I got to ride this eBike today.

biknut

biknut

Well-Known Member
What you guys think of this bike? I rode upon Todd today while riding across town on the Atomic BB. Even though we didn't know each other until that moment, we swapped bikes for a couple miles. His bicycle felt very high quality compared to my all China Girl, but it's controller was limited to 20 mph so it felt a little slow to me. I had been riding 25-30 up till that point. One thing I learned was, I got to get me a hydraulic front disk brake instead of the cable operated one on my Cadillac.

Todd told me his bike is 36v 500w, and it had a rear hub motor. It seemed to weigh about the same as the Atomic BB which would put it at about 55-65 lbs.

Ignoring price, the only real problem it has is with range. It just can't compete with a China Girl. Maybe in a few more years something will change, yeah right! That being said it was actually a pretty nice bike, and if it was the only game in town I could probably live with it, especially after I illegalized it a little.

biknut-albums-other-bikes-picture2601-todd-emb.jpg


Why I Love My AmpedBikes Conversion Kit.mov - YouTube
 
I wonder about AZ law on those. From what I've seen the AZ law restricts to 48cc and 2 horsepower before calling it something else that requires a title, license etc.. Using that criteria the 2 horsepower phrase" seems to allow 1492 watts (746 watts is one horsepower) which seems to me able to launch the "by gollys" out of a bike. Most of them have from 200 to 500 watts. Am I missing something??
 
Tom in Kingman said:
I wonder about AZ law on those. From what I've seen the AZ law restricts to 48cc and 2 horsepower before calling it something else that requires a title, license etc.. Using that criteria the 2 horsepower phrase" seems to allow 1492 watts (746 watts is one horsepower) which seems to me able to launch the "by gollys" out of a bike. Most of them have from 200 to 500 watts. Am I missing something??
Click to expand...

I don't know if you're missing anything or not, but I think 1492w would do it for me. The only problem with that is, now the range problem will be amplified mucho. I don't want to pull a trailer around behind me full of batterys like this guy I saw near my house.

biknut-albums-other-bikes-picture2265-ebike.jpg


As far as legality, I don't think it's possible in any state in the union to have a LEGAL ebike, that anyone would be happy with. Mine would have to be illigal, because I couldn't live with only a measly smeasly 250w like the federal law mandate.
 
Last I read, Federal law for eBikes in the US was 750 watts. That's still prolly not enough for most of us, that being only ~1HP. The neat thing about that is, according to Congress, that's still a bicycle and not a motor vehicle as long as it has operable pedals. Discerning between whether or not a MaB is a motor vehicle is very important, IMO.

Of course, state laws can differ. Example: according to Wikipedia's (possibly outdated or incorrect) entry on "Electric bicycle laws", there is no horsepower/watt limit for an eBike in Arizona, just a "19.9MPH" speed limit. Many states have no entry, so we have to assume they follow Federal regs.
 
The_Aleman said:
Last I read, Federal law for eBikes in the US was 750 watts. That's still prolly not enough for most of us, that being only ~1HP. The neat thing about that is, according to Congress, that's still a bicycle and not a motor vehicle as long as it has operable pedals. Discerning between whether or not a MaB is a motor vehicle is very important, IMO.

Of course, state laws can differ. Example: according to Wikipedia's (possibly outdated or incorrect) entry on "Electric bicycle laws", there is no horsepower/watt limit for an eBike in Arizona, just a "19.9MPH" speed limit. Many states have no entry, so we have to assume they follow Federal regs.
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I thought it was 250w, which is ridiculous, but 750w is better. Based on how this bike with 500w feels, I think I could live with 750w. The problem is going to be with range. I'm thinking running 30 mph with 750w motor is going to suck any battery dry in about 20 miles.
 
Tom in Kingman said:
I wonder about AZ law on those. From what I've seen the AZ law restricts to 48cc and 2 horsepower before calling it something else that requires a title, license etc.. Using that criteria the 2 horsepower phrase" seems to allow 1492 watts (746 watts is one horsepower) which seems to me able to launch the "by gollys" out of a bike. Most of them have from 200 to 500 watts. Am I missing something??
Click to expand...

AZ has a 750watts maximum limit for Electric Assisted Bicycles. But yes, no mater how many HP or Watts you are still limited to 19.999mph.

I have been told over and over that out of city's that have speed limits for motor assisted bicycles it's 30mph but I have yet to see anything in writing.
 
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hi well this will be my first post and seeing that im a law student a legal question would fit nicely.
im in CA and our limit here is 29,mph ( or posted city limit) for any motorized bike. no more than 1.2 hp for e bikes. now 1.2 sounds small but according to my dad who is an electrical engineer; electric horse are like Clydesdale on steroids so you need less of them that standard gas. there was also something about tork being constant and not dependent on rpm.
 
artschool said:
hi well this will be my first post and seeing that im a law student a legal question would fit nicely.
im in CA and our limit here is 29,mph ( or posted city limit) for any motorized bike. no more than 1.2 hp for e bikes. now 1.2 sounds small but according to my dad who is an electrical engineer; electric horse are like Clydesdale on steroids so you need less of them that standard gas. there was also something about tork being constant and not dependent on rpm.
Click to expand...
Actually CA limit for ebikes is 20 mph and 1000 watts.

Gas bikes aren't supposed to go over 30 mph with 2 hp.

These limits aren't really enforced even in the stricter areas of CA
that I have experienced.
 
True, the federal e-limit is 20mph or used to be last year. A 750Watt output which is about 1000Watt input for a typical hub motor. Even so, the law is generally interpreted to apply to manufactures of e-bikes. So buying a 2000Watt motor, a 40amp controller, and your pick of high voltage battery packs is perfectly legal.

In California, the cops have other priorties besides chasing down 5mph over the limit power assist bicycles. Besides, a little effort in hiding the battery, pedal often, and who'd know or care how legal you are?
xct2
 
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