new to electric bicycle

B

barnstorm100

New Member
Hi everybody, just ordered one of the cheap ebay front wheel 48v 1000th kit.
I've been riding bicycles and motorcycle for 48years. I have 5 bicycles and 4 motorcycle s.
I'm putting this electric front wheel on my newly built 66/80cc motor bike

What I really need advice on is what battery to buy and where to find them. I'd like to be able to go 15 to 20 miles.
Id like to use gas motor to get to work and electric to ride the bike path home in the dark
Any advice would be appreciated
thanks and happy cycling
 
I'm not a battery, or e-bike, expert. So I don't know if this is the best deal or not. But I was looking at it recently and it didn't seem so bad.

There's a link to the battery in question in the first post.
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=57488

Your idea about a hybrid gas/electric bicycle is intriguing. But I doubt if you can carry enough battery to make it work.

For instance, I'm thinking that you'd need to carry 8 of the batteries I linked to in order to stand a chance of going 15 miles. And when you take into account the weight of your engine and kit, it's looking worse. Even more important will be the drag of your engine drive train when the gas motor is not running. That'll use up some battery juice.

Sorry to be a drag. But it sounds a bit ambitious.

Any chance you could do it on a pure electric bike? Is your commute 15 miles each way? And could you charge your batteries at work?

If your commute is a good deal less and/or you can charge at work, then a pure electric bike can maybe do the job for you.
 
Thanks, pretty much what I was thinking. I could charge at work and if battery went dead, I could peddle. Also I could remove chain for less friction.
I'm going to find out how it works out and report back.
Thanks again for battery suggestion
 
Ok, I see the problem now. I received the electric kit today. the resistance of the electric motor is so great that it would be difficult to peddle without power.
The gas motor is relatively easy to peddle with motor off.
So, what do you guys do when battery dies?
Yep, electric kit is going on one of my mountain bikes.
 
The only electric bike I've ever owned was a Currie with a chain drive. That drive had a freewheel so that there was no motor resistance to human pedaling.

But even then, the bike was so heavy that pedaling up any uphill was an ordeal.

I can only imagine what pedaling against a motor would be like. But I'm imagining something ugly.

"What do you guys do when battery dies?" is pretty much a good illustration of the weakness in electrics. If your battery range is less than the distance you need to go, then you're screwed. Even with the better batteries of today that pack more juice into less weight.

All in all, the only thing I can say that's even beginning to be useful is; pack more batteries onto that bike.

Easier said than done, though. You could easily spend a ton and load that bike down an awful lot.
 
Meet Mongo, a nothing special 48v 1000w hub & 15ah LiFePO4 ebike with very typical preformance, about 30mph for 30mi - without pedal assist (obv better with);



I've ridden daily, all seasons for comin' up on three years now - the only time I was ever "forced" to pedal due to the batteries being spent was when I was initially establishing it's point of no return, it's actual real world range in real world conditions... which as I did it on purpose, doesn't really count as stranding me ;)

Having said that, I do pedal it quite a bit out of choice, both powered (assist acceleration) & unpowered when slow isn't slow enough (riding w/HPVs) and I assure you it isn't any sort of serious drag at moderate pedaling speeds, the speed you'd likely be at trying to get back home. The faster you go the greater the drag it's true, but I figure if someone's interested in racing pedal-only, why a 1000w ebike lol

There are times in which I need even farther then my max range would allow, if it's jus' a bit - I'll moderate my throttle input w/more pedal assist & that provides a significant range extension. If it's quite a bit more then a bit, I'll jus' bring my charger & plug in wherever I went as odds are if it was that much a trip, I'm prolly gonna spend at least a little while wherever I am (like when you're at work or w/e).

As for the hybrid aspect (two stroke & hub)... it's not a particularly complementary combination if you're after efficiency as the two smoker isn't to begin with. If you're after reliability the ebike has that hands down, but dragging the two stroke around would only reduce it's range... they're a tricky thing hybrids. I built mine simply for the sake of experimentation (four stroke/electric) & while the electric aids my acceleration, this is countered by the drag at speed (as mentioned) so it's "efficiency" is highly variable, to this day I'm unsure if I'd be better off with or without it *shrug*

All in all I'd concur with what you've already concluded, for a daily rider beater commuter, reliable & quiet - jus' the humble ebike is prolly your best bet :D
 
Thanks Barely,
good to hear your range is that far. The other thing I
wasn't ready for was the weight of the hub. With the weight of battery, hub and gas motor, I'd have a 100lbs bike.
Here in Sacramento, electric bikes are allowed on bike path, but not gas motor bikes. I'd like to ride the bike path home and stay off street at night.
I think you and bluegoatwed are right about just using electric both ways and recharge at work.
But the gas motor cost a fraction to get going compared to electric. I'll get the electric going on mountain bike and get a feel for my range. Then if I still want to play hybrid, I can put it on the gas bike and see what happens.
Thanks guys for your input.
 
barnstorm100 said:
So, what do you guys do when battery dies?
Yep, electric kit is going on one of my mountain bikes.
Click to expand...

What happens when your battery dies- you get ripped peddling that beast to your destination or back home to charge. It also helps build your appreciation for the motor and what it does for you when it is working.
As an added bonus it builds character.

Ive got mine on a 7 speed beach cruiser right now, but I would very much like to add more gears to it for easier non motor assisted peddling up hills, or with passengers.
 
Yes, a MP3 with a 48 volt, 15 AH battery (quality lithium battery) will get you a 30 mile range. No problem. Ride to work, charge it at work and ride home.

No stink pot gasoline engine needed. You can take the bike trail to work as well as home.

Easy.
 
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