Long time lurker - couple of pre purchase questions

Jammyb

Pedelecer
Jun 30, 2016
67
4
45
southampton
Hi Peeps, been a long time lurker on here since trying a gtech sport about a year ago.

I'm wanting to convert my Voodoo Marasa Hybrid with a light weight (ish) rear wheel hub kit. Looking at purchasing the YOSE Power kit on ebay from ysbattery-2012.

Looking at this kit:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36V350W-E-bike-black-Hub-Motor-Conversion-kit-Rear-wheel-28-36V14-5Ah-Battery-/222817723972

It seems a good price but its a freewheel. my bike has a 9 speed cassette and altus derailleur.
Could i simple purchase a Shimano 9 speed freewheel such as this to use with my existing derailleur and shifter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shimano-CASSETTE-HG400-speed-11-32/dp/B00LNH9CLW/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1519579725&sr=8-5&keywords=9+speed+freewheel&th=1&psc=1

Any downside? I did contact the seller to see if i could get the cassette wheel but they won't sell it at this kit price with the included 14.5ah battery and instead suggested the 10ah bottle battery.

Im still unsure what to do battery wise, unless its a bargain as this package seems to be I would be happy to go with a much lighter battery (something similar to the gtech 5ah). Mainly use bike for commuting 4.5 mile each way. Im a fairly fit cyclist so really want to do the conversion for the fun factor rather than rely on it heavily. Would be happy enough to get 9 mile range assisted and charge battery nightly.

This is my Voodoo bike (attached if I've done it right)
 

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Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
Could i simple purchase a Shimano 9 speed freewheel such as this to use with my existing derailleur and shifter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shimano-CA...&sr=8-5&keywords=9+speed+freewheel&th=1&psc=1
that's a cassette, similar if not same on your Marasa bike.

The kit you looked at cannot be used with cassettes.
The kit you need is something like the XF08C kit with 700C rim.

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#xf08ckit

You can re-use the cassette you already have on your Marasa or fit a new one like in that Amazon link. If you want to re-use, you will need a cassette tool with chain whip to take out the cassette (aka freehub) on your Marasa.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Chain-Whip-Cassette-Bottom-Bracket-Freewheel-Wrench-Repair-Remover-Tool-UK/371901786213
 

Jammyb

Pedelecer
Jun 30, 2016
67
4
45
southampton
ah so it is, i was searching for 9 speed freewheel. Thanks missed that was a cassette version.
Would 1 of these fit the freewheel kit:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docooler-Threaded-Freewheel-Flywheel-Replacement/dp/B01LYEWV5V/ref=pd_sbs_200_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8RG1PVMJK3X980RFA4DG
or this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SUNRACE-SPEED-INDEX-13-FREEWHEEL/dp/B01G709BQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519579725&sr=8-1&keywords=9+speed+freewheel

The XF08C kit does look nice and is probably a better quality motor and kit than the yose one I've been looking at but unfortunatley a bit above my budget.

I'm pretty set on the yose power wheel offering now just unsure whether to go for the freewheel kit with the 14.5ah battery for £381 or the cassette version of that motor/wheel for £196:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36V350W-28-700c-Rear-Motor-with-Cassette-E-bike-Hub-Motor-Conversion-kit-Black-/222817779196

If that wheel would accept my current 9 speed cassette and i could find a suitable smaller battery on amazon that would be my preferred option as i have a £100 amazon gift card i could use towards the battery.

I would like the ability to later perhaps try the shunt mod or purchase higher amp controller if i can find a suitable light/smaller amp hour battery on amazon that will happily supply a constant rate of 20amps

I really have around £400 budget but would rather keep to £300 + my £100 amazon voucher if i can.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk

DynatechFan

Pedelecer
Oct 20, 2017
215
70
t'North
Not sure if I am following this properly - you like YosePower but want to purchase from Amazon to use a voucher? Could you sell the voucher?

I have a YosePower cassette kit (not freewheel) and it works just fine, love it. The only issue I had was the spacing washers on the axle didnt seem to be quite right and I needed to add some width so the cassette cleared the frame and shifted properly - made it a pain to get the wheel in and out

I avoided the freewheel kit because (i) they are less strong as the drive side bearing is further inboard (ii) its a much bigger deal to swap freewheel / speeds than cassette (of which I have many 7s 8s and potentially 9s bikes) (iii) decent quality freewheels are expensive/hard to get - since I run heavy (me plus panniers) and fast on some pretty rubbish roads I figure a freewheel hub wasnt up to the job, for me

Elife kits on ebay are pretty much the same but there seem to be more choices for sale right now - I am looking at converting a 700c wheel hybrid bike next with one of these kits. Their batteries are ok, I might seek a better battery vendor for my next kit
 

Jammyb

Pedelecer
Jun 30, 2016
67
4
45
southampton
Thanks DynatechFan that’s some good points re the strength and availability of freewheel. Cassette version does seem to be a better option.

The yose power seller seem to list all their kit on eBay and Amazon although all a little more exspensive on Amazon ( they said it was due to higher fees they have to pay to Amazon )

I could purchase cassette kit from Amazon (to make use of voucher ) for £210 and battery from eBay or the other way round.

Would have about £200 ish to spend on battery but still trying to decide what would be best, what battery do you use on your yose power kit?

I’ll have a look at Elite cheers
 

DynatechFan

Pedelecer
Oct 20, 2017
215
70
t'North
My battery is the Yose Power 10.4Ah bottle version.

I ride aggressive and fast on my hilly c12 mile commute (with plenty of L4 and L5 assistance), this uses 50% to 75% of capacity based on the LCD3 display reading. Final voltage is typically 37.0 to 37.5V. BUT I have mostly been running in winter low temperatures, that would improve in the summer. Also L5 uses approx twice the power (c420W) of L4 (nearer 200W) so more temperate use would return a more reasonable range. Any distance at L5 drops the battery voltage noticeably, but it does recover again over a few minutes with gentler usage - so I suspect the batteries are getting a bit of a hammering at L5 - but it does make the commute lots of fun, even managed some wheelspin in the snow today :)

I had hoped to get two trips per recharge (as I did with a Merida Centre Drive running a similar battery capacity) but hub drives are effectively single speed, so less efficient. My next battery will be at least 14Ah and probably go for one recommended by @d8evh - but by then I will know I want to spend a bit more money on ebike kit, the Yose kit was an experiment in case I didnt find it worked for me - but it has, in spades
 

Jammyb

Pedelecer
Jun 30, 2016
67
4
45
southampton
Thanks that sound promising, I’ve eventually clicked the ‘buy’ button. Decided after much thought I’d go for the bundle deal with the 14.5ah battery. Would have preferred the cassette hub rather than freewheel but the fact the controller on the freewheel + 14.5ah bundle is integrated into the battery swung it for me. Really like the idea of a clean and minimal install on the bike so the thought of less wires and not having a controller to bolt to the frame or hide somewhere really appealed. Couldn’t find that battery spec with built in controller at a comparable price to buy separately. After looking on a few sites and yosepower.com it looks like the battery pack ‘might’ be the Samsung 29E 2900mAh cells (10s5p). Went for the kit on amazon to make use of the vouchers I had so it’s only cost me £305. Also ordered a 9speed freewheel. Looking forward to my first build now. Will try and take as many pics and post pros and cons as I go. Thanks for the reply’s [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DynatechFan

Pedelecer
Oct 20, 2017
215
70
t'North
nice one - good luck with the install

Probably my favourite bit of the Yose kit is how the PAS seems to know what I want it to do - its a lovely kit to use