Electric Bike Conversion Kit or Electric Bike?

Dimple said:
I can recommend this if all you need is 30 minutes - http://www.cyclotricity.com/front-drive-electric-bike-kit/
I've got the bottle battery version and my commute is 20 mins each way so I can probably get 60 minutes out of it.

With the LCD display you can de-restrict it and get up to 20mph just on the throttle (on the flat obviously) but I've left mine on 15mph because I like to do most of the work.
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You can still get a great workout on a de-restricted bike just by using a high gear.
 
Any people here got a Volt Alpine? Not seen many reviews on it, I don't have a mountain bike so this may be something I'll buy.
 
meade16 said:
Any people here got a Volt Alpine? Not seen many reviews on it, I don't have a mountain bike so this may be something I'll buy.
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Even the cheaper £1300 looks great but from my experience I will never buy an 'off the shelf' model again. Get yourself the bike you really want and then have it converted.
I've just bought a Trek 7.5 FX to convert but I'm afraid money has now become very tight until next year so I've got to stick with my Cyclotricity Stealth which has had at least £200 of new parts to make it ridable.

Cyclotricity are now doing a bike which will go at 30mph on throttle alone but it is still on the crappy Stealth - http://www.cyclotricity.com/stealth-1000w/

Of course 1000s of other users have never had a problem.
 
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Dimple, is yours from Andy at Fenton? I had a go on one of his in the workshop the other week. Loved it!

Really appealing to me but no idea when I'd use an ebike. I have a roadbike for going out for fun and to keep fit, and a car from work with a fuel card so wouldn't make any savings on commuting really. My inner gadgetman just really wants one!
 
Dimple said:
Even the cheaper £1300 looks great but from my experience I will never buy an 'off the shelf' model again. Get yourself the bike you really want and then have it converted.
I've just bought a Trek 7.5 FX to convert but I'm afraid money has now become very tight until next year so I've got to stick with my Cyclotricity Stealth which has had at least £200 of new parts to make it ridable.

Cyclotricity are now doing a bike which will go at 30mph on throttle alone but it is still on the crappy Stealth - http://www.cyclotricity.com/stealth-1000w/

Of course 1000s of other users have never had a problem.
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Cheers for the advice, a bloke at work is offering me his Carrera Vengeance, he got it from Halford's in April and it's hardly been used, he's looking for £130 for it, maybe I could convert it.
 
Energize said:
An 11Ah battery with a 1000W motor will last all of 5 minutes lol.
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Andy at Electric Bike Conversions who was converting an MTB reckoned 15 minutes tops :D

mr tommo said:
Dimple, is yours from Andy at Fenton? I had a go on one of his in the workshop the other week. Loved it!

Really appealing to me but no idea when I'd use an ebike. I have a roadbike for going out for fun and to keep fit, and a car from work with a fuel card so wouldn't make any savings on commuting really. My inner gadgetman just really wants one!
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See above :)

I posted a picture above of a Trek 7.3 FX he converted and one I've had a couple of rides on.
 
ANYWAY UN********BELIEVABLE.

After all my upgrades & repairs I've had a month of trouble free commuting on my Stealth until tonight.
A mile from the hospital my bike starts to wobble followed by a big crack and after investigation 6 rear wheel spokes have broke putting my wheel totally out of line so Mrs Dimple had to come and get me AGAIN.
How can one person have so much bad luck with a product?
 
Dimple said:
ANYWAY UN********BELIEVABLE.

After all my upgrades & repairs I've had a month of trouble free commuting on my Stealth until tonight.
A mile from the hospital my bike starts to wobble followed by a big crack and after investigation 6 rear wheel spokes have broke putting my wheel totally out of line so Mrs Dimple had to come and get me AGAIN.
How can one person have so much bad luck with a product?
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Is it a rear motor?
 
amigafan2003 said:
Is it a rear motor?
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No, just a normal 26" rear wheel with 7 speed hub.
I had it replaced about 2 months ago when I got to work and 5 spokes had broke.
I don't jump up and down kerbs, just normal riding on cycle lanes and a bit of road.
This is the bike if you want to zoom in - http://www.cyclotricity.com/stealth-electric-cycle/

I've emailed Cyclotricity to send me a new one but to be honest I'd rather pay a bit more for something a bit more solid.

I have a Halfords near me plus this shop - http://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/

Can you see anything where I could buy a better rear wheel and put my 7 speed hub and disk onto it?

This is doing my head in now.
 
New parts since the day I had it in early January 2014 -

stealthnewparts.jpg
 
Lol Dimple your story is so similar to mine, I myself was about to express my outrage at the Sirocco CD failing again today, complete power failure after I'd fixed it only a few weeks ago after soldering on a new leaf connector to the battery.

And as I was setting off the throttle handle came apart into two pieces and I fell over with the bike, if I had been on the road that could have been a serious accident.

I am actually considering contact trading standards about these dangerous vehicles they are selling.

I too have had a disc brake and pedal assist disc replaced, as well as a new chain and cassette.
 
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Vindication of my stance that if you don't want to spend a lot on an ebike then you're best buying a good base bike and adding a kit yourself.

There are only a few "off the shelf" ebike's I'd buy - namely those from Kalkhoff, Haibike and KTM.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Vindication of my stance that if you don't want to spend a lot on an ebike then you're best buying a good base bike and adding a kit yourself.

There are only a few "off the shelf" ebike's I'd buy - namely those from Kalkhoff, Haibike and KTM.
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amigafan2003 - I'm sure I saw you mention somewhere that you build and sell custom ebikes. Would you consider building me one? How much do you usually charge?

I've contemplated building myself one, but I'm useless with mechanics, and I'd probably make a death trap!

I did like the look and considered purchasing one of the Haibikes, but they seemed very expensive, and the motors seemed a bit underpowered.
 
Yup - the bafang CST motor is a great, strong motor.

I'd be wanting a bit more power than 15a though, but it's good if you want to remain broadly legal (bear in mind no "kit" is technically legal in the UK at the moment).

a 9 fet controller set at 20 amps using a 48v battery would be a good match for a CST motor.
 
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What I need is an off the shelf mountain bike, they all seem to be 250w motors.

Is there much of a difference between an Ultra high torque Bafang CST Motor versus high torque Bafang Motor?

http://www.xipi.co.uk/ looks more like it..
 
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