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Indeed - the reason I used the small SLA batteries is that I had 16 of them in my garage that cost me nothing. Definitely very inferior to lithium though, both in terms of weight, charge time and performance. But they were free so meant I could try out the 250W hub kit on my wife's bike whilst...

I'd got for the smallest you can find. Some modern cars have little 25Ah batteries which should be plenty of capacity for an e-bike and weigh the least. I suspect four 110Ah car batteries would be a bit of a strain on your trailer's axle, let alone the motor trying to pull it!

I ran with three 5Ah sealed lead acid batteries for a bit whilst waiting for my 36V lithium bottle battery to arrive. They went in a box on the rear rack, totaling about 15kg. The weight is very noticeable even with those small lead acid batteries. Also the voltage started at 38V and when it...

I can't believe I've spend the last 30 years or so since I did Cycling Proficiency at school thinking that cyclists were subject to speed limits - some very useful reading there on the Slater and Gordon site (and I went on to read up more on the subject elsewhere). I guess the instructor lied to...

I can believe that - he was most likely just stopped and cautioned but not charged and embellished the story when he told us in the pub later.

Years ago a friend of mine was stopped for doing 40mph in a 30mph limit on his bike, received points on his car licence and a fine for 'Cycling Furiously' which was apparantly the only applicable charge available at the time. I have a feeling that the law has been updated to allow cyclists to be...

As said previously on this subject - if someone was actually prosecuted and was prepared to fund their solicitor to refer it up to a higher court (likely in London rather than Belfast) then it may well set the legal precedent that forces NI legislation to catch up. But as far as we know...

I've still got the 18" long Halfords branded one I bought back in 1981, and it still works. Having said that it hasn't had a huge amount of use over that time - once I had a house of my own I got a compressor in the garage. And as I rarely do more than 3 or 4 hours of cycling in a day I usually...

All updated now.

Yes- that's a very common controller used in quite a few of the 250W kits and 7A is the usual steady current for that power at 36V (ie 36x7=252W)

Zero charge according to the meter on it, or zero volts as measured with a voltmeter? You are correct in that if you allow lithium battery cells to discharge below around 3.3V then then start to suffer permanent damage, so in general they have a battery management circuit on board that won't...

I use Strava, and have created a new bike for the one that's got the 250W motor on it. The problem is that it's screwing all my personal bests that I've set on my non-powered bike. I prefer riding that bike as it's a nice Specialized hybrid with front suspension and 700c wheels, whereas the one...

Don't forget that you can alter the amount of assistance the motor's giving you. So when you encounter a headwind or hill, turn it up a bit to counteract it then turn it back down when you don't need it any more or want a bit more exercise. By doing that the battery will last longer too. I did...

That is exactly how I ride mine. I tend to travel at around 18mph on the flat, with the motor just kicking in occasionally as my speed drops due to terrain or headwind. Where it comes into its own is when I have to go up a hill or stop at a junction - the motor gets me back up to speed very...

Not 100% electric though, most will be hybrids. Then again, given Volvo is Chinese owned (Geely) they're well placed to get the benefits of developments in China's huge effort in that direction.

The announcement was no petrol or diesel cars or vans are to be sold after 2040. Not quite the same as all vehicles being electric by that date. However the official paper isn't out yet so we don't know the details of the mandate. Given the way China is pushing electric cars, bikes and...

Mine's front hub motor so the gears don't matter - just press the up button to select assist level 5, then push off so the pedals start to turn. Once it's done about a quarter of a turn the motor will kick in and it's away. Then once I'm pedaling I tend to drop the assist to 2 or 1 and plod...

Ah well- only a few weeks until the Vuelta a Espana. Starts August 19th (in France). Expect to see Froome, Bardet, Uran, Yates and Contador to carry on where they left off.

Thanks - I did see the Buzzrack models. They're on my list to look at. We do have a VW T5 Caravelle, but the bulk of the rear is taken up with dog caging so it's tight getting both bikes in (although slightly easier than my Subaru)

I went out for my first 'long' ride yesterday since fitting a kit. A route I used to do 20 years ago (when I was fit) from Selby to York and back. With the assistance set on level 2 (~80W max), I did the 35 miles as easily as I used to back then. Without the motor, I'd probably only manage half...