Why Electric Bikes?

[Frank Lee]

How does a hub motor slip?

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

How does a hub motor slip?

Those 5 planetary gears used to engage inner (motor) and outer (rim) surfaces like a centrifigal clutch. It used to go zzzzchchchc (solid) but now it goes zzhhzzhhzzhhzzzhhhhch (not as smooth now). If my description makes any sense to you - congratulations I just have to be easy on the acceleration and everything is fine!

[Frank Lee]

I did understand that (more or less).

I'm pretty sure mine has no gears at all; I didn't know there were geared motors.

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I did understand that (more or less).

I'm pretty sure mine has no gears at all; I didn't know there were geared motors.

Name might throw you off - usually described as "can" motors; with a gear bolted onto the normally non-geared end of the hub. Then a small chain goes to the motor, or "can". Mine was a 2001 Currie and it lasted past 2007 when I got the much quieter hub motor.

It was great fun when I lost traction and spun the back wheel. Not so much fun when I snapped that small chain though!

[skyl4rk]

For commuting to work, a pedal bike is best up to about 3 miles. You don't have to pedal hard and sweat, and you are just warming up at that distance. The electric bikes range varies but a typical lead acid 48V-12aH system will get you maybe 15 miles (more if you don't use the throttle as much). So the electric bike is best for trips of 3 to 7 miles if you don't have a place to plug it in, and 3 to 15 miles if you do have a place to plug it in.

I went through 3 sets of 4 batteries each over about 5 years. I think a set cost about $120. I finally got tired of paying for lead acid batteries that do not last long. I used the bike quite a bit but it seems like batteries should last more than a year.

I would like to try lithium batteries but never seem to be able to cough up enough cash to get a pack. It would probably be $400 to $600 to get a battery system (I haven't checked lately).

The real reason I stopped riding the electric bike is that I need exercise and riding (or walking) to work is great exercise.

[Frank Lee]

I think my SLA pack is 3 years old now and it's about as good as ever...

[BarelyAWake]

I initially purchased SLAs for my project, as it's a hybrid range wasn't as critical... but I ended up replacing them with LifPo4 packs from Li Ping ("duct tape" packs) simply due to weight concerns...

...and yea, they are a bit costly - but a 48v 15ah LifPo4 pack is about 16lbs whereas 48v 12ah SLA is close to 30lbs *shrug*