Suitable bike for conversion

[SteveMcG]

Hi,

I have spent some time considering my options and I have now decided that I would like to buy a hybrid bike in the region of £400 - £600 and do a conversion using and Oxydrive CST HT kit (mainly due to good reviews on this site).

I will be commuting on road to work, but I also want to do some lite off road fun stuff at weekends.

I am 5'11, 13 stone.

The question I was hoping you guys could help with is choosing a good hybrid that is fairly light, comfortable and reliable and suitable for a conversion using the Oxydrive. Do you have any pointers that could help narrow down the huge list of choices out there?

Many thanks!

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Why don't you try out a carrera crossfire out from halfords it's only £799.00
It may be just what you want

 

[SteveMcG]

I have considered this, but to keep weight down and to possibly allow for higher speed off road I am tempted to go down the bespoke route, ta anyway!

 

[STEVEMANFA]

No probs, just a idea
I have a bike that I put a oxydrive kit on and it's on 800 miles now and not one fault, it's a nice kit.
Good luck in your build.

 

[Nealh]

Weight wise you will not achieve much saving once a kit is added, a normal off the peg bike with kit added will be about 17-18kg. For road bike a super lightweight 5 - 6k CF road bike and fit a small Q or Keyde hub and a small 5 -6ah battery then you may get something sub 10kg.
For off road again its about cost CF frame or titanium very light frame with expensive quality lightweight parts again motor and battery is the heavy bit 5 - 6kg and probably a BBS01. If money was no object then a 14KG bike all up may be possible.

 

[SteveMcG]

Thanks Guys,

SteveManfa - what bike and kit did you use?

Nealth, I do like look of the prebuilt Oxygen bikes eg: http://www.oxygenbicycles.com/e-bikes/s-cross-cb, but the thing I am struggling with, is if I want to muck about on private roads at weekends:

1) will I be able to derestrict it (I think I can as its basically a OxyDrive kit but not sure)?

2) if I can derestrict it, what is the max speed I can achieve from the 250W engine?

So if I can derestrict Oxygen for private road use and 250W engine is sufficient then I would prob go for one of these.

Cheers,

Does anyone have any experience of these bikes - they do look great!

 

[Nealh]

My Oxydrive kit deristricted 24mph but battery range limited to about 20 -25 miles, similar hub run at 48v would be about 28/29 mph. Can't say about Oxygen bike as programming or LCD may be set.

 

[anotherkiwi]

If you want speed a 500 W - 1000 W Bafang mid drive with the right gears is the way to go.

 

[SteveMcG]

Thanks anotherkiwi.

So something like this then? http://www.electricbikeconversions.co.uk/product/bafang-bbs02-500w-36v-conversion-kit-with-battery/

Any pointers for a suitable bike?

 

[anotherkiwi]

Yes that will push you quickly down the road.

You say light off road on weekends = no mudplugging or jumps? Any hybrid with decent mixed tyres will do for off road on paths. I like the look of this one

https://www.evanscycles.com/specialized-crosstrail-sport-disc-2016-hybrid-bike-EV212228

 

[SteveMcG]

Yip - very nice!

 

[STEVEMANFA]

This is my kit bike, and about 22mph on the flat

 

[LeighPing]

This is my kit bike, and about 22mph on the flat.

Here's mine. Also built by Steve. Same speed. Great bike.

Here it is again. Losing out to my other off roader.

My body-building lad once got it up to 28mph, on leg power. I can't beat that.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Here's the one I built for The Gadget Show. It's good for 25 mph. The light weight, thin wheels and streamlined frame and forks make it very easy to sustain a continuous speed above 20 mph without using up the battery too quickly. That was one of my favourite ebikes. Oxydrive now uses the Bafang SWX02C, which is just as powerful, but a bit lighter.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes/boardman-hybrid-comp-bike

The new Oxygen bikes can be derestricted if you have the password.

 

[patpatbut]

Here's the one I built for The Gadget Show. It's good for 25 mph. The light weight, thin wheels and streamlined frame and forks make it very easy to sustain a continuous speed above 20 mph without using up the battery too quickly. That was one of my favourite ebikes. Oxydrive now uses the Bafang SWX02C, which is just as powerful, but a bit lighter.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes/boardman-hybrid-comp-bike

The new Oxygen bikes can be derestricted if you have the password.

Good to see you back Dave.

The oxydrive website doesnt tell use which CST motor they use.

Do you have a clear picture of the motor? How does it compare with SWXH ?

Thanks

 

[SteveMcG]

Thanks guys they all look great, ta for sharing.

 

[SteveMcG]

I do love the gadget show conversion, however I bit the bullet last night and ordered a prebuilt oxygen s-cross cb!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I do love the gadget show conversion, however I bit the bullet last night and ordered a prebuilt oxygen s-cross cb!

It's a great bike. All you need now is the password! I could tell you it, but then I'd have to kill you to prevent it getting into the public domain. In fact I think I'd have to kill you before I gave it to you, just in case something happened to me between telling you and killing you.

As I said, the Oxydrive kit now uses the Bafang SWX02C, which is the middle-sized one - bigger than the SWX, but smaller than the CST. The "C" denotes that it's the cassette version.

The power that a motor makes depends more on the controller than the motor. If I had a SWX02 on my bike, I'd be using 48v and 20 amps, which would make it pretty lively, but the Oxydrive controller/battery is only 36v and 15 amps (AFAIK). Compared with the smaller SWXH, I would say that it makes a bit more torque relative to its size.

 

[SteveMcG]

So would you say I have made a reasonable decision? Not entirely understanding your last post. Do you think I would have been better with the 'gadget show' build?

I am not looking for masses of oomph, just a bit lively for weekend trips on private tracks and speeds of up to say 22-23mph.

I bought the Oxygen bike last night and came in this morning to see your lovely boardman conversion and thought mmm maybe should have went for that, so toying with idea of cancelling oxy purchase.

 

[footpump]

a little while back I was looking at the oxydrive bpm cst kit £599 if I recall correctly.
also looked at reviews of the older oxygen mtb which I quite liked the look of,
but this has now been replaced by the later models with the battery intergrated into the frame.


what I am not clear on do oxygen bikes have oxydrive moters?
the oxygen scross mtb states high torque moter, not sure about scross cb
the mtb is dearer however.

thank you