Buying an e-bike

mikeh501 said:
Just on these unrestricted ebikes. They are a legal grey area. A ebike is restricted to 15mph oherwise it isnt an ebike. its classed as a motorbike from what i understand. This means test and insurance, but you probably cant get it.

I think anyone riding a unrestricted or custom ebike on the road, easily doing 30mph+ is asking for trouble, especially if you crash it or god forbid hit someone. Those MTB brakes were never designed to stop something with that mass going that fast.

It gives those of us doing it legally a bad name, and will cause more concern from joe public resulting in more regulation... please dont.

last point - if you unrestrict a normal ebike (easily done via bluetooth on mine) you invalidate the warranty and potentially will destroy the battery/motor. Not designed for that much current etc.

Specialized Turbo Vado is what id get for the road. Should do 50-70 miles easy depending upon conditions.
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When I was younger, I used to cycle a lot. I could hit 30MPH just pedaling on a manual bike without pushing myself really hard.
 
I am quite into this e Powered biking now, I think it will help me get back on a bike and find some fitness / push where i go.

I have a 5 year old scott aspect 30, its not done a lot was about £700 back then i think.

Is it worth buying a "kit" to convert? or should i just move with the times and buy a bike? there a huge price difference
 
I went up cannock chase the other weekend. the amount of Ebikes round there now is mad!

there i was slogging up this hill about to collapse and this guy comes screaming past me on his ebike. Now i want one but have no need for one :D
 
I had my first e-bike experience today, and I have to say, I am sold on the idea. I hired some electric mountain bikes this morning, and cycled around Derwentwater this morning with my parents. I can honestly say I cannot remember having so much fun on a bike, but it was made even more enjoyable by having my parents able to keep up with me all the way around. My father and I had KTM Macina fat bikes, and the 4" wheels were hilarious - so incredibly stable on the scree around the lake, and with the electric motor assisting, climbing up the hills was effortless. I would have probably enjoyed it without the assistance, as the novelty of the fat bike was enough for me, but the assistance is wonderful for those with lower fitness. I'm seriously tempted to buy one, but it's a lot of money for what is essentially a novelty. Sadly we weren't able to persuade my grandfather to get on one of the bikes :D
 
khemist said:


Went out for a spin earlier in the great weather, it was fantastic!, very happy with it.
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That looks great @khemist
How much did it all set you back?

Regy53 said:
I am quite into this e Powered biking now, I think it will help me get back on a bike and find some fitness / push where i go.

I have a 5 year old scott aspect 30, its not done a lot was about £700 back then i think.

Is it worth buying a "kit" to convert? or should i just move with the times and buy a bike? there a huge price difference
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I'm in a similar situation. I haven't ridden for a few years now and contemplating upgrading my old scott spark 30 as it's pretty light or just buying a new ebike
 
Battery, motor, chainring and a few other small bits £1200 + £750 for the actual bike.

Done almost 110 miles on it so far, about to go out for a ride now, it's loads of fun!.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I was all set to buy a new front motor for one of my bikes until an helpful Pedelecs Forum guy gave me some advice.
My motor started to make a screeching noise, then it would go slow and then stop > repeat over and over for 2 days until it finally stopped.
I was told to lift the bike up, freewheel the front wheel and it should just go round until it finally stops - turn it backwards and it shouldn't go more that two turns and it did this so there's nothing wrong with my motor.
In the end it was loose cables :)
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Sounds like one of the phase cables wasn't properly connected - it hub motors make a similar noise if you get the phase connections round the wrong way as well.
 
I had a controller die on me halfway to work. It was impossible to ride as it was like magnets in the wheel gripping like crazy. Got home and disconnected the blue hub wire and the wheel turned freely again.
I bought a Hub/controller test kit and it was the controller that died.
Probably something to do with the 3 foot flood I rode through a month before ?
Got a new controller and KTLCD3 screen and it's hunky dory again. (£77) Plus I now get braking regen.
Oh.. I've mounted the controller higher and in a water-resistant-ish box !

[Edit]

I've been buying lots of electrical tools etc to build my own 52v Triangle battery. Trying to shift some of the weight from the rear to mid-ships.
100 3.4 mah Panasonic cells is kinda ouch though !
 


250 miles clocked in so far and zero problems, i'm out two, sometimes three times a day with this great weather and even going out at midnight when it's cooler because i can't help myself, it's too much fun.
 
khemist said:
250 miles clocked in so far and zero problems, i'm out two, sometimes three times a day with this great weather and even going out at midnight when it's cooler because i can't help myself, it's too much fun.
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if you have a car you'll quickly get the mindset of not going in the car if you've only got a couple of miles to somewhere and back.
I got rid of my Mondeo about a month ago after being a two car family for 11 years.
 
I don't drive at all but i'm considering doing my cbt just because i've been wanting a motorbike for a while but i would still be using the bike loads.

I've got a twist throttle being delivered tomorrow so maybe i'll just drive around making vroom vroom noises. :)
 
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