Folding bike for weekend cruising

[stano9]

Hello, I am looking to get a folding electric bike for relaxed riding on the weekend. I have a non-electric gravel bike which I use for commuting and fitness, so I'm planning to get a cadence sensor electric bike for when I don't want to put in much effort at all.

I have a few things I'm trying to solve for. I'm tall (6'4") and heavy (108kg), I'll also need a big battery as my weekend rides tend to be long ones. I'm really struggling to find bikes with cadence sensors and also big batteries, so would appreciate any help.

I also can use the cycle2work scheme, but happy to go second hand + conversion kit if that makes more sense.

 

[saneagle]

Hello, I am looking to get a folding electric bike for relaxed riding on the weekend. I have a non-electric gravel bike which I use for commuting and fitness, so I'm planning to get a cadence sensor electric bike for when I don't want to put in much effort at all.

I have a few things I'm trying to solve for. I'm tall (6'4") and heavy (108kg), I'll also need a big battery as my weekend rides tend to be long ones. I'm really struggling to find bikes with cadence sensors and also big batteries, so would appreciate any help.

I also can use the cycle2work scheme, but happy to go second hand + conversion kit if that makes more sense.

Why does it have to be a folding bike. They're not so good for long rides.

 

[stano9]

Why does it have to be a folding bike. They're not so good for long rides.

Mainly for space saving at home.

Also, by long rides I just meant long by ebike standard. Unless it's a fat bike, most I see have a range of less than 50 miles on lowest assistance. I worry that in my case at 108kg that might be more like 30 miles, which would be even lower with assistance. A frequent weekend ride I do 12 miles each way.

 

[saneagle]

Mainly for space saving at home.

Also, by long rides I just meant long by ebike standard. Unless it's a fat bike, most I see have a range of less than 50 miles on lowest assistance. I worry that in my case at 108kg that might be more like 30 miles, which would be even lower with assistance. A frequent weekend ride I do 12 miles each way.

Don't go by what any bike advertisement gives for range, nor should you take any notice of what range anybody else gets on their bike. Range is specific for you and your rides. The main factors are your weight, fitness, how hard you pedal and what sort of hills are on your journeys. As you already ride a bike, you should have a reasonable amount of leg strength and stamina. I would estimate that someone of your weight would get about 30 miles from a 300wh battery over rolling countryside, 40 miles if your rides are flat. You can extrapolatefrom that what you'll get from any bike based on the battery size. The rest of the bike doesn't make that much difference.

You can make any normal bike very space-saving by fitting folding pedals and quick release screws to the stem clamp so that you can quickly fix the handlebars in line with the wheels to make the bike flat. Folding bikes take up a surprising amount of space and are generally not convenient to fold frequently.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

I saw this from David @Wisper Bikes

New bike

Hi I'm not new to ebikes having had four - two folders, two full size, two second-hand, two brand new. But now I'm newly retired I'm getting back into ebiking more seriously and think I need/want to replace my ten year old Oxygen e-Mate City, (battery not charging well and leaking front forks)...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

I'm about the same weight and height as you and a reasonably powerful pedaller and I did a lightweight akm 75 conversion with 36v 15 ah bag battery conversion. Not the most powerful of motors but I can get up a hill marked as 17% incline

That gives me 50-60 miles range over mixed terrain on the middle settings on pedal assist (level 2 on flat and downhill, level 3 on inclines and 4 or 5 up any steep hills))

Help! - Converting folder bike to cassette

Hey, leave some Carrera Disc 8s for the rest of us bro!

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[stano9]

Thanks both for your battery estimates, it's quite reassuring, as previously I was cutting out bikes with batteries below 500wh.

I saw this from David @Wisper Bikes

New bike

Hi I'm not new to ebikes having had four - two folders, two full size, two second-hand, two brand new. But now I'm newly retired I'm getting back into ebiking more seriously and think I need/want to replace my ten year old Oxygen e-Mate City, (battery not charging well and leaking front forks)...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

I'm about the same weight and height as you and a reasonably powerful pedaler and I did a lightweight akm 75 conversion with 36v 15 ah bag battery conversion. Not the most powerful of motors but I can get up a hill marked as 17% incline

That gives me 50-60 miles range over mixed terrain on the middle settings on pedal assist (level 2 on flat and downhill, level 3 on inclines and 4 or 5 up any steep hills))

Help! - Converting folder bike to cassette

Hey, leave some Carrera Disc 8s for the rest of us bro!

www.pedelecs.co.uk

That conversion looks great! If I go with conversion it would be my first attempt. I noticed this motor comes standalone. Is it better to get the parts individually or get a woosh kit?

Also Wisper have been on my radar, but are really at the top end of my budget.

 

[guerney]

Buy a battery of capacity anticipating capacity loss for future use. I used to get about 43 miles from my 19.1Ah/691Wh battery over mixed terrain (36V BBS01B mostly max assistance, 20" wheeled 2006 Dahon Helios P8 folding bike, I weighed 87kg back then). I don't know how far I'd get now using 16Wh/mile, over three years and many charge/discharge cycles later, especially since increasing controller amp limit to enable easy 25km/h climbs of most hills. My default mode is cruising about easily hills defeated no sweat. This isn't even at full power, because I forgot to increase assistance to 20A at level 9:

Unfortunately you can't easily buy fully programmable UART BBS01B mid-drives anymore, if at all, so it'll have to be some other kit.

 

[Waspy]

Mainly for space saving at home.

Where will you be keeping the bike at home?

Like saneagle says, a flattened regular bike can take up less space than a folding bike (I have folding pedals and just use an allen key to loosen the stem).

 

[stano9]

Where will you be keeping the bike at home?

Like saneagle says, a flattened regular bike can take up less space than a folding bike (I have folding pedals and just use an allen key to loosen the stem).

Under a table, the space is more suited to a cube shape than a long narrow shape.

 

[Waspy]

Under a table, the space is more suited to a cube shape than a long narrow shape.

A folder it is then.

To get round the large battery problem, you could always get a bike (or kit) with two batteries and carry the spare in a backpack/rack.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

That conversion looks great! If I go with conversion it would be my first attempt. I noticed this motor comes standalone. Is it better to get the parts individually or get a woosh kit?

Woosh kit is great and they are very helpful, Yosepower kits are good. That Carrera intercity conversion kit was from topbikekit, I bought a 20" hub motor wheel and then specified the controller / pas sensor / LCD. If you need any assistance choosing just ask here. I think it might be cheaper to buy the battery from a UK supplier than topbikekit + shipping costs

Also , if you don't mind 35 kg, there's this with 48v 20Ah Samsung battery. It claims motor rated 250w but I think I would want to do a few more checks that ot is fully UK legal

Pardon our interruption...

 

[StuartsProjects]

Brompton G-Line Electric with a spare battery ?

The non Electric I have, folds quick and easy and small, very nice to ride, more like a full size bike.

Even has hydraulic disk brakes.

 

[Waspy]

Brompton G-Line Electric with a spare battery ?

The non Electric I have, folds quick and easy and small, very nice to ride, more like a full size bike.

Even has hydraulic disk brakes.

And a thing of beauty it is too.

But £3.5k? Maybe if I win the Euromillions.

Also, they don't appear to sell spare batteries on their website.

I think I'd rather get Peter.Bridge to build me one of his look-a-like Carrera specials for about 700 quid.

And he'd probably do it for free, being as how he loves converting them so much

 

[StuartsProjects]

Also, they don't appear to sell on their website.

Spare batteries from Brompton can be an issue yes.

There is a conversion kit available for the G-Line that uses Bosch power tool batteries on the front bag block, you can get those batteries all over the World.

 

[stano9]

Thanks, I think I'll go with a Dahon and convert with woosh. That's more within budget.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Thanks, I think I'll go with a Dahon and convert with woosh. That's more within budget.

The Carrera intercity disc 8 is quite a good donor bike to convert

https://www.reddit.com/r/foldingbikes/s/Q6QVHZpCo4

 

[stano9]

The Carrera intercity disc 8 is quite a good donor bike to convert

https://www.reddit.com/r/foldingbikes/s/Q6QVHZpCo4

Looks good, but struggling to find the disc 8 or 9 version of the intercity, both second hand (in London) or brand new.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

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I only looked for disc 8, the disc 9 has 451mm rim wheels rather than 406 rims and it only takes a limited range of narrow tyres

 

[guerney]

The original 1.5" Marathon Greenguard tyres were uncomfortable, high risk of losing fillings to potholes. I don't recommend any narrower than 1.75" on 20" wheels. 1.75" is just about sufficient, but road surfaces are becoming even worse. I'll try fitting 2.125" wide on mine when 1.75" Marathon Plus wear out, if the mudguards can accomodate them (doubtful and I can't do without mudguards).

 

[Peter.Bridge]

The original 1.5" Marathon Greenguard tyres were uncomfortable, I don't recommend going any narrower than 1.75" on 20" wheels. High risk of losing fillings. 1.75" is just about sufficient, but road surfaces are becoming even worse. I'll try fitting 2.125" wide on mine when 1.75" Marathon Plus wear out, if the mudguards can accomodate them (doubtful).

I fitted the chunky all weather, all terrain, puncture resistant marathon 365 GT 20*2.15 on a disc 8