what are the actual kits?

qeeeme

Pedelecer
Aug 20, 2007
36
0
Hello,
if i want to buy a motor to put it in my bike in the front wheel what are the options known to you, the prices and the quality?
i live in germany and i heard about "nine continent". what are the other options? it seems to be cheap but what are the limits? overheating? no control possible?
thank you
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
Have a look here where I've just included some kit motor advice for someone else. Of course those available in the UK are not always available there, and vice versa.

I don't know the "nine continent".
.
 

Jeremy

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 25, 2007
1,010
3
Salisbury
The two posts above sum up the choices pretty well. I have a Crystalyte (which is a bit too powerful for me) and a Tongxin, which so far seems ideal.

Although there is no doubt that you can probably build a kit into a bike and achieve a much better result than a cheap, ready built, electric bike, it does take a fair bit of work to make a neat job.

For me, buying a ready-made electric bike wasn't an option, as I wanted to add assistance to my recumbent. As far as I know you can't buy a ready made electric recumbent very easily, so adding a motor kit was the only option I had.

Some of the kits are more complete than others. Only a few are really simple bolt-on systems and few of those look neat without some extra work. The hardest parts are fitting the cables, battery pack and controls neatly, as this can spoil the look of the whole bike if not done carefully. Be prepared to make up new cables of the right length, plus the odd bracket or two.

Jeremy
 
Electric recumbents

I believe London Recumbents (London Recumbents - Home Page) still do an electric version. I know they've done Heinzmann motors but possibly others also. They get the motors and/or complete bikes from a partner in Holland so they may be able to advise if these are available in Germany also. The person to speak to is Oliver Taylor.

Also I know Ben Cooper at Kinetics (Kinetics - UK Specialists in Folding Bikes, Recumbents, Electric Bikes, Cycling Esoterica...) has done various wonderous things with electrifying recumbents and other exotica.