Guinea Pig Needed

Swizz

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MontyPAS

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Mechanical throttle included....... Could be a recipe for disaster
Or does that control driving tension on the wheel?
 
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Nealh

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A cheap China friction drive, lower down the page buyers buyers are saying a ESC is required as the friction driver has no controller ?
 
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Nealh

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Thumb trigger to remove drive/wheel contact, looks like they have may be taken the trigger option from Kepler's friction drive unit on ES.
 
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MontyPAS

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That lifts it off the wheel. AFAICS, you need to sort out your own throttle, ESC and battery.
No links on the selling site to the other bits needed to make it go?
Countless questions asking what is supplied not supplied..... good luck with that from a Chinese seller!
TBH it all looks a bit "Micky Mouse"
 
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vfr400

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Thumb trigger to remove drive/wheel contact, looks like they have may be taken the trigger option from Kepler's friction drive unit on ES.
Unless he's changed it, his one didn't have a lever for engagement. Instead it used the motor's torque reaction to bring in it contact with the tyre, then friction pulled it on tighter. That was what was so good about his design. It engaged and disengaged automatically with the throttle.
 
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Nealh

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In a later design Kepler added a trigger cable to lift it clear of the tyre for pure PAS operation. It's been a while since I last dipped into the thread, think I may have to check up to see how it is going.
 

RossG

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I translated one feedback that came out as " Stick it in your smoke and pipe it " should sell well in Syria.
 

Woosh

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I can't see what advantage there is replacing a 2kg hub motor with this contraption.
 

vfr400

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I can't see what advantage there is replacing a 2kg hub motor with this contraption.
It's the light weight. The whole system with the battery probably weighs less than 2kg. Also, there's absolutely zero resistance when it's not engaged. These sort of devices are good for people that are generally happy riding without power, but they need help for maybe one particular hill on their ride.
 
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Woosh

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you have to add controller, battery, PAS, throttle, brake sensors etc
They are the same components you would use in a normal hub kit.
They weigh the same, only the motor wheel makes the difference. Once side, you have an Aikema motor weighing 1.9kgs (some other models weigh even less but I use a common garden kit as an example), how much does that contraption weigh?
also about 2kgs I guess.
If you need a lightweight kit, just use a Bosch 36V 6AH tool battery or my G20 7AH battery.
 
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RossG

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If you look closely at that yellow traction rubber/plastic you can see right through it to the metal it's attached to, can't see it wearing all that well. Another thing is what's happens when the tyre gets wet or wears thin ?
 

vfr400

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you have to add controller, battery, PAS, throttle, brake sensors etc
They are the same components you would use in a normal hub kit.
They weigh the same, only the motor wheel makes the difference. Once side, you have an Aikema motor weighing 1.9kgs (some other models weigh even less but I use a common garden kit as an example), how much does that contraption weigh?
also about 2kgs I guess.
If you need a lightweight kit, just use a Bosch 36V 6AH tool battery or my G20 7AH battery.
No, you're looking at it the wrong way. As I said, it's for people that want to ride most of the time without power.

It's an RC motor, which runs on a 600g 6S lipo and give about 15 minutes use at full power. A 6S 1500w R/C motor weighs about 300g. You don't need a throttle, just an on/off switch because you'd only use it for a boost up hills. An ESC weighs next to nothing, like 100g for an 80 amp 6S one. they don't say the weight of the motor, but it looks around 1kg or less, so motor, switch, battery and ESC would be around 1.8kg, compared with an Aikema kit with 20 cell battery at around 4.5kg.
 

Woosh

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the G20 kit weighs only 1.3kgs - it's built with 20x 3500mAH cells.
To it, you add a 5-pin LCD lead and a KD58C LCD.
I have been riding around Southend on my Brompton with a Bosch drill battery. The G20 is simply a safer version of the same.
Nothing stops you using 10S lipo with a conventional hub kit if you so wish.
That contraption uses 7 or 14 or 21 cells plus the ESC plus the manual clutch for the tyre made in steel. I reckon it weighs about the same as a Q70 or an Aikema 85SX kit.
 
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Swizz

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Oct 1, 2017
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Unless he's changed it, his one didn't have a lever for engagement. Instead it used the motor's torque reaction to bring in it contact with the tyre, then friction pulled it on tighter. That was what was so good about his design. It engaged and disengaged automatically with the throttle.
Think I have seen a video of that fitted to a Brompton. To be fair on the brommie it looked to work reasonably well as a helper.
 

vfr400

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Think I have seen a video of that fitted to a Brompton. To be fair on the brommie it looked to work reasonably well as a helper.
Yes, I saw that too, but it wasn't a Kepler Drive. Kepler was a guy on Endless-sphere, who ran a long project to optimise friction drive as a method of driving an e-bike. there are a lot of clever guys over there, and when they work together, they come up with some fantastic stuff. Kepler sold some parts so that you could make your own for a while, but then stopped.
 
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Swizz

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Oct 1, 2017
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Yes, I saw that too, but it wasn't a Kepler Drive. Kepler was a guy on Endless-sphere, who ran a long project to optimise friction drive as a method of driving an e-bike. there are a lot of clever guys over there, and when they work together, they come up with some fantastic stuff. Kepler sold some parts to make tour own version for a while, but then stopped.
Oh wow the sound of that!

I would be accelerating down the roads centre line mumbling "V1"...."Rotate"...."Gear Up".... ;D