Electric motorized bicycle compared to gas motorized bicycle

paul

paul

Well-Known Member
Seems more and more people are getting electrified. Figure I would start a thread where we can post our reasons. Our likes and dislikes. Here are a few of the pro’s and cons and please ad to this
pros
I live in a condo and need to keep bike indoors. Gas in condo don’t go over to good with the wife (yes she wears the pants in the family)
My knowledge of working on gas motors is minimal
No maintenance on electric motors. They either run or they don’t
Quit. Only noise I here is the tires on the pavement. Don’t wake up neighbors
Can be installed on any bicycle. No restrictions or modifications needed to install.
Clean. what I mean by clean if there is something I need to do you do not get all greasy doing it.
Stealth. What I mean by that is it looks like a bicycle with a big hub and most didn’t know it was electric looking at it.
Starting. Just hit the throttle and go. No rope to pull or don’t need to pedal to start
Gas tank between my legs. That just makes me nervous lol
No mixing gas or spilling it every time I fill up tank
easy to fix a flat. just like a regular bicycle

Cons
Initial expense is way higher than a gas motor however if I added up all I did to my 2 stroke price was about the same.
Modifications. At least with the kit I have there is not much you can do. Some kits you can get 60 mph plus with bigger batteries. Mine is restricted to 48v but 27 mph out of the box is faster then any 2 stroke inexpensive kit I have had.
Weight heaver then gas motor
Range. At least with mine I figure I can get 25 to 30 mile range. Still need to do tests. I live on an island that is only 28 miles long and 8 miles wide so range not a big issue

So far it is hard to come up with much negative about then. As you can see I like electric. These kits have come a long ways over the years. Mine has a usb plug you can hook up to computer and change perimeters. It has regin brakes which charge the batter when you use them like the new hybrid cars. They cost more as I said but what you get for the extra expense is more than worth it to me
 
The "pros" I agree with & then some - however I've a "con" that prevents me from relinquishing ICE bikes altogether other than the range limitations... one you need not be concerned with, but is the deciding factor for lil ol' me.

Corrosion - specifically resulting from winter use and the evil brew of rock salt and calcium chloride we use on the roads around here.

I live next to & sometimes in the ocean (depending on lunar cycles & storm surges lol) and although the salty air does a number on things eventually, that's easily enough dealt with through just a little more care and attention, washing the bike (or w/e) once a week seems to suffice well enough. Yet while the ebike's components are thoroughly waterproofed should I subject it to a near constant immersion in a solution of rock salt and calcium chloride... well, needless to say I wouldn't subject anything I valued to such abuse, let alone an ebike's electronics lol

If it wasn't for that combo of range limitations and winter abuse, I think I really would concentrate all my efforts on ebikes from now on... but given those limitations, I think I'll keep a stinky ol' ICE or two around jus' a lil longer ;)
 
yes salt corrosion is also a concern of mine. I live right on the beach, can throw a quarter out my bedroom and living room windows and land in the Caribbean Sea. i was glad to see parts all aluminum and stainless steel screws. however i have the same problems with the gas bike. at least the electric i can keep indoors when not riding. range still to be tested but when i get home from work today i am going to put it to the test. i can't wait. gonna have cell phone and if i run out of power i will call the wife and tell her to come pick me up with the truck lol. this pedals a lot easier then the gas bike but i think it would still kill me to pedal any distance lol
 
For me the electric wins hands down. Since range is not a factor in my app, electric wins every time.

I'm getting rid of the happy time as soon as possible. The Worksman with the rear drive Solex I'll keep just because of nostalgia and it's the quietest and easiest to start of the gas bikes. I'll also keep the Mango with the Staton, just love that bike.

Anything new I do is going to electric.
 
Somewhere in the middle I'd say... technically "no motor/motorized vehicles" means ebikes too ofc, but I'll admit I've taken my ebike on the path and it's all smiles & waves, even from the hardcore 'dexters... but no matter what you ride, if ya ride like a donkey they'll get irritated & rightfully so *shrug*

...but I have noticed the ebike is scowled at by no one, whereas my gasbikes do sometimes get the stinkeye even though I wouldn't ride gasbikes on the bike path... it's really the noise thing I think.
 
When I was messing around with electric (before going gas), I loved the quiet and surprising torque of the e motor. Batteries became the issue.
 
I miss my Staton friction drive. It did not feel heavy. None of my gas bikes did.

My electric bikes would feel heavy. Add enough batteries to go very far made them feel real heavy.

Electric trikes are a different story. The extra weight of batteries and such just does not make it feel much different.

So, I like gas bikes and electric trikes. :)
 
I now have about 60 miles on the electric Revive. Absolutely zero problems.

In this same amount of miles the "Happy Time" puked it's muffler cap, vibrated the carburator off and sheared the rear engine mount screws as well as leaking gas in my garage.

Happy time indeed - laff
 
It's just a weighting game (pun intended) until eTech gets there. The prices will continue to come down and the batteries will get lighter. Weight is my biggest concern for the moment but I want a bicycle to perform like a bicycle. For the moment I can use a 7 lb. quality 4 stroke ICE and add it to a 7 lb. drive assembly and get what I want. I've certainly no love affair with ICEs though. I'm watching and will be first in line when eBike technology approaches the design parameters I look for.
 
my electric bike rides closer to a bicycle then either my 4 stroke or 2 stroke bikes did. I have put a lot of pedaling on it because i need the exercise to and with the ebike its easy. no compairison to trying to pedal a gas bike. my 2 stroke about killed me just to pedal to start it and the 4 stroke was just as bad trying to pedal. i have no concerns about running out of battery cause i can pedal home with ease. i run out of gas and that is a different story
 
Mike B said:
So, you don't actually own an ebike?
Click to expand...

Currently I do not Mike but I have had two in inventory at my shop over the past several years that I traded off or sold rather than keep. Both were hub motors, one with an SLA battery pack and the other with an early generation lithium pack. I do think the current gen LiFePO4 packs have made considerable gains over the earlier stuff and I look forward to future developments as well. For example, the MIT electrical engineering dept is currently working on Li-air and say it is perhaps a couple years out for commercial application and production. It should offer a profound advancement with reportedly up to 10 X the energy density of LiPO and 10 X less weight.

There is also a very active eBike community in my area with some creative folks making bikes with hub, mid-drive and pedelecs. One fellow has completely fabbed his own eBike. Thinking out of the box, he used a hub motor and attached a drive sprocket then mounted it on a fixed axle mid-frame to chain drive a freewheel crankset, then through to the rear gear cluster to get a broad range of gearing. It's like combining a Stokemonkey with a shift kit. He mounted his battery packs in fabbed cages on the front fork to even out weight distribution. A very clever set-up, he says performance and service duty are up to his targets, etc. A bright guy but not an engineer, teaches shop classes at a trade school so he does have access to machine tools.
 
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simple thing i just realized to ad to list. changing a flat tire. with the electric bicycle i can just flip it upside down and change a tire. was a real pain when i got a flat with gas bike removing chains and stuff. electric i just flip upside down disconnect power wire to wheel pull wheel of and fix tire.

my understanding is the new li-air is real close to production. things are changing fast with all the new technology
 
"my understanding is the new li-air is real close to production"
Does anyone know of 2012 articles about this? The one I found was 2009.

I mount 3 bricks, about 6lbs lbs lipo in the triangle for low CenterGravity, good for 25-30miles on the flat. With an 8.5lb BPMotor, the weight's not bad.

Stealth is a biggie for me. Most trips aren't that far, and folks, including the police, don't know there's a motor. No additional time is required to stay fit. I can park my e-bike by my classroom door. A gas motor would attract attention and get exhiled to the parking lot a 4 minute walk away.

It's as much fun as when in my 20's, faster than public transit buses, and a heck lot healthier than jogging.
 
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