Total newbie looking to buy an eBike, want some advice on a model!

[Karliah]

Hi all,

I am looking to buy an eBike, I have an offer of a Shengmilo MX05 for £750 Brand new in box, I'm not sure if I should take it or not or look elsewhere, my budget is definitely around that price point.

Some additional information:

I have a normal bike already that I love, so I am totally open to getting a conversion kit although it is more hassle, I do have the capacity to build my own lithium ion 18650 battery with the help of a qualified electrician, if it will save me a significant sum of money.

- The shengmilo has a really long range, My health is quite bad so I would want the comfort of knowing I can get back without pedaling much of that makes sense.

One person has told me that the MX05 is not road legal, looking for some advice on this as it says it conforms to UK law, can be limited to 15mph etc, looking for some advice on that.

If you need any more info please let me know, as I said I know nothing about this sector, so all advice is welcome

 

[soundwave]

ill still kick ur ass tho

 

[Peter.Bridge]

As Soundwave linked to earlier in the thread Wisper offer fully legal full throttle individually type approved bikes.

I think Woosh bikes will mostly work without pedalling too, although I think you have to pedal initially to get the throttle to work. Check with @Woosh Tony

 

[Az.]

I can think of only one reason why it might be good to install bb conversion on your bike - if you plan to move it to a proper MTB at some point in the future..
Flecc probably would find few more reasons as... you know... Flecc is Flecc and he sees things normal people cant't

I understand your need for speed. We all been there and know that feeling, but your bike is not... a very good bike (sorry for being brutally honest). It has not been designed for high speeds.

 

[Woosh]

I think Woosh bikes will mostly work without pedalling too, although I think you have to pedal initially to get the throttle to work. Check with @Woosh Tony

The law since 1/1/2016 bans manufacturers from fitting a twist and go throttle.
you are either limited to 6mph throttle or have to pedal first before the throttle is activated and if you stop pedalling for a few minutes or use the brakes, the throttle will be de-activated, you have to pedal again a little bit before the throttle works again.
That 2016 law does not apply to users and kit builders. In practice, no one is ever booked for riding a pedelec with a throttle. We still go through a bit of a rigmarole of adding a sheet of paper attached to the bike to explain why the throttle cable is shipped unplugged so that customers are briefed before connecting the throttle plug. If someone has a medical condition with their legs, you can tell us to reprogram the controller not to require pedalling first.

 

[Cadence]

+ on this, I'm really open to buying a bike that is already put together, but if a thumb throttle or twist & go is not included its a no-go I'm afraid.

I'll be honest, my heart sometimes decides to go on a fast one and race above 200BPM for no reason, so if that happens while I am out and about I cannot pedal and increase that further as its quite dangerous for me, so I do really need a throttle that can get me back without pedaling.

I don't want to burden you all with my issue, but I thought I'd explain it because I don't have much wiggle room when it comes to that if that makes sense.

I have emailed YOSEPOWER about the walk assist mode and will see what they say, apart from that I am just on the lookout for a 250W front or rear, with a throttle up to 15.5 MPH without pedaling. I think its quite a modest request but hell am I struggling to find a suitable one!

Having explained your circumstances I can understand why you need a full throttle. Bearing in mind the highlighted part of your post, a full throttle used for any great distance will use up the battery pretty quickly. I only use it to move off sometimes or if I'm in the wrong gear. I've only used it for about 100 yards max. I can get about 40+ miles from the Yose 13Ah battery but mostly pedalling in PAS 2 (out of 5).
It's stretching your budget, but I think you should be talking to Woosh or Wisper about this.
Wisper can supply a certified UK legal full throttle bike:-
Wisper Full Throttle eBikes | Wisper Electric Bicycles (wisperbikes.com)
At 71, I'm looking ahead to what I might need in about 5 years time (assuming I'm still on the planet) and I'll be looking for a full throttle, step-through framed bike with a high capacity battery. Wisper could meet that criterea now.

 

[Karliah]

Having explained your circumstances I can understand why you need a full throttle. Bearing in mind the highlighted part of your post, a full throttle used for any great distance will use up the battery pretty quickly. I only use it to move off sometimes or if I'm in the wrong gear. I've only used it for about 100 yards max. I can get about 40+ miles from the Yose 13Ah battery but mostly pedalling in PAS 2 (out of 5).
It's stretching your budget, but I think you should be talking to Woosh or Wisper about this.
Wisper can supply a certified UK legal full throttle bike:-
Wisper Full Throttle eBikes | Wisper Electric Bicycles (wisperbikes.com)
At 71, I'm looking ahead to what I might need in about 5 years time (assuming I'm still on the planet) and I'll be looking for a full throttle, step-through framed bike with a high capacity battery. Wisper could meet that criterea now.

Thanks for that. I understand why you are saying that as you know what you are getting and it's all fully certified.

Regarding the throttle, the intention isn't to use it all the time, but I need it there if that makes sense, I would absolutely make sure that I had enough to get back on a throttle, or get to somewhere safe until it passes, I've had it for a while so I can plan pretty well.

Back to the Yosepower kit as I have an update, I sent them an email asking about this one

36V250W 26"/28" Front E-Bike Conversion Kit + 36V15.6Ah HL Plus Batter

1.Technical Data and Packing list PACKING LIST (EBK36250F26B+15HLPLUS) Item Description Quantity Remarks 1 26"/28" Wheel with Front Motor 1 36V250W Front Motor, Installation Width=100mm, Diameter=130mm.13G spokes with double wall 28" rimMax Speed: 25km/hMax Torque...

www.yosepower.co.uk

I asked

"Although in the specifications, it only says it provides assistance up to 6 km/h, when I would like full throttle assistance (Without pedalling) up to 15.5 MPH if that is possible?"




Their response

 

[Az.]

Perfect. Just what you wanted, right? Price is nice too. I paid more

 

[Cadence]

Well that looks like good news and should meet your needs. The front hub should be OK on your bike and much easier to fit than a rear one.

 

[Karliah]

Perfect. Just what you wanted, right? Price is nice too. I paid more

Well that looks like good news and should meet your needs. The front hub should be OK on your bike and much easier to fit than a rear one.

Exactly what I wanted!

@Cadence I thought you said the 250W controller only had walk assist though? Are they contradicting what you received or am I mistaken?

I fully expected them to say it only did 6 km/h

 

[Cadence]

Exactly what I wanted!

@Cadence I thought you said the 250W controller only had walk assist though? Are they contradicting what you received or am I mistaken?

I fully expected them to say it only did 6 km/h

I did say in two posts that I have no experience of Yose's front hub kits. My comments clearly related to their 250w rear cassette kit. If you look on Yose's .com EU site it does state that the throttle with that kit can only be used up to 6km/h.
E-Bike Conversion Kit 36V 250W 26"/27.5"/ 28"(700C) Rear Motor Kit for (yosepower.com)
This information isn't shown on their UK website listing the same kit. I only found out about it after I had received the kit. I would have bought it anyway as I wanted black spokes.
I've no reason to doubt what they are saying about the front kit. I've had very good responses to emails from them.

 

[Karliah]

I did say in two posts that I have no experience of Yose's front hub kits. My comments clearly related to their 250w rear cassette kit. If you look on Yose's .com EU site it does state that the throttle with that kit can only be used up to 6km/h.
E-Bike Conversion Kit 36V 250W 26"/27.5"/ 28"(700C) Rear Motor Kit for (yosepower.com)
This information isn't shown on their UK website listing the same kit. I only found out about it after I had received the kit. I would have bought it anyway as I wanted black spokes.
I've no reason to doubt what they are saying about the front kit. I've had very good responses to emails from them.

My apologies, I went back and must have misread, I will go with the front kit in that case and hopefully all goes well, I wasn't questioning the accuracy of what you said, I was more concerned that outsourced support had got it wrong - Someone on here mentioned I have freewheel anyway when I listed the model and make of my current bike, so I will go with the front kit I think and see how I get on!

Thank you so very much for the help!

EDIT:

"36V15.6Ah, High power 18650 cells.
Down tube type, controller inside. "

Does this mean I cannot use the battery with another kit in the future if the controller is inside? its confusing be a bit

 

[Cadence]

My apologies, I went back and must have misread, I will go with the front kit in that case and hopefully all goes well, I wasn't questioning the accuracy of what you said, I was more concerned that outsourced support had got it wrong - Someone on here mentioned I have freewheel anyway when I listed the model and make of my current bike, so I will go with the front kit I think and see how I get on!

Thank you so very much for the help!

No problem. I didn't think you were doubting me. It was me that suggested you might have a freewheel as you have 3x6 gears. I did find the differences between their two website listings confusing. It's worth reading through some of the feedback on the EU website on all their stuff - again there is no feedback on the UK one!
I don't think you'll be disappointed with the front hub kit. Just take your time and give some careful thought to the cable routing. I screwed a piece of black half-round trunking to the underside of the downtube, which helped a lot (from B &Q). The worst part is likely to be the over-long motor cable. Taking the wheel off to fix a puncture or swap tyres is a bit of a pain. It's even worse with a rear hub! I suggest you use velcro strips rather than cable ties.

 

[StuartsProjects]

I suggest you use velcro strips rather than cable ties.

I find these are good on cables, you can pull them tight;

 

[saneagle]

I will go with the front kit in that case and hopefully all goes well,

I can't think of any sensible reason to fit a front kit to that bike. Nearly all Chinese kits can manage a full-range throttle. You just have to plug it in and enable it in the settings. With Yose kits, front or rear, they have the same controller and same LCD, so they work the same.

 

[Karliah]

No problem. I didn't think you were doubting me. It was me that suggested you might have a freewheel as you have 3x6 gears. I did find the differences between their two website listings confusing. It's worth reading through some of the feedback on the EU website on all their stuff - again there is no feedback on the UK one!
I don't think you'll be disappointed with the front hub kit. Just take your time and give some careful thought to the cable routing. I screwed a piece of black half-round trunking to the underside of the downtube, which helped a lot (from B &Q). The worst part is likely to be the over-long motor cable. Taking the wheel off to fix a puncture or swap tyres is a bit of a pain. It's even worse with a rear hub! I suggest you use velcro strips rather than cable ties.

Will look into that definitely. I did edit my comment, probably a bit too late for you to see, about the battery and controller inside it. Wondering if it will prevent me using the battery with another kit in the future?

 

[Cadence]

Will look into that definitely. I did edit my comment, probably a bit too late for you to see, about the battery and controller inside it. Wondering if it will prevent me using the battery with another kit in the future?

The battery slides onto a downtube bracket which has the controller integrated into it. You can buy a bracket without the controller that just has two red and black wires to connect to a separate controller.

This is exactly what I have done with my two bikes. The 250w. kit came with the battery and integrated controller (which I swapped for the 350w. version, but that is also integrated).
My other bike has a 350w. kit without battery, so it has a separate controller. I bought and fitted the bracket without controller.
I thus have one battery that fits on both bikes.

You just need to make sure you get the right bracket and there are a confusing variety! The battery I have is a Hailong HL-1. They also do an HL-2 and the bracket is different. The front kit you are looking at appears to have the larger HL-2. They are available on Ebay and elsewheree.

 

[Karliah]

I can't think of any sensible reason to fit a front kit to that bike. Nearly all Chinese kits can manage a full-range throttle. You just have to plug it in and enable it in the settings. With Yose kits, front or rear, they have the same controller and same LCD, so they work the same.

Can you elaborate more on this?

I have asked here if front or rear is better but i'm no closer to understanding which is best, I've just been told that there are positives and negatives for each one - about the Rear kit -

https://yosepower.com/collections/e-bike-conversion-kit-with-battery/products/e-bike-conversion-kit-36v-250w-rear-motor-kit-for-cassette-with-36v13ah-battery-and-charger

@Cadence had this one, and it does indeed say below the specifications that the rear kit does not allow throttle above 6 km/h.

I have emailed them and checked that the front kit does allow full throttle and it does - If you are able to recommend any alternatives for a rear I am open to hearing them, the price on a front kit for that though is excellent, so I was almost sold on it.

Can you tell me why a front kit is not desireable on this bike?

 

[Cadence]

There are loads of conflicting views on this and if you want to waste some time just do a search online! There are millions of front hub-fitted bikes in the world. It just comes down to how you want to use a bike.
Rather than listing all the pro's and cons here, I suggest you read this from someone who runs a touring bike hire business in France:-
Central vs Hub motors on an E-Bike for cycle touring (bretonbikes.com)
His comments re-front and rear hub motors are the most relevant.
I happened to go for rear hubs but my choice revolved around matching the colour of the spokes and hub to a nearly new bike - I couldn't find a front one with black spokes.
I can see the advantages and disadvantages with both.
No doubt someone will be along shortly extolling the virues of mid-drive motors!

 

[Az.]

Bottle holder on your bike is located quite low. To install battery on downtube you might need to buy this:

E-Bike Battery Installation Adjustment Bracket ONLY for Hailong Battery

1.Technical DataFit for: 36V/48V Hailong batteries in these links.https://yosepower.com/products/36v-13ah-down-tube-batteryhttps://yosepower.com/products/36v-13ah-hailong-li-ion-e-bike-battery-with-4-pins-plughttps://yosepower.com/products/36v15ah-36v17-4ah-48v12-5ah-down-tube-battery2.Packing...

yosepower.com

 

[Karliah]

Bottle holder on your bike is located quite low. To install battery on downtube you might need to buy this:

E-Bike Battery Installation Adjustment Bracket ONLY for Hailong Battery

1.Technical DataFit for: 36V/48V Hailong batteries in these links.https://yosepower.com/products/36v-13ah-down-tube-batteryhttps://yosepower.com/products/36v-13ah-hailong-li-ion-e-bike-battery-with-4-pins-plughttps://yosepower.com/products/36v15ah-36v17-4ah-48v12-5ah-down-tube-battery2.Packing...

yosepower.com

Thanks for that, I didn't think about that at all