Electric Bike Conversion Kit or Electric Bike?

ebikenewb said:
Hey amiga, is that legal in the UK?
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No, but if it looks like a bike, sounds like a bike then to 99.9% of people it's a bike. Just don't crash into anyone ;-)

If you want legal then something like this plus a 36v battery will keep you at around 16mph assist speed to be legal (you can still pedal faster, but the motor will stop helping you above 16mph), and as you're going slower you'll use less battery - so will probably still be capable of doing 25miles with light pedaling.

The hub motor above is also geared - which means it has a freewheel so it's easy to pedal when not using the electrickery, just in case the battery runs flat whilst you're out ;-)

If you fancy converting an MTB that you can also take off road then have a look at a crank drive kit from EM3EV - it'll still max out at around 16mph but it will climb hills like a mountain goat. Crank drives are also freewheeling, so you can pedal with the electrickery switched off with no noticeable drag. I can custom program the Bafang BBS units (change assist levels, 100% throttle in all PAS modes, crank cadence etc) - for a few beer tokens of course :-)
 
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My experiment with the throttle only on pedal assist 1 mode has resulted in 15 miles of cheating and I wouldn't trust the battery for another 5 miles.

I also want to electrify my Carrera Subway.

Energise concerning the power stopping : Check the magnetic disk down by your pedal to see if it is tight.

ebikenewb: Why don't you just get a moped?
 
Energize said:
No because it uses a hub motor which they themselves state does not perform as well as a mid drive. And I really wouldn't buy an electric bike without rear disk brakes either.

Unless you are really masochistic I would avoid these £800 Woosh things like the plague.
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out of curiosity is it that given a push bike doesn't tend to have forks your rear brake actually works then unlike a sportsbike where the unloading of the rear wheel under braking just makes it a booby trap that instantly locks the wheel?

edit: i mean telescopic forks, which give you front end dive on breaking
 
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Dimple said:
My experiment with the throttle only on pedal assist 1 mode has resulted in 15 miles of cheating and I wouldn't trust the battery for another 5 miles.

I also want to electrify my Carrera Subway.

Energise concerning the power stopping : Check the magnetic disk down by your pedal to see if it is tight.

ebikenewb: Why don't you just get a moped?
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You have a carerra subway hybrid?

I don't want to get into cbt etc and petrol costs etc
 
ebikenewb said:
Front wheel drive preferably?
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No, rear wheel drive is preferred from a balance, traction and weight distribution perspective.

Front kits are still popular because they look easier to install (no gears to mount or wheels to dish etc) etc but with front kits you've got to have steel forks if you want to run anything moderately powerful. A weedy 250w front hub would be ok on alloy forks with properly installed torque arms and you could run a Q100 or Tongxin on carbon fibre forks (I did) if you keep the amps/torque down - but then you don't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding - purely "assist" territory only with alloy/CF forks. This is what happens if you run decent power motors on non steel forks - even when using torque arms.

I built a two wheel drive ebike once - 2.5kw hub in each wheel - that was a hoot!
 
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Tefal said:
out of curiosity is it that given a push bike doesn't tend to have forks your rear brake actually works then unlike a sportsbike where the unloading of the rear wheel under braking just makes it a booby trap that instantly locks the wheel?

edit: i mean telescopic forks, which give you front end dive on breaking
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Most MTB type bikes will have forks on the front, and decent ones on the rear too.

Under normal braking conditions I have never had the rear wheel lock, mind you the center of mavity is probably shifted further back than on a motorbike because of the battery at the back.
 
Energize said:
Most MTB type bikes will have forks on the front, and decent ones on the rear too.

Under normal braking conditions I have never had the rear wheel lock, mind you the center of mavity is probably shifted further back than on a motorbike because of the battery at the back.
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intersting, cause ona MB the breaking puts pretty much 100% of the load onto the front wheel. but i suppose the breaking forces are an order of magnitude higher, i just figured with the less weight it might happen on push biokes at lower speeds.

can you get the backwheel up?:p
 
amigafan2003 said:
Yeah, but you have to stay with all the smelly dangerous cars - you can't take it on bridleways, cyclepaths and canal paths ;-)
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but lets face it for commutes to work most people will be on the roads, having the extra acceleration and viability + noise can be a life saver.

edit: can take bikes on Byways and UCR
 
ebikenewb said:
You have a carerra subway hybrid?
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I mentioned it in post 173.
It is a great bike and only a bit slower than my road bike.
I bought it when I had a nasty crash on black ice with my road bike and I felt much safer on the Carrera.

carrerasubway.jpg
 
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Im thinking these specs:
36v250w as its the legal limit for cycles just incase I get stopped lol, I need the LCD display so I can derestrict it hehe, 15ah battery and I would prefer front wheel drive still, more tracton imo. Which company does these specs?
 
ebikenewb said:
Im thinking these specs:
36v250w as its the legal limit for cycles just incase I get stopped lol, I need the LCD display so I can derestrict it hehe, 15ah battery and I would prefer front wheel drive still, more tracton imo. Which company does these specs?
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Voltage isn't specified in the legal bits - just the top speed (15.5mph +10% leeway so 17mph actually) and maximum continuous rated power of 250w (but even "legal EN5194 certified bikes peak upto 700w).

Technically any "kit" added to an after market bike is illegal, as for an ebike to be legal in the UK it has to be certified to BS EN 15194 standards - which "kit" built bikes cannot possibly be, however I'm not aware of any prosecutions resulting from using "kit" built bikes, despite several accidents involving them coming to the attention of the crown. To all intents and purposes, if the bike aligns to the EPAC specifications then you're good to go. Also, I'm only aware one successful prosecution involving a properly illegal ebike (i.e. too much power and too fast) but that's only because the silly bugger was haring along a pavement and wiped some poor old block as he steeped out of his front gate.

If you can derestrict the speed by adjusting a setting on the display, then it's not legal.

Front wheel drive gives you less traction (I found anything above 800w spins the front wheel but it takes 2kw+ to do the same at the back).
 
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