Just wanted to give an update. I purchased a conversion kit to turn my road bike into an electric bike. I've put a little over 500 miles on it and it still performing great. Batteries are holding up nicely. I've put a little over 60 cycles on them and charge the 36 volt (SLA) system after every ride no matter how short. I use the motor as an assist to decrease my commute times so I'm always helping.
The longest commute without recharge has been 36 miles and the recharge time was 4.5 hours with a 45 watt/hour re-charge. Anything under 10 miles is usually done in around 1-1.5 hours and trips in the 20 mile range are 2.5-3.00 hours. There is a noticeable difference in performance when cold. It will be interesting to see how they hold up in a month or so when we start getting the 90-100 degree temps. Pic on the set up can be found
here.