I'm going electric!

[Cycloptishred]

My gas bike has problems with reliability so I bought myself a nice Specialized to ride when its having problems. Its a road bike and is fantastic to ride. I'm thinking of going with this kit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-Bi...Accessories&hash=item1c2944b50d#ht_2636wt_862

Any objections? Advice? I'm on a budget.

 

[lonlyrider]

You are going to need a battery which should be arround $500 dollars. I am going electric too I have two bikes a mountain bike which is giving me back and shoulders pain and a revive which does not give me pain. I am going to electrify the revive the only thing is the wheel size difference between the tow 26" and 20". I would love to comute to work on the survive 17 miles one way. I figure it would take a year to recover from the kit purhcase based on gas savings. I am looking at this kit:

http://www.electric-bikekit.com/

 

[kla63]

good luck when ya run out of jucie and have to pedal al the way home !!!!

 

[paul]

kla have you ever been on an electric bicycle? i have ran out of juice and pedaled all the way home. was like pedaling a regular bicycle. my electric bicycle does not have near the resistance to pedal that a gas powered bike does. only reason i ran out of juice was because i was testing it seeing when it did. i actually ride mine often without the power assist for exercise.

 

[wheelbender6]

From the description, it looks like you can use LiPo or SLA batteries at 36 or 48 volts. That gives you a lot of cost flexibilty, because 3 - 12V SLA bricks should cost less than a couple hundred bucks. A 48v LiPo pack could cost well north of 500 bucks, as lonlyrider said.

 

[Goat Herder]

I know there is regen braking. How about regen peddling too?

 

[paul]

wouldn't that be nice.i don't think their is such a thing though.. yet lol

 

[Cycloptishred]

Any where I could get a guide? I'm pretty new to this.

 

[paul]

what kind of guide? i am brand new to this also but learning. the kit i got was easy to install. all the wires had numbers and arrows where you plug them in. really was plug and play

 

[Cycloptishred]

I do understand that bit. I just don't know about when it comes to picking and installing a battery.

 

[happyvalley]

my electric bicycle does not have near the resistance to pedal that a gas powered bike does.

While I think it's inevitable my getting more involved with eBikes, to be fair that depends on the which gas bike you're speaking of. My gas MABs have the option of complete freewheeling and zero drag.

 

[Cycloptishred]

My gas bike always has issues with the clutch. It just wears down too quickly for me.

 

[Cycloptishred]

http://www.campsolution.com/electricbikeconversionkit-fronthubmotorwithrimandfullaccessories-1.aspx

Found another one that would work. I'm thinking of getting the cheapest battery option. You can select the battery you want over to the right. Would that battery selection work okay? How fast do you think I'm gonna be going?

 

[paul]

more volts more speed. however keep in range of the motor specifications. mine was rated for 12 to 48 volts and of course i went for the biggest
next thing is they have amp hours. mine is 10 amp shortest time lasting but more then enough for me. more amps longer the battery will last however more amps and more weight so its give and take
as far as a battery type i have and like the lifepo4. from what i read they are the lightest and last the longest and wories of blowing up like older batteries is non excistant.

 

[Cycloptishred]

The battery says 36V 12Ah SLA. I don't know what that means other than voltage.

 

[paul]

the 12ah is amp hours. it means the battery will be used up when 12amp hours are run thru it. cruising you only use a few amps. when taking off without pedaling to help you burn alot of amps. barelyawake understands this much better then i and i am sure he will explain it better.
sla i am not sure what it stands for however a sla battery is like you have in your car. heavy and lead and acid. the lifepo is good for thousands of charges and the sla not that many and wear out quicker.

 

[Cycloptishred]

Kay I'll have to save up for a bit then.

 

[locell]

I know there is regen braking. How about regen peddling too?

Thats a great idea, I don't think it's too hard, in theory one of those rub-against-the-side-of-the-tire headlight generators could be used to recharge a battery - that and solar collector, your battery would have enough power to get you home, once you pedaled home

 

[paul]

i actually thought that the regen breaking worked that way till i got it hooked up. it actually uses the motor as a breaking system that in turns makes a current to charge the battery. nice thing is i hardly ever use my breaks unless i want to stop fast. reminds me of down shifting a car to slow down but a lot smoother

 

[locell]

i actually thought that the regen breaking worked that way till i got it hooked up. it actually uses the motor as a breaking system that in turns makes a current to charge the battery. nice thing is i hardly ever use my breaks unless i want to stop fast. reminds me of down shifting a car to slow down but a lot smoother

Ahh ok that makes sense,i in the electric world, a generator and a motor are the same thing, its just that the electricity changes directions. I was thinking that there were some sort of generators on the brakes themselves, not the engine-brake type of setup which is being used.