E-cruiser

Unless you live at the beach you will not be happy with less than a 500 watt motor. It is one thing to pedal assist because you want to and quite another to pedal assist because you have to almost ALL the time.

I found that 500 watt 36v is the best for me, but as around about motor siZe before you jump in especially with a hub kit they are too expensive to under buy. I know I have one that collects dust.

Hi Cam, I am not as pessimistic about the power level as Deacon.
I rigged up a 250 watt 24v scooter motor on my bike and when the batterys are up it is fine.
I do pedal with it, but it pulled up an overpass that I normally have to work at much better than pedal power alone.
5oo watts is 3/4 hp and the blurb on the link said that was not max power level for your kit. They put max at 700w - very close to one hp. Very interseting motor set- up too, with the variable power settings.
There is a website called Endless-sphere that has a bike section (seems hard to find though) give them a shot for questions.
A couple of guys on the other forum may know some stuff too..

Hello,

I can't speak to the regen issue but the two wires are for motor surpression in case you take the bike to Europe. It will limit your speed to about 13 mph. Most of us put a switch on it and sometimes you will see it referred to as a turbo switch. I run an Ampedbikes 500W rear kit now on a 700C hybrid at 36V. I am moving up to 48 volts but not for speed; more power with less amps for a longer ride. I also went back to SLA batteries and running 48 volts at 12 amps. The batteries are heavy but I'm using the Electricrider.com SLA battery brackets and simuleather bages; check them out. Try the Ampedbikes forum as well. I visit them all.

Dave

Hi John, when you do get around to your build, I suggest you have the bottom of your fake gastank open so the controller can get some cool air. You don't want to fry it.
I did look at the posts on Ohio laws (in the legal section of this site) and gas bikes are legal where you are. Check it out.

camlifter said:

thanks for the info on the speed wires. also can i mount the charger and leave it pluged into the battery all the time and just plug into 120V any time or should the charger be only hooked to the batery when charging.
as far as ohio goes, i've been to the dmv and showed them those rules, they show you other rules that make it a moped, then go to the list for accepted manufactures, which were not on and deny you a registration. the wildfire bikes are the only MB legal in ohio. they did what ever hoop jumping it took to get legal.

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allways plug the charger into the 120v outlet first,then into the battery!also,dont charge outside.you will be buying a new charger in less than 2 weeks.

camlifter said:

thanks for the info on the speed wires. also can i mount the charger and leave it pluged into the battery all the time and just plug into 120V any time or should the charger be only hooked to the batery when charging.
as far as ohio goes, i've been to the dmv and showed them those rules, they show you other rules that make it a moped, then go to the list for accepted manufactures, which were not on and deny you a registration. the wildfire bikes are the only MB legal in ohio. they did what ever hoop jumping it took to get legal.

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I just got a 48v1000w front hub kit and 48v20ah lifepo4 battery from V power on e bay for only $800.it hits 36mph!only prob,the little screwbox conector for controller to hub motor is not shielded enough and will burn up and cause a short.threw that away and reconected the wires and no problems since.

camlifter said:

thanks for the info on the speed wires. also can i mount the charger and leave it pluged into the battery all the time and just plug into 120V any time or should the charger be only hooked to the batery when charging.
as far as ohio goes, i've been to the dmv and showed them those rules, they show you other rules that make it a moped, then go to the list for accepted manufactures, which were not on and deny you a registration. the wildfire bikes are the only MB legal in ohio. they did what ever hoop jumping it took to get legal.

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I havent tried any of those mini geared hub motors.how fast is it?I have 3 kits.a 36v wilderness energy(23mph)48v golden motors(23mph)and 48v v power(36mph)yeah,its an outlaw machine!lolIts on a prado deluxe I modified.144 spoke 26x3 rear wheel,cruiser seat and bmx handlebars.I put bmx handlebars on all my bikes.I'm wierd like that

camlifter said:

i'm going to try my hand at an electric bike, i know nothing about e-bikes so i bought a plug and play kit. Electric Bikes, Bicycle Conversion Kits, System, Renewable Energy Hybrid Vehicles got it yesterday, only took 3 days, very fast shiping and was packaged really well. everything looks to be well built, wheel is heavy duty with 12g spokes. after looking everything over and reading the instructions i have some questions.
there is a set of wires loop pluged together that say speed governor, i'm guessing that unpluging them will give more speed, how does that work.
it also has regen braking that can be unpluged, is there any advantage to not using the regen.
i'm going to build it as a big fendered cruiser with the battery and controler inside a fake gas tank. working on 4 other bikes for customers so it will be awhile before i can get to this project, just wanted to get some info on it. thanks. john

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if you use regen braking be sure and use a torque arm!if you have it use it!I have heard that regen CONTROLERS will give you a lower top speed than a regular controler.my golden motors kit has regen brake and i use a button for it.works great!but they did not include a torque arm so i ordered one from amptbikes.it works great.if you run out of juice you can peddle and hit the brake 3 or4 times and cruise another 5 miles or so at around10 mph!very cool feature

kevyleven007 said:

allways plug the charger into the 120v outlet first,then into the battery!also,dont charge outside.you will be buying a new charger in less than 2 weeks.

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Tell me about this,I don't understand why you plug in first... Bill

camlifter said:

they claim 22mph on there web site, everything's still in box's, will be awhile before i get to this project, to many irons in the fire right now. lurking on endless sphere i see a lot of people are leaving there chargers hard wired to the bikes and just pluging into 120V when ever possible. if i can do this the charger will be mounted with the battery and not be getting wet or anything. charger also looks to be well sealed and quite small. since i'm putting all the electrics inside a fake fuel tank it would be easier to have the charger hooked up all the time, i can make the 120v plug store under the gas cap and just take the cap off and pull out the plug and plug in. what is the reason for not hard wiring the charger.

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Most chargers will not turn on.maybe yours is different.allso,chargers get HOT.most of them are not road worthy.you can try it and see.if it breaks you can allways buy another one.

kevyleven007 said:

Most chargers will not turn on.maybe yours is different.allso,chargers get HOT.most of them are not road worthy.you can try it and see.if it breaks you can allways buy another one.

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I had the same idea when I got my first e bike kit.it did not work.maybe yours comes with a higher quality charger and it will.try it and see!good luck,sounds like a cool idea.

camlifter said:

well after riding this some i'm not happy with the range of it, after only about 15 min of all battery no pedalling it's power drops off a lot, this kit will need to be pedaled a lot to keep the battery up. the worksman is not a bike i want to pedal for miles so i've taken the kit off and will be looking for a multi speed mtb to put it on. i guess this will become my new exercise bike. will use the worksman for a gas bike.

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I have been screwing around with these ebikes a while and I'm no scientist or anything but I find the range to be just awful, if no other reason than its limited to something. Not like gas where there is a station a mile or two in any direction in a town, I really have to plan my trips.

Like it or not there is a lot of road vibration on the bike. Not from the motor necessarily with an ebike but from the condition of our roads. I have mine set with on a 26" mountain bike frame. I have a solid chain to make a one speed. I have it set on the biggest front sprocket. I have to change the rear wheel for a twenty inch one so I can get on and off the bike. My balance is bad and taking a turn for the worse even. Still with those two modifications a big frame mountain bike works well, but when the trailer threw a wheel, I had to push it a lot of the way home. the bike just won't do these bill hills on it's own. I have considered going with gears as well.

If I were looking at a plug and play kit. I would go with a curry type rear wheel drive kit. I know that motor since it is the one I use on the rhino drive I build. I know that you can over power it. I would also plan on a 36v controller addition, those are actually pretty inexpensive on ebay.

Batteries are the real problem with ebikes. Until we get a dependable easy to manage lightweight battery system we are always going to be a footnote in the motoriZed bike world. I have been using the SLA battery packs for over a year now and they still seem to charge to the 13.25v level which they say is considered full. I have almost new sla batteries that hold a little more. I am thinking of Nimh to build next, but they are pricey. I had hoped the lithium would cause the price to drop but not yet.