EZEE Sprint on Ebay £125

[gkilner]

EZEE Sprint on Ebay £125 - SOLD - SOLD - SOLD

I've just noticed an Ezee Sprint - 3 speed for sale on ebay. I'm not sure how old it it is. But it looks very cheap at £125 Buy It Now.

I thought someone could be intersted.

Item number 130163406979 - based in Norfolk.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

EZEE Sprint

Chears gkilner saw than decided two buy buy buy, I will let you know if its a peach or a lemon when I pick it up .

 

[gkilner]

I don't think you can go far wrong at that price Andy. I was very tempted myself, but it was a bit too far away.

I hope you're happy with it.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Yes it’s only around the corner from me as you say at that price I can make my money back in spares if it tunes out to be duffer . This is the second electric bike I have bought in a week the first being Flecc Lafree which I am over the Moon about . My Heinzmann may well be up for sale soon if anyone is interested, ebike seem to be turning into an obsession for me

 

[flecc]

Well done Andy, it can only be about three years old or so. It wasn't long before that the prototype Sprint (named Forza then!) was tried by A to B.
The big problems with those early ones was waterproofing and the corroded connections that resulted.

Best bet when you have time and especially if it's not running/not running well, is to go over all connections to clean and remake them. The battery was an NiMh and it will be at the end now of course. £200 for a new NiMh, or £250 for Li-ion which works in the old models too.
.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

I understand the battery is likely to be near the end of life, just so happens I picked up a second Heinzmann 36v 8amp battery not long back that had been recelled, not very well mind you, I had to rewire it when it arrived as my charger did not turn off at the expected time, the themister wasn’t connected and heat senses weren’t in the right places still in good condition and works fine now, so it looks like I might be Scavenging the batteries out of that if necessary. Handy to know about the waterproofing problems ,I will be giving the bike a good going over when it arrives. I spoke to the person that is selling the bike a little while ago, he has a Doughter that lives near me and is willing to drop the bike off tomorrow evening so no train journeys this time, how lucky is that.

 

[Ian]

I bought a secondhand Sprint on ebay a while ago, battery was u/s and front rim was damaged although the seller was honest and had made this very clear. As I already had the parts to repair it the £100 I paid for the bike made it very cheap, the only parts I had to buy were a set of spokes at £14 and a solid seat post (I don't like sprung ones). I did have some minor problems with corroded connectors under the bottom bracket, as noted by Flecc above. I stripped the bike down, gave everything a really good clean and apart from a few small paintwork scratches it's now as good as new.

PS Andy, the corroded connector continued to give trouble so I simply removed it and soldered the wires together, insulating them with heat shrink, it's been fine since then.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

I now have the Sprint she looks like she just came out of the shop,

[/URL][/IMG]

I have taken her out for a quick ride around the block seems ok, there are a few marks on the battery case and the lights don’t work, but I am fairly shore I will be able two get them to work,on a more worrying note the charger that came with it is a lead acid charger (see pic)

[/URL][/IMG]
I think this charger will be Dangerous to use on nimh batteries even though the voltage and amp on charger seem right. it would be nice to be able to test theses batteries before I recell them but if this charger has been used for any amount of time these batteries may already be beyond hope.

 

[Ian]

Andy, the charger is obviously not the correct one but could be used carefully with the NiMh battery as long as it's voltage is high enough. 4-5 hours at 2A would be a suitable charge from flat but keep an eye on the battery temp and be prepared to terminate the charge if it gets too warm, say above 40 degC, or if you have a voltmeter terminate the charge when the battery voltage reaches 42V. It is possible that the LA charger will not be able to reach this voltage as LA cells do not have such a high fully charged voltage.

Up until about 18 months ago the Sprints had dynamo lighting so sorting it shouldn't be difficult or expensive.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Nice one I have a voltmeter so no problem keeping an eye on voltage and temp, already fixed lights wires needed pushing into the dynamo and a blown rear light bulb a little rust inside lens cover.
I will charge the battery up to 42v and test the bike out in the morning Thanks .

 

[flecc]

That was always the weakness with that supplied dynamo, the wires drop out very easily.

You may not even be able to reach that 42 volts with that charger, the original NiMh charger having 53 volts quiescent, and that SLA one probably wont get anywhere near that high. As Ian says, almost certainly safe to use it, but it could leave you short of range. Still, the battery is probably well down on range anyway at it's age.
.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Ezee Sprint Test

The Lead acid charger managed to charge the battery two full last night, I took the case apart so I could keep an eye on the temp of the batteries well they were being charged the temperature sensor was just hanging lose inside the case so I used a glue stick to attach it to one of the middle batteries, I let the charge go two 42.5Volts at which point the batteries started to get warm so turned the charger off, checked the Voltage this morning before going out the voltage had dropped to 41.6Volts.
The first 9 miles were though Norwich city a fare few starts and stops then went on to marriotts way Norfolk Countryside which is an old N gauge railway track very flat, After all the rain we have had is the last 24 hours it was quit muddy with a lot of puddles,the bike got very muddy and wet but no problems with the electrics which these early model are known to have, although I still intend two waterproof the bike when I get a chance. The battery meter on the handle bars didn’t seem to be very accurate so decided to turned it off as it was misleading,The battery Started to drop off power at a distance of 22 miles dead at 23 miles, tested the voltage when I got home 34.7Volts = 1.15Volts per cell,. I think a run on tarmac the battery will last a little longer, I will leave the recelling a little why’ll, a few full changes and discharges mite also improve the battery’s performance, as I don’t know when it was last balances if ever. Time will tell. I have ridden a few Electric bikes now this is a very easy bike to ride without power, not as light as my Giant Lafree but a little more comfortable with the front suspension and the big sprung seat, its a good hill climber and will cruse at 16 mph no problem and will go up to 18 mph when needed, the motor is quiet and smooth with plenty of toque all in all a very nice ride .

 

[flecc]

A great buy then Andy, and as you say, not worth recelling yet with that range. They are good climbers despite being hub motors, plenty of power, and Norfolk shouldn't present it any problems.
.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Hi this is an update on my EBay purchase, I have had the Ezee Sprint for 3 weeks now it a lovely bike very comfy and easy to ride, the charger (Lead acid) doesn’t turn off when full charge is reached, I tested the charger to see its cut off point tuned out two be 46.4 volts, so I added 3 more 8amp NiMh cells with flecc`s battery upgrade
tbike2
I still keep an eye on the charge status and turn it off at 46.2, well I had the battery case apart I found a label with the date of the battery 01/02/2002, which makes the bike the same age as the Giant Lafree I got from Flecc, the only other change I have made was two take off the 20 tooth sprocket and replace it with the Giant Lafree`s 17 tooth, (The Lafree has now got the 16 tooth sram sprocket). The gearing is a lot better for me as I prefer help with top end speed the motor gives plenty of assistance up to 18 mph and will still give a little help at 20mph, the fastest I have managed is 35 mph down hill and was very stable. The avenge range of the battery is 19 miles which is very good for a battery that is 5 years old the bike couldn’t have been used much which shows in its condition and range. It shows there are bargains out there you just have two be looking in the right place at the right time .

 

[gkilner]

Hi,

Someone on ebay is selling a used Ezee Nimh charger - although there is no buy it now option, and it still has 9 days to go.

Item number: 230188573878

It could be worth keeping an eye on.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Thanks
I think a lot of people will be interested in that with all the ezee li-pol owners wanting to change to NiMh and the NiMh owners wanting a spare to keep at work.

I texted the person selling the Charger on EBay she had a second charger, and agreed to sell that one for 20 notes + p&p, just charged the Sprint nice two see a green light at fall charge, no more need for a volt meter and stopwatch.