Electric Bicycles - Need reccomendations

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Originally Posted By: grndslm
Not in your budget??

I'll share with you perhaps my favorite eBike build of all time, mostly because of its simplicity and cleanliness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbOD09doRI

I am more than likely going to mimic this setup once I get a hold more on controllers and such.... and depending on where I want to go with it after actually experiencing it for myself, I could add a shift kit to it, but I like to keep things as cheap as possible.

An eBike build has like 4 components... motor (the motor this guy uses is pretty small, probly $60 or so), controller (not sure about this stuff yet, but probly $50), throttle (just a potentiometer, haven't looked.. but a "thumb lever" throttle would be best if possible... can't be more than $50), and batteries (might as well spend all your money on the best lithium polymer batteries money can buy. Oh yea, and a charger... I guess you'd have to pay around $30 for it and a few extra bucks for an adapter & some wiring to somehow connect the charger to the batteries.

So we're talking $200 all day long, and you add the batteries. There's no way in hail that lithium polymer batteries cost more than $800.


Good post, but if you aren't wanting to DIY, it costs, and I'll wager the components are slightly more, but not much for the basics you list for decent stuff. A good controller is around $150 and so on.

Sure 36V batteries at 10Ah aren't so bad $, but look at 48V 20Ah and yes they are over $1000 delivered. Those cheaper kits always have garbage batteries. The key here remains getting good battery prices down.
 
Yea, like I said... need to look into the controller bits more.

And I think the OP is correct into looking at eBikes for purposes of assisted pedaling. Makes all the sense in the world to save the juice, since you can't replenish all that quickly without a second "pack".

But I dunno about the regenerative braking stuff. Seems too complex. Haven't really looked into it, but I see that video I posted... and I think, I can do that!!
 
So I thought all external motors, and only external motors were considered "geared" motors. But there are internal, hub motors that are considered geared, as well.

Another discovery I made is that you can choose between a freewheeling geared motor, or a non-freewheeling type, which you can use for regenerative purposes. If you choose the latter type, you just need to choose a certain type of controller to feed the energy generated from the motor back into the batteries.

Personally, I think I'd stick with the freewheeling motors, myself. If that's possible... no shift kit would be needed.

If I can find a thin, geared reduction motor like the guy in the video above that also freewheels.... I might actually do this sooner than I was planning.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Even with a freewheeling motor gear such as ours have, you will need to freewheel your pedals if you are driving your bike gears.

What??

A lot of information I see says that most electric geared motors are actually freewheeling, instead of regenerative.

I'm not sure what this guy in the video has ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbOD09doRI ).... but I want it, preferably with the freewheeling motor I'm hearing about. It's probly not as efficient as a TRUE freewheel, as in your crank kit... but I'd like to try it out by itself. I've got a fixed gear bike, so continuously going thru the motions is not a problem for me.

I guess I might have to join endless sphere to get a better idea of possibilities.

You should consider making a kit designed around one of these 250W motors, Pablo. Your standard 2-stroke kit seems to include numerous parts that wouldn't be needed with an electric motor.
 
Just made a thread at Endless-sphere.com and watched the video one more time. There's actually an e-bike conversion kit webpage at the end of it, and they pretty much all include the freewheel cranks, albeit at very steep prices. Can't believe I didn't notice that the first few times watching it.

I also noticed that he DOES freewheel just after the 40 second mark. That freewheeling is all I need. Seems like the freewheeling crank wouldn't be totally necessary after all.
 
Originally Posted By: grndslm
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Even with a freewheeling motor gear such as ours have, you will need to freewheel your pedals if you are driving your bike gears.

What??

A lot of information I see says that most electric geared motors are actually freewheeling, instead of regenerative.

You should consider making a kit designed around one of these 250W motors, Pablo. Your standard 2-stroke kit seems to include numerous parts that wouldn't be needed with an electric motor.


Exactly what I said. If you are driving your rear hub with gears, you will need your cranks to freewheel at your bottom bracket.

250W is pretty weak. We have 450 and 1200W. Of course the electric set-up needs many less parts than a 2 or 4 stroke engine. Why would you even think that we would include all the 2 stroke parts?????


Originally Posted By: grndslm

I also noticed that he DOES freewheel just after the 40 second mark. That freewheeling is all I need. Seems like the freewheeling crank wouldn't be totally necessary after all.


If the bike in the video is not freewheeling at the BB, then his pedals are turning when under motor power. If you don't mind this, then go ahead. We would not sell such a thing.

You do make a good point about assisting the motor, so to speak. Just the lightest leg power really helps extend battery life.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Exactly what I said. If you are driving your rear hub with gears, you will need your cranks to freewheel at your bottom bracket.

250W is pretty weak. We have 450 and 1200W. Of course the electric set-up needs many less parts than a 2 or 4 stroke engine. Why would you even think that we would include all the 2 stroke parts?????

Yea, I was just guessing that it was 250W since I've seen several 250W motors of similar design, the video actually has a website at the end which points to a 36V, 350W motor (with a 250W to 450W range?). So he is likely using a motor of similar specs.

And I don't see any mention of electric kits on your site, so why would I think you'd sell anything cheaper than the standard 2-stroke kit??
smile.gif


Originally Posted By: Pablo
Originally Posted By: grndslm

I also noticed that he DOES freewheel just after the 40 second mark. That freewheeling is all I need. Seems like the freewheeling crank wouldn't be totally necessary after all.


If the bike in the video is not freewheeling at the BB, then his pedals are turning when under motor power. If you don't mind this, then go ahead. We would not sell such a thing.

You do make a good point about assisting the motor, so to speak. Just the lightest leg power really helps extend battery life.

Watch the 40 second point in the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbOD09doRI

And tell me whether or not his rear hub's freewheel is freewheeling or not. He has no other, so that's what it is.

I just noticed that last night.

Also, the guys at Endless-Sphere.com shared this link with me, Pablo, which I'm sure you'll find entertaining... http://www.gngebike.com/450w-brushless-mud-guard

Only problem is that basic setup in the video looks completely different from the pics at the bottom of the page. They're using a belt-driven jackshaft with a freewheel on the output of the jackshaft, with a freewheeling crank. Again, this seems like 2 freewheels, a jackshaft, and a belt more than necessary after the guy in my video is shown (or heard) freewheeling at the 40 second mark.
 
Hmm... well, I guess I was having a blonde moment there, because there's no reason the bike shouldn't freewheel when he cuts the motor off.

The real concern with a freewheeling motor in this setup has to do with pedaling the bike home (i.e. - the batteries die). In this instance, a regenerative bicycle is worthless, and a freewheeling motor w/ clutch is better...

But I just don't know HOW easy it would be to pedal such a setup with dead batteries. That's my real concern. I guess the worst case scenario is that I just get a master link and quit acting like it's such a big deal.
 
Originally Posted By: grndslm
Hmm... well, I guess I was having a blonde moment there, because there's no reason the bike shouldn't freewheel when he cuts the motor off.



I think you are starting to get it. Wick throttle on and cranks turn. Not that safe. Should be: Wick throttle on and power to ground, want to pedal along, fine. You get this by freewheeling the cranks. Coolio!
01.gif
 
Bafang BBS (01, 02, or HD) kist freewheel at both ends. Bafang G31xx hub drive freewheels so not magnetic "cogging" from rear drive. There are others, but these are nice. Have spiral cut gears so much quieter than straight cut gears. Lots of vendors. Buy a kit and have LBS install
smile.gif
 
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