Thanks to the excellent support in this forum, I settled on a Xiong Da 2-speed motor and a 15Ah battery from Woosh bikes. After my first 100km I thought I'd make some observations about how it works fromt eh perspective of an absolute beginner. Some of the assertions I make will be basically wrong, but this is 'as it seems to me'.
I ordered the motor straight from the factory and it arrived with minimal fuss just about 2 weeks after payment. Once it was on the way I ordered a rim (Ryde Sputnik 26) and custom fit spokes, both from the charming and helpful Dylan Thomas at YourSpokes (also trading as Poetry in Motion - which is a necessary trading name if your name is Dylan Thomas). In Ireland there are literally no companies advertising spoke cutting services, such is the size of the population. I have subsequently found a few.
The bike attached to the kit is a now gently customised BH Corona mountain bike, second hand, which looks all beat up to hell but is actually in fantastic condition. I had a shop swap out the fork for a steel one and set up spacers to fix the geometry of the ride. The Xiong Da goes on the front hub.
I built the wheel myself - and was delighted to be told by the shop that the final truing took ten minutes - he thought it was a good job and I was happy to believe him.
The first ride was a thriller - partially because the seat post retention clip was cracked and sheared half way up a dual carriageway, puttting me 20 degrees off centre and compressing my knees into a 38 degree angle for basically the whole stroke for about 5km; but partially because this little motor is fabulous fun.
The modus of operation seems essentially to help one to get to 25.5km and then do its best to hold one there. It isn't a motorbike, it isn't just taking off on its own. In assist mode 3,4 and 5, it really does exact some serious pull. It's extremely gentle except in level 5, where it smoothly but firmly applies force and pulls one quickly along.
It is very quiet, and I'm pleased to say I can't detect any of the noise described in previous threads on the motor, requiring dollops of this and that. I can't for the life of me think of a reason to use the Low or Automatic setting. Battery capacity is perfect for two round-trips to my office, dropping only one bar and sitting at 38v idle. Starts at 44v.
The screen is great and very informative - its so much fun to see the additional power I'm putting in reducing the assistance level - it's gamifying my commute.
This motor has brought me back into cycling in a big way - I find myself addicted to climbing the Stillorgan Dual Carriageway at 30km/h with the watt meter showing low or no assistance - but even more addicted to the feeling when I'm nearing the end of my lollipop and the wheel pulls me over the crest.
I ordered the motor straight from the factory and it arrived with minimal fuss just about 2 weeks after payment. Once it was on the way I ordered a rim (Ryde Sputnik 26) and custom fit spokes, both from the charming and helpful Dylan Thomas at YourSpokes (also trading as Poetry in Motion - which is a necessary trading name if your name is Dylan Thomas). In Ireland there are literally no companies advertising spoke cutting services, such is the size of the population. I have subsequently found a few.
The bike attached to the kit is a now gently customised BH Corona mountain bike, second hand, which looks all beat up to hell but is actually in fantastic condition. I had a shop swap out the fork for a steel one and set up spacers to fix the geometry of the ride. The Xiong Da goes on the front hub.
I built the wheel myself - and was delighted to be told by the shop that the final truing took ten minutes - he thought it was a good job and I was happy to believe him.
The first ride was a thriller - partially because the seat post retention clip was cracked and sheared half way up a dual carriageway, puttting me 20 degrees off centre and compressing my knees into a 38 degree angle for basically the whole stroke for about 5km; but partially because this little motor is fabulous fun.
The modus of operation seems essentially to help one to get to 25.5km and then do its best to hold one there. It isn't a motorbike, it isn't just taking off on its own. In assist mode 3,4 and 5, it really does exact some serious pull. It's extremely gentle except in level 5, where it smoothly but firmly applies force and pulls one quickly along.
It is very quiet, and I'm pleased to say I can't detect any of the noise described in previous threads on the motor, requiring dollops of this and that. I can't for the life of me think of a reason to use the Low or Automatic setting. Battery capacity is perfect for two round-trips to my office, dropping only one bar and sitting at 38v idle. Starts at 44v.
The screen is great and very informative - its so much fun to see the additional power I'm putting in reducing the assistance level - it's gamifying my commute.
This motor has brought me back into cycling in a big way - I find myself addicted to climbing the Stillorgan Dual Carriageway at 30km/h with the watt meter showing low or no assistance - but even more addicted to the feeling when I'm nearing the end of my lollipop and the wheel pulls me over the crest.
