Sunlova Kit - Fitted

[JohnD]

As promised here is an account of fitting the Sunlova kit - 1st thing I should say is I am very pleased - it wasn't completely trouble free but it works and didn't take me too long

This is what I got:-



I'm quite pleased with the overall look - I'm particularly pleased with my inverted Topeak saddle bag controller fit.



I'll shorten the wires later (much later) but it's neatish and weatherproof (and I already had the bag!). The rack wasn't as easy as it now looks - I suspect that this is a standard rack for MTB's and the different frame size shape of a hybrid makes it a pig to 'wrangle' into place.
At this point I should say that I was very pleased I chose my Dawes to convert as the 'quality' frame had fitting points and hex headed bolts in them.


I did have to get a bit inventive at the bottom though.

I'm not up on bike fitting terminology so when the instructions told me to ensure that that the 'wires are facing upwards towards the handlebars on the left side of the bike' I fitted the wheel with the wires emerging on the left (as viewed from the saddle) - and ended up with an electric reversing bike!

Throttle isn't too ugly but does get in the way of my gear shifters



The leds are on all the time and I have no idea what the red button does.

Performance - now I have on reference point but it moves very well indeed - very quiet and very quick on the flat - I did try a small incline and felt the power drop off but with a little help from me on the pedals we went up very well.

As can be seen I have yet to fit the pedelec sensor or the cutoff brake levers (they are all supplied) - I'm not sure I ever will as the twist throttle seems very easy and natural.

That's all for now - happy to answer any questions etc...

 

[eddieo]

Nice job! red button should be a power on/off I would think

 

[Old Timer]

Well! you are getting there and it runs Well done.

When I did my alien/evans conversion I tried to hang onto my original Shimano Exage front and rear gear changers but the rear changer was only just clearing the bulk of the throttle. Now on my E bikes and most of those that I`ve come across use the cheapo Shimano Tourney gear shift and there is a good reason for that because it sits high and above the throttle lights and is just a breeze to use and really makes a difference to the enjoyment. So! thats what I did, I done away with the more expensive gearshift and fitted a Shimao Tourney (I think it cost me £8.99)
I wasn`t sure if the indexing would tie up with the old gear block but it did.

Dave

 

[daniel.weck]

FYI: the red button below the battery indicators on my iZip Via Mezza Enlightened toggles between throttle and pedal-assist modes.
++Dan

 

[Old Timer]

FYI: the red button below the battery indicators on my iZip Via Mezza Enlightened toggles between throttle and pedal-assist modes.
++Dan

My red button on my Powertrek (that is on the otherside of the bars) toggles between throttle only and throttle+pedelec. On the cyclamatics it`s like Eddio says, power on or off.

 

[jerrysimon]

Nice job

Regards

Jerry

 

[jayuk]

would it be possible to change the controller to a ecrazyman one that has the 3 fixed power settings 60% 100% 120% to get a slight increase in mph ? using the existing battery.

cheers
jason

 

[JohnD]

i do 't know

would it be possible to change the controller to a ecrazyman one that has the 3 fixed power settings 60% 100% 120% to get a slight increase in mph ? using the existing battery.

cheers
jason

Such technical things are beyond me - others on here will be able to say - all the fittings are connected with easy fit connectors so as long as you knew what to connect to what I can't see an issue.

I have a fairly well calibrated speedo on it now and my wife just managed 24mph on the flat without peddling - so I think this is a version with those Chinese 'strong' watts

 

[jayuk]

I think thats made my mind up 100% now. any chance you can measure the distance accross the hub motor, as i need to work out if i need to get the bigger size disc brake disc so the caliper is clear of the motor.

cheers
jason

 

[JohnD]

I replied once

I have replied to this - perhaps I included too many links

The answer is excatly 100mm - my forks were 11cm accross so the motor plus it's two large (5mm) washers with tabs fitted exactly!

If you look at the photos on here you can see the disc mount is inboard of the axel - depending on how thick the rotor is I suspect the rotor will be at 100mm from the far axel.

Look at the photo to see what I mean.

 

[Alex728]

that Wuxing "traffic light" throttle with a switch is also on the Wisper (probably no coincidence as that uses a Suzhou bafang motor as well). in that configuration it turns on or off the electric assist altogether - which I think is an intentional safety measure in case the throttle jams on and the bike "runs away"!

I had to spend a fair bit of time getting the right angle for it so I didn't keep knocking the power off when trying to change gear!

 

[JohnD]

First Run in 'anger'

The weather in the south east lifted just enough for me to try the power assisted Dawes this morning - wow!
She flew out of the garden and I was swiftly doing an indicated 20mph with light peddling – got to the hill (about 1 in 4) and we bested that at 18 – 20mph on full throttle and peddling in low gear – if I stop helping the speed drops off but I wanted to do a bit of peddling.
On the other side of the hill with no throttle she did feel a little ‘heavy’ but then again she was carrying her battery, me and my work bag – I must look at weight distribution and perhaps carry the bag up front.
Got back on the throttle at the bottom of the hill and I had the feeling that the response wasn’t as urgent and it was straight out of the garden – maybe just a feeling as the battery indicator is still showing all 3 lights.
Swiftly got to the station and found that the new handle bars make the locker more of a challenge.
I shall see how she goes when I get home this evening.

 

[jayuk]

I recieved my Sunlova kit yesterday & now have it all fitted.
first Impressions are "Very Good". Although ive only manage to hit 16 - 17mph still feels plenty fast enough. The motor is nice & quiet & pulls well!. The disc brake fitted nicely with a small adjustment of the caliper.

JohnD, did your kit hit 20 to 24 out the box or is there a pot to increase in the controller?

I will post some pictured shortly.

jay



(Bafang SWXK 8-Fun) (XC3 Mtb)

 

[JohnD]

Out of the box

JohnD, did your kit hit 20 to 24 out the box or is there a pot to increase in the controller?


(Bafang SWXK 8-Fun) (XC3 Mtb)

Yes - unmodified BUT I'm on 700c 28inch wheels so that may be the difference - the motor had a sticker on it saying 28 but the controller didn't mention wheel size - my guess would be that you would program one controller and not worry about the size of wheel it was driving.

Just for fun I played with Nokia maps on my mobile on the way home on the bike (don't try this at home) and was able to confirm that my speedo is within 1mph of the GPS speed.

 

[JohnD]

The disc brake fitted nicely with a small adjustment of the caliper.

I will post some pictured shortly.

Really keen to see those pics of the motor with brake disc fitted

 

[jayuk]

Here's a few shots of my sunlova kit fitted to a xc3 mountain bike.

JohnD sorry for the delay.

 

[mapman]

jayuk

Good build, like the cotroller under the seat. whats the name of the front fork you have.


thanks

mapman

 

[jayuk]

Forks brand

Forks: Suntour XCM-V2 fork, 120mm travel, Preload & rebound adjustment

I purchased the bike through my works, not the actual cycle scheme. I ended up paying around £170 in all plus £265 for the hub kit. I still need to have a full test run to see how many miles i can hit before battery gives up. lucky for me i can actually get to work on throttle alone! (4.2 miles) but getting home requires pedelling for a least 1/3 of the way, route taken is mainly cycle track so im not to concerned about the throttle legalities as yet.

 

[JohnD]

Very neat install - I hadn't thought of putting the controller under the seat - heated seats foc! I see you had extra cable as well - I suppose too long is better than too short.

 

[mapman]

jayuk

thanks for the info, very good price for the total build.i need to do 20 miles a day on the flat with 2 small hills. so if i can do it at about 18mph on throttle only (my lazy days) i will be happy with that.looking forward to your report.how long did it take for your kit to arrive from ordering.

thanks

mapman.