eBike links

[Happy Valley]

As my interest in eBikes continues to grow, probably go that way completely someday myself, I came across this site in my reading, offers some ideas and an overview of some of the commercially available stuff from around the world.

http://www.atob.org.uk/electric-bike-manufacturers.html

 

[mabman]

I plan to keep playing both sides of the fence personally. While I really like my 1000w 48v, legal where I live, electric I still get a big kick riding my 49cc, not legal where I live, 4 stroke. Mainly because it will go all day long at 30, whereas the fun stops with the electric at around 40 miles babying the throttle averaging 20 mph and pedaling on top of the motor all the time. Which I don't mind doing btw.

I am building up a 35cc, legally compliant where I live, rig for the open road. Might even put a 500w geared hub motor on it and a few bricks of lipo good enough for doing errands about town on the QT. If I can average 25 mph and be able to do a century for pennies on the dollar I will be more than happy.

Either way there are great gains in efficiency of movement about town and country and grins per mile are high also. But I still get a kick out of hitting up single track on my mtb with no motor also. As they say these days, it's all good.

 

[Happy Valley]

Hey mabman, yeah just posting the page of links I ran across on some of the stuff being offered around the world in eBikes/drive systems. Most of the links are from outside the US, to be expected I guess. Interesting to see the Sanyo hubs on some bikes, the Bosch and Ecospeed mid-drives look interesting and the Heinzmann stuff from Germany I've heard is stunning.

Per your comments though, of course you're pretty much a rare bird, you ride bicycles and are knowledgeable about building them, informed with an overview in gas or electric power assisting them, and at least have an eye to what the laws are. In my experience people interested in electric are also a very different clientele. As to range with electric, I think the case often gets over-stated. I'm convinced a majority of motored bikers never ride more than 10 miles in any session, in fact many probably far less than that.

 

[mabman]

The only problem with the EU products is that they are all rated 250w which although popular over there just doesn't cut it for me. For the amount of power you get vs. the added weight and complexity of the system I would rather just ride a good pedal bike. In order for me to get excited about any motorized system I have to feel that it is doing more for me than I can do for myself.

For sure a mid drive like the Bosch/Panasonic is going to perform better at that low of a wattage because it can take advantage of the gearing of the bike.

Heinzmann is considered old school these days. There are smaller, lighter and more efficient hub motors. You might notice that many of those manufacturers use the BionX system which I have a copy of on an Ohm bicycle I got cheap on CL. Not impressed.

The Sanyo hub was originally designed by OJ Birkestrand of Rabbit Tool here in the US btw. It is a weak performer at the 24v level that Sanyo sells it at. But as with any electric motor the more volts you stuff at it the better it will perform, within limits and with the correct controller etc.. It takes a 120mm dropout though which needs a special fork.

Here is a interesting combo of hub motor and mid drive that someone came up with: http://www.urbancommuterstore.com/ I like this one better than the Stoke Monkey because it allows for independent pedaling/motoring which makes it easier to sync human and motor input I have feel. But as with all things electric it is pricey. I like to keep my motorized experiments under a thousand bucks complete and don't think that any market will develop for electric until a decent reliable plug and play with system is developed and marketed in that price range. It's gonna be awhile though....

I assume you have been to the Endless Sphere forums which I find are the most helpful with regards to electric.

 

[motorbikemike45]

My first e-bike uses an e-bikekit.com 500w front direct drive hub motor with a Ping 36v, 20ampHour LiFePo4 battery. The range is 35 miles on flat pavement with no peddaling and the speed tops out at 22mph if I sit straight up. The second has the same motor, but in the rear with a 7 speed cassett. On e-bike #2 I'm using a Ping 48v, 15ampHour LiFeP04 battery and the top speed is 27mph on the flat with a range of 25(+a little) with no peddaling. Both are very heavy and I'm working on #3 this Winter.

I am making every effort to go as light as possible with this build, starting with an all alloy frame. I even replaced the stock front suspension fork with steel lowers with an alloy aftermarket unit. It cost me $125.00 to save 3 pounds and I think it was worth it. Of course I also ended up with a much better quality fork.

 

[Happy Valley]

It seems like there is room and maybe some would like more discussion about what they're thinking and building with eBikes here. I do of course visit E-S and that is certainly a place where the latest in E tech gravitates.

My current outlook is pragmatic: a 14 lb. ICE and drive system that produces 1200 watts with 3 lbs of readily available stored energy gives me 60 miles of range. With any eye on the horizon however, the way things are trending, I wonder how long that will be the best choice, or perhaps even a choice at all.

I'm not sure all the Euro customers would prefer a 250W limit but it seems that's something that gets regulated before the goods even leave the factory or loading dock. Still, if left with no other choice, I'd take it. An average rider can provide some 75 to 100 watts of power on a continuous basis (8 hours). An assist providing this power would be adequate and it is the opinion of some that it shouldn't provide more than two or three times this power lest it over-speed a cyclist if that's the way we are defining a power assisted bicycle.

 

[Ypedal]

http://ypedal.com/Projects.htm

enough reading material there to keep you busy for many hours..