Newby to the excellent Forum

[DCB510]

Hi We (Ie I and my dearly beloved) are both in our 80's and have cycled many many miles on bikes and laterly our many tandems. - But... we are reaching the point where we need a "bit" of help on the hills. My wife has heart trouble and can't work as hard as she did and I just can't make up the difference. We live in Sheffield which is quite hilly, we can manage quite well on the flat but the hills really take it out of us. We (ie I ) plan to install a mid electric motor to our winter tandem a Viking Saratago.

As I understand it all the mid motor kits come with a right had chain wheel. Fitting the motor to the front crankset is problematic in that the tandem existing front chain wheel is on the left rather than the right driving a similar size chain wheel on the left in the stoker position. The right hand stoker chain wheel is a triple standard front chainset (24,32,42) driving a standard 8 shimano 8-34 cassette. I need to source two similar if not not identical chain wheels, one for the motor to drive and one to be driven in the stoker position. A second chainwheel (or maybe a double) to drive the rear chain. I also need to ensure that all the wires are long enough to fit a tandem rather than a standard bike.

I have done all my own bike and car repairs for over 70 years, and have yet to be beaten with any task. I have a well equipped workshop with all the necessary extractors, spanners socket wrenches, and similar tackle.

I have read with interest your many forum member posts, but no one seems to have tackled this problem exactly or maybe I've missed the post.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

 

[sjpt]

There are several downsides to mid-motors, but hub drives have a lot to offer in simplicity.
The main upside of the brank motor is the motor takes advantage of the gears; but often you limit the gear choice when installing a mid-drive. A strong rear hub motor may be your best choice.

We have a front drive Viking Aviemore. The XF07 is only just enough for Winchester; probably not enough for Sheffield. It was all that was legally available when we bought. Several of the downsides of front hub don't apply to tandems because there is a greater proportion of weight on the front wheel, and having two wheel drive is often beneficial. (We have just moved on from that to an Ecosmo as it is easier to mount.)

We bought form Woosh and they made sure all the wires were suitable length for our tandem.

 

[saneagle]

Hi We (Ie I and my dearly beloved) are both in our 80's and have cycled many many miles on bikes and laterly our many tandems. - But... we are reaching the point where we need a "bit" of help on the hills. My wife has heart trouble and can't work as hard as she did and I just can't make up the difference. We live in Sheffield which is quite hilly, we can manage quite well on the flat but the hills really take it out of us. We (ie I ) plan to install a mid electric motor to our winter tandem a Viking Saratago.

As I understand it all the mid motor kits come with a right had chain wheel. Fitting the motor to the front crankset is problematic in that the tandem existing front chain wheel is on the left rather than the right driving a similar size chain wheel on the left in the stoker position. The right hand stoker chain wheel is a triple standard front chainset (24,32,42) driving a standard 8 shimano 8-34 cassette. I need to source two similar if not not identical chain wheels, one for the motor to drive and one to be driven in the stoker position. A second chainwheel (or maybe a double) to drive the rear chain. I also need to ensure that all the wires are long enough to fit a tandem rather than a standard bike.

I have done all my own bike and car repairs for over 70 years, and have yet to be beaten with any task. I have a well equipped workshop with all the necessary extractors, spanners socket wrenches, and similar tackle.

I have read with interest your many forum member posts, but no one seems to have tackled this problem exactly or maybe I've missed the post.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

It's not going to work, so forget a crank motor. A hub-motor would probably be better anyway.

Have you got one of those eccentric bottom brackets to adjust the front chain tension? If so, it's another reason a crank motor won't fit.

 

[thelarkbox]

Fwiw i spent a good while 'researching' ebikes before my plunge. Prior to landing in here almost everything i had read had given me the impression that mid drive solutions were the best, after all all the expensive bikes have them.. ?

tbh still not 100% convinced (at the time), i opted for a rear wheel hub drive kit to retrofit my current bike at a fraction of the cost a new mid drive bike would have set me back. Over 2 years later i still get a silly grin on my face rolling up hills with nominal effort