Quoted message said:
Anyone here have a bicycle that they converted to
electric use?
If yes... how is it working out?
I've done three and I am working on a fourth. They've all worked out
in their own ways, but none of them have been so satisfactory as to
keep me from wanting something more.
My first conversion was a completely homemade affair using cheap
electric scooter parts. It had good performance (cruise at 18-20mph
with good climbing), mediocre range of roughly 10 miles in hilly
Seattle, and iffy reliability (it threw its drive chain regularly).
The bike weighed just under 80 lbs. On the plus side, it cost me just
a little over $200 plus the bike.
My second conversion was a Crystalyte brushless hub motor kit I bought
directly from the manufacturer in China. I paid almost $600 for the
kit, and I had to build my own wheel because I needed a special rim.
Performance was comparable to my first conversion, but without the
ability to coast freely because of magnetic drag in the hub.
Reliability was good, and the bike weighed just over 100 lbs. The
biggest change from my earlier electric bike was an increase in range
to about 20 miles.
My third conversion was a brushed hub motor system on a cruiser for my
wife. It was slow (not more than 15 mph), with short range of about 8
miles; but it was also cheap, simple, and easy to use for its intended
purpose of neighborhood errands.
The conversion I'm working on now is an upgrade of my second conversion
(the brushless hub motor). I have increased the system voltage to 48V
for more speed (up to 30mph), and I have switched to a stronger bike
frame and moved the batteries to a trailer. It is no longer directly
comparable to a normal bike.
For a first/only conversion, I recommend a hub motor kit for its
simplicity and adaptability to a range of bikes. Wilderness Energy
offers inexpensive brushed hub motor kits ($190 to $350). There are
more efficient hub motor kits of varying levels of sophistication, some
using brushless motors. Heinzmann and BionX are the best and most
expensive ones at $1000 to $1500; GoHub is a solid kit that doesn't
require a lot of technical expertise or finish work to install and
carries a modest price ($570).
The Currie/USPD kit is another option (if you can find this
out-of-production item), but it requires that you have a rear wheel
built around the Currie hub, and it limits your choices of gearing
somewhat.
An easily available stock kit, in my experience, will not give you
satisfactory performance if you do not wish to pedal. They are all
intended as assist to the pedals and not as the bike's sole source of
propulsion. There are choices available for an electric moped that
will not be pedaled much, but they are more DIY than the package kits.
Any electric bike conversion done on a modest budget will be heavy (40
to 50 lbs. added to the bike is typical), so use a good sturdy bike to
start with. Sealed lead-acid batteries are the baseline power source,
and they will comprise most of the weight of your kit. Know where they
will be mounted and whether that's acceptable to you before you buy a
kit. For instance, most kits place the batteries on a rear rack; if
you want to use your rear rack for other things, you'll have to figure
out another place to put the batteries.
You can have reasonable range, reasonable speed, or reasonable system
weight, but not all three at the same time. If you play your cards
right, you can have two out of the three. If you want to go more than
20 miles at more than 20mph, you may have to live with a bike that
weighs 100 lbs. or more. Having a clear idea about what speed and
operating range you really need will help you find what you are looking
for. You will make of the most of your purchase cost and system weight
by buying only as much performance as you will actually use.
Chalo Colina
