electric bike

And I love every mile on it and cars just seem so boring now. Superb for getting around town, and makes you never want to sit in traffic again. They are also great for the leisurely ride in the countryside.

forget about kenbay bikes and the likes they are boring legal and limited to 250 watts and are expensive and some legal bikes use really bad batteries that give e.v's a bad name.

You can build a good commuter bike that does 30 mph for about 1000-1200 Euro's by converting your own mountain bike. Hydraulic disk brakes are a must!

You need to modify your rear dropouts so the motor axel doesn't spin or it will break your wires and possibly severely injure you! You need torque plates (arms)

A 48 volt 20ah LiFeP04 will cost about 545 Euro's shipped from China, if customs get you it could be more! it has 960 watt hours and you will consume at least 20-25 per mile at 25 mph, so giving you a range of about 35-40 miles at about 20-25 mph, fast enough in Dublin city, and most towns. You could use a 15ah battery for less money.

These batteries have about 1000 cycles+ at full charge discharge and 2000 at about 50%. So 30 miles at 1000 cycles is 30,000 miles. Calander life is unknown yet but it's expected 5 years + life.


This is where it gets complicated, batteries have a discharge rate referred to as "C" rate meaning how many amps you can pull from the battery, so the above mentioned battery is a 20 ah battery with a C rating of 2 meaning you can continuously pull 40 amps, it's cycle life is rated at 1000 cycles at 1 C meaning 20 amps continuous!



My battery is lipo chemistry and not recommended for beginners and not plug and play charge and forget, but it's capable of really high power, from the little 60 volt 10ah ah pack I can pull 100 amps + continuously, obviously that would run it down quickly, but just used as an example because the amount of current you pull from the battery decides the torque or acceleration of the bike, the voltage being the top speed.

Lead acid batteries, please forget about them, they are completely unsuitable for e.v use and not even worth talking about!

I can recommend suppliers of motor kits and batteries because I have a lot of experience in this area and have made many mistakes with buying cheap useless kit that costs a lot more in the end to put right.

The motor kit would cost another 400-500 Euro's. There is another lad in China selling good quality kits and is highly reliable and respected on the endless-sphere.com forum.

It is an expensive hobby but it is a hell of a lot of fun and I don't go to pubs and prefer to spend my hard earned on something constructive that I can have fun with.

You need to be good with soldering and electrics, if not forget it, most of these kits don't come with instructions!

I don't condone breaking the law, and what you do you accept the consequences, currently the law allows only 250 watts and 15 max mph, the E.U is considering making the power unlimited and keeping the 15 mph limit, this means for larger people or steep hills the 250 watt limit is useless and so you are allowed to use a more powerful motor.

I ride my bike within the rules of the road, these bikes attract a lot of attention and it's won't be long before the law catches on if people act the idiot. I don't attract unwanted attention by acting the idiot!

Check out www.endless-sphere.com and educate yourself, it's a very good and addictive site

Opps sorry about the link, I'll probably get a slap for that ?

But giving my location I've noting to do with this company as they are Australian

But anyway for those not capable of building their own you can buy these, probably the best on the market, fully assembled and a lot of fun, they have a cheaper version called the fighter!

You can import them. Cost estimated 7000 Euro's ? but something you would have for many many years!

boc121 wrote: »

Would love one of those fast motors but no good with soldering and all that.
What do you think of this bike Mad Lad?

http://www.ktm-bikes.at/e-bike/e-bike/eCross.php?lang=EN


Sorry for jumping in here cipro 55.

They look good, but I bet they would be very expensive. Can you see a price?

Their full suspension bikes look good, but you are paying for it looking nice too!

You are still limited to 250 watts, even 500 watts makes a big difference if you aren't used to power.

I'll pm you a link to a Chinese site that sells motor kits, I think if you ask him he will ship it that all you got to do is plug in the wires, he makes excellent batteries, they are expensive but he has a terrific reputation on the endless-sphere forum and I can certainly vouch for him!

He makes batteries that mount in the frame and are highly recommended, just make sure it will fit!

All that you need to do is install motor, controller, throttle and electric brake lever if you want, you can convert any decent quality mountain bike.

You just need to make or get someone to make strong torque arms or plates to stop the axle spinning, that is essential.

Most important is go to the endless-sphere forum and do your research for a couple of months before you part with cash.

Sending p.m

Confab wrote: »

Looking at getting one of these under the B2W scheme. From the reviews all over the net it seems fine, cheap enough too. My route will be 10kms one way, fairly flat with only one real hill that's very small. I'm 32, near enough 200lbs and have just gotten rid of the car. I know it's a woman's bike but I hate mountain and road bikes, they're very uncomfortable for me as I'm 5'5"

Opinions?

200 watts is the U.K legal ridiculously low specification and probably thought up to keep everyone driving cars as the U.K is another rip off fuel tax state!!!

That type of bike is what you are looking for that is reasonably comfortable, but the quality of the bike itself wouldn't be great.

I would go with a good 2nd hand bike and convert it yourself, I can P.M you the details of a man in China that sells very good quality motor kits. His batteries are expensive but I can P.M you the details of another Chinese man who makes good quality batteries.

These are highly reputable people and have very good reputations in the diy electric bike community and I can vouch for them too.

People think I'm crazy because I spent over 1200 Euro's on converting my bike, however my bike is the extreme, and does 40 mph with crazy acceleration and the batteries are far from diy as they need constant monitoring of each 32 cells. You don't need to spend such money.

I just calculated the battery that would meet your needs best is This

36V 15ah
Weight: 5.6 kg / 12.3 lbs
Size: 225x105x150 mm / 8.9x4.1x5.9 inches
1000 Complete empty to full cycles. so 20 miles x 1000 charges =20k miles!!!

Cost inc shipping from China =427 Euro's you may or may not escape import tax.

That will give you an Idea of the best available battery at this point in time. The best battery cells us D.I.Y people can't get because the companies will only release them to electric car battery makers. And they are super good!

A really good quality motor kit will cost you 290 Euro's inc shipping from china, it will give you about 20-22 mph in a 28" wheel. You need torque arms or plates to re-enforce the rear dropouts so the axle doesn't spin!

So the above kit would cost you about €717 Euro's in total. You will need some kind of bag for the battery and I use a topeak bag, it slides on and off, very handy.

It's not cheap, but those batteries are generations beyond what most E-bike manufacturers will sell you and the motor kits are miles better too.

I think you will get a decent quality 2nd hand bike for about 300 Euro's or less.

In total a really fantastic E-bike setup will cost you only 200 Euro's more than the Halfords bike.

If you want take the Halfords bike for a spin and if you like it then buy it, I'm just reading the reviews and people are happy with it and that's the important thing.

You must find out the battery warranty as I see no details on chemistry used, get a detailed warranty on paper and exactly what it covers. There should be a minimum of 2 years warranty on it before reduction in range happens, but most important is charge it every time after a ride and don't run it down until it turns off!!! The above battery from China should last several years!!!

Take a look at my pics, that's the motor kit from china and the silver box on the rear rack is the controller. The battery is in the topeak bag and is half the size of the bag and can take me 100 miles if I pedal a lot!

The halfords bike has no throttle so the motor is on all the time as you pedal where my bike I can pedal unassisted and use the throttle when I choose which is by far the best way of doing it, but the European gobs**tes decided no throttle!

People laughed at me when I said I want to loose weight by cycling with this bike, but I showed them and lost 2 stone last year. 10-20 miles a day mostly doing the work myself makes a huge difference. They don't laugh any more!

But your 20Km commute is going to be a lot easier with some assistance, and if you have a bike that you know won't be a pain to cycle then you will use it more and more as you get fitter. Even throw it in the car and go for a good spin down the country somewhere. I still believe throttle only power is much better because you decide when and how much assistance you require.

It's a terrible shame Ireland has no bikes trails and that farmers own so much of our Island, every bit of land is fenced off and you have no access to anything, no parks no forrest nothing for the people and the few that are there usually have no bikes allowed signs, that's why I love Germany so much, I can go out my Girlfriends back driveway and have to think of which trail I will go today. In Ireland you have to think which broken road is the safest today! Shame!

Snako wrote: »

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/twist.express/9327/49854/

Didn't have time to read all the post so apologies if someone posted this already, had the 2011 version of this bike for about six months, the old man got it on the bike to work scene, but was taken ill for a while so I had a long time lend,

This bike is sensational, it really is a fine piece of technology, even fine to cycle without any power, a little heavy but not the end of the word if the battery were to die mid trip, very comfortable,

Haven't experienced any other e-bikes, so can't give a critique grounded in contrast and comparison, but I would heavily recommend at very least taking a look at one of these!

I feel like I'm not doing it any justice with this short post,

The Giant can only be better quality than a Halfords bike. I'm sorry I bought it and it wasn't cheap, again the specs of the battery don't tell the chemistry used. Some might last 6 or 7+ years and others 2 years

I could have got a much better one 2nd hand and converted that.

The only thing missing on road bikes is the lack of front suspension, while some are dirt cheap and useless. It makes a big difference on bad roads.

I need it going over 30mph without suspension is a bad idea!

I prefer mountain bikes for strength and I always get re-enforced rims, helps here with the bad roads.

I'm still a big believer that throttle only power is far better as you use the assistance when you want!

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad I have been following this thread with interest. Would you consider doing a sideline in a private bike conversion, cash waiting I am looking at the Storck multitask, it retails at 2900 sterling! Reckon your way could get a whole lota bike for that.

That would build you some power machine alright!

You can go way over budget, so think about the maximum amount you are willing to pay and stick to it!

I can surely do a conversion for you, but you got to appreciate the time involved in custom bike building, putting together, sourcing parts etc.

You need someone good with metal work to make you plates to re enforce your rear dropouts, I don't have the tools for that. It's essential !

But pm me what you got in mind and I'll see what I can come up with that best meets your needs. Just remember going 20 mph is as thrilling as going 30, and more relaxing too!

More speed means more money and your bike must be up to it.

Sheila Ahern wrote: »

Does anyone know where I could get a new battery for an


eZee TorQ electric bike






They are really expensive from any of the dealers


I have seen on line and all come from the UK or US .



Thanks

Hi Sheila,

Have you tried to get one from wherever you bought it ?

How old is the bike ? the most you probably would have got from those batteries is 2 years.

There are alternatives, but require rewiring and possibly mounting the battery on the rear rack. You would need a new charger too.

There are batteries you can get that will last 1000-2000 cycles, those older ezee batteries at best lasted 300-500 cycles.

But you are probably looking at getting them from the U.K or U.S, I would be shocked if a bike shop that sold it can not get you one!

Unfortunately the good batteries are being used in electric cars and almost impossible to get for electric bicycles!

The trick with these batteries is not running them completely flat and not leaving them unused for more than a month, and charge as soon as you can after every ride!

Lumen wrote: »

250W is more than the average power used on a typical Tour de France stage, and should be enough to sustain about 35kph on the flat even without domestiques.

Well it's the hills and or wind that matter more than flat terrain, obviously you don't really need much power on flat ground.

Even if 250 watts is enough on a typical tour de France stage, the average non drugged user doesn't want to feel that level of pain and so 250 watts might be good enough for a Pro but it will start to feel low power after a few kms up a steep kill.

There again through the bosch Bottom bracket drive it the most efficient way to use that tiny 250 watts of power as you use the bikes gearing and hence greatly increase efficiency where a hub motor will bog down and the power turn to heat, the Bosch (and similar) drives will happily go along pulling you up the hill by you selecting a lower gear.

Electric Bikes like that really help to get you fit or help you tackle the mountains with less pain but you still have to put in the effort.

Forget about cheap bad quality bikes with hubs.

Hubs are great when fed lots of power and in 20 inch rims. But you will be well outside the bicycle territory.