About to take the plunge... final advice please

[DBrown67]

About to order a rear 350W BPM kit with 20 amp controller and 36V / 17AH battery. Buying kit from a reputable dealer as I want some backup. This is my first build.

It's going into a Giant Escape 1 model. I test rode Oxygen S-Cross CB and Wisper SE bikes today and I liked them both. Oxygen a bit more stylish and had lots of power range. Wisper actually felt more comfortable but didn't feel like it had the power "headroom" the Oxygen had and the frame was a bit small for me at over 6" and 95kgs. Anyway, I digress...

My Giant is like an old pair of slippers and it's cheaper to convert than buy new. I just weighed it today and it's 13kgs so should be a good few kgs lighter than a new bike when done. I think? (Though a bit arbitary when a fat git like me climbs aboard)

I'm no speed demon. I like to cruise at around 17-20mph on the flat. I keep the speed to 25mph on downhills, so I'm a bit of a wuss. Torque and hill climbing is my main requirement. The bikes I rode today were perfectly fine... but I wanted a bit more. Greedy perhaps? How much of a boost will that kit give over those bikes? I'm quite happy to pedal along and put some effort in. I won't rely on pushing a throttle.

I know some people are gonna say get the 500W motor but will that negate the range of the 17AH battery? My supplier doesn't offer 500W kits that I know of anyway.Will that motor be better on a different battery? 48V? Just some possible tweaks to the order. I'm not gonna sway much.

I've been looking into this for a while now and with so many options it gets intimidating. I need to finally nail this tomorrow get the order in, and get riding my bike!

 

[Woosh]

if you like the Oxygen, the BPM has grunt but less refined. The 48V SWX02 kit is much more like it, but with more torque than both the Oxygen and the BPM.

 

[Woosh]

Mark F converted his Carrera with the 48V SWX02:

cost:

Carrera Vulcan: £384
48V kit with 48V 12AH battery: £569
DNP 8-speed freewheel: £10
Total: £963

The Rio MTB with 36V 13AH battey costs £1,069, has less torque and less range.

 

[Tarmacexpert1962]

Mark F here (Tarmacexpert1962) can happily confirm I am very very happy with the Woosh 48v SWX02 as it has so much low end grunt and demolishes the off road climbs, really does have some oomph and I feel happier with a legal 250w, (it peaks at 750w at times) its also extremely quiet and refined and off road will do 35 - 40 miles range with 2000 ft of climbing and a lot of assist at levels 4 -5 up the climbs. In fact in Richmond park and the Thames Towpath you need to tone it down on level otherwise I feel like a Hooligan!! I run 2.3 inch Knobbly MTB Tyres and run at a low 30 psi Tubeless so with higher pressures and skinnier tyres on tarmac it will be much further. Picked up the brand new 20" Carrera Vulcan for just £230 doubling up vouchers and a 20% Halfords discount. It was a 27.5 inch wheel and converts nicely to 26" Wheel. I am posting this in New Members as well as first time posting and this site has been very handy with tips and advice.

 

[DBrown67]

OK thanks for the advice guys. I ended up buying the BPM 350W rear kit. I would have got the 48V SWX02 as advised here but they didn't have it available in a 700c wheel until late July. I definitley needed to buy from a reputable vendor with it being my first build. Once I get more confident with this hobby then I'd chance my arm and buy a bit more direct, though I don't expect to be owning multiple bikes in all honesty.

The kit fitted quite easy for a n00b like me. Really liked how you just fit the new brake levers and it's job done for the brake sensors. I was expecting to mess around with magnets and such. The PAS sensor isn't suitable for my bike so I need to sort that out. But for now I can use the bike with throttle and I'm very impressed so far. I might put my own restriction on the throttle as I've read it can hurt the battery if used too much. Overall the bike is much more powerful than any I've test ridden to date but to be fair I've only tested four.

All those four were good as well but the surprising thing was I'd put the new Carrera Crossfuse at the bottom as it just didn't feel like riding an ebike. I knew I was getting assistance but I didn't feel any "oomph" from the Bosch system. Some may prefer that more pure cycling experience but for me I like to know there's a little horsie in there, if know what I mean?