Help! What COMPLETELY LEGAL Ebike will get me up hills?

[jimriley]

My donor bike is a GT Nomad Hybrid with rim brakes. I fitted a bbs01b , swapped the chainring from 44t to 42 t , gets me up steep rough bridleways when needed. The rim brakes were ok, but I upgraded to a pair of old magura hydraulic rim brakes this year sourced on fleabay. So do I your old un, spend the change on decent panniers if you don't have them etc etc.

 

[Waspy]

I also have a Woosh XF08C kit fitted to my 20 year old mountain bike (aluminium though). The kit has been trouble free and never fails to get me up hills. Mine has the downtube battery.

My brakes are mechanical disk brakes which have similar performance to rim brakes. Just don't go too fast downhill would be my advice.

I also have Dutch Style handlebars, very comfortable and zero learning curve to use. You may need a longer set of cables though.

 

[saneagle]

My brakes are mechanical disk brakes which have similar performance to rim brakes. Just don't go too fast downhill would be my advice.

You can buy good used hydraulic brakes from Ebay for £25 a pair. Even new ones are only about £40. They're the best bang-for-buck upgrade you can make for any bike. Once you have them, you will never go back to cable brakes. They take about 5 minutes to fit (3 screws). Nothing could be easier. They can save your life. I can't understand why anybody would want anything less.

And I forgot, don't forget they're effectively mainteenance free as well. None of that stupid cable and fixed pad adjustment every week.- just fit and forget to get consistent and reliable braking for the next 5000 miles until the pads are worn.

The rest of your bike is excellent. It's just the brakes, and it's so easy to fix to make it perfect.

 

[Waspy]

You can buy good used hydraulic brakes from Ebay for £25 a pair. Even new ones are only about £40. They're the best bang-for-buck upgrade you can make for any bike. Once you have them, you will never go back to cable brakes. They take about 5 minutes to fit (3 screws). Nothing could be easier. They can save your life. I can't understand why anybody would want anything less.

Mate,

I only mentioned my mechanical brakes because the OP is considering converting a nice old Raleigh that has rim brakes and his frame has no provision for disk brakes.

Mechanicals/rim brakes are certainly not ideal on an electric bike but if one rides at legal speeds and one is careful not to let the speed of the bike run away from you on a steep descent they suffice.

Now, having said all that, I listened to your wise words on another thread and had a look on eBay and found the used brake market a bit of a minefield, I ended up buying a new Shimano MT200 front brake (as recommended by Wolftick on Youtube) for about £30 to see how that went before I spend more money on a rear one as well.

And fitting/set up was a doddle and I am very impressed by the brake's performance, a huge improvement, and this is an entry level hydraulic brake.

So, thanks for that. I just need to think about the back brake now, maybe after payday, when I am ever going to stop spending money on this bike? LOL

 

[sjpt]

For many of us whether or not a bike is electric has no significant impact on the choice of brakes. Electric is to help us up hills. The fastest we go is downhill; not pedalling and no assist at those speeds so electric makes no difference other than a small increase in weight. Generally we go slower now on electric bikes than we used to on pedal bikes; and the biggest change in weight is in us and not in the bikes.

That isn't so say hydraulic disk brakes aren't good; just that their importance for many people can be much exaggerated.

 

[saneagle]

That isn't so say hydraulic disk brakes aren't good; just that their importance for many people can be much exaggerated.

It's the opposite. Their importance can't be over-stated. It's a point of safety. Hydraulic brakes always work consistently and reliably without any maintenance to give well-modulated braking. Cable brakes don't give consistent braking, their modulation is poor, and if you don't maintain them regularly, their braking is poor too. We're talking about chalk and cheese. There is absolutely no comparison, and the cost to change is pretty small.

If anybody has cable disc brakes, I recommend that you change them to hydraulics as soon as you can. Even the very cheap hydraulics are many times better than cable brakes, but middle-priced ones, like Shimano, Juicy, magura, Tektro, Avid, etc are even better.

This is one thing that's not snobbery. It's just a matter of performance and safety.

Finally, a non electric bike is ridden around at an average speed of around 10 mph. when you ride around an electric bike at an average speed of 14 mph, even without considering any additional mass, you have double the energy to dissipate to bring the bike to a stop. (E=1/2 mv²). That means on average, you need double the braking. Taking that further, at an average speed of 20 mph, you need four times the braking, and at 30 mph, you need ten times the braking. That's simple physics that you can't avoid.

 

[Az.]

I agree with Saneagle. I bought a bike with hydraulic brakes long time ago and would never go back to vbrakes. Having that said there is a massive difference in performance between hydraulic brakes with Shimano brakes being by far the best out all types that I have tried.

 

[Oldie]

Having considered Saneagle's earlier post I had a look on ebay and found a full new set of Clarks M2 for £31 delivered. Unused, but with a scratch on one of the calipers. My current mechanical front discs are fairly poor so I was looking at better pads anyway so hopefully this will add extra performance too, for smallish money. Looked like there were other well priced items for sale.

 

[saneagle]

Having considered Saneagle's earlier post I had a look on ebay and found a full new set of Clarks M2 for £31 delivered. Unused, but with a scratch on one of the calipers. My current mechanical front discs are fairly poor so I was looking at better pads anyway so hopefully this will add extra performance too, for smallish money. Looked like there were other well priced items for sale.

Let us know how you get on. One fairly important thing is the hose lengths, which need to be approximately right. It's easy to cut one down, but you need to buy one olive for that - cost not a lot:

Bicycle Hydraulic Brake Olive for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Bicycle Hydraulic Brake Olive. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

Install the brake first then remove the hose from the lever, cut it, put the new olive on, screw it back onto the lever, top up the brake fluid with the right type (important) and pump the brake until it works, then fill up the reservoir to the right level. If you put too much oil in the reservoir, your brakes will jam after you use them because the oil expands with heat and squeezes the pads - eazy to fix, just remove the screw on the reservoir to let the oil expand out.

If the hose is too short, you have to replace it with a new one using the same procedure just described, but fill up the hose with the oil before attaching it to the lever.

 

[boostbikes]

Hello, everyone! If you are in search of a reliable bike that can provide a range of up to 60 miles at impressive speeds (reaching up to 80 miles per hour), we highly recommend considering a Boost bike. We specialize in selling high-quality e-bikes that also feature pedals. Feel free to visit our website at boostbikes.us to explore our offerings. We offer worldwide shipping to cater to customers across the globe.
https://boostbikes.us

 

[guerney]

Hi everyone! if you are looking for a solid bike that will get you up to 30 miles of range at very high speeds (up to 80miles an hour) you should consider a Boost bike. We sell quality ebikes that still have pedals! check us out at boostbikes.us we ship worldwide!

How are your bikes "COMPLETELY LEGAL"?

 

[boostbikes]

How are your bikes "COMPLETELY LEGAL"?

That's an excellent question! Our bikes are equipped with pedals, which enables them to fall under the class 3 moped classification within the United States. It's worth noting that our bikes adhere to specific speed limitations based on European country laws when used outside of the United States. If you'd like more detailed information about the speeds and regulations, we encourage you to visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page at https://boostbikes.us/pages/speed-faqs. There, you'll find comprehensive answers to common inquiries regarding our bikes' speed capabilities and legal considerations.

 

[StuartsProjects]

Great question! We have pedals that make them as legal as any pedal assisted or non assisted bicycle. for more information visit our FAQ page https://boostbikes.us/pages/speed-faqs.

In the UK ?

 

[Az.]

We have pedals that make them as legal as any pedal assisted or non assisted bicycle.

Are you being serious??

 

[flecc]

Great question! We have pedals that make them as legal as any pedal assisted or non assisted bicycle. for more information visit our FAQ page https://boostbikes.us/pages/speed-faqs.

Are you being serious??

Member BoostBikes and that company are obviously utterly clueless about the legal position in many countries in the world. For starters their bikes all permit 20mph with assistance as standard, making them illegal as assisted bicycles in all of the countries in Europe including the UK, plus Turkey, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and some smaller countries. Not to even mention the illegal throttle control.

In most of those the ability of the user to change the bikes into illegal assist speeds up to 80 mph alone makes them illegal unless registered and type approved as motor vehicles, which in many of those locations is impossible. And of their own admission only one of their models has a chance of that, even in the USA.
.

 

[Az.]

Member BoostBikes and that company are obviously utterly clueless about the legal position in many countries in the world.

Makes me wonder if this is what they tell customers: "our bikes are legal because they have pedals. It has pedals, so it obviously is a bike. Simples!". OMG, I laughed so hard I spilled my tea.

Have you seen their web page? It is like a worst nightmare coming true.

 

[jimriley]

Great question! We have pedals that make them as legal as any pedal assisted or non assisted bicycle. for more information visit our FAQ page https://boostbikes.us/pages/speed-faqs.


{Admin note, please see my message - I'll leave this post as others are responding to it, but please only respond to answer existing queries and make no further sales posts, thank you}

I keep getting their wayward offers on FarceBook, I have asked on there, got a most sniffy reply, probably seen as An Awkward Customer

 

[soundwave]

 

[Az.]

I can't believe they put Acera derailer on that thing. Also no rear suspension. It is a motorbike which is pretending to be a bike and as result it sucks at each category.

 

[soundwave]

you can turn the power down tho imo nothing they sell is road legal they just dont give a crap and sell stuff to kids what could go wrong