BD36 vs BL36 Urgent

You may have the answer allready from the other post on enhancements. Now we know the bl36 can run on 48 volts just fine. I'd buy the kit at the discount and overvolt. Unless, like me, you climb a real bitch of a hill. My hill is 700 vertical feet tall, so I do need brushed. At 48 volts the bl hub will go just as fast as the bd at 36. And go farther too. So unless your hill is huge, you are good to go.

If you are set on the bd36, try batteryspace. I got one without the battery and bag for $304 including shipping. Somehow I got a free charger too!

Cloud EV also has the bd36 with batteries at a decent price.

Be sure to read this thread about a BL36 on 48v (they are happy enough)
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3697-bl36-enhancements-standard-system
At least two people report the (2007?) BL36 does 24mph on flat ground @ 48v.

The 2008 BL36 is supposedly "greatly improved" so if it's the 2008 model you might be getting quite a value if they sell it to you for the same price as as the brushed model.

All we know from other reports is the older BL36 is slower than the BD36, there is nothing about the 2008. Maybe they replaced the controller or maybe it's a faster motor. Total guess of course - you might end up with the same old BL36.

Kinda crazy they are offering that exchange, unless dealer cost is much lower than I suspect or perhaps you paid too much.

How far is your route? If you are trying to do more than 12 miles roundtrip on the stock setup with SLA, apparently the BD36 isn't going to do it unless you stay under 20mph, but the BL36 will (based on reports).

With 12.5 miles to go each way, unless you know you can afford LifePo4 batteries soon ($400-$600) I'd probably go with the BL36. It's a good thing you can charge at work as the drain on the SLA will kill the life of the batteries in no time if they sat drained for that long. You could slip in a 4th 12ah SLA battery for about $22 or so if you find 20mph not fast enough and that will make it 24mph.

It's probably important for me to point out I have no personal experience with either setup yet, I've just read bunches for several weeks now and can guess from other people's experiences.

Make sure they are sending you the 12ah (extended) batteries.
You'll need them if you want to go flat out (top speed) the whole way.

OOps! You said range wasn't important. I should have clued you in that BD36 range at 25 mph is six miles. Do not believe any retailers range figures ever. You do need the BL motor to go that far unless you buy a big lithium battery like i did. At full throttle my 36 volt 20 ah Lifpo4 gets me 18 miles and that includes a big hill. Range increased dramatically if you can help by peadaling which means slow since it's hard to add watts if you can't keep up with the wheel. With the stock 12ah lead batteries the furthest I ever rode was 10 miles, peadaling a lot for that, and never exceeding 12 mph. The BL hub will be the one you want, and for the same range, but more speed, 48 volts. As you must know, 48 volt chargers are cheap on ebay. Good Luck, you got a great price. As soon as the olympics are over, you can get a ping battery when he starts up again.

You are doing the right thing for sure if you need to go that far. 8 miles is about the limit for brushed on the stock battery. I have found the 25 mph about fast enough considering the need to dodge glass, hubcaps, etc and just the bumps start to thrash the rims and spokes by that speed. One thing about speed is it kills range, so at 20mph you should be able to get there and back if you peadle along. You'll be suprised how much you can peadle without getting so overheated and sweaty with the e bike. At the price you are getting, you can afford lifepo4 that much sooner.

I could be wrong, but I thought the 400 watts was the 24 volt kits. I think controllers used to be 20 amp, and are now 35 amp, and I have seen somewhere a brushess 50 amp controller, so maybe you get that. I'm really not sure though, I'm the brushed guy.

Just looked up the bl36 on the we website, and it lists the bl as 600 watts with a 50 amp controller, and the old faq pages say it's 400. Hopefully you got the 50 amp controller which will be faster. Got a good laugh at the price of a BL36, they are sold out, so they list it at $3,000. LOL.

I know you guys think brushed gives you more speed vs. BL. What about climbing ability? All things being equal: motor size, batteries, incline?