LittleSkink
Retro Guru
A whole can of worms and not very retro bike
Any experiences of adding an electric assist set up to a bike?
Any experiences of adding an electric assist set up to a bike?
Electric conversion kits on a budget?
- Thread starter LittleSkink
- Start date
Re:
From my brief research in this area, none of the cheap ones are any good, reliability-wise. I quite fancied a Haibike, expecting it to be reliable due to Bosch electrics, but a mate had one which is currently dead! The motor had to go back to Germany.
I don't know what system Kalkhoff use on their touring bikes, but I know someone who has done a great many miles on one.
I was interested in one to help me get back into riding after breaking a leg, but found that normal riding is the best rehab!
From my brief research in this area, none of the cheap ones are any good, reliability-wise. I quite fancied a Haibike, expecting it to be reliable due to Bosch electrics, but a mate had one which is currently dead! The motor had to go back to Germany.
I don't know what system Kalkhoff use on their touring bikes, but I know someone who has done a great many miles on one.
I was interested in one to help me get back into riding after breaking a leg, but found that normal riding is the best rehab!
davidj
Senior Retro Guru
Re:
I found this forum whilst looking to e-bike my Coyote. My conclusion was that crank drive is the most desireable but also problematic in setup & reliability. Rear hub motors are restrictive on the cassette (usually a screw fit).
True budget seems to be a front hub motor with the bennefit that you can swap back to a conventional bike by changing the wheel and removing the battery.
The best e-bike solutions seems to be the Haibike or KTM, but you are 1/3 the cost of a lightly used Nissan Leaf!!!
I also found that my knee rehabilitation has been better served by frequent high cadence sessions on a turbo trainer and no longer feel the need for an e-bike.
I still plan on building one though, a late 90s Coyote DH/XC with 8Fun crank drive and disk brakes. Sod the law I plan going full tilt and expect moped performance. It will be named Wile-e-Coyote when it finally joins my Coyote pack
.
I found this forum whilst looking to e-bike my Coyote. My conclusion was that crank drive is the most desireable but also problematic in setup & reliability. Rear hub motors are restrictive on the cassette (usually a screw fit).
True budget seems to be a front hub motor with the bennefit that you can swap back to a conventional bike by changing the wheel and removing the battery.
The best e-bike solutions seems to be the Haibike or KTM, but you are 1/3 the cost of a lightly used Nissan Leaf!!!
I also found that my knee rehabilitation has been better served by frequent high cadence sessions on a turbo trainer and no longer feel the need for an e-bike.
I still plan on building one though, a late 90s Coyote DH/XC with 8Fun crank drive and disk brakes. Sod the law I plan going full tilt and expect moped performance. It will be named Wile-e-Coyote when it finally joins my Coyote pack
.
LittleSkink
Retro Guru
thanks folks
my intent is a little less orthodox - and may be ill judged given the potential unreliability of current tech
we have been looking for a tandem for me and the kids to use - while they are young the full 20kg of tandem and 15kg+ of child are mine to pedal up the hills
with a little electrical assistance on the ups (we live on top of a hefty hill on the edge of Sheffield so the home run is the worse bit) a whole world of potential longer journeys & fun open up
front hub fitting seemed the simplest way to go, ebay kits see pretty cheap - but its still a lot of cash for some dodgy electrics, I may stick with Plan A (go as far as we can and then phone home . . .)
my intent is a little less orthodox - and may be ill judged given the potential unreliability of current tech
we have been looking for a tandem for me and the kids to use - while they are young the full 20kg of tandem and 15kg+ of child are mine to pedal up the hills
with a little electrical assistance on the ups (we live on top of a hefty hill on the edge of Sheffield so the home run is the worse bit) a whole world of potential longer journeys & fun open up
front hub fitting seemed the simplest way to go, ebay kits see pretty cheap - but its still a lot of cash for some dodgy electrics, I may stick with Plan A (go as far as we can and then phone home . . .)
Re:
I came across this a while back: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/add- ... cle#/story
It looks quite neat, but I wonder how well it will last when doused in water and road grime. I remember when I used dynamo lighting for winter training rides many years ago, you could get dynamo generators that were fitted in a similar position. They were better than the cheap ones that ran on the side of the tyre, but still didn't last that long; one wet winter would generally be enough to finish them off.
I'm guessing that it wouldn't really work with knobbly tyres either.
I came across this a while back: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/add- ... cle#/story
It looks quite neat, but I wonder how well it will last when doused in water and road grime. I remember when I used dynamo lighting for winter training rides many years ago, you could get dynamo generators that were fitted in a similar position. They were better than the cheap ones that ran on the side of the tyre, but still didn't last that long; one wet winter would generally be enough to finish them off.
I'm guessing that it wouldn't really work with knobbly tyres either.
On a tandem you'll have lots of prime estate along the bottom of the frame for batteries, motor and a crank drive system (either front or rear, depending what can be made to work when you consider the funky cranks and eccentric bottom bracket.....) TBH I'd not be hugely keen on hub based (front or rear) tandems are seriously hefty, and do tend to crash through stuff (almost impossible to unweight a wheel!) and I'd not trust that an electric hub would be up to it. Unless it's a tandem specific job.
Re:
They are a right pain the arse. Electric bikes generally are bad, the cheap ones and conversion kits are terrible. They are almost impossible to sort if they break. Which they all do. Buy something with a warranty and some aftersales, if any of them have it. You might as well just throw the money away than buy some Chinese thing that you can't get bits or information for.
The Bosch systems they have on some of the new (expensive) bikes seem pretty good, but not had enough experience of them yet to be 100% on that.
They are a right pain the arse. Electric bikes generally are bad, the cheap ones and conversion kits are terrible. They are almost impossible to sort if they break. Which they all do. Buy something with a warranty and some aftersales, if any of them have it. You might as well just throw the money away than buy some Chinese thing that you can't get bits or information for.
The Bosch systems they have on some of the new (expensive) bikes seem pretty good, but not had enough experience of them yet to be 100% on that.
I faced similar issues touring on our tandem, towing No2 son in the trailer while No1 stoked (or chatted...)
We got up just about everything with 24T on the front and a 32T sprocket on the rear for a tour in Devon. 34 miles on the tandem like that was about the same as riding a century alone.
We got up just about everything with 24T on the front and a 32T sprocket on the rear for a tour in Devon. 34 miles on the tandem like that was about the same as riding a century alone.
