**** ADVICE PLEASE - Building my own Pedelec ???? ****

bilabonic

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 20, 2013
294
6
Hi guys planning on making my own pedelec and this site looks like the place to bbe, been reading loads on here and learnt a LOT already.

I do not like the 'look' of purpose made electric bikes BUT was nearly swayed by a Tonaro !!!

Bugdet about a £1000, VERY handy with soldering/engineering and have access to a lot of equipment as i'm an Electrical Engineer. I was brought up with a soldering iron and have plenty of heatshrink/buy waterprrof connectors etc.

Want it to go faster than 15mph (i could fit a restrictor if needed/law checks).

I will be using as a commute bike of around 25 miles in total mainly flat BUT with one steep hill as i get home for about 500m that kills me !!!!!!

Being a keen cyclist i find it crazy seeing Hardtails being used as a base bike as would not dream off usually riding one on road only, but smaller wheels/more torque i presume.

Looking at this as base bike -

Rockrider 5.3 Mountain Bike, White B'TWIN - All Bikes - On sale at Decathlon.co.uk

Want rear drive.

Been looking at these kits -

Q11 48V1KW REAR Driving E-Bike Conversion Kit. - BMSBATTERY

Mac Rear 500/1000W Pick'n'Mix Kit

Or should i go for a Hybrid with 700c wheels as i am on road at all time.

I currently ride a Felt F55 Dura Ace 53cm, Spesh Epic Carbon Comp MTB 18" and my commute i plan to replace/use in conjunction with Pedelec is a 54cm Cube Cyclocross with discs.

I want to make it OEM as possible and hide all cable etc, machine parts if necessary.

Cheers
 

amigafan2003

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jul 12, 2011
1,389
139
The Q11 motors are direct drive - have a think if that's what you really want.
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Did you see Saneagle's Kraken. If not do a search for "Kraken Build" to find it.

He uses the Bafang CST motor that has the spline for cassette gears so that you can get normal 8 or more speed gearing. Nearly all the other motors have freewheel gears that limit gearing options. For them, 8 spd is a bit tight.

The 500 w CST does 22mph (24 mph no-load) at 36v and about 28 mph at 44v. 36v is much easier.

Direct drive motors don't have an internal clutch, so if you run out of battery, you have additional drag from the motor. Geared motors have a clutch so that the motor disengages when you pedal faster than the motor, so minimal drag.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

bilabonic

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 20, 2013
294
6
Did you see Saneagle's Kraken. If not do a search for "Kraken Build" to find it.

He uses the Bafang CST motor that has the spline for cassette gears so that you can get normal 8 or more speed gearing. Nearly all the other motors have freewheel gears that limit gearing options. For them, 8 spd is a bit tight.

The 500 w CST does 22mph (24 mph no-load) at 36v and about 28 mph at 44v. 36v is much easier.

Direct drive motors don't have an internal clutch, so if you run out of battery, you have additional drag from the motor. Geared motors have a clutch so that the motor disengages when you pedal faster than the motor, so minimal drag.
Cheers d8veh, will have a look now.
 

103Alex1

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2012
2,228
67
Cheers d8veh, will have a look now.
Doubt you'd need any more power than that for one even very steep hill ;) .. you can easily fit a regular 9sp cassette (or possibly even 10sp if you wanted it) and no freewheel required. It's a very nice motor - not so fast you can't keep up with it with the right gearing setup but loads of torque and a soft ramp up to power delivery when you first engage the throttle... so less chance of doing a wheelie at the traffic lights :eek: :).