Hey so I am going to start working for deliveroo part time. This will require cycling 3 hours a day doing deliverys some of the time is just waiting outside however and the ride times are not that far.

 

Will my e-bikes battery last 3 hours if I only use it for hills. I am wondering if I should bother with the conversion as it is complicated converting this old bike, while I could use an old MTB I have lying around but that thing is slow as hell even now.

 

I will be running a road bike converted to E so that I can still pedal at a nice pace.

 

My bike

old racing bike steel frame, weights about 10kg. Drop bars but im just gonna stick the brakes on the top part of the handlenbars.

 

 

My Engine

500W cyclotricity (Down to 250W cos no LCD)

36v 11 Ah bottle battery

Why not test it out before you start the job. You don't have to do it all in one go. 3 x 1hr rides will suffice, just don't charge the battery in between each one.

The Cyclotricity 500w motor is very heavy, so not really suited to a oad bike. Also, it's designed for speed rather than stop-start riding. I think the 250w kit would be much better.

 

Another thing: Your rim brakes might be just about OK for a lightweight road bike, but if you add the weight of an electric kit and whatever cargo you'll be carrying, they'll be useless. Get a cheap donor bike with disc brakes and a normal a tringle frame.

is the 250W kit ligh enough for a road bike? I dont think I can get this thing refunded unfortunatly as I got it off ebay. Im gonna switch to the brakes which come with the kit as they stop the motor.

 

Do you know roughly how heavy each motor is? I know my battery is about 3KG? If the 250W motor is really light I could try and sell the 500W one and go for the 250W one instead.

My reason for going roadbike is that the improved geometry should allow me to increase my range. As I dont think my battery will go for 3 hours meaning for the other hour, hour and a half im running without battery. Roadbike allows the bike to still be reasonably light.

A more inportant question would be how many KM/miles you will be riding and how hilly?

The plus side of the road bike is that you will be able to go on the drops if the wind is bad, bad side poor ride and less puncture resistant tyres.

 

As D8veh said your brakes may be not up to the job of stopping depending on the bike, the road bike I had was barely adequate brake wise with just an 80 kg rider on it.

Rim brakes can work well but road bike ones IME tend to be a bit light on.

Hmmm I might have to use the mountain bike then. Anyone know how to fit 28 inch wheels on 26 inch hub. It will slot in but not sure about how to get the brakes right.

 

I will get a set of rim brakes with the ebike kit not sure if they will fit straight away though.

The brakes:

- you are only getting levers

- the brakes themselves won't be aligned with the rims if you go from 26 to 28"

- if you are keeping rim brakes you need to put a hydraulic one on the front (Magura HS11 £50)

 

The best conversion for what you want to do is a decent road bike frame that will take 28C tyres with a mid motor to keep the weight central. I would go for a 15 Ah battery or a custom made 17 Ah one. With a spider on the motor you can have 2x10 gearing. You don't need the supplied brake levers, you can keep the standard ones and use a HWBS (hidden wire brake sensor) on the back brake. A hydraulic front brake is still a must.

For your bike forget the kit and consider something like the Woosh Karoo flat bar road bike with a 13 or 15ah battery.

And I agree with Geebee how many miles you are thinking you will cover in that 3 hrs.

This kit may be worth a look, could be a good kit for a road bike frame as the motor is small and light. But Woosh would need to transfer it to your size of rim for what looks like a reasonable charge, they also do the bigger capacity battery to keep you going for a few hours.

 

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/new-26-xf08c-rear-wheel-kit-with-13ah-battery-cassette-fitting-easy-wiring-%C2%A3499.26343/

My reason for going roadbike is that the improved geometry should allow me to increase my range.

 

hmm, perhaps I need to change my fork rake to eek out some extra range. ..

The 500w Cycotricity kit is not suitable for pedalling without power. It has a direct drive motor with no freewheel so it gives some drag from the motor when the power is off. You need a geared hub-motor or a crank-drive motor.

 

The levers you get with any kit may make your braking even worse as they won't be designed for a road bike. They're normally OK on MTBs, but they're only levers to pull the cables. Your brakes and cables don't change.

I cant get a different kit iv already bought the 500w cyclotricity one.

 

Edit: They allowed me to swap for the 250W frontdrive motor.

Edited December 20, 20169 yr by flik9999

would this make a good donor bike?

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/mountain-bike-disc-brake/1205670247

would this make a good donor bike?

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/mountain-bike-disc-brake/1205670247

I think that's perfect as it looks like steel fork lowers. It's probably worth the £40 just for them. The only doubt I have is whether the triangle is big enough to fit the battery in.

 

One other thing: It has integrated brakes/changers, so you can't use the kit's brake levers. That's not a deal breaker because you can easily and cheaply make a switch that goes on the open cable along the crossbar using a cheap cycle computer.

How exactly do you fit these switches on, I cant seam to find any guides on it.

Can you recconend some really good cantilever or V brakes that are mechanical?

How exactly do you fit these switches on, I cant seam to find any guides on it.

If you were converting a normal mountain bike with cable brakes, you pull the grip off, undo the screw in the lever, slide it off the bar and pull the cable out. Then, you take your lever from the kit, connect the cable, slide the lever onto the bar, tighten the screw and put the grip back on. the new lever has a wire and a connector that you connect to the main wiring harness or direct to the controller.

 

That Shogun bile has brake and gear levers that are combined in the same unit, so if you took it off to install the kit's brake levers, you wouldn't be able to change gear.

 

The new levers have a switch in them, which cuts the motor when you operate the brake. You don't really need the switches except that if you fit a throttle and it breaks, the motor will run by itself. you'd have to switch off the battery or controller to stop it, but that takes some time.

 

As I said, you can add a switch to the cable on the crossbar on that bike, so you don't need the new brake levers.

 

Cantilever or V brakes are not really suitable for electric bikes. Maybe they're OK for light people with a lightweight conversion, but not for a bike carrying cargo.

Is it a bad idea to fit really strong front brakes but weak back brakes. Going back to the vintage bike idea, im gonna get a new fork that will fit the 26inch wheel and standard V brakes, as opposed to the oldstyle brakes.

 

Would I be at high risk if I kept the old sidepull brakes and fitted say hydraulic rim brakes to the front (Future when more money though)

 

Im going to be running with the 250W cyclotricity engine btw if anyone knows the weight.

 

Also does anyone know if I get a free set of brakes or just levers with the kit as my bike currently has no front brake.

 

To clarify weight

 

Bike: About 10 KGs

Me: 9 stone (57 kg)

Cargo: Cardbourd box ontop of a pannier rack.

Battery: about 3kg

Kit: Not sure how heavy the 250w motor is you said its lightweight so maybe 2KG?

The 250w motor is about 3kg. At only 57kg yourself, rim brakes will probably be OK.

 

You only get levers with the kit, no brakes.

I got these brakes for my bike: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291794034210?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Will that be ok for now? Vintage bike so im slowly working on things for it.

 

My only concern is that I can't fit V brakes onto the back so Cantis will have to do. Will the strength difference between the brakes give me problems?

 

My thoughts are my bike will be about 16kg (10 bike, 3Battery, 3 motor) is the same wieght as a mountain bike. Mountain bikes have used V brakes for years just fine.

 

As the brakes cut off the power to the motor will the brakes have to also be fighting the motor or should it be treated the same as if I was riding a MTB at 17 MPH down a hill and stopping.

I watched a program on TV a few weeks ago about these new delivery companies. The person "hiring" did an inspection of the delivery guy's bikes and refused those whose bike wasn't safe.

 

Having ridden my MTB before it was converted I decided it's cheap Tektro front brake had to be the first thing to go, in fact the hydraulic rim brake was installed well before the motor kit went on.

 

Bikes brake on the front wheel http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

It might be better if you showed photo of your bike.

 

The brake lever cuts the motor so that you can't have the motor on at the same time as the brake.

 

As a general rule, you need better brakes on an electric bike than the same non-electric one because its average speed will be higher and it weighs more.

 

The front brake is the most inportant one. It does most of the stopping. It's no problem if the front brake is better than the back.