first post! electric bike power

[Psycosis]

Good afternoon,

My main reason for wanting an electric bike was for traveling into work, i live 18.8 miles away from my office and my travel card to get into London is about £231 at present.

I thought getting electric bike or at the very least a kit to convert my bike into an electric model was a great idea.
I had to convince myself this was the right choice since electric cars or mopeds all have their advantages.

Safe to say i decided to get myself a kit. Rather than a hub driven electric kit i have purchased one of the motors that attach under the pedals/crank (sorry if these are the wrong bike terms) along with 4 12v batteries.

I have been advised this will give me about a 40mile range and will enable me to get a decent speed up without pedaling too much.

My aims were simple, get to work in the same time or quicker than a train, pay less money and not be sweaty the other end. With any luck i can achieve this by averaging 20mph all the way into London.
It may sound like a heady figure, but possible i think.
I have been told the kit i have purchased isn't one of the cheap motors from China, its from the USA and is 1/2" smaller than the regular motors that are supplied for this fitment.

Does this sound a reasonable goal and has anyone got any advice about
using or traveling into London on a bike, other than wear something bright!

 

[Mussels]

That was very similar to my goals except I bought a ready made bike, I think your 20mph average is a bit optimistic and 15mph is more likely through London.

 

[Psycosis]

15mph through london may be a problem, but getting to london because of the distance will be where i can pick up some time. If i exercise my legs a little i might be able to get 30mph out of it down the A3, thats a good few miles and 50% extra speed which i can use for the terrible london traffic.

I had a chat to some guys i work with around Kingston Upon Thames and thats 8 miles nearer, they ride regular bikes and are very fit, they can get into the office in 45mins on a road bike and 55mins on a mountain bike.
I should be able to keep it under an hour going on their figures, especially since i reckon i can go quicker up hills.

One of the guys said he was cycling next to someone on a go cycle the other day and he murdered him on the hills, but on the flat he could beat him easilly. I should in theory be able to do 15mph up a hill without too many problems and 25mph on the flat without pushing myself too much, 30 if i go for it.

sound feasilbe?

 

[Mussels]

sound feasilbe?

Not on a motor that is anywhere near legal and high speed eats batteries.

 

[flecc]

As Mussles says, it's unlikely you'll achieve that combination of speed and range, one or the other being more likely.

What make is the unit that you are buying? I'm intrigued since virtually all US sourced e-bike stuff is Chinese made in fact and often Chinese designed.
.

 

[NRG]

4 12v batteries sound suspiciously like 4 SLA's.....if so that may be an issue with fitting and weight...

 

[Psycosis]

The motor is made a company in the states called Advanced D. C. i believe (either that or thats the name of some electric vehicle they made)
Advanced Motors & Drives manufacturers of low-voltage wound field DC & AC traction & pump motors

Thats right the batteries are SLA's, i understand they will be pretty big but i need the range. If there is a better alternative please let me know.
I am sticking them out of the way on a pannier.

I tested my speed with my sat nav and i can do 25mph on a flat road with just pedaling if i go really hard, i can keep up 20mph for a few miles but not much more. I am hoping with some bettery assist i can maybe avoid some of the effort involved and still keep the speed up.

This may turn out to be a flop and cost me a heap of cash, but i am always trying new things even if they turn out to be a disaster.
Anything with wheels i can waste money on, i have owned a lot of cars and lost equally as much messing with them.

 

[glenn]

batterys

ive found on my bike which is home made i can get about 16 miles on motor alone with the 48vli-ion battery i have with out much assist and about twice that far if i do a lot of the peddling and keep it to 15mph or slower. so speed does use the battery but you i can recharge at work if i need it in about 4 hours.

 

[Psycosis]

Thats hopefully what i can do, charging at work needs to be done, so while the batteries may be heavy i can get to work using all the power with as little effort from myself.
If there are other batteries i can use so be it, these only cost me £60 so its not the end of the world if i have to buy more.

 

[Picarda]

I was wondering something similar: I have a roughly 10 mile commute (N14 - EC1) which takes 45-55 mins by public transport. Would a Wisper (optimised ) ridden by a novice beat this time significantly? Not sure about shelling out £1400 just to test the theory.

 

[Mussels]

I was wondering something similar: I have a roughly 10 mile commute (N14 - EC1) which takes 45-55 mins by public transport. Would a Wisper (optimised ) ridden by a novice beat this time significantly? Not sure about shelling out £1400 just to test the theory.

You should be able to manage that but when you add on changing time it will be close, the Wisper will be much more fun though. The bike will require maintenance though so it helps if you like tinkering.

 

[Straylight]

I'd say yes, as I used to do a similar distance commute from Crouch End to Covent Garden on an unpowered bike and regularly beat the tube/bus combination that was my alternative. Also, albeit out in Suffolk, my Wisper cut 10 to 15 mins off my current commute of 12.5 miles (as opposed to using the same bike as I had in London), which I can now do in c.45 mins.

There is the added benefit of not being tied to the bus timetable in terms of when you set off, and a general sense of freedom, that I don't think one gets from any other mode of transport in London, I also arrive at work feling much more awake/alert that I would otherwise.

I know all this evidence is rather anecdotal, but everone's experience of the difference an e-bike makes is by definition individual, but generally very positive.

I say go for it .

EDIT: As Mussels says, the Wisper will be great fun too!

 

[Psycosis]

Its got to be the best reason to get an electric bike.
So far this week the train at Waterloo have been messed up twice quite majorly and since i don't get home until 8PM most nights, any delay is unwanted.

My kit is more DIY, so i can let you know how that goes. I just bought a monthly travel card yesterday so i can't imagine i will cycle for fun while i am paying, but i will test it one weekend. Since traffic isn't really an issue and to check the route out and i can let you know.

One thing i don't fancy doing is comparing it to me powering the bike

 

[monster]

19miles in one go is too much for most ebikes. why do you want to be in the saddel for 2 hours a day? most people commute 10miles max on ebikes. 20miles is possible but it sounds a bit nutty for a newbie to attempt it. can you make a folding bike that will get you too and from the staition at both ends? can you get a substaintially cheaper ticket if you don't go into zone 1 and then just cycle the final mile?


SLA are ****. they probably won't get you all the way too work and they weigh a ton. you will have reliability issues with your battery mounting setup

 

[Mussels]

19miles in one go is too much for most ebikes. why do you want to be in the saddel for 2 hours a day? most people commute 10miles max on ebikes. 20miles is possible but it sounds a bit nutty for a newbie to attempt it. can you make a folding bike that will get you too and from the staition at both ends? can you get a substaintially cheaper ticket if you don't go into zone 1 and then just cycle the final mile?


SLA are ****. they probably won't get you all the way too work and they weigh a ton. you will have reliability issues with your battery mounting setup

There's quite a few people that commute about 20 miles or more each way, most don't post up here much if at all. I went from an unfit and overweight train passenger to a long distance cyclist overnight, that's the beauty of ebikes.
Public transport is dire, slow and expensive in London, riding in is much better even in extremes of weather (high winds excepted).

 

[nigel]

Yea i do 14 miles E/Way on 1 battery charge my main gripe is drain covers and holes in the road plus wet leaves and broken branches but loving my pro connect though sprocket change for the future. nigel.

 

[GT3]

19miles in one go is too much for most ebikes. why do you want to be in the saddel for 2 hours a day? most people commute 10miles max on ebikes. 20miles is possible but it sounds a bit nutty for a newbie to attempt it. can you make a folding bike that will get you too and from the staition at both ends? can you get a substaintially cheaper ticket if you don't go into zone 1 and then just cycle the final mile?


SLA are ****. they probably won't get you all the way too work and they weigh a ton. you will have reliability issues with your battery mounting setup

Can't agree with that. I went for a cheap Chinese kit and SLA's as my research indicated 16 hilly miles for a not particularly fit 16 stone chap was at the extremes of ebike capacity.

The journey is taking me 50 minutes and I recharge at the office. Ultimate range is 25 miles with 14 Ah batteries. Speed is largely dictated by traffic and traffic signals, but I cruise at 22 mph.

I am already looking to the future and the cost and fragility of more modern batteries concern me. I've already been 'down the road' once, the thought of smashing £600 of LiPol is not good.


The nearly two hours in the saddle each day are among the better hours!

 

[daniel.weck]

I am already looking to the future and the cost and fragility of more modern batteries concern me. I've already been 'down the road' once, the thought of smashing £600 of LiPol is not good.

I understand the appeal of SLA batteries in terms of cost, but I consider my 300 GBP (-ish) LifePo4 battery (10Ah) a long-term investment indeed: it is safe (won't explode), it is well protected (the bike fell on its side the other day and the cells/BMS were far from being at risk of damage), it has a long life (1000+ cycles), and it delivers good power (for hill climbing or long distance riding). It's also very light by SLA standards (albeit slightly heavier than other LiPo or Li-Ion technologies).

Anyway, glad to hear you are piling-up miles with your e-bike, and that you are having fun at it too ! Just like me.

By the way, what kit have you got ? Do you use it as a throttle-only moped or do you provide substantial human power ?

Cheers, Dan

 

[Psycosis]

I agree with anyone who says anything is prefferable to shelling out cash to get to London, it is the worst part of my day.
I am reasonably fit 13 stone individual, i cycle to the station currently so not much to improve on there, but i give it hell the whole way to keep my fitness up overtaking everyone is sight until i can't breath anymore and have to slow down

I will give it a bash and see how well it works, i may need to adjust my expectations, but i feel it is possible, i may need to change the batteries or some other items to get me that average 20mph.

Bearing in mind 1/2 of my journey is on a 2 lane A road, where argubly i can go as fast as humanly possible and run into no issues as for a fair chunk there is a road that runs parallel to this road which cars rarely use.
No giant hills either until i get to roehampton.

 

[GT3]

By the way, what kit have you got ? Do you use it as a throttle-only moped or do you provide substantial human power ?

Cheers, Dan

The ebay seller was hid-gps, took a while to arrive, but I'm delighted for the price. Don't know who the manufacturer is. Replaced battery wiring, throttle and 2 chargers (I now have one each end).

Motor is silent and powerful, but short on torque.

I wanted to use plenty of human power, but as i became familiar with the capabilities of the motor, I suspect I am assisting less now. I allways pedal however (would be foolish not to at 15+ mph). The initial weight loss has slowed.

I hardly use full throttle, only nearing the top of the steeper hills, when maximum power is required from me to keep around 19mph. This is the only area where the motor is not excessively capable.