Electric Bike Conversions FWD 250W/Ridgeback Hybrid

[Ruadh495]

How do you find the winter tyres B.T.W.? I'm seriously considering a set for next year. Hopefully we are finished with ice for this year...

 

[Warwick]

Luckily, my BB axle is rather longer than necessary, so the all-in-one unit should fit. It's a bit wider than the other sensor, so it's a good job the axle is long. It'll need a retune of the display, apparently, but no big deal...

 

[Warwick]

It goes on the non-drive side and looks to push-fit onto the square taper axle. That means that there's no need to interfere with the BB cup.

 

[Warwick]

The winter tyres will probably come off this weekend, depending on the long range forecast. I haven't had them on long enough to judge, but they do make quite a clatter as the studs hit the ground! Someone else I spoke to who has them said they were also useful on leaf mould on cyclepaths. My route had plenty of that stuff, so I'll put them on for that period in the autumn.

On One had them for £15 last year when I bought them. £25 now, so wait a while and see if they drop the price again. http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSNST/schwalbe-snow-stud-wired-tyre

 

[RobF]

The winter tyres will probably come off this weekend, depending on the long range forecast. I haven't had them on long enough to judge, but they do make quite a clatter as the studs hit the ground! Someone else I spoke to who has them said they were also useful on leaf mould on cyclepaths. My route had plenty of that stuff, so I'll put them on for that period in the autumn.

On One had them for £15 last year when I bought them. £25 now, so wait a while and see if they drop the price again. http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSNST/schwalbe-snow-stud-wired-tyre

The studded tyres grip very well on black ice, to the point where you can ride carefully on a surface on which you cannot walk.

They don't offer a lot of grip in snow, not a lot more than a chunky mountain bike tyre.

For that you need Schwalbe Ice Spikers, which are studded tractor tyres for a bike.

http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/spike-reader/ice-spiker-pro.html

 

[Warwick]

Right, I fitted the Kunteng sensor (actually it has no branding so I hope that's correct) very easily today. It fits into the Shimano pattern BB cup's splines very neatly. It may need a dab of glue to hold it in place, but I'll keep an eye on that. It's a much less conspicuous bit of kit than the standard two-part sensor.

After fitting, I called EBC who very helpfully talked me through the display/controller tweaking settings. Once that was done, seeing as the sun was shining, I went out for a test run on a road/off-road route. The sensor works perfectly and the motor kicks in significantly quicker than on my Woosh. I can accelerate away swiftly now, which was something I could never do on the Woosh.

On assist level 5 it gave the same boost as full throttle, only I could keep my hands on the bar ends. That was something I missed using the throttle alone. On setting 2 or 3 it was ideal for the muddy off-road sections of the ride. Nothing too technical, just a muddy bridlepath and a puddle-strewn canal towpath.

I now have a bike I am 100% satisfied with and I heartily recommend EBC and their kits based on my experience up to now.

 

[anotherkiwi]

So it is not just me seeing a difference when changing to 12 magnet PAS! Great to hear.

 

[Ruadh495]

The winter tyres will probably come off this weekend, depending on the long range forecast. I haven't had them on long enough to judge, but they do make quite a clatter as the studs hit the ground! Someone else I spoke to who has them said they were also useful on leaf mould on cyclepaths. My route had plenty of that stuff, so I'll put them on for that period in the autumn.

On One had them for £15 last year when I bought them. £25 now, so wait a while and see if they drop the price again. http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSNST/schwalbe-snow-stud-wired-tyre

Sounds good. We don't have snow here (Southampton) but black ice is quite common and wet leaves on cycle paths are normal (sweep? A cycle path?). I'd be reasonably happy riding on fresh snow on ordinary tyres (used to do that on motorbikes), but black ice scares me. An unpleasant black ice / motorcycle interface a couple of years ago was part of my reason for getting an ebike instead. No problems this year on normal tyres, but it's been a very mild winter. I'm going to keep an eye out for a reduced set over the summer.

 

[Warwick]

Well, the bike is doing a great job on the commute. Averaging 16+MPH on an 8-mile ride. Quicker than the car.

Since fitting the PAS it's worked fine. One thing I have noticed is that when I use the full thumb throttle in addition to assist level 5, it appears to give an additional boost. This surprises me, as I would've thought that level 5 would offer full power. Maybe it's psychological, but I don't think so.

 

[trex]

the throttle overrides the PAS setting, you can get 100% power immediately while on level 5 PAS, you are near 100% but not quite.

 

[Warwick]

I checked the Wattmeter today and found there is quite a significant boost when I apply full throttle compared to the level 5 assist mode. It's nice to know I have that option, as I can use it on hills or other harder stretches.

 

[Warwick]

(Yet) another update: I'm getting my hands on a Shimano Alfine 11-speed hub at the weekend at a knockdown price. All I need to do is to buy the shifter and I'm sorted. The question is do I put it on the Ridgeback or save it for the better Orbit bike? I'm leaning towards the latter option, but it the rules out the Oxydrive CST kit I had in mind for it!

 

[footpump]

its called kt v12L mines on the left you can get a right hand one

 

[Warwick]

Well, I've stuck with the 2-speed SRAM Automatix hub on this bike and I'm very happy with the gearing set up. The only glitch has been the chain tensioner that's fitted, as the Ridgeback doesn't have horizontal dropouts. That gave up the ghost, so has been replaced.

For those of you not familiar with the Automatix hub, it changes gear automatically with about a 30% jump in gearing. In practise that means I get a good start with the lower gear until about 11.5MPH, then it changes to the upper gear which is good for about 20MPH. The lower gear can easily get me up any hill I've encountered so far and the upper gear allows me to cover ground rapidly. No gear cables to worry about.

Momentum use the hub on their Upstart bike. It suits lighter bikes like this one very well, but maybe not heavier machines. I recommend it based on my experience.

 

[2_Wheeled_Wolf]

I found the automatic gear hub on the Momentum is great for in town use but for long faster moving rides with hills, it was a hindrance. So I spent £100 to replace the automatic gear hub with a Sturmey Archer manual 3 gear hub kit with smaller 13 tooth rear sprocket. I have found it gives me perfect control & ease of cycling for different road conditions.

 

[Warwick]

I'd forgotten about this thread! The Ridgeback currently sits unused in the garage, because the Woosh rack I fitted to it gave way and I sold the accompanying battery. I'm not sure it'll get resurrected as an ebike, as I fitted the Alfine to the Orbit and I'm using that on a daily basis.

I did like the Automatix hub, though, and may use the bike as a pub runner.