Whats The Best E Bike?

[Mike B]

I too like direct drive hub motors. No gears, no noise, no maintainance. Don't like deraileurs either, too many gears.

The slower you go the longer the battery lasts. My Magic Pie 2 on the 20 inch wheels would only go 20 MPH flat out because of the small wheel, but it had tons of acceleration and the 15 AH battery would go 35 miles with zero pedaling.

I figure the smart pie on a 20 inch wheel should max out about the same or a little less and get 20-30 miles on a 10 AH battery.

I'll stick with LiFePO4 too as a 10 AH batt only weighs 10 pounds. I like the performance and it's reliable and safe.

The battery and motor should be about a grand, same as always. I trust the Golden Motor stuff, it's reliable and strong. Just ask Barely, he's been pounding the crap out of his for years now in some of the worst conditions you can imagine.

 

[KCvale]

Thanks for the Kudos cannonball.

I am impressed/surprised how little a light weight low power bike will consume if operated in its most efficient range.

No doubt, this is true for any power source, everything has a 'sweet spot' for the conditions for efficiency.

I find gears really help find that sweet spot ;-}

I have spent a good bit of time on the 24v cruiser watching the watt meter. For close local riding I only run 5ah.

Sweet!

I have to find a decent watt meter that could use low voltage cable from the mount cavity and attach to handlebars

I think the general public would fare well with the least complexity needed.

Im thinking on the other end of the (cost) scale how to make the most efficient bike for the least $$.

We all want that.

For now we just cruise along with what works best for us today ;-}

 

[cannonball2]

KC there was a post over at the Sphere showing how to mod the common watt meter to use small wiring in a non pass through method. Makes em mountable anywhere. You could probably use something like USB cable. Search it.

MikeB I agree on the GM hubs. My MP2 is the most miserly consumer/mph compared to my 9C. My only dislike is the size of the Pies. Looks like I got a radial engine in my back wheel.
The concept of the basic E bike almost dictates the use of hub motors. I have seen some FDs using R/C motors that mounted to the seat post driving the wheel directly which I find intriguing. You know me Im fond of FDs save the wet aspect of them. These were so small looks like you could throw em a 100ft! Would be the cheapest way to build an E bike especially if they would work with the common E controller. Didn't read all the details of the build.

 

[Mike B]

Hehe, I agree.

The Magic Pie is huge and heavy, that's why I'm going Smart Pie on my next build -

 

[cannonball2]

Thought this pretty cool. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/24V-...-cell-assembly-With-free-cell/1566132221.html

 

[snellemin]

You still need a battery welder. But it looks promising.

 

[cannonball2]

Bummer on welding, cant solder through the slots with pre-tinned batteries? Its a bit pricy though that includes shipping. Just thought it cool some one was making it available. Hope they show up on ebay, that will bring the price down.

 

[cannonball2]

So MikeB you brought up an interesting point that seems a paradox. After plugging in the figures to the Ebikes calc pinned in the last section of this forum, it confirms that indeed the smaller wheel has the greater range. At a lower speed of course, that I expected. The obvious reason Im assuming is the reduction of loading/amperage draw on the system due to a lower "ratio". I couldn't readily identify a 250w motor from the pull down so just used a common 9C on 24v with a 15amp limited controller. Range was 21mi on a 10ah pack at 85% throttle, 0 grade@13mph. Speed went to around 15mph and 12mi range with the same specs using a 26" wheel. When talking a basic transportation E bike these speeds are in line. Almost all the people I have put on an E bike ride less than 15mph. These are all older adults, but even the younger ones(40s) like to ease along.
This just shot my newly selected base bike, a 700c fixie out of the water.
Back to looking at bikes!

The E bikes calc. is a great thing to use BEFORE you buy for a build to see what you are going to wind up with. Real world shows riding these figures pretty accurate.

 

[Mike B]

That's why I am interested in Smart Pie 4 on a 20 inch wheel with 48 volts and 10 AH.

Should be "perfect" for what I have in mind.