Kit for slower conditions!?

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bikefreakvinnie
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Joined: Friday, March 27, 2009 - 12:06
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Kit for slower conditions!?

Hey,
Thanks for the replys to my previous post!
In my neck of the woods cycling conditions are fairly tough! There isn't a whole lot of safe straight stretches where you can crank the speed to the max! In fact my idea of converting a front hub electric kit is to help with all the stopping and starting i have to do over a 12 mile commute. Its the stopping and starting i find tiring! On occasion where the road is too dangerous or where motorists are particularly unpredictable i'd take to the footpath for a stint where due to pedestrians and obstacles i'd go slow at about 10 miles an hour!

From reading up on the conversions, a lot of folks seem to like doing up to 25 miles an hour, and this seems to be the expected working conditions of most kits. For myself in my local conditions a kit that can aid me with alot of starting off and lower speeds such as 10 to 15 miles an hour would be the right job!

Are standard kits or the kits kindly recommended to me in my previous post suitable for my needs such as:
The aotema front hub kit from High Tech Bikes, or the Wilderness Energy kits with sla batteries.

Again thanks for all the help...

gmouchawar
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Joined: Saturday, February 9, 2008 - 14:20
Points: 63
Re: Kit for slower conditions!?

From what I understand you seem interested in torque but not speed. Torque helps you
going from a standstill.
If that is the case, I highly recommend a geared hub motor. I have used the Heinzmann
on my EVG and it does just what you stated above. With a 24V controller, it gets
you up to 12mph. It also has a freawheel where you don't feal the motor drag at all.
Excellent setup and a quality product from a German co. The Heinzmann is brushed, so
you can use it with a off the shelf inexpensive controllers.
I know there is also a BMC made brushless one, but they are at least twice the price
and people have had problem with the plastic gears.

New_Guy
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Re: Kit for slower conditions!?

I'm a lot late on this, but maybe someone else can find my reply useful.

I've been using a Cyclone Taiwan motor for about 4 months now. It works good for me. I kinda actually really like it.

I like to take my bike along the canal and into the bog [on roads of course]. The conditions vary from rough pot holed tarmac to muddy foot paths. Being able to shift into the lowest gear on my freewheel and just creeping along is great.

I have what they call a 650 watt motor. but am only running it with a 24 volt pack so I think it is in the 500 watt range. Their site is a 'little' short on details and long on exaggeration.

It'll go 35 kph easy enough but the speed limit for electric bikes here is 25 kph and that's fast enough for me. I do like going faster in roundabouts though. People around here don't have a millisecond to spare and I've had some close calls when I wasn't keeping up.

My setup is illegal in the EU, but I don't think the Guards are going to give an old guy any flak. At least the ones next door haven't.

The 10 amp hour LiFePo4 battery pack gives me around a 15 kilometer range. Yes I know, all you thunder thighs out there are ready to run a rant on me for being a weeny, but that's what I get.

Installing it isn't that hard, but I did have to take it to a bike shop to install the longer axle. The instructions are a bit vague. The alignment is important. You know you've got it right when you can push the bike backwards without the chain coming off. Buy the bike after you get the kit so that you know that it will fit.

dogman
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Re: Kit for slower conditions!?

Actually I find my aotema motor really works well at slow speeds, and of course, range really improves there too. I can take the bike into the dirt tracks and go up some pretty steep hills. The secret is pedaling along in the right gear, and then using only enough throttle to go the speed that you travel in that gear. It's not natural, so many don't discover this. If you put too much throttle on when it is steep, the motor stalls, shudders, and it seems like this won't work. Back off, pedal more, and you breeze right up some amazing steep grades. It can also be hard to get used to using the lowest gear on a MTB. It can be hard to even keep your balance at first, going 3 mph.

As for using it on normal travel, like on a road or trail that is not super steep, the motors work really well at slower speeds, regardless of the brand. They love to go slower since they don't heat up so much, and will run amazing distances compared to full throttle. I find 10-15 mph is really the sweet spot for my motor. At that speed it'll do 60 miles with no overheating.

If, however, you are interested in just using the motor to get going, and pedal the rest, you definitely need a gearmotor. They will coast the best, and let you pedal with less effort. The lightest setups are bafang motors and lifepo4 or lipoly batteries.

Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global

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