Which electric kit?

[johnl]

SWB Bent Front Wheel Drive - Appropriate

My case was rather specific, in that I already have a SWB recumbent bike, but have found that it's a bit of a struggle to ride up hills. Jeremy

I like the weight and cost of your solution. I went with the Bionx rear wheel hub motor partly because my recumbent has a long wheel base and a lightly loaded front wheel, and my commute has a long 10% grade.

Short wheel base recumbents have a lot more weight on the front wheel. Until we get past the snowy weather, I have the Bionx on the mtn bike. It reminds me of all the reasons I prefer the 'bent.

John

 

[Jeremy]

I found that it took me a couple of weeks to adapt to the different handling of the 'bent, with starting off from a standstill the trickiest knack to acquire. I have exactly the same stability issue at low speed, which makes the granny gear on my bike redundant, as even with a pretty high cadence the speed is too low to be very stable. I have a feeling that this lack of stability at low speed, combined with the exertion, adds to my hill climbing problem. It really can be quite stressful when climbing hills in traffic, as the tendency is to try and keep some speed up by trying to push a higher gear than one should, which in my case then leads to my knee complaining rather vigorously!

It is far to easy to adopt a low cadence, high effort, pedalling style with a 'bent, I've found, as you can probably produce around double the peak crank torque of an upright, due to the ability to push against the seat. Although this undoubtedly gives the thigh muscles a serious work out, I don't believe that it's very efficient at all.

I do have a lot of weight on my front wheel, as it's right under my thighs. I haven't checked, but I suspect that there may well be more weight on the front wheel than there is on the rear, as my centre of gravity is much closer to the front wheel. Even with this amount of weight on the front wheel, the Crystalyte motor would still spin the tyre from time to time if I was a bit vigorous with the throttle.

I intend to develop an intelligent assist system eventually, but to get the bike running I've modified a thumb throttle to fit on a small extension on the end of the handlebar, rather like a bar end shifter. This has been a bit of a fiddle, but the ergonomics are better than the conventional throttle and the wires are out of sight, as they run inside the handlebar.

I've spent this evening making up the final wiring loom, to try and keep all the wiring as inconspicuous as possible. The only obvious sign that the bike has power will be the small hub motor and the control panel/power meter display out near the pedal bracket.

Jeremy

 

[johnl]

I found that it took me a couple of weeks to adapt to the different handling of the 'bent, with starting off from a standstill the trickiest knack to acquire. I have exactly the same stability issue at low speed, which makes the granny gear on my bike redundant, as even with a pretty high cadence the speed is too low to be very stable. I have a feeling that this lack of stability at low speed, combined with the exertion, adds to my hill climbing problem. It really can be quite stressful when climbing hills in traffic, as the tendency is to try and keep some speed up by trying to push a higher gear than one should, which in my case then leads to my knee complaining rather vigorously!

It is far to easy to adopt a low cadence, high effort, pedalling style with a 'bent, I've found, as you can probably produce around double the peak crank torque of an upright, due to the ability to push against the seat. Jeremy

What brand of recumbent do you have? Does it have below seat steering? I have several 'bents and I am really stable on my short wheel base RANS V-Rex. The long wheel base V2 Formula is a little bit less stable at low speed going up a hill, but the Bionx really helps me keep my speed high enough to be stable. On the recumbent tandems, my wife and I can go up a steep hill at two miles to three miles an hour. We're real stable. We can go slower than people walking up a hill--we did that on Teton Pass outside of Jackson, Wyoming one time. Anyway, on a short wheel base 'bent with above seat steering, I can be pretty stable. Of course it took several months to get comfortable with the first 'bent and I've now been riding them for over 10 years.

John

 

[Jeremy]

Mine's a TW Bent, with under seat steering, essentially the same bike as sold in the US as the Action Bent. I have the base model, without rear suspension. It's almost certainly a combination of the underseat steering and my lack of 'bent experience that leads to the "wobbles" I think. It's hard to resist the temptation to grip the bars hard when going up hill, but doing this always starts an involuntary weave. I'm gradually learning the knack of trying to relax my hand grip, as this definitely improves stability.

I'm hoping that my electric assist set up will do as yours does and provide just enough hill climbing assistance to increase my speed enough to regain good stability. I think that part of my problem is now psychological, so the assist will no doubt help to restore enough confidence as to stop me worrying about hills quite so much.

Jeremy

 

[johnl]

Underseat Steering on Recumbent

Yes, the under-seat steering makes me nervous. Bent riders seem to be divided into two camps with a lot of people really liking the underseat steering. I like the above seat steering. With either steering system a rider who gets nervous and grips the bars too hard is going to have problems keeping the bike stable. The more experience you get on a bike, the more stable you will be on it.