New to the world of E-Bikes

[glelly]

Hello All, I have just been given an old electric bike from c.2007 ( thats the date on the 3 lead batteries. I know it is a Leonis and made in China but other than that I dont know much about it. The company that sold it stopped dealing with them about six years ago. What I need to do with it is find a replacement axel for the crank as its bent on both sides and causing the chain to come of the chain wheel. I also need a charger for the battery and need to know how to remove the power supply lead to the rear hub drive without having to disconnect the line hub box section. Any info on these points would be most welcome. I will upload some photos when I can. Glelly

 

[Nealh]

The crank axle is bottom bracket thta screws in to the shell of the frame.
To know exactly what you need indeed pics will be required.
One would suspect the batteries are shot if 2007, you would be best replacing them with a lithium ion battery.
The rear hub may have a connector along the rear horizontal chain stay, if not then one has to disconnect at the controller box.

 

[glelly]

Hello Nealh, Thank you for your swift response. As promised here are some photos. I have taken one of the bent crank axle in the hope that you may be able to suggest a replacement or fix. Identification of bike would be useful too!. Many thanks Glelly

 

[Nealh]

Oh my it looks bit sorry, one has to weigh up if it is worth spending too much money on it. Lots of rust and an old steel frame could mean trouble.

The bottom bracket axle is a tapered cup and cone model which utilise loose bearings. One would need to measure it correctly to try and find one, it looks about 190mm overall not going to be easy to find one me thinks. And that is before one think of the electrics if they work ?

 

[glelly]

This is what I thought too, it has seen better days for sure, but the challenge is to ride it again and resurrect it. Do you recognise the model at all? many thanks for your expert advice. glelly

 

[flecc]

This is what I thought too, it has seen better days for sure, but the challenge is to ride it again and resurrect it. Do you recognise the model at all? many thanks for your expert advice. glelly

There were many like this under various names and often sold branded by the retailers name. It's old tech of a type that was finished by 1999, but some companies grimly hung onto it. Notably in this country Powabyke, founded in 1999 who just managed to celebrate their tenth anniversary before declaring bankruptcy. Northern general retailer Thompsons sold a lesser range of 24 volt SLA models through this link many years ago, but as you'll see, showing them all long out of stock and just trying to sell off overstocked spares and accessories.

Frankly Glelly it's really not worth restoring to working order. As Nealh said to make it at all decent it would need a lithium ion battery, but since these 36 volt SLA batteried bikes typically peaked at around 600 watts, that would need to be capable of at least 20 amps discharge, preferably more. That battery is likely to cost around £300 or more for starters, even before you know if the motor and controller are working or if any motor spares are available, and before restoring the aged bike parts.

Your call of course, but I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole.
.

 

[glelly]

Nice one. Thanks for the practical advice. Will get shot of it. cheers Glelly

 

[flecc]

Nice one. Thanks for the practical advice. Will get shot of it. cheers Glelly

Wise decision. Once you started with restoration you could easily have ended up spending several hundreds of pounds and still ended up with old tech and a very heavy e-bike. For not much more and just under a thousand you could buy a good new latest tech e-bike with a warranty giving you years of enjoyment without hassle. Like this Faro from Woosh:

 

[eFred]

And if you want to get into the tech side there’s some good conversion kits out there to make whatever kind of bike you like

 

[Nealh]

The only part of value is the rear hub motor (if is works) but looks like it has a hub or coaster brake arrangement, at least it is a three phase hub and looks to be a sensored one as well.