rh1968

Hi all, Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice other forum members have given me about electric bikes (especially Flecc, is there anything you don't know?!), it's been much appreciated. I bought a kit in February to get me over a health problem: with its help I now have enough strength in my legs to go back to unassisted biking. I've loved using the electric kit but now I need the exercise and want to release some cash to upgrade my road bike. If anyone's in the market for a kit it's on eBay: COMPLETE ELECTRIC BIKE KIT INCLUDING BATTERY, FIT ON BIKE AND GO! | eBay Thanks again for all the advice and happy and safe riding to all forum members, Cheers, Rendel

Off Topic - How much do actual shoes / clip in's cleats improve effciency by exactly? SPD cleats will give you between 8-10% better efficiency but it's the shoes that really help, with their stiff soles transmitting power so much more efficiently. It's only anecdotal, but when I ride unpowered I average about 14MPH along the flat in trainers, 18MPH with my SPD shoes and cleats.

RETRO ANALOG BICYCLE SPEEDOMETER CRUISER BIKE NEW ATB | eBay But they're a bugger for drag and horrendously inaccurate, surely better off with digital?

Not quite sure why everyone gets quite so aerated about it, it's a personal choice. But here's my tuppence worth anyway: if I took a piece of kerbstone the weight of your head, suspended it from a rope and said I'm going to let it swing at your head from a distance such that it would be travelling at 10MPH when it struck you, then gave you the option of wearing a helmet to protect yourself, would you take it? The best riders will come off occasionally through no fault of their own (my last off was swerving to avoid a fox which ran out in front of me on a deserted cycle path!), anything which gives one an edge, however slight, in terms of protecting the most important part of one's body (yes I know chaps but it won't work without your brain now will it?) seems to me a no brainer, as opposed to not wearing one which might result in a no brainer. Just my opinion.

250W Cute 8-Fun motor in 700C wheel, 10AH li-ion battery.

I bought my complete kit, battery, motor in wheel, throttle, controller, brake levers and pedal sensor from BMS battery for £260 including the postage. It is of course a risk as returns would prove uneconomical, but thus far (6 months' use) it's worked like a dream, not one problem.

Flecc's suggestion excellent - an alternative is a gent I see in my neighbourhood sometimes who has a length of PVC tube alongside his (sloping) top tube with a couple of holes drilled in it, through which there are cable ties attaching it to the top tube, he just pops his stick in there. Or perhaps you could try one of those telescopic walking poles? There are some on eBay which have a proper walking stick handle and telescope down to 12", small enough for a pannier or even a large pocket.

OK I'll have a bash: if you look at a wheel end on, rather than from the side, the spokes make an isosceles triangle with the rim at the apex and the hub flanges (where the spokes attach to the hub) are the two base points, yes? Now, if you have to stretch out one side of the hub, for example to accommodate a disc brake or a rear cassette, the triangle will be longer on one side than the other, so you have to have shorter, tighter spokes on the short side to keep the wheel true. That's what dishing is, so called because if you lay the wheel on its side it will have the shape of a dish or bowl, with one side protruding more than the other. Hope that makes some sense! If you want to use V-brakes and are ordering a front wheel (i.e. without a disc brake rotor) then dishing or the lack of it doesn't come into play. However a kink in the wheel definitely would affect the smooth running of your brakes and ultimately the integrity of the wheel, if you get a wheel with a kink in it get it to the bike shop and get it trued before use (for practical purposes sending stuff back to BMS for replacement isn't really worth it due to high postage costs). Regards, Rendel

I was very pleasantly surprised by mine I must say, perfectly true and centered and has remained so through nearly six months of inner city London riding. Having thought that I would order the wheel as part of a kit and then probably take the hub motor to a wheelbuilder to get new spokes and rims added to the motor it hasn't proved at all necessary, I'm very pleased with it. Regards, Rendel

Yes, front hub motor, supplied with wheel (surprisingly good quality) - LiFePO4, EV Charger, EBike Battery, EBike Kit, Motor, Controller, Battery Case - BMSBATTERY, fitted to my custom road race bike - Cinelli steel frame, Shimano Dura Ace brakes and hubs, Campag Record chainset.

That's a shame, it looked superb but if people can't put it on their own bikes...rather as with Cytronex, their gear (especially the battery) looks great but when it adds £1K to the cost of the donor bike it puts it out of the range of most.

I got a full kit from BMS Battery to try out eBikes due to a breathing difficulty, whole shebang cost around £280 inc shipping (though I think I was a bit lucky on the Customs duty, which should have added about £50 as far as I can see). Cute 100 250W motor, 10ah Li-ion battery, thumb throttle, charger and controller. Really delighted with it so far, attached to one of my road bikes. I use it relatively sparingly, always on uphills, on flats when tired or into a headwind. Using it thus I can get 50 miles plus from the battery, though of course this would decrease sharply with heavier use. The only drawback is the slight drag from the motor when riding without power, but this can easily be overcome with a faint feathering on the throttle - and when I put my normal race wheel back on for a flat ride it feels like I'm flying! As far as fitting's concerned it was a complete doddle - battery and controller into an Oxford handlebar bag, cable tied throttle onto handlebars (too large diameter to fit as intended), cable tied all other wires snugly and that's about it (I didn't bother with the supplied PAS or brake levers)! The only mod I had to make was filing down my front fork dropouts slightly to fit the motor axle, but they're still (importantly) working fine with the original wheel. A slight problem is changing a tube on the front wheel if I get a puncture when out and about, what with the cables tied to the forks, but I've solved that by using some old velcro ties (the sort one gets holding computer cables bundled etc) instead. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone, I must admit I was a bit of a snob at first, thinking it would be a stopgap until my health recovered, but when/if it does I'm definitely going to get a second bike, probably a hybrid, to put the kit on for commuting, shopping and general fun and have my race bike for full on workouts. The only mystery to me is why pedelecs aren't more popular, I think if more people knew about them so many more would cycle commute/shop/tour...a world without cars and just eBikes quietly humming around, it'd be bliss! P.S. Has anyone heard anything about the proposed Shimano STEPs kit? Great publicity at the end of last year and now seems to have died a quiet death, are they still going to put it out?

I have a 250W one, it definitely doesn't freewheel, there is a noticeable drag but it's not awful: if I had to estimate I'd say it was drag equivalent to carrying a couple of panniers of shopping on the back. Over 15 mph unassisted it doesn't seem to be noticeable at all, don't know why that should be.

Sounds like a hybrid or a cyclocross bike would suit admirably for you. My biggest bit of advice would be, given your budget, to buy secondhand! £200-300 these days really doesn't get you much at all, whereas my road bike was bought for £120 on eBay (having carefully checked the seller's bona fides, reason for selling etc), I spent around £70 and maybe three hours doing it up and it's insured for £1400, that being the new for old replacement cost. If you want something that's not just convenient transport but will give you joy every time you use it you should definitely consider secondhand. But do, of course, make sure the seller is genuine, everyone who buys a stolen bike is encouraging the thieves and they'll get yours one day!

It's a Cute motor - I did order Bafang but they were out of stock and I was impatient! The drag is tolerable but noticeable - a pure guess but I'd say the effort that would take me along at 20MPH with the normal wheel in would only give me 15/16MPH with the motor wheel in. But it's not really an issue as I just feather the throttle to compensate. Totally unoticeable downhill/freewheeling.

Hi Oiseaux, I bought my whole kit (24V/250W motor built into front wheel, 10ah li-ion battery, charger, controller, pedelec & brake levers) from BMS Battery in China for £275 including shipping. As far as I can tell it's pretty much the same thing that one pays £600 for in this country, certainly works a treat, easy to fit (like you I have no electric expertise) and only adds 7kg to the weight of the bike. Cheers, Rendel

Yes the kit was complete. I ordered the "Little Frog" type battery case that fits on the seatpost - actually I couldn't fit it as my saddle's too low but that's down to the bike, not the kit: I've put it in a handlebar bag instead where it works fine. Fitting couldn't have been simpler, just linked up the connectors as per diagram and that was that - the battery was even fully charged so didn't have to wait! The only modification I needed to make was to file the droputs slightly to fit the axle, which I believe is a fairly common experience with kits. All in all I couldn't be happier with the kit, it all works as it should and I must say the wheel is much better quality than I expected, it's taken a severe pounding from London's potholes without damage. If you don't mind waiting a little while for delivery I'd definitely recommend BMS for value, I think I'll be going back to them in future when I want replacements/upgrades. Cheers, Rendel P.S. I should point out that I have no connection, commercial or otherwise, with BMS!

My experience of BMS battery has been that they take a while to get the kit together (ordered mine Boxing Day, received Jan 20th) but once posted it arrived within three days. Very pleased with the kit which thus far works a treat and thrilled with the value - ordered the 250W motor with a 24V 10AH battery (proving perfectly adequate for my needs), whole lot for round £275 including shipping I think is a proper bargain. Jack Xie at BMS was very helpful and prompt in replying when I had queries about the fitting as well. Cheers, Rendel

Thanks Jerry - a cruise control would be ideal, but I'm guessing I can't do any harm (to the kit at least!) with my idea - using the on/off switch is only the same as quickly pushing the throttle open, I assume?

Hope people aren't getting too fed up with constant questions - as I think I stated before I got my kit, I'm a former keen biker (and since getting the kit very keen ebiker!) but my electrical knowledge is close to zero! The kit I bought has a thumb throttle of the type which seems fairly standard issue, three leds and an on/off switch. Unfortunately I have a couple of problems with it: it tends to stick occasionally when returning to "off", which has led to a couple of disconcerting moments, and anyway I'm finding it's making my hand cramp if I have to keep it open for any length of time (problem compounded by the fact that it's too small for my bars so I've had to gaffertape it on in an awkward position). So, what I was thinking was that I could tape the throttle fully open and just use the on/off switch as my control (to be honest I've found having a graded throttle a bit pointless for me, if I want to go at 5-10mph I can manage that myself!). I can't see any good reason that this should be a problem but I don't want to wreck the kit I'm having so much fun with - can someone reassure me that I won't damage the controller with the proposed setup? Many thanks, Rendel

Thanks for all the advice gents - I've switched it over to the other side of the bars away from the throttle and it's registering fine now!

Many thanks for the advice, I've tried rear mounting, if you'll pardon the expression, but the signal's too weak. I'll try repositioning the computer - it's right next to the throttle at the moment so that could be the problem.

Hi all, Finally got my conversion kit from BMS Battery, absolutely loving it I must say (thanks to everyone on this forum who's offered advice over the last few months!). My only gripe is that the motor interferes with my Cateye wireless speedo/trip meter: as soon as the motor is turned on the computer stops registering any input - it starts again as soon as the throttle's off. Anyone experienced this sort of problem, and better still know a way round it? Cheers, Rendel

I've just ordered a 700C wheel kit from BMS battery which I intend to fit to one of my road racers, I'll post here as to how I get on when it arrives. The Cytronex bikes look fabulous but are pretty overpriced - apart from their cunning waterbottle battery the rest is just standard easily obtainable kit.

Home | Paisley Freight - 24 Hour Courier promise to deliver a bike for you for £21.50, though they can't take new bookings until after New Year due to a weather related backlog - if you can wait a few days they're the cheapest I know (though haven't used them).