Hoping the 3rd time is the charm

M

MtnGoat

Guest
Hello, all!

I live in the south central California mountains, and my wife's commute, though only 14 miles round trip, involves 2000 feet of climbing over only four miles, with some sections around 20% grade. We are both avid cyclists and enjoy climbing unassisted on practically every ride we take. But on a daily commuting basis, the trip home is just not practical. So began my quest for a motor assist. Back in 2000, I bought a Dimension Edge 35cc kit, which my wife rode for about 18 months. Bottom line, it worked well with pedal assist (which she prefers doing anyway for the exercise), but in order to get a gear low enough to pull the grade we needed a 3/4" roller, and the tire and roller wear was excessive. Typically a rear tire would last about 20 trips before blowing.

Then in 2002, I ran across the Golden Eagle system and purchased the only model they had, the 25cc Komatsu Zenoah kit, with high hopes. The tire wear issue was solved, but a whole host of others surfaced, like broken spokes, slipping belt, etc. But the main issue was the gearing was just too high, even with trail gear. Even more pedal assist was required and climbing speed was even slower than it was with the DE friction setup, despite switching from 26" to 24" wheels. Dennis was very helpful and generous with advice and replacement parts, but the bottom line was there just wasn't enough torque for the climb. We gave up after about 18 months or so out of frustration. Back to the Honda Accord for the commute.

Skip forward to a few days ago when I ran across this forum, and the spark of hope has been rekindled. Maybe with the help I might find here I can find a solution and conquer the mountain. I can put a kit together and follow simple instructions, but I not very high on the mechanical IQ or ability scale. I dusted off the GEBE, started it up and it runs just like before. So here I am with a GEBE kit on a MB with 24" wheels, and not enough torque for the job. Any ideas appreciated.

Things that are important, in descending order:
1. Enough torque or low enough gear for serious CLIMBING.
2. High gas mileage for longer, less extreme trips. Usually pedal assisted.
3. Operation of bike free of the drag from the motor when desired.
4. Use of already purchased equipment.

I've already read through many of the posts on the forum. Lots of interesting stuff, to say the least.

Nice to meet you all.
 
Welcome to MBc Goat.
Post in the proper forum and the solution will get hammered out.

I hope you can and do lace your own wheels. :D
 
Thanks for the welcomes.

Ok, I'll post a short question with link to this post in rack mounts. I meant my first post to be an introduction as it has my history with motorized bikes, but now I see I got quite specific.
 
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