Dahon Mu SL folding bicycle with a Bionx PL350 kit

Dennis's picture

Trip 16.7 miles at 15.5 mph average in 1hr 30mins at assist level 4 and pedaled to assist motor. The Bionx kit performed great up the hills that would normally exhaust me at the end of the ride on a non assisted bicycle. While non assisted bicycles were traveling up the steep hills at about 4-5 mph, I was able to climb the hills at 8 mph without pedaling and as high as 14 mph with brisk pedaling. I tackled the steepest hills I could find in Palos Verdes. I found that most recreational bicyclists avoided these hills and the higher I rode the better the views. At the end of the trip, I still had half a charge left on the battery indicator. attached are the views of the test ride.
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Gorgeous view, and bike!

Dennis's picture

Thanks Nick, as for your avatar, it cracks me up each time I see it!

Trip 63.6 miles at 15.2 mph average in 3 hrs 45mins at assist level 4 and pedaled to assist motor. The location is from Redondo Beach, California to Malibu pier via the bicycle path on the beach and via pacific coast hwy when the bike path ended. I also took a detour on carbon canyon rd for a scenic hill view of the bay. The Bionx kit performed well and enabled me to travel this distance at a good pace even though I have not trained consistantly due to long work hours. At mile 55, I ran out of "pedal" gas and then used the throttle to motor home at 15mph. I carried a spare battery in a back pack for the trip but did not need to install the 2nd battery until mile 50 due to alot of pedaling to improve range. I noticed as the battery drained down, the motor assist also slowed down gradually until the battery is drained and the motor ceased to assist at mile 50. The only negative part of the trip was during the pacific coast hwy leg. That's when the road narrowed and cars were passing me very closely at highway speeds! At that moment, I really wished the motor had more power so I could speed up and limit my time spent there. attached are a couple of pictures of the bike at Malibu pier.
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Dennis's picture

After testing the system for over 500 miles, I am going to give a brief review of the Bionx PL500HS system paired with a Schlumpf high speed drive. Top speed is 26 mph on the flats throttle only with a combined weight of rider and bike of about 200lbs with a spare battery carried in a backpack. When I pedal along at full throttle, max speed is 29 to 30 mph on the flats, but it's really exhausting to try to keep that up for more than a couple of miles but it's a great work out and the pedal cadence is kept at a normal pace with the Schlumpf HS drive, even at speeds above 26 mph at full throttle and when pedaling down a steep hill non assisted at over 40mph. Range is pretty good if I pedal alot, about 38 to 45 miles per battery. Full throttle blasts at top speed with pedal assist would reduce that to about 18 to 20 miles per battery, but at that speed I have not encountered many road bikes that can keep up with me for more than 2 to 3 miles on the flats, even when they are drafting close behind me. Except for one that did pass me at the end of a 43 mile ride during a 2 mile sprint when I was too worn out to pedal assist much above 27mph, but I still caught and passed him at mile 3 using throttle only at about 24 mph when he reached his V20 max. Going up hill, No non assisted bike can keep up. On steep down hills, road bikes have a few mph edge due to the cogging effect of the hub motor but because it's a high speed low torque motor, the cogging is not as bad as the higher torque PL350 motor.
Schlumpf high speed drive specs: low gear retains normal ratio for the 52T front crank ring, but at high gear it's increased by 2.5 times, ineffect turns it into a 130T front crank ring. back is 14T-28T freewheel.
A few pictures of the bike at Malibu Bluffs Park, Calif. Distance covered was about 72 miles with 2 batteries.
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Dennis's picture

Update: total miles logged on Bionx PL500HS 1252 miles, no wear problems, all stock batteries are dead, purchased 4 x 36 Volt 10 Ah LiFePO4 batteries from Ken at http://us.itselectric.ca/Batteries_s/24.htm...battery box modified by Ken's friend. Battery control board used is the damage board that no longer has regen (can not use regen with after market batteries because it fries the battery board during steep downhill runs)... Top flats max pedal assisted speed same as above, no problem stopping with the stock V-brakes (will need to change the original rear brake pads soon)...Top downhill speed 51 mph with vigorous pedaling in highest Schlumpf gear.
see link for photos:
http://s488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/falcosparverius/toys/?action=view&current=IMG_0717Custom.jpg
http://s488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/falcosparverius/toys/?action=view&current=IMG_0716Custom.jpg
http://s488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/falcosparverius/toys/?action=view&current=IMG_0712Custom.jpg

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