cyclone-XL-7500w-ebike-middrive/
paulstung
1 mW

Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2016 8:51 am

 

[grldtnr]

Hi there all, I'm currently using a BBSHD on an On One Fatty Trail, with a 48v battery, but, as with all regular bikes you're limited to the size of battery you can either fit into the triangle, on a rear rack ( awful experience with uneven weight, or in a backpack on your back, and with it being my only form of transport, I'd like to be able to do more than roughly 20 miles, keeping the speed at a maximum 0f 20Mph, so that's where I think a recumbent will shine, being able to add a nice big battery box, either under, or behind the seat.

But before I fully commit to a couple of months of research, I would like a couple of things answered so i don't waste to much time on the wrong things. Firstly I should mention the make and model bike I'm probably going to opt for, unless anyone can recommend a better option within the price range of about £1000 or less, I'm looking at the KMC Karts Tornado F8 Adults Sports Trike for £900 Tornado F8 Adults Sports Trike https://www.kmxkarts.co.uk/Recumbent-Trikes.aspx, wich after a short search seams to be pretty spot on for the money especially compared to some makes that are out there.

I'm primarily going to be riding on roads with the occasional rougher ground just to find a decent area to set up a small camp for a hammock, I'm 5 foot 8 and 14 stone, I'm going from a regular bike to a recumbent due to osteoarthritis in my knees and an old back injury, so the sit down position seems ideal, plus it lends itself well to build a decent size battery box beneath or behind the seat for a good ammount of mileage could be possible.

Firstly what type of motor is the best option hub or mid drive, and if it turns out to be a hub motor, should I go for 1 higher powered rear, or 2 smaller powered for dual front wheel drive? If it turns out to be that mid drive is the better option, for the speed I would like that only leaves Cyclone on the table, is it possible to fit them to a recumbent, as the one article I have found the Cyclone is mounted under the seat on what looks to be a second BB housing leaving the front regular drive train untouched.

Secondly, am I better of buying it as a complete kit with the motor, controller etc, or should I build a kit myself, thank you guys I look forward to your feedback, and here are the 2 kits I'm currently looking at feedback on both would also be greatly appreciated or if they suck a point towards better would be awesome, I'm looking at spending about £2500 all in, maybe a tad more for something special.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/48v-72v ... 2ea621ded6

https://lunacycle.com/cyclone-mid-drive ... etary-kit/
or the higher powered
https://lunacycle.com/cyclone-XL-7500w-ebike-middrive/
paulstung
1 mW

Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2016 8:51 am

Whilst I applaud your discission on wanting to buy a British recumbent, I think you should check to see, if it actually built here and not overseas, there are better performing recumbent trikes, the HP Velotechnic comes to mind,better built with suspension and foldability as options, ok it may be £500 + more but it will handle better.
You will only need a single drive, on the rear wheel or a mid drive, would fitting the kit from your on 'one bike' be an option?
Since your favoured trike will be an eight SPD, fitting the drive to chainset out front would seem the better bet, I don't think a rear wheel kit on a tadpole trike, will be strong enough, there are a lot of stresses to cope with.

I am thinking of converting my Trice recumbent to electric, it too has a bottom bracket shell as part of the frame set, it is tempting to keep its current triple chainset ,and fit a mid drive motor in the 2nd BBkt shell with a tandem cross over chain set, but at the same time it is a classic recumbent trike, and maybe best kept that way.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I am currently investigating a trike myself and have removed KMX from my shortlist because they are seriously under spec for a daily use vehicle. Lowest price for a reasonable quality new trike is AZUB from the Czech Republic. The second hand market is very limited except for western Germany near the Dutch border where trikes seem to be quite popular.

You really want to look at something with a 26" rear wheel and 20" fronts for comfort reasons alone.

Your BBSHD is the ideal motor for a trike. To my knowledge there are no hub motors readily available for a front wheel.

 

[Geebee]

If you have bad knees just remember to spin as it is very easy to use the seat back to allow you to grind up hill further damaging your knees.
Fit clipless pedals, if you foot slips off there is real danger of snapping your shin bone.
Hub, mid or crank drive are all viable for trikes, a crank drive will give you a better gear range for speed and climbing and better weight distribution by the time you fit batteries, chain alignment issues don't exist due to chain length.
Try to keep weight balance similar to original or 1/3rd per wheel other wise you can cause handling issues especially if to much weight is to the rear as it will reduce the balance as the track becomes narrower due to being a triangle.
Also weight added lower down is better.

The hub you are looking at weighs over 10 kg without batteries, you will feel this on every bump.
The BBS01 is sub 4 kg, I assume the BBS02 is similar and due to being on the front boom basically inaudible to the rider.
Look up some youtube videos of the Cyclone, do you want that 6~12" from your ears constantly?

I have not ridden a KMX but it is in the high end weight wise, see if you can test drive a few trikes, rear brake is not required and can be dangerous if use other than a park brake or for stunting.
Personally I much prefer indirect steering (steering linkages) but it is something you have to try for yourself.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can fit a Cyclone wherever you want on the drive train:
http://cyclone-tw.com/order-double.htm
http://cyclone-tw.com/order-erecumbent.htm

A single rear hub-motor would work quite well, but you need to get one with the right speed rating and power.

forum member twinkle has made a few electric recumbents:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/xfa-blogs/twinkle.10048/

Dan fitted a BBS01 to his:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/almost-ready-for-my-road-trip-to-holland.23843/

 

[D8ve]

Bbs01 quite a bit of space for the battery here. Fitted a alfine 8spd hub. Loads of drive and excellent range on few watts.