I over powered a chain driven ebike. I should have known better I did it with one a few months ago when I was still building multiple experimental bikes. At my wife's request I got down to one bike, so I built a chain drives based on the currie system. since I could get only a 400watt motor I juiced it to 600 watts. It did fine till it over heated and died four miles from home. I had the joy of pushing it home dragging sixty or so pounds of sla batteries. Not a real problem since they were on a trailer/
So the real story is in the replacement bike. I put it together in a couple hours after I went the the thrift store to buy a bike. I was rather intrigued with a 20" single speed trick bike. I liked the frame it seemed to be a little longer than the kids 20". It had something I have been wanting for some time. It had a well make well braced laid back seat post. It sat the rider back over the rear wheel. Turned out to be a really bad idea.
First of all the darn thing was too far back and it was hard to reach the pedals. Can't try them out at the thrift store they are chained to a post till you pay for them, and the tires are always flat. But I am getting ahead of myself. I changed the rear wheel for a coaster and put on a rhino drive. I put the controller on temporarily so that I could try the bike out for stability with my existing power trailer. I made few minor change like a better seat then I took it for a test ride;
That's when I found out that it was hard to reach the pedals. I also found that the front wheel bearings were loose. But the thing that scared the devil out of me was, at the first stop sign, I hit the juice and the thing stood on the rear wheel and tried to run away from me. I was sitting on the back wheel holding it to the road and the front wheel just went over my head. I almost lost the bike. I was still holding the throttle open because the movement of the bike twisted the handlebar thereby twisting the throttle. So much for the cute laid back seat.
The reason I posted this here instead of the ebike section is so that people could see the "Be Careful What You Wish For" effect. Very few bikers read the ebike section. One of the things about constantly buying bikes at the thrift store is that I have been able to try a lot of shoes on looking for the perfect fit. I learned a lot about bikes in general from the experience.
For me at last multi geared bikes are pretty much a waste. I like two speeds one to allow me to catch the freewheel sooner to keep the speed up and a lower one to help with the hills. 21speeds is just over kill in my opinion. That kind of thing you only really KNOW by experimenting. I guess it comes from my cop days, never really trust anything except what you see and experience for yourself. Sometime it isn't a good idea. Like I trust in the atom bomb because I don't really want to experience it. But the laid back seat, I did want to experience.
So the real story is in the replacement bike. I put it together in a couple hours after I went the the thrift store to buy a bike. I was rather intrigued with a 20" single speed trick bike. I liked the frame it seemed to be a little longer than the kids 20". It had something I have been wanting for some time. It had a well make well braced laid back seat post. It sat the rider back over the rear wheel. Turned out to be a really bad idea.
First of all the darn thing was too far back and it was hard to reach the pedals. Can't try them out at the thrift store they are chained to a post till you pay for them, and the tires are always flat. But I am getting ahead of myself. I changed the rear wheel for a coaster and put on a rhino drive. I put the controller on temporarily so that I could try the bike out for stability with my existing power trailer. I made few minor change like a better seat then I took it for a test ride;
That's when I found out that it was hard to reach the pedals. I also found that the front wheel bearings were loose. But the thing that scared the devil out of me was, at the first stop sign, I hit the juice and the thing stood on the rear wheel and tried to run away from me. I was sitting on the back wheel holding it to the road and the front wheel just went over my head. I almost lost the bike. I was still holding the throttle open because the movement of the bike twisted the handlebar thereby twisting the throttle. So much for the cute laid back seat.
The reason I posted this here instead of the ebike section is so that people could see the "Be Careful What You Wish For" effect. Very few bikers read the ebike section. One of the things about constantly buying bikes at the thrift store is that I have been able to try a lot of shoes on looking for the perfect fit. I learned a lot about bikes in general from the experience.
For me at last multi geared bikes are pretty much a waste. I like two speeds one to allow me to catch the freewheel sooner to keep the speed up and a lower one to help with the hills. 21speeds is just over kill in my opinion. That kind of thing you only really KNOW by experimenting. I guess it comes from my cop days, never really trust anything except what you see and experience for yourself. Sometime it isn't a good idea. Like I trust in the atom bomb because I don't really want to experience it. But the laid back seat, I did want to experience.
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