The eBike thread

unkel · 03-01-2020 2:05pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I don’t know about the e-scooter battery fire, didn’t hear anything about it.

In Dublin, just after Christmas, picture from the Dublin fire brigade:

BarryM · 03-01-2020 2:43pm

unkel wrote: »

I probably would be grand, but I just don't want to take chances. Same way as I would not drive around in a car with no tax / insurance / NCT.

Good man, too many people, on here and elsewhere, take the 'ah sure' attitude to the law, even if the law is a bit stupid.

I heard Healy-Rae this morning suggesting that refusing car registration to people who didn't pay their fines wasn't fair..... typical of the attitude, and from a TD, even more typical.

Hamsterchops · 03-01-2020 2:50pm

Have owned an e-bike for several weeks now and am very impressed, as it does exactly what it says in the tin!
Bosch Active Line 400 Battery...goes like a dream (like a train) more like, but only up to 24km/h which is the norm.

Slightly tempted to look into buying an online kit to up the speed to 30km/h (nothing silly), just a slight increase (that can be reset to factory speed settings should I want).

Got myself a disc brake alarm for Christmas to add an extra layer to my e-bike security.

John Hutton · 03-01-2020 6:54pm

unkel wrote: »

Anyway, bit of change of plan. Until yesterday, I didn't realise that cycling well away from the public roads, like on canal paths and in public parks, on mountains and in forests, are still considered a public places, which means your bike has to be road legal. Or it can be confiscated and get you in trouble for driving without license / insurance. It can even impact your driving license. Now the chances are fairly small you will get done for this, but I'd rather have a compliant bike or one that can't be distinguished from a compliant bike. So I ordered a pedal assist sensor today.

This is why I didn't connect a throttle and just use pedal assist. In the unlikely event anyone looks at a bike the throttle is the only immediately identifiable feature which would indicate it's illegal.

A most sensible law would be to up the power and speed limits available but put limits on the speed of acceleration

03-01-2020 7:06pm

unkel wrote: »

Nothing stopping you! That haibike sounds pretty boring yet is probably still worth quite a bit of money. Selling it would finance a more exciting setup

The Haibike is pretty boring after having a 3.5 Kw ebike for sure haha. But it's decent and it pulled me up mount leinster I doubt my 8T mac could have without frying, never tested it didn't want to risk it. I did it on the Bosch with considerable effort from me but not a hope without it. The gearing helps a lot with a lower powered mid drive.

I probably wouldn't get much more than 800 Euro's for it today and that's probably being optimistic.

unkel · 03-01-2020 7:07pm

John Hutton wrote: »

This is why I didn't connect a throttle and just use pedal assist. In the unlikely event anyone looks at a bike the throttle is the only immediately identifiable feature which would indicate it's illegal.

Yes it makes sense. Does your bike go an awful lot over 25km/h though? That would be a very easy test for a Garda to do by the side of the road. Admittedly if you weren't spotted cycling very fast, there is very little reason to do that sort of test.

Anyway, we are probably belt and braces here. There are thousands of completely illegal electric scooters in Dublin alone being used on the public road every day. Without consequence so it seems (apart from 2 of them that were confiscated by the same Garda on the same morning - maybe just test cases)

unkel · 03-01-2020 7:10pm

Deleted User wrote: »

The Haibike is pretty boring after having a 3.5 Kw ebike for sure haha. But it's decent and it pulled me up mount leinster I doubt my 8T mac could have without frying, never tested it didn't want to risk it. I did it on the Bosch with considerable effort from me but not a hope without it. The gearing helps a lot with a lower powered mid drive.

I probably wouldn't get much more than 800 Euro's for it today and that's probably being optimistic.

There's very little supply of eBikes on the likes of adverts.ie and demand is getting stronger. I have made quite decent money buying broken eBikes and scooters over the last few months and selling them on (was more of a hobby getting to know them, work on them and fix them instead of a money making exercise)

With the guts of EUR800 you could build yourself something exciting

03-01-2020 7:10pm

John Hutton wrote: »

This is why I didn't connect a throttle and just use pedal assist. In the unlikely event anyone looks at a bike the throttle is the only immediately identifiable feature which would indicate it's illegal.

A most sensible law would be to up the power and speed limits available but put limits on the speed of acceleration

No because then it would be legal and there'd be less revenue to be collected through the payment of fines and higher fines handed out through the courts and that's a very lucrative system they have going.

20 mph and throttle is legal in most states as far as I'm aware in the USA but the E.U has to make it more restrictive, of course and despite years of calling on the power restrictions to be removed they continue to inflict such restrictive laws on us with made up by bureaucrats driven around in tax payer diesels with little or no mechanical or electrical knowledge !

03-01-2020 7:19pm

unkel wrote: »

There's very little supply of eBikes on the likes of adverts.ie and demand is getting stronger. I have made quite decent money buying broken eBikes and scooters over the last few months and selling them on (was more of a hobby getting to know them, work on them and fix them instead of a money making exercise)

With the guts of EUR800 you could build yourself something exciting

Yes , unfortunately most People I've talked to say they wouldn't spend the money on an ebike and fail to see the value but this is an extremely high car dependent Country and they laugh when they think about getting exercise on an ebike People are just too thick, i.e, you use the motor when you need it etc etc, it fails to register, it's a bit like trying to explain about electric cars and that they don't need 20 hrs to charge and actually can go faster than 80 Km/hr and they can drive more than 80 kms etc, I just give up. You can't make the blind see and when they don't want to see they never will.

03-01-2020 7:23pm

unkel wrote: »

Yes it makes sense. Does your bike go an awful lot over 25km/h though? That would be a very easy test for a Garda to do by the side of the road. Admittedly if you weren't spotted cycling very fast, there is very little reason to do that sort of test.

Anyway, we are probably belt and braces here. There are thousands of completely illegal electric scooters in Dublin alone being used on the public road every day. Without consequence so it seems (apart from 2 of them that were confiscated by the same Garda on the same morning - maybe just test cases)

A Garda can't ride your ebike and is not qualified to tell you it's legal or not but he can confiscate it however here's a tip, unless the vehicle the garda has impounded is worth something never sign for having it impounded, you have no legal obligation to sign anything just because a garda says so, you sign you pay impound fees, if you do not sign they can not send you a bill.

03-01-2020 7:28pm

Hamsterchops wrote: »

Have owned an e-bike for several weeks now and am very impressed, as it does exactly what it says in the tin!
Bosch Active Line 400 Battery...goes like a dream (like a train) more like, but only up to 24km/h which is the norm.

Slightly tempted to look into buying an online kit to up the speed to 30km/h (nothing silly), just a slight increase (that can be reset to factory speed settings should I want).

Got myself a disc brake alarm for Christmas to add an extra layer to my e-bike security.

Believe me, 32 Km/hr is all you need and it will make a huge difference and here's the beauty about the real speed hack is that they can't prove a thing, ( it was like that when you got it ) don't put one of those speed dongles on because that's easy spot + your spedo won't be correct.

If I did that to my Bosch it would actually make it more bearable because when you're off the cut off speed you are always fighting with the limiter when peddling.

03-01-2020 7:34pm

BarryM wrote: »

Good man, too many people, on here and elsewhere, take the 'ah sure' attitude to the law, even if the law is a bit stupid.

I heard Healy-Rae this morning suggesting that refusing car registration to people who didn't pay their fines wasn't fair..... typical of the attitude, and from a TD, even more typical.

The Government in Ireland look after the companies, Ireland Inc, they refuse to tackle the insurance extortion and make insurance more affordable , they have the same "ah sure" attitude and Healy-Rae is correct , it is unfair because he will speak for People the Government will back the companies and big business as always, this is why they bailed out the bank with over 100 Billion of Irish money FFS and the courts making millions in fines to go towards paying for this payment to these bond holders. It's no wonder they want to raise property tax to pay for all of this and we'll sit back and let it happen , ah sure , typical !

You couldn't make the sh1t up that goes on on this Island !

03-01-2020 7:38pm

unkel wrote: »

In Dublin, just after Christmas, picture from the Dublin fire brigade:

Linky from the Irish Times

Yes it's nasty and I bet if I posted this on the escooter thread how safe would people think it is now to charge any e-scooter/e-bike battery and walk away. I certainly wouldn't put the lives of my beloved Boys at risk because I would never forgive myself if something happened and for what, something as ridiculously simple as taking extra precaution !

I did not read the article, I hope no one was hurt ?

unkel · 03-01-2020 7:41pm

Deleted User wrote: »

A Garda can't ride your ebike and is not qualified to tell you it's legal or not but he can confiscate it however here's a tip, unless the vehicle the garda has impounded is worth something never sign for having it impounded, you have no legal obligation to sign anything just because a garda says so, you sign you pay impound fees, if you do not sign they can not send you a bill.

Sounds like you have personal experience of this

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes , unfortunately most People I've talked to say they wouldn't spend the money on an ebike and fail to see the value

Sounds like some culchie thicks. Tell them to go back giving people cancer with their diesels and to burn a bit more peat in their open fires like it still is 1820, not 2020

Witcher · 03-01-2020 7:47pm

Deleted User wrote: »

A Garda can't ride your ebike and is not qualified to tell you it's legal or not but he can confiscate it however here's a tip, unless the vehicle the garda has impounded is worth something never sign for having it impounded, you have no legal obligation to sign anything just because a garda says so, you sign you pay impound fees, if you do not sign they can not send you a bill.

The driver never signs for a Sec. 41 seizure, the Garda fills in the paperwork and off it goes. You don't get sent a bill, you pay it at the impound when ya go to collect it. Fees are covered by your vehicle being crushed for scrap, Gardai don't care whether you pay the fees or not.

John Hutton · 03-01-2020 8:34pm

unkel wrote: »

Yes it makes sense. Does your bike go an awful lot over 25km/h though? That would be a very easy test for a Garda to do by the side of the road. Admittedly if you weren't spotted cycling very fast, there is very little reason to do that sort of test.

Anyway, we are probably belt and braces here. There are thousands of completely illegal electric scooters in Dublin alone being used on the public road every day. Without consequence so it seems (apart from 2 of them that were confiscated by the same Garda on the same morning - maybe just test cases)

I have it limited to 40km/hr. Stick to around 25 when in town. In fairness though it's a drop bars bike and I have cycled at that speed on the flat before under my own steam so I don't think there's much suspicious about zipping along at 40km/hr on the flat while looking like I'm pedaling hard and in an aero position

03-01-2020 9:52pm

unkel wrote: »

Sounds like you have personal experience of this

Sounds like some culchie thicks. Tell them to go back giving people cancer with their diesels and to burn a bit more peat in their open fires like it still is 1820, not 2020

:eek: dear God

No just People who just won't accept or embrace change, they have an opinion and won't change it no matter what, ignorant perhaps.

And no I have no experience with having anything impounded. :-)

Low Energy Eng · 04-01-2020 11:31am

7mwxCg2_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

So I've added the baby seat and heavy duty bike stand, ready to start taking my little fella to childcare next week.
Need a few cable ties and I'm good to go. Looking forward to using it regularly.

04-01-2020 1:53pm

Low Energy Eng wrote: »

So I've added the baby seat and heavy duty bike stand, ready to start taking my little fella to childcare next week.
Need a few cable ties and I'm good to go. Looking forward to using it regularly.

Very neat setup, any chance of a few high res pics ?

What's the motor, battery, controller etc ?

John Hutton · 04-01-2020 2:28pm

Low Energy Eng wrote: »

So I've added the baby seat and heavy duty bike stand, ready to start taking my little fella to childcare next week.
Need a few cable ties and I'm good to go. Looking forward to using it regularly.

I'm looking for a bike stand, is that one good? Do you have a link?

Low Energy Eng · 05-01-2020 12:56am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Very neat setup, any chance of a few high res pics ?

What's the motor, battery, controller etc ?

Thanks...

Motor - Dillenger 500W geared BLDC rear wheel motor
Battery - 13Ah 48V
Controller - 22A
Cruising speed - mid 40's km/hr at full throttle.
The set comes with a pas and a thumb throttle. I'll usually set the controller to 4/10 peddle assist and use the thumb throttle when I need extra juice (100% power).

http://dillengerelectricbikes.com.au/electric-bike-kits/off-road/500w-high-torque-electric-bike-kit-by-dillenger.html

The bike is an Aldi bike that goes on sale here in Australia occasionally.

https://flowmountainbike.com/post-all/new-gear-bikes/the-350-aldi-mtb-is-back-heres-our-take/

Had to order a gear set to suit the motor hub.

The bike stand is an Ursus Jumbo Double Leg Kickstand. It got great reviews and is suitable for an electric bike and the 29" wheels.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to mount well to the bike. It's as though my frame is a little fat for the clamp grooves to stay steady. It means I'll have to adjust it slightly every time I kick it up so it doesn't rub off the tyre. A small PITA but something I'll get used to. Most importantly it keeps the bike very steady for when I'm putting my son in and out.
Another issue is I have to reroute cables as this is where the power to the motor cable ran. Not a big deal but just not as tidy as it once was.

The baby seat is Topeak Babyseat II, particular for 29ers and mountain bikes.

I'll try post better images.

Low Energy Eng · 05-01-2020 1:15am

I also bought a spare battery charger, one for home, one for work. I'll be trying to charge up in work, not that it costs much to run.

Pics...

unkel · 05-01-2020 1:17am

Picked up my own hardtail 29er today too

Have you any link to that battery box, it looks bigger than the ones I have been coming across. Any idea of internal dimensions?

While you are at it, any more details on the motor, where did you buy it, any link, did you buy it inside the wheel or did you have someone lace it?

Edit - apologies, I can see now it is all part of the kit you bought.

unkel · 05-01-2020 2:04am

Your kit is a lot more expensive on the Dillinger UK site at over EUR1000, in your link it's only a bit over EUR600!

I wouldn't mind just their 29" rear wheel with the motor to convert my 29er

05-01-2020 3:11am

I would always strive to have a 26 inch wheel because it's a lot easier on the motor, more torque in a smaller rim, less stress on the motor.

unkel · 05-01-2020 2:02pm

I'm over 6'1, and I've never had a large frame 29er, so I had no choice really

Solution is a mid drive or a rear geared hub drive with a lot of teeth per gear, can you get a 12T?

unkel · 05-01-2020 7:15pm

I'm getting close to deciding on either a rear geared hub or a mid drive for my new 29er and I'm leaning towards mid drive now. The bike is a very decent setup (good reviews online too) and I might hit some trails with it, why not? Plenty of trails within a 30 minute drive from my home. Very easy from a practical point of view. Both this large frame 29er and my big fat bike fit whole into my hatchback car with the back seats down, which is brilliant. Could even take the dog as well on the passenger front seat.

So I'm thinking buying a higher end geared hub motor from the far east either laced in or having it laced here locally. In both cases very likely to attract customs / VAT. And those motors ain't cheap to start with. Need controller as well. Or getting a Bafang mid drive kit shipped from the EU, so no customs / VAT. There's very little money difference in it. And I haven't any experience with the mid drive kits, so that's a bonus!

Opinions before I pull the trigger this evening?

John Hutton · 05-01-2020 7:17pm

I'm greatly enjoying the middrive, it's good to be able to use the bikes normal gears

05-01-2020 7:56pm

unkel wrote: »

I'm getting close to deciding on either a rear geared hub or a mid drive for my new 29er and I'm leaning towards mid drive now. The bike is a very decent setup (good reviews online too) and I might hit some trails with it, why not? Plenty of trails within a 30 minute drive from my home. Very easy from a practical point of view. Both this large frame 29er and my big fat bike fit whole into my hatchback car with the back seats down, which is brilliant. Could even take the dog as well on the passenger front seat.

So I'm thinking buying a higher end geared hub motor from the far east either laced in or having it laced here locally. In both cases very likely to attract customs / VAT. And those motors ain't cheap to start with. Need controller as well. Or getting a Bafang mid drive kit shipped from the EU, so no customs / VAT. There's very little money difference in it. And I haven't any experience with the mid drive kits, so that's a bonus!

Opinions before I pull the trigger this evening?

Can't make the decision for you

The mid drive is not necessary unless climbing very steep slow trails and they would have to be long steep slow hills.

The Mid drive can have resistance in the pedal with no power which is a turn off for me who likes to mostly pedal mostly unassisted.

Yes you can get a 12T Mac motor it would be a beast on hills with 2 Kw, 52v x 40 amps. You might want to up that to 60 odd volts for higher top speed.

Hubs have less wear and tear , practically no maintenance, mid drives can break chains harder on sprockets etc.

Changing a tube, tyre is harder on hub, etc.

Smoother acceleration with a hub, impossible with mid drive.

05-01-2020 7:59pm

John Hutton wrote: »

I'm greatly enjoying the middrive, it's good to be able to use the bikes normal gears

For lower power Mid drive is definitely great, will pull you up anything but can be incredibly slow and depends on the gearing.

I'm going to really try get back on my Bosch powered Haibike this year, I need to get back into shape after about 5 years off the bike.

If I do I will hack the top speed of the Haibike to about 33 Km/hr , that will make a huge difference and the mod can be easily enabled and disabled.

The eBike thread

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