Freedom E-Bike

[Goryl]

Hello,

Whilst waiting till my bike is back as new (it makes it worthwhile to wait )

Just wondering if anyone is using one of this kit:
Freedom E-Bikes - Home

I am considering buying a bike with the cycle to work scheme and trying to go to work with only a light assistance. I am not skilled enough to build my own kit so wondering if anyone has experience with this one

I am also looking at the cytronex range but I cannot go to Winchester during opening times and it looks like it would be much more expensive and probably problematic to get the cycle to work scheme working.. Moreover, I do not really like their warranty policy.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Goryl

 

[jerrysimon]

Goryl have you checked the various Tongxin Nano and Goldant threads ?

The Freedom E offering is a Tongxin Nano motor kit.

If you want it in the UK these people do the same kit and whilst service has been unpredictable in the past I think they are sorting it out and they do cycle to work



Regards

Jerry

 

[Goryl]

Thanks,

I have seen the threads, but it is a bit too techi for me

I have also seen the nano comapny, but from the website it looks like the kit is not available for full size bikes yet.

Plan would be to buy a relatively good road bike and use it without assistance in summer and add a kit to it for more challenging weather. I think the 6 months cycling to work made me fit enough to manage

My local bike shop is suggesting this bike (They do not have any electrical bike):
http://www.mekkbicycles.com/Potenza-SL-5.0-105.aspx

With the cycle to work, it would come around 600 something. I have dropped a line to the people from freedom to check whether the installation could be done on it.

I am really considering the idea as at the moment I am spending 60 pounds/week in transportation...

Goryl

 

[jerrysimon]

The only difference with the small wheeled kit and the larger wheeled kit would be that the motor RPM would be lower for the larger wheel. Might be worth phoning the Nano people to see if they have any of the lower RPM motors in stock and if they could do the conversion on the bike you want.

That kind of bike would benefit more from the smaller/lighter (1.4kg) Goldant motor but as yet unavailable in a kit, though again you could contact them www.keyde.com

In terms of C2W I guess you would have to buy the bike and kit all in one.

PS looking at that bike, being all CF, then some care would be required with the kit fitting.

Regards

Jerry

 

[dingrpdl]

Hi Goryl,

I installed a Freedom Ebikes kit on my Brompton which worked fine. My Brompton has a steel fork so it wasn't too difficult to spread it to get the motor in. A carbon fibre frame, like Jerry says, will likely need more care.

I found that the communication wasn't Freedom's strong point and it often took a while to get a response to queries. They got a detail of my original order wrong giving me a twist throttle instead of a thumb throttle I requested. And after the first build, I tried to order a partial kit from them but got no response at all. I say 'them' but in reality, it seems like it is just one person handling the sales and communications. That was my experience with them. Hopefully, you will have a better one.

I did a short writeup of the installation on this forum and you can probably find it if you search for 'freedom'.

Richard

 

[eddieo]

Looks a great bike, if you can get it for £600 an absolute bargain I think...here is a review

Mekk 3G Potenza 5.5 SL - review

 

[Goryl]

Hi Eddieo,

Thanks for the link, that is good. The bike is the model just under this one... I will probably try one this week end.
Is a carbon frame problematic to fit a kit?

For info, as I may not be the only one looking for information. The electric wheel company answered my query:

Thank you for your email.
We are working on re-engineering our kits for road bikes at the moment and hope to have completed the specification by the end of the summer.

An overview of fitting is likely to include the following (subject to final specification)
Remove the front wheel
Adjust the existing forks by shaving off around 2mm each side by angle grinding and extend using a tool provided by us.
Fit new front wheel which will include the motor already built in
Fit harness including controller
Fit throttle (probably a thumb throttle on dropped handlebars)
Attach block for bag
Wire bag frame and fit connectors
Fit battery into bag
Connect system

Prices are still to be confirmed but are likely to be around £800 for the 10ahr kit and £700 for the 5Ahr kit.

Extra batteries would be £395 for a 10Ahr battery and £295 for a 5Ahr battery.

We have not specified the bags yet.

I will keep your details on file and let you have more information as soon as it becomes available.


Goryl

 

[Alan B]

Not sure I would want to be shaving 2mm off carbon forks !

It's bound to invalidate your bike warranty, and broken fork accidents don't bear thinking about.

 

[Goryl]

Not sure I would want to be shaving 2mm off carbon forks !

It's bound to invalidate your bike warranty, and broken fork accidents don't bear thinking about.

Yes, I agree... for some reasons I thought that for most of the bike, it was just a matter of changing wheels...

@Richard: Yes, I have seen your post... How do you find the bike? Did you have any issue? How many miles did you do so far?

Thanks!

 

[jerrysimon]

Goryl,

Tongxins on the whole are good probably more reliable on smaller wheeled bikes though failures on larger wheeled bikes tend to be less more recently.

The dropouts would probably be fine as long as they are 10mm wide and of course the spacing is 100mm though again the Tongxin comes in a narrower 82mm as well.

I would say for a light bike like that you would be better off with the newer Tongxin Goldant rather than the Nano. I am sure someone here could lace it up in a wheel for you.

Depending one where you live I would be happy to help you fit a kit if you want.

As I say I think for a very light bike you want to go for a very light/small assist kit.

Did you check out the link www.keyde.com

Regards

Jerry

 

[dingrpdl]

@Richard: Yes, I have seen your post... How do you find the bike? Did you have any issue? How many miles did you do so far?

I have had ZERO problems with the bike. I only use the bike to run errands within my home community so I probably only put in about 100 miles since I installed the kit.

Richard

 

[Goryl]

Hi,

Yes, I had a look at their website. It looks good but I have no idea of the prices yet. There is nothing on the ebay store and the other "shop" is in chinese.
I will also go back to the shop and see what other bikes I could get under the scheme that would work...

Jerry, I live in north London. Thanks a lot for the offer.

At the moment I haven't made any decision. I cannot afford to get a new bike without selling the wisper...

Goryl