Long time proponent of motor assist bicycles here in the US. I live in one of the more bike oriented cities, well at least close to it, here Portland, OR.. Figured I would join to see what developments are going on there in the UK that would translate well here to get more people on e bikes in the urban environment primarily. And also share a bit of what is going on over here.

 

The bulk of commuters here use drop bar bikes and in order to promote use of e bikes I feel, at least here, that it is important to bring solutions to that segment of the market. Our laws as you know are a bit more generous than what is allowed elsewhere and it allows for some different legal options in regards to power out put and how it is controlled.

 

To that end my bikes are both 1000w front hub motors, legal limit here in OR., and I use a throttle only, also legal. My use of a throttle is by choice as I prefer to set my resistance at the pedals and cadence which it allows me to do. Both my bikes have Schlumpf drives on them to get me high enough gearing to be able to pedal with good resistance at speeds up to 30 mph (not legal), which is about as fast as I feel comfortable going under power. My average speed generally is more like 20 mph @ 15 wh/mi over varied terrain.

 

My v 1.0 black bike has a 9c motor, 48v 528wh battery @ 25amp and v 2.0 has a Grin Technology All Axle motor, 52v 572wh @ 25amp both using Grin's CA v 3.0. As you can see the biggest difference between the two is the weight difference

 

 

Thanks for adding me to this site and I hope to learn more about your way of doing things.

Long time proponent of motor assist bicycles here in the US. I live in one of the more bike oriented cities, well at least close to it, here Portland, OR.. Figured I would join to see what developments are going on there in the UK that would translate well here to get more people on e bikes in the urban environment primarily. And also share a bit of what is going on over here.

 

The bulk of commuters here use drop bar bikes and in order to promote use of e bikes I feel, at least here, that it is important to bring solutions to that segment of the market. Our laws as you know are a bit more generous than what is allowed elsewhere and it allows for some different legal options in regards to power out put and how it is controlled.

 

To that end my bikes are both 1000w front hub motors, legal limit here in OR., and I use a throttle only, also legal. My use of a throttle is by choice as I prefer to set my resistance at the pedals and cadence which it allows me to do. Both my bikes have Schlumpf drives on them to get me high enough gearing to be able to pedal with good resistance at speeds up to 30 mph (not legal), which is about as fast as I feel comfortable going under power. My average speed generally is more like 20 mph @ 15 wh/mi over varied terrain.

 

My v 1.0 black bike has a 9c motor, 48v 528wh battery @ 25amp and v 2.0 has a Grin Technology All Axle motor, 52v 572wh @ 25amp both using Grin's CA v 3.0. As you can see the biggest difference between the two is the weight difference

 

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Thanks for adding me to this site and I hope to learn more about your way of doing things.

Welcome,and yep unfortunately the fun police have visited so we have to make do with a paltry wattage, I used to run a big hub motor that ran 29mph on throttle, pedals were a waste of time, I think with law change,fat ebikes being highlighted so much , and risk of being caught with no insurance etc. I sold it on for off-road use only, mind you walkers/rambling clubs take a dislike to ebikes here ,saying that we are ripping up their forest trails,it's just that more folk are enjoying themselves and getting fresh air,and no longer are the forests and woodlands for them only .

A few of us here have recently purchased the very new Bafang Max Drive, info is a little thin on the ground for it, a lot of similarities transfer over from other bbs units we think,e.g. Software, layout of controller ,wiring etc. How is the unit progressing stateside? Anyone delved into it yet or are you all on big hubs Lyen controllers,DC motors etc. We need a brave soul to tweak some settings ,purely for educational purposes you understand.

Hello & welcome Robert

 

Gaz

Welcome,and yep unfortunately the fun police have visited so we have to make do with a paltry wattage, I used to run a big hub motor that ran 29mph on throttle, pedals were a waste of time, I think with law change,fat ebikes being highlighted so much , and risk of being caught with no insurance etc. I sold it on for off-road use only, mind you walkers/rambling clubs take a dislike to ebikes here ,saying that we are ripping up their forest trails,it's just that more folk are enjoying themselves and getting fresh air,and no longer are the forests and woodlands for them only .

A few of us here have recently purchased the very new Bafang Max Drive, info is a little thin on the ground for it, a lot of similarities transfer over from other bbs units we think,e.g. Software, layout of controller ,wiring etc. How is the unit progressing stateside? Anyone delved into it yet or are you all on big hubs Lyen controllers,DC motors etc. We need a brave soul to tweak some settings ,purely for educational purposes you understand.

 

I have only seen and ridden the Max Drive at a demo event held in a parking lot so not a lot of input to share. Bafang does seem to be more open source than proprietary so I would assume that some enterprising electrical engineer can figure out how to tweak it. If I see anything pop up on the forums here I will get the word back.

 

For my 1000w bikes pedaling is not a waste of time due to high enough gearing to allow for pedaling at those speeds with enough resistance on tap to be able to add to the overall equation. Most mid drives only supply up to a 120" gear ratio which only will afford the ability to be pedaling effectively to around 25 mph. You need in the 130-140" gear range to get effective pedaling beyond. On a bike with 28" wheel diameter you would need a 50t/11t as an example.

i have 18t on my bosch bike like a 44t on a normal bike and can hit 30mph cant keep it there tho so have a 25t on the way