Just Registered? Introduce yourself here!

[Mandy]

Originally Posted by billmat1

Hi ,
I started reading the forum in January and having now taken the plunge and electrified my bike I think I should introduce myself and share my bike story .
I am 71 , reasonably fit , enjoy cycling around country lanes for pleasure and exercise . I live in Hastings , a hilly town until you get down to the sea front .
I always have to face an uphill return home from any direction , this was putting a damper on my biking , unless I loaded the bike into the car .
So I looked at getting a kit to convert my Marin Kentfield hybrid . I bought a Nine continent 28inch hub from Wilkotec , a 48volt 10 amp lifepo4 from mr Ping and a Cycle Analyst . The total cost was about £400 , I get a range of 35-40 miles and use the pedals fairly hard . I have now found some good bike routes that I would not have attempted in the past for fear of the dreaded hilly bits .
Regards Bill

Hi Bill
Welcome to the forum, if you can it would be great to see a pic of your conversion and the range looks great. What speeds can you achieve on an average flatish road?
Regards

[herr kut]

Hi , I have recently registered having found your site on a general search for electric bikes .
I live in West Sussex where I puff my around on a 9yr old Bromton , we ( the bike and I ) get about with the assistance of public transport and my bus pass . when it came to selecting an electic I read as much as possible about the various models but finally came back to the benefits of a folder + bus which allows me to explore new arrears on the cheap . added to this is the the knowledge that should something go wrong I am only a bus stop from home !
I am now awaiting delivery of a Nano conversion which I hope will give me the best of both worlds .
What a good site . thank you .
Regards
Peter .

[nikon201]

Hello

Just joined this forum as I believe that buying an electric bike will get me cycling again. I have a 22 mile round trip to work, and need to get up and over the north downs in Kent whichever way I go. Therefore I'm looking for something to help with the climbs and get me to and from work reasonably quick.

I hope these forums will be of some use in deciding.

[billmat1]

Originally Posted by Mandy

Hi Bill
Welcome to the forum, if you can it would be great to see a pic of your conversion and the range looks great. What speeds can you achieve on an average flatish road?
Regards

Hi Mandy ,
I will get round to taking some pics but we are away for two weeks . Flat out speed would be 22-24 mph , I use the CycleAnylist to limit the maximum current to 5-6 amps for the flat or the easy hills , ie max power limited at 250 watts . For a steep hill the limit can be removed and then there are 600-650 watts available . The controller I use is the stock one supplied by NineContinent . I do turn off the power throttle on the flat . The 40 mile range is easy by being sensible with the power , I think Mr Pings LiFeP04 battery is very good , I don't use more than 80% of the full capacity on a trip , don't want to end up pushing it home .
Regards Bill

[JK1]

Recently decided to get an electric bike and thanks to all here for their thoughts and advice. Despite some concerns mentioned about the Urban Mover, mainly regarding their after sales service, it was one of the few bikes I could try out reasonably locally and found it great to ride. It also has a rear hub which makes it much easier to transport in a hatchback car, just whip off the front wheel like any other bike and straight into the back of the car. No wiring issues to concern one. The dealer offered me that demo UM36X at a good price so bought it there and then!

I have contacted UM regarding their batteries and received good advice so very positive all round.

One of my first trips was to take it along part of the Scarborough - Whitby rail trail. I did a 17 mile run and back (34 total) though with the battery turned off for some of the long downhill sections to see how it ran without power as I thought it would never cope with the whole distance. But it did with power to spare as I did another 7 mile trip into town in the evening, all on the one charge. I have yet to experience the battery running out completely.

It is much easier to keep up a good speed as the bike quickly gets you up to 15 mph plus leaving plenty of energy to maintain that speed and more.

I had considered changing the gearing to a 13/34 tooth Megarange but on using it it really seems fine as it is. I can pedal it up to about 23/24mph before it gets silly and has yet to fail on any of the (quite steep) local hills. The highest speed on a good downhill was over 30mph. It seems lessons from the earlier UM36 have been gleaned regarding the gearing.

The only oddities I have found are a) a couple of times where I have run off a kerb it can cause a 'wobbly' in the hub that sounds like it is crunching a gear and feels like it is momentarily locking up, and b) just occasionally when I am expecting some power assist up a shallow incline it decides to leave it all to me for longer than expected before kicking back in! Probably thinks I am doing OK and can manage... thanks!!

I've yet to use it in awful weather which may cause issues with the control box that some have reported. It does look exposed adjacent to the bottom bracket with that large drain hole which looks like it could cause as much water ingress as it lets out. Not sure whether sealing that hole would be a good thing or a bad thing. Probably best to try and avoid really awful weather use where possible.

All I can say to others who read these pages is that the UM hasn't proved to be too bad so far and no real negatives about it. It is a strange feeling catching up and passing other cyclists who I would never have kept up with before.

[flecc]

Welcome to the forum JK1, and I'm glad that you are enjoying the bike. We've had others quite happy with the UM bikes and it was just the service issue that caused problems. Hopefully they've learnt and will continue to learn the importance of that.

Be careful bumping off kerbs, you could damage the motor. Firstly the rotors in these rely to some extent on magnetic balance to maintain centre when running, and the shock off the kerb can make the rotor magnets collide with the armature. That could lead to expensive damage if a magnet comes adrift.

Secondly, the spindles on these motors are hollow for a part of their length to carry in the wiring, so the spindle is potentially weaker than a normal solid bike one and might snap under a large shock.

Both of these events are rare, but it's best not to tempt providence.
.

[JK1]

Thank you for the welcome. Good thoughts there and not worth risking an expensive repair, thanks. Something to be borne in mind when riding along old railway tracks which have had the sleepers removed but have reverted to their bumpy undulating profile as that could upset the magnets too, I guess. On a normal bike it doesn't matter too much but may upset an electric one.

[flecc]

They withstand normal bumpiness like tracks ok, but off a kerb can give a very abrupt jolt. If you aren't hearing any of that grinding noise, there won't be any damage.
.

[pgtips]

Hi,

I live in Essex. Haven't ridden a bike for ages but really keen to get back into it and electric bikes open up a lot of doors for me, the biggest one being there is now no obstacle to stop me being able to cycle with my children when they are old enough !.

I haven't bought one yet but I am seriously looking around right now, I've got some minimum criteria to meet.

Firstly I'm 6'1" so it absolutely must be comfortable for my height, no point in buying one I just about fit or must be set to max height on everything.

Looking for something fairly good looking. There are some nice ones out there now like the wispas, the Kahlkoff but I haven't quite decided yet so I'll keep an eye on the classifieds.
I have considered actually buying the electrics off of eBay and fitting them to a bike but cost wise it possibly isn't worth it.

It must be able to get up and down a hill without my help, I have noted that some need assistance or the user to do most of the work, this is no good.

Lightweightish would be better, good range and maybe suspension, not sure if I need it or not but it can't hurt.

I am not sure how much i am going to spend, the right bike is more important but I'm not made of money so it may take a while. I saw a wispa on ebay but as i write it's about £550 which is a lot of money for a bike.

I can't say exactly how i found the forum, just surfing for electric bikes on google but really glad I did.

Kevin

[chris@penyfai.fsnet.co.uk]

Just gone onto part time work having been a pedal pusher for many years. I live in a village at the top of a hill called Penyfai, near Bridgend
which is between Cardiff and Swansea, so after my rides am faced with a daunting struggle to get home, invariably getting off and pushing.
Now I am facing my mid 60's I find the task of slogging up the hill a bit off putting after a pleasant ride on the flat.
I've been looking at 'tinternet for about 12 months at electric bikes and am faced with a bewildering variety, with many people advocating this, that and the other good or bad thing about all the models.
My budget would be about £500 to about (with a push) £800.
Do I go for front wheel drive? - easy to change back wheel puncture.
Rear hub drive?
Crank hub?
New or second hand?
Chinese, German, Dutch?
Lead acid, NMH, Li-ion, Polymer batteries?
Local dealer or Internet?
Maximum weight about 22 kgs?
Step through or cross bar?
I have many more queries but if any member could perhaps nudge me towards a short list of 4 or 5 I could maybe travel to a dealer and try one out.