Magic Pie kits and Alien Ocean

[NeilP]

They come up on ebay now and again. but from what you say I just think you will be very disappointed with the additional weight of an ebike...best to try or hire one first to get an idea

Well yes, I have seen the standard slow e-bikes that people ride around here, and definitely do not want one of those, they are just too slow, so that is why I was asking about the Magic Pie kit.


So yes, jbond... My first thought was for the Magic Pie kit...it is the first type I had seen, I had not read real bad stuff about them, all I had seen on here was that some one saying they were 'old technology'...so to my mind that implied that there was newer better stuff around.

The rack thing is not an issue...I can always build a new holder to go between the tubes for the battery...water bottle style...I do a bit of welding/fabrication. steel/ally etc,so that is not an issue.

[eddieo]

there are better established kits at a price, from the likes of BionX and Ezee. Wisper have an interesting kit coming soon as well

but Alien kit would do the job as well

[Andrew]

Hi Neil,
I'm new to this forum and have just bought a Magic Pie kit from China and got it for £150 cheaper than off Alien Ocean and that includes shipping and custom charges from the shipper. However, GM's quality control is notoriously bad. My kit actually arrived with a rip in the rim. Luckily i contacted a company in Liverpool who use GM's bits for E-wheel chairs and they sent me a replacement rim and they claimed a replacement from China themseleves which was very good of them. Although i had to pay someone to resspoke the new rim.

In retrospect, would i have upfronted the extra £150 to get a UK warranty...... Yes probably. It has been stressful tracking the parcel from China, communication with China is very very limited. It very unnerving when a 3" rip in the rim has not been spotted during manufacture. it makes you wonder how well put together the rest of the kit is.

If you want speed i suggest you go for their 1000w 901 pro kit as ths will be faster, quieter, lighter, smaller and more discrete than the huge magic pie. The magic pie is designed to have more torque for getting up hills easier and to pull heavier loads so it could be a good choice if you are on the heavier side.
You will add about 13kg's to a bike with a magic pie kit if you choose the 48v 12ah battery. most people report about 23mph on a pie on the flat with no pedalling. Th controller that comes with the kit is meant to be a 50amp max current, but it seems it has a safety limit on it to more like 20A max.
you get a USBcable that fits to the controller and you can get software free from the GM website which allows you to change the current and the voltage. But as the controller is limited so low changing them will make little difference. most people report changing the voltage from 48 down to 24v will give a bit more speed and torque, but again you'd have to make sure the motor is not getting hot.

I'm still in the final stages of setting up the pie so have not tested it yet. But even before riding it i'm wishing i'd bought the 1000w 901 pro kit instead, as it's quieterand has a more discrete smaller motor. i also went for the internal controller on the pie but this has now limited me to making future changes. So i also wish i went for the external. the one benefit to the pie kit and internal controller is it can be set up really neatly. I have all the wires bunched together going across the top bar , so apart from the pie motor itself the bike still looks neat and discrete as it did before the conversion.

Neil, if you reply to this thread for more info i will try and put up some photos next week and also give you some first impressions of the pie.


Andrew

P.S Hi my names Andrew i'm in the UK, I'm new to the forum

[NeilP]

Yes, please, any pics or more info greatfully received

Cheers

Neil

[jbond]

Yes, so that is why I am asking about the Magic Pie Kits with claims of 25 to 30 mph...that is what I am after...something quicker than my currant pedal power speed......an electric kit that only gives 15 mph is ...well words fail me here.....pointless...if all it can do is 15 mph..you may as well just pedal.

I think you should take a look at this.
I took Flecc's advise - and created a monster...

Like it or not, 15mph is the legal assisted limit. So inevitably most of the market produces kits and bikes that cut power at that speed. Geared hubs tend to be designed to match so the point where they start to freewheel and no longer provide assist is typically in the 15-20mph range at their design voltage. To get more than that you have to start playing games. eg
- Take a motor geared for 15mph in 20" and lace to a 26-700c rim
- Run a 36V motor at 48V
- Step outside EU legality completely with a direct drive hub like a crystalite

Or just accept the downsides of weight and a very slight bit of extra drag for the ability to ignore hills at less than 15mph. In other words, get just enough assist to take the sting out of the hills but ride on pure pedal power elsewhere.

[NeilP]

Thankfully I am not in the UK...or in the EU...and I do not believe we have anything covering electric bikes yet..at least not what I have been able to find out.

My regular average speed on my MTB varies 15-18 mph on the Garmin cycle computer anyway... so a 15 mph helper is a bit of a waste of time really. Carrying all that extra weight around for a few hills is a bit pointless, I reckon it would only slow my average speed down, I would expect.

They can make electric motorbikes (Zero Bikes) that can do up to claimed 67 mph..so a reasonable 30 mph bicycle kit should not be out of the question..

willl search for these crystalite units you mention. Thanks

[jbond]

Look on Endless-sphere.com • View forum - E-Bike General Discussion There are lots of people there building crazy powerful electric bikes.

But note, your average speed may be >15, but what's your average on hills?

I'm OK with people being a little bit illegal in the UK. I really don't see the problem with bikes that do 20 assisted or even 30 assisted while going down long steep hills. But being able to do 40 on the flat while still claiming to be a bicycle feels like bad news for all of us. I absolutely do not want any additional attention from the forces of awe and boredom.

[magickmike]

Look on Endless-sphere.com • View forum - E-Bike General Discussion There are lots of people there building crazy powerful electric bikes.

But note, your average speed may be >15, but what's your average on hills?

I'm OK with people being a little bit illegal in the UK. I really don't see the problem with bikes that do 20 assisted or even 30 assisted while going down long steep hills. But being able to do 40 on the flat while still claiming to be a bicycle feels like bad news for all of us. I absolutely do not want any additional attention from the forces of awe and boredom.

I built a bike that might interest. It is a 36v Bafang 350w climber motor (code 14) in a 700c wheel with a 500w controller and thumb throttle and pedal sensor. The battery is a 48v 10ah lifepo4 from Vpower. It does 22mph on the throttle and assists up tp 18.5 mph using the pedal sensor. It is slightly Uk illegal but I live in a very hilly area and needed the extra torque. All the parts came from BMS battery and although the shipping time is longer than they quote, I have always recieved the correct items and they have been well packaged.

[jbond]

I built a bike that might interest. It is a 36v Bafang 350w climber motor (code 14) in a 700c wheel with a 500w controller and thumb throttle and pedal sensor. The battery is a 48v 10ah lifepo4 from Vpower. It does 22mph on the throttle and assists up tp 18.5 mph using the pedal sensor. It is slightly Uk illegal but I live in a very hilly area and needed the extra torque.

That doesn't sound a whole lot different from the Aurora. That's a code 13 BPM motor in a 26" rim with a 36V10AHr battery. I can't quite remember, but I think the codes are for smaller (9=20") wheels through larger (14=700c).

[magickmike]

That doesn't sound a whole lot different from the Aurora. That's a code 13 BPM motor in a 26" rim with a 36V10AHr battery. I can't quite remember, but I think the codes are for smaller (9=20") wheels through larger (14=700c).

I agree it is similar to the Aurora, but as I had no knowledge of that bike. It must be a case of great minds (or fools). My build including the Giant expression 23" frame (I am very tall) that I built it on was significantly cheaper than the Aurora. the total cost was just under £650.