Need alot of help and advice

okay you are going to be trading money for convenience. I have been working with home build bikes and a kit ebike as well. You can buy a hub motor kit for about three hundred and fifty dollars that will do some of what you want. If you add highly efficient lithium polymer batteries you can double that.

Or you can build a simple pusher motor for about a hundred and fifty bucks sla batteries included. There are lots of other options but none are really cheap. The high efficiency batteries are the killer. Also the hub motors are not cheap.

Any kit running less than 24 volts is a waste of your money. I think the ideal small kit is the 500 -600 watt 36 volt hub motor kit. It is easy to install and comes with everything. Some come with batteries usually SLA.

Some of the guys are having a lot of luck with the complete bike purchased from Wally-mart. It is the Izip for about three hundred bucks. It comes with Sla batteries and runs on a Chain drive system. I have heard a lot of good things about it, I personally have not tried it.

But that is just my opinion.

cris11368 said:

I am really really confused right now, since gas powered bicycles are illegal in new york i decided to go with an e-bike...the problem is I dont know anything about these wonderfull machines and was wondering if someone could point me in a good direction. I was hoping for a kit that would come with everything, something that will give me a good speed and last a long distance between recharge.

anyone out there?

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I have a 26 inch Specialized Expedition bike which I converted to an e-bike about a month ago. After searching the Net for a couple of weeks, I decided on purchasing a complete kit from Electric Bike and Kits - Bike, Trike or Recumbent Electric Conversion Kits
Like you, I wanted the total package. The internet is flooded with them. I knew I wanted a brushless motor and the long range alkaline batteries which are about about $125.00 vs lithium batteries which are about $400.00. The bottom line is that I have gone well over 100 miles with my longest trip being about 26 miles. The batteries did not give out until about 2 miles from home. Getting 24 miles from fully charged batteries is probably unusual for this type of kit. However, I do a lot of pedaling and do not start out from a dead stop using only the engine. Also, on hills I still do some pedaling and do not try to get maximum speed, which is about 20 MPH, although it's possible to do much better. I paid $359 for the kit and I paid a bike shop $50 to install it (Most people do their own installation). The bike itself, a real honey, was $175 three years ago when I bought it used. So, for $585, I feel I have an above average e-bike. It's powerful, dependable and a lot of fun. What I liked best about my purchase was the tremedous customer service I received from Lyle who sold me the kit. He's in upper New York state by the way. The kit includes a new front wheel with the motor built in. My bike shop is "fineky" and told me that the wheel was out of round somewhat and would cause a bumpy ride at higher speeds. So when I told Lyle, he quickly shipped me a replacement which also turned out to be a little out of round, so I stayed with the original wheel. I think you would have to go to a bike well over
$1 K to get a higher quality wheel, and there would not be much difference from the ride with the less costly kit. I don't think the ride is all that bad and definitely it's not problem. When I thought I had a problem with my charger, Lyle shipped me a new one within 2 days and he took the time out to do this just before he was scheduled to start driving the South Carolina. As it turned out, I had a couple of loose wires. My advice woud be that you do not buy your kit from a warehouse type company. With Lyle, I have someone I can call at anytime with my problem and he responds with an A+++ customer service rating. So check out Electric Bike and Kits - Bike, Trike or Recumbent Electric Conversion Kits before you buy. You'll be pleased with what you see and what you get.

Hope this helps.

"Granpa"

I dont know how they could possibly do it and make a profit, but Northern Tool sells an electric bike for $399. Everyone who posted a review seems to love the bike.

I don't know why it costs us so much more to build an electric bike from scratch than it does for them to sell the whole thing.

Actually, once you git'r going, you can't tell the difference. My daughter's bike has a 350w front hub and she and the wife love it. Top speed is around 18 mph. It's a small motor so acceleration needs some pedal help.

My bike has a 450w gear drive motor on the rear wheel and is "external", having to be mounted to the frame and is chain drive. Top speed is 20 mph with some pedaling to get there. Wife likes this one too, but likes the "stealth" of the hub motor. Btw, I'm pushing 220 lbs., so I'm getting pretty good performance, considering.

Both are 24V and uses 2 12V SLA batteries in the pack. They're okay for short commutes which would be under 10 miles, but I wouldn't push it past 8 and that's still with some moderate pedaling. Better still if you can charge your battery at work or can carry a spare pack. My commute is only 2 miles one way, but there's a pretty good hill I have to ride and is longer on the way home. I still throw the battery on a charger at work, just to make sure I have the juice to help my up the longer hill. The weight of one pack is bad enough, two would be rediculous on my bike.

If your commute is longer, go with what Deacon said about the 36V units and possibly a trailer to haul a spare batter pack or even the whole drive unit.

I've recently been looking for a single child bike trailer to haul an extra pack and for the extra storage. We can find them around here on CL or garage sales for fairly cheap.

As an option, you can check out Currie Industries at
https://www.ezipusa.com/159-currie-electro-drive-conversion-kit-w-plug-play-battery-pack.html

Their new kit is what I have, less the fancy batt pack and rack.

Batteries are the still the bugaboo for ebiles, but I expect that to change with all the e cars coming on line soon. They will have to have batteries and when someone gears up to make them the surplus should hit the hobby market. The new lith poly maybe the answer but they are complicated. i would rather see a cell as simple as the SLA but much lighter and would hold a charge longer. All that extra circuitry of the lith poly concerns me. Just more to go wrong.

If I get tired of the pusher I'm going to buy one of those Wally world bikes and modify the battery pack. That is like what the Grouch and Doc Blum have.

The batteries in the kit I purchased are alkaline and weigh probably about 30 lbs. Most e-bikes are front wheel powered. Putting the motor on the back just puts more weight there.

GranPa

Frankly it easier do it yourself with a front hub wheel. Just drop out the old one and slip in the dew one piece of cake.

with my small rear wheel I have been thinking about putting my battery pack in a basket attached to the front. Just to give it some more drive pressure.

Deacon--Loving the welding practice.Haven't been this busy since the barn fire.
The bro. and I did break down and buy a welding video and it has helped the learning curve a great deal.
My brother likes to point out that it has helped me more since I'm learning curve challenged.
Has anybody come up with a way to put an independent rear suspention on a trike bike?
Still looking at this as the way to go for me since I'm a flea market hound and want some way of carrying the loot home.
Trying to do something while I wait for Pops bikes.Still I think it will have to be in trike form or a side car set up.
The really tough part is that every wheel/axle has to have a brake to pass here in BC.
That makes Pops a brave man in my books to go against the crap they put in your way.Putting it to the politicos is a favorite pastime of mine but to make a living working within the frame work is tough.
Glad your pusher is doing so well.Who would have thought moving the wheel would make that much difference.Guess if you settle for good enough you never discover great.
Steve.

i live in upstate ny and i have a gas engine$185 on my bike,i used to have a elctric bike from walmart$175 but the batteries ran dead after 50-60 recharges.
unless youre handy and know what youre doing go with a store bought electric scooter or bike $150-380.
if youre going with 24volts you need 2 batteries
and match all your voltage stuff the same and dont forget the charger.
have fun making the brackets and sprocket and chain and stuff.

fasteddy said:

Deacon--Loving the welding practice.Haven't been this busy since the barn fire.
The bro. and I did break down and buy a welding video and it has helped the learning curve a great deal.
My brother likes to point out that it has helped me more since I'm learning curve challenged.
Has anybody come up with a way to put an independent rear suspention on a trike bike?
Still looking at this as the way to go for me since I'm a flea market hound and want some way of carrying the loot home.
Trying to do something while I wait for Pops bikes.Still I think it will have to be in trike form or a side car set up.
The really tough part is that every wheel/axle has to have a brake to pass here in BC.
That makes Pops a brave man in my books to go against the crap they put in your way.Putting it to the politicos is a favorite pastime of mine but to make a living working within the frame work is tough.
Glad your pusher is doing so well.Who would have thought moving the wheel would make that much difference.Guess if you settle for good enough you never discover great.
Steve.

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Steve

Thanks alot for the compliment.

It's all uphill here with the MAN but I'll geter done...POPS

anything you build with sla batteries is going to be that heavy. no other part of the bike is heavier than normal. the motor is maybe five or so pounds everything else is light. So anything you build with less weight will have to be with a lithium poly battery.

Also any motor is going to be at least as heavy as the one on the zipper. most e bikes seem slow because they generally are. Fifteen miles was pretty good on the 10ah batteries that come with those bikes. It's all a trade off really.

Yeh, what Deacon said. That's about right for what you got, which is real similar to what I'm running and, yes they are a bit slow. Mine tops out at 20 mph on the flats with pedal assist. Pass that and the motor won't turn on. Albeit slow, it does wonders for those hills that usually kill me and for me, that's good enough.

It would weigh less with lithium poly batteries for sure. the hub motor itself is heavy. You also need a good stout frame for it as well. there is a lot of torgue they say with them.

15miles is good i only got 5 miles with the electric one i had.
i had the walmart mongoose 24v 300w 2-7ah batts 18"frt 16"rear 12-15mph max.
the bike was to short and heavy to peddal. my battery pack was the heavyest thing on it,next was the motor,without them i could pick the bike up with 2 fingers.
the batteries were bad after a few months and 300 miles on bike.
i tossed the parts(motor/controller/throttle/wheels/batterypack/charger) in a parts box for a later project.

cris11368 said:

the problem is that the thing is so heavy that when i felt like not using the motor it made it really difficult to pedal for some reason....thinking that if I make something with a really light frame, hub motor, lithium or better batteries that it might weigh less.

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When you lift the rear wheel off the ground, does it freespin? Is the wheel centered in the frame? Any of the brake pads dragging on the rims, front or back? Is your seat height adjusted properly so you get more leg extension when pushing down on the pedals or are you scrunched up and pedaling like you're on a kids tricycle? These things can attribute to hard pedaling.

If the wheel doesn't freespin as it should and the brakes are fine and the wheel is centered and not rubbing on the frame, it could be your freewheel is binding somehow or for some reason it's also turning your motor. If it's one of these problems, call the mfr or retailer. The rear wheel should freespin.

I have no problems with pedaling my bike, but it's difficult to push backwards as the freewheel spins freely only in one direction. Pushing backwards turns the motor and the gearing makes it that much more difficult.

As for the weight, I noticed that they mount that batt pack kinda high on the rear rack. I use a nylon pannier and it holds the pack way lower which also lowers the center of gravity making the bike a lot more stable. When I first rode my bike, which then had the pack mounted on top of the rear rack, I found it really squirrely to ride and it was difficult to hold a straight line. Since dropping it down, it rides almost like a regular bike. Very stable with much more control and less "wandering".