Hi all,
I'm afraid that I'm on the scrounge for advice.
I currently ride a Surly Crosscheck which is great, but the engine is not quite good enough
I can manage once a week, occasionally twice a week riding to work, but am interested in a pedelec to ride more regularly.
I have a 39 mile commute (round trip) with quite a few hills, (total 470m climb), but struggle to do it more than once a week. The journey on a conventional road bike can take anywhere from 1hr15 to 1hr45 depending on wind (route goes from St Andrews, past a forest and then along the coast to Dundee, so can be quite breezy).
Unfortunately as well as hills and wind I'm not the lightest (15 stone) and am 6'4 so wonder if off the shelf offerings may be too small. I'd be wanting to put the kit into some form of road bike - steel framed, either with North road style bars (think traditional town bike) or dropped handlebars.
I haven't seen many other builds using dropped handlebars. Is this possible?
I'd be interested in hearing advice as to what kits might be appropriate - I want to be able to do the 19.5 miles to work without swapping batteries, am happy to pedal but want to be able to go faster than 15 mph with some assistance ideally (currently average 13.5-14.5mph and would like to increase this with a pedelec to make the commute quicker).
At the moment I'm thinking in terms of the following options:
- 8fun crank drive (250w). (not sure what battery or controller ?)
- Bafang 500W CST hub drive. (36V 20Ah battery? controller unknown)
- anything else that folks suggest!
I'm also a little confused about whether to go 36V or 48V. From my rusty electronics I'd have thought a 48V setup would be better as a lower current would be needed for the same power, thus potentially meaning less power loss through the cables. However, I'd welcome input on this too.
Thanks in anticipation of any help or advice you might have,
Phil
I'm afraid that I'm on the scrounge for advice.
I currently ride a Surly Crosscheck which is great, but the engine is not quite good enough
I can manage once a week, occasionally twice a week riding to work, but am interested in a pedelec to ride more regularly.I have a 39 mile commute (round trip) with quite a few hills, (total 470m climb), but struggle to do it more than once a week. The journey on a conventional road bike can take anywhere from 1hr15 to 1hr45 depending on wind (route goes from St Andrews, past a forest and then along the coast to Dundee, so can be quite breezy).
Unfortunately as well as hills and wind I'm not the lightest (15 stone) and am 6'4 so wonder if off the shelf offerings may be too small. I'd be wanting to put the kit into some form of road bike - steel framed, either with North road style bars (think traditional town bike) or dropped handlebars.
I haven't seen many other builds using dropped handlebars. Is this possible?
I'd be interested in hearing advice as to what kits might be appropriate - I want to be able to do the 19.5 miles to work without swapping batteries, am happy to pedal but want to be able to go faster than 15 mph with some assistance ideally (currently average 13.5-14.5mph and would like to increase this with a pedelec to make the commute quicker).
At the moment I'm thinking in terms of the following options:
- 8fun crank drive (250w). (not sure what battery or controller ?)
- Bafang 500W CST hub drive. (36V 20Ah battery? controller unknown)
- anything else that folks suggest!
I'm also a little confused about whether to go 36V or 48V. From my rusty electronics I'd have thought a 48V setup would be better as a lower current would be needed for the same power, thus potentially meaning less power loss through the cables. However, I'd welcome input on this too.
Thanks in anticipation of any help or advice you might have,
Phil
