best electric motor kit?

[ekramer]

I had so much great input when I queried this forum last month about the best gas motor kits that I thought I might also ask about the best electric kits out there. I've looked within this forum (and others) already but can't find the kind of testimony I'm lookng for. Who's delighted with their electric conversion kit and why? Which vendor/product stands out as best?

 

[DougC]

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of electric action here. There is some to be certain, but mainly it's gas-engines here. Which is just as well, because there are no other really good forums for gas bicycle engines elsewhere.
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One forum I see referred to a lot for electric bikes is-
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/
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What many people think is the best e-motor setup is one like the Cleverchimp Stokemonkey-style that drives the rear wheel by the regular right-hand side chain, and so can drive a multi-speed bicycle through the gears it already has. This way the motor can be fairly small wattage yet (by changing gears) can still pull well up hills, or alternately, go quite fast. In fact--if you build an e-bike using this method, you have to be careful about using too big a motor or too much power, because the motor's torque can damage the bicycle drivetrain.

There's a few smaller companies that have made these kinds of setups, but the Stokemonkey is considered to be the best (and costliest) example. They haven't been available for some time now, but when they were, the kits started at $1350.
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[stude13]

my bud in anchorage rides, sells and rents bikes using bionix.