bcmder01

... i thought PAS simply meant pedal assist, which is to say the motor doesn't engage unless the rider is pedalling. this is instead of the throttle controlled motors, which are frowned on in the EU and Oz. i further thought that with PAS there needed to be a signal that the rider was pedalling and this could be provided by either a cadence or a torque sensor. that is, a PAS system needs one or the other. yeah, not at sure what that means for levels of assist, which are just dialled up??? wouldn't be at all surprised if i've got something wrong. see you... b

...thanks to everyone. i have read about nominative watts etc and it sort of makes sense. (no problems with essays on this stuff even on a Sunday morning. much appreciated actually.) not overstressing a motor, as in not letting get too hot, seems sensible and it is something i have wondered about, especially in the Australian context. i am reassured that a 250watt motor properly set up should be more than adequate. i have wondered though if getting something a little bigger (e.g. 350watt) might be beneficial for the motor. i have read though that it is not sensible to get a bigger motor than needed. I'd be happy to travel at the types of speeds i can currently manage unassisted if it could be achieved with a bit less effort. my partner was able to zoom up the hills in Croatia using eco mode. left me for dead. it is not that she didn't work, it just wasn't a killer effort. made for enjoyable riding. it's what I'd like to achieve with the trikes for both our sakes. i realise i haven't responded to anything about batteries, but i do recognise how vital they are. (electric bike is a hint i reckon ) it is just another area of almost complete mystery. btw...in the Australian mainland, finding somewhere to recharge an ecycle outside that narrow band of settlement around the coast between Brisbane and Adelaide is problematic. the distances are very often car centric; i.e. hundreds of kilometres. and to anotherkiwi, thanks for the offer. i can certainly get down to Southend on Sea. any day this coming week Mon-Thu - July 9-12. questions, questions, questions. thanks again for some of the answers. see you... b

...i'm leaning towards the mid-drive motors at the moment, although on a recumbent that seems to mean something different to an upright. i've seen recumbents with the motor situated behind the seat and in front of the back wheel. Cyclone, the Taiwanese company, picture this configuration on their website and advertise a suitable kit that comes with a mounting bracket for the motor. the motor has two freewheels for chains. one goes to the backwheel, the other to the pedals. see here - http://www.cyclone-tw.com/doublefreewheel.html at least one of these double freewheeled motors comes without a controller. I'm assuming that means a controller can be added with a compatible programming box (like Cycle Analyst) to implement whatever type of pedal assist required; i.e. cadence or torque sensed. the question that keeps popping up is, what size motor is needed to do the job? see you... b

...thanks, i've been looking up Australian outfits who deal in the e-cycle space and seen Dillenger. i've corresponded with Jim from Applied Future Technologies, a Victorian crowd, as they seem to be pretty knowledgeable. they sell Cyclone mid-drive motors. however, i'd like to know more about the technicalities so for know, while i've got the time, I'm reading and watching as much as i can. see you... b

hi there, i live in Adelaide, Australia, and am currently visiting London, England. I've cycled a fair bit over the years and done some long distance touring in Australia; some of that on a Catrike Expedition. a couple of weeks ago i was holidaying in Croatia, which invloved, amongst other things, cycling over some quite hilly islands. i was mightily impressed at how my partner on a Bosch mid drive machine, and some others, similarly equipped, negotiated the terrain. they easily outstripped me on a well geared hybrid. i had a quick ride of about 200mts on my partner's machine and immediately understood how it was possible. it's the push mate. got me thinking about converting our trikes to electric assist; we've both got them, but my partner, in particular, finds them hard going, especially uphill. the last couple of weeks i have been trying to get my head around this ebike/ecycle phenomenon and how best to convert the trikes. I'm coming from a long way back and so far my head is spinning. looking around for information i've come across two forums, Endless Spheres and this one. both have some very knowledgeable contributors. hopefully the fact that i see myself as mostly sponge and little water is acceptable. for me, assist, especially when riding long distances, is the goal. i think the distances in Australia pose a special problem. high speed is not at all important. in any case, high speed - >25 kph - on the road in Australia is illegal. not sure yet how that plays out in practice, but not greatly problematic. a factor that comes into consideration in our case is the trikes have 14sp rohloffs. didn't know what they were when buying the trikes, but as luck would have it a great piece of kit. i don't know enough to have come to any conclusions yet, but i have read that leaving these on the trikes could be beneficial. drawing on European standards, Australian regulators have limited motor size to 250watt. once again i don't fully understand what that means in practice, but as yet i haven't yet come to understand what sort of 'power' these converted trikes are going to require. anyway, questions, questions, questions... all the best... Brian