Motorcycle broke looking to convert old bike to electric for a 12mil commute

Nextkillswitch

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2022
5
0
Hi,
This is the current bike I'm looking to convert to electric. 47753

I've not been in the bike scene for a while and have never looked into electric, so please consider me a complete idiot in knowledge.

I would really appreciate any help and advise on where to go for parts and how to complete the task as I'm now sat on two broke motorbikes and looking to get back to cycling to save some running costs.
 

overlander

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 22, 2009
532
42
Welcome to the forum, you really need to supply some more additional information. Mainly what sort of distances do you want to cover, do you live hilly area, and how fit are you ? This should get the suggestions started.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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well you need a new chain for a start that thing looks like it has rusted solid lol and way to short.

now you wont like this if you want to do 12 miles per day everyday 5 days a week you need a decent battery or it wont even last a year so looking at at least 600 quid for one of those on its own.
 

Nextkillswitch

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2022
5
0
Cheers mate, it's mostly flat and a 12mile journey. 24 mile all round. I'm fairly fit but I'm not looking to be huffing on the journey as I average 56 hours a week and would like to save energy for home life.
 

Nextkillswitch

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2022
5
0
well you need a new chain for a start that thing looks like it has rusted solid lol and way to short.

now you wont like this if you want to do 12 miles per day everyday 5 days a week you need a decent battery or it wont even last a year so looking at at least 600 quid for one of those on its own.
Yeh I know right it's been in the garden for a while it's defo seen better days, I'm sitting at a budget of around a grand but want summit that will last which is why I thought it would be best to ask. I'm going to get the bike back in working condition over the next couple of days/ weeks and hopefully get going on this project.
 

sjpt

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 8, 2018
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Winchester
For reliable commuting with not too many hills you probably want a rear hub system. Soundwave is right you mustn't skimp on the battery, but maybe his £600 is on the high side. That's the sort of price you would need to pay for a proprietary battery, eg for a Bosch system, but perfectly decent more generic ones should be fine.

If you buy from Woosh you will get excellent advice pre-sales on the most suitable system, and lots of help post-sales if you have any issues with fitting. The XF08 kit with big capacity battery might suit (https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#xf08ckit). It's on the lower power side. There are more powerful motors (search for 'which motor' on that page, or talk with Tony at Woosh)
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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well if it has been left out side that long it is not worth your life trying to convert it and use it as a ebike

what you want is at least a 20ah pack and a bafang mid drive 750w on a mtb for strength does not need to be anything fancy just make sure the motor fits the bb and the chain line is ok.


now this has it pros and cons it can be turned up power wise with the software but with the extra speed comes less miles but can be used off road

on just throttle you can hit 40mph but it will nuke the batt if you dont put any effort in towards it so you would need to charge the batt at work or get a even bigger one.

a hub drive would be better but you wont get the speed out of it like the bafang mid drive turned up to the max and not much good off road.

you can get way more powerful hub motors many kw but well out side your budget.
 

Nextkillswitch

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2022
5
0
For reliable commuting with not too many hills you probably want a rear hub system. Soundwave is right you mustn't skimp on the battery, but maybe his £600 is on the high side. That's the sort of price you would need to pay for a proprietary battery, eg for a Bosch system, but perfectly decent more generic ones should be fine.

If you buy from Woosh you will get excellent advice pre-sales on the most suitable system, and lots of help post-sales if you have any issues with fitting. The XF08 kit with big capacity battery might suit (https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#xf08ckit). It's on the lower power side. There are more powerful motors (search for 'which motor' on that page, or talk with Tony at Woosh)
I'll give them a message and see what they say seems like a few people on here have recommended them.
 

sjpt

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 8, 2018
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Winchester
If you want to keep legal (without extra registration, insurance, etc etc) you need a motor with a max of 250w (nominal continuous) power, that stops assisting by 15.5mph. Anything beyond that counts as an s-pedelec or moped, with all their legal baggage.

Soundwave is right that if you want to do serious offroad you may be better off with a crank drive kit.
 

Nextkillswitch

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2022
5
0
I'm really not looking to go off road just something to make a 12 mile commute a little easier without spending crazy doe. Looking to save money from petrol and maintenance of a motorbike whilst fixing them to see if its a full time viable option to using them. Whilst hopefully getting fitter in the meantime as a bonus
 

soundwave

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May 23, 2015
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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Simplest job is stick a mid drive BBS01 on it and a 14/15 ah battery.
 

guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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@Nextkillswitch - If you don't want to expend much effort while cycling, Bafang have an app for that. 45 miles is easy breezy on my Bafang 36V 250W BBS01B now, wasn't before the app. But it is tougher on the battery, using the higest level of assistance legally allowed. If you bought a good quality battery, you could set the controller to use up to 20A instead of 15A.

For long term use, buy the best big quality battery you can afford. Over time it will lose capacity, therefore I think you should buy a battery with slightly more capacity than you need. I bought a reasonable (? I think, compared to Chinese cells at least) quality 19.2ah battery containing LG MH1 cells, which should still give me useful range I hope, a few years hence. If they're genuine cells. There are much better quality battery cells and builds, which others here know rather a lot about. If I had known more about ebike batteries a couple of years ago, I would have chosen a better battery, possibly one of Jimmy's.

The bike I converted was much older and in a far worse state than the one you have. Whatever kit you choose, prepare to spend endless small sums of money on various parts! Mine is pretty much a new bike now, bar the frame.
 
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guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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the only person id buy a diy batt from is jimmy you get what you pay for and has a 30k spot welder that can even so pure silver strip ;)


my £633 bosch batt is not even 14ah thats the bitch :mad:

@soundwave - What cells does your shiny new battery contain?

Are Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650BL better than LG MH1? NCR18650BL capacity is higher than MH1 but max discharge is only 7A, max discharge is 10A on the LG MH1. Cycle life is only 300 compared to 500 on MH1:


 
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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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Simplest job is stick a mid drive BBS01 on it and a 14/15 ah battery.
I don't get it - why can Jimmy rate this battery at "42A Continuous Discharge", when it contains "Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650BL" cells, which are capable of a lower max discharge rate than my MH1 celled battery? 7A vs 10A. Won't those cells fail more rapidly at such a high discharge rate? Is it a ploy for faster failing battery packs and more frequent repeat business?





My 19.2Ah battery is in a 10S6P configuration, and much cheaper allegedly (it could be posted from outside the UK, with extra charges - I asked before ordering, and hoped the seller was telling the truth - no extra charges in my case, it was posted from within the UK). The listing says the BMS limits to 30A, but unless he's using a different BMS now, instead of the BMS in my battery of the same specification I bought from him about a couple of years ago, it likely limits to 22A. Here's the label on my BMS:


47771



I could buy two of these (same as the 19.2Ah battery I have. 2 X 19.2 = 38.4Ah), for the price of one of Battman Jimmy's 20.1Ah. I think Jimmy The Battman can go whistle! Why does he charge so much anyway? He's surely made all the payments for his £30k welding machine by now?






@Nextkillswitch - Peronally I'd avoid buying from this seller again, because if anything goes wrong you have to post things to China... as I discovered when I accidentally killed my controller while attempting to solder something useless on - I received a free replacement, because it was covered by the 12 month warranty (but only just!). Postage to China was £20, took about 2 weeks to get there. It took about another 2 weeks for the seller's "Diagnotic facility" to test the controller, which it turns out they didn't actually do - he claimed it was because I had cut off the bullet connectors and they couldn't test for that reason, told me not to do that again (I did that again, because I prefer soldering those connections, now that I can solder :cool:). Then I had to wait another 2 weeks for delivery. Before I bought the kit and asked about repairs, he said he had "Diagnostic facilities throughout Europe". Good service and advice, but based in China.
 
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Benjahmin

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Nov 10, 2014
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The simplest fit for you would be a rear hub with a triangle mounted battery.
A Woosh kit will be plug and play with plenty of backup from the firm based in Southend.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,425
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Surrey
If its a 12 mile round trip you could use a cheap Yose generic battery. I used a silverfish one on a rear hub bike and my commute was 10 miles to work and 10 miles home. Mine was a Yose 15ah battery and its still working well after 4 years. If you check their site on ebay regularly every now and then the prices drop. I bought one recently for £165 including charger and other stuff. Its working really well. I used my rear hub on max assist and cruised with little but some effort at 20/22 mph. Obviously less speed and more effort up hills.

I could recharge my battery at work, so could set off for home with a full battery. It worked really well.

It would be much more of a challenge with a cheaper battery if your journey is 24 miles round trip. You would probably be right on the range limit and drain your battery each round trip but it would at a pinch make it.

I forgot my charger one day and it got me home, although I had to drop the assist level a bit.

If you were lucky and bought when the prices were low you could buy two and take a full one with you and it would still only cost you £330 for two batteries.

I would not buy any old cheap battery but I have found the Yose ones very good for the money.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393214364095
 
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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The simplest fit for you would be a rear hub with a triangle mounted battery.
A Woosh kit will be plug and play with plenty of backup from the firm based in Southend.
Hubs aren't always straight fwd, some times drop outs need some work done for a proper fit and then a torque arm needs fitting. Not all drop outs are suitable.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
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Ebike batteries are in business like any other to make money and pay staff, buy a new battery with case and all new internal trimmings and one pays the going rate for a quality built battery. Opt for a recell using original bms and case etc then it is cheaper.
The sanyo is 42a max capable but one woundn't run it so as life expectancy will be short and that goes with all cells. Run them at their max discharge and they all will suffer, one reason why Mooch on ecigs recommends cells to be run at approx. 60/70% of their true discharge figure for decent life cycle.
 
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