new ebike build

[California98Civic]

Question: a geared or direct drive hub motor? Geared cannot do brake regen (which is not that good on these bikes anyway) but is otherwise superior except that it is louder.

Also, a higher power motor is useful for a commute that includes heavy hills, must happen quickly, but cannot end in a sweaty/smelly arrival. I can moderate my exercise or intensify it at will, but I have climbing power on demand. Sometimes, groggy and low energy when I start, the motor gets things going and I discover more interest as the ride progresses.

[skyking]

I prefer the idea of a quieter, low drag direct drive. They do not have the same torque off the line, but I have legs for that. I can sprint pretty hard for a few strokes.
The demo ride today was a bit of a bust. They brought the bike up from another store and neglected to check the battery or plug it in.
It had 2 bars out of 5. I rode it around 40 minutes and killed it dead.
This is a 350 watt direct drive, quite a bit less than the one I am proposing to build. it does assist OK, but is pretty meager on straight motor. I don't care about that except as a measure of what it can do.
My ride in to work is primarily downhill, it is the trip home that would leave me sweaty.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by skyking

I prefer the idea of a quieter, low drag direct drive. They do not have the same torque off the line, but I have legs for that. I can sprint pretty hard for a few strokes.
The demo ride today was a bit of a bust. They brought the bike up from another store and neglected to check the battery or plug it in.
It had 2 bars out of 5. I rode it around 40 minutes and killed it dead.
This is a 350 watt direct drive, quite a bit less than the one I am proposing to build. it does assist OK, but is pretty meager on straight motor. I don't care about that except as a measure of what it can do.
My ride in to work is primarily downhill, it is the trip home that would leave me sweaty.

If it was mostly depleted then the voltage and power were down too, so that's worth thinking about in terms of the power the motor could deliver.

If you go direct drive, get a motor controller and throttle that can do regen, then. You have long hills to work, so lots of your braking could be with regen during the commute in. Would be fun to see how well it works for you.

[Hersbird]

Cool to hear your plans Skyking, I'm still waiting on battery problems, Luna is sending me the paperwork I need to give to fedex so i can drive all across town for the 2nd time to see if fedex will now accept the battery packed exactly how they put it on my porch a month ago now. Then when Luna gets it back supposedly they will refund my money so I can pick out another battery and get on the road. I do say I really like the cyclone 3000. It is super quiet and depending on the amps and volts you send it doesn't have to be 3000 watts. Just send it 36 volts and 20 amps and it will be only 720 watts. I had planned on pushing 60 volts and up to 60 amps to mine and supposedly it will take it. If it will take 3600 watts, its should take 720 forever. So It only weighs about 12 pounds and keeps all that weight low and centered. For the price it seems pretty awesome, and although they bill it as complicated install, it seemed simple to me and I have only adjusted a seat before this on a bike. Had I had a battery that was working, I would have had it together in an afternoon. We will see but supposedly the benefit of the reduction gears is the motor can spin nice and fast and you can still add pedal power at a reasonable cadence. I went with a fat bike because I wanted the tire stability and cushion without suspension. I never have had a fat bike before so I am not positive that was the best choice. I think a regular full suspension mountain bike might have been a better choice. I want to mainly ride dirt roads and trails though, constant shaking on the bars, and pounding on the seat. Luna does have some pretty good looking bikes ready to roll as well. I'm a bit peeved about their customer support but if they keep working to fix it I'm good with them. I doubt I could have bought this stuff direct from Vietnam and gotten any resolution.

[skyking]

The more I do research and think about it, I think the ezee geared motor is right for me, with 48 volts and 14 AH battery.
Great power, lighter weight, better pedaling when the motor is not on. At ~1000 watts it will be a hotrod.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by skyking

The more I do research and think about it, I think the ezee geared motor is right for me, with 48 volts and 14 AH battery.
Great power, lighter weight, better pedaling when the motor is not on. At ~1000 watts it will be a hotrod.

Almost exactly my set up, but I went for 36 volts. I love it. I bet you will too.

[Hersbird]

Where is your supplier for that ezee kit?

[Ecky]

When ebikeling has them in stock, you can get an ezee motor laced into a rim, controller, throttle and brake levers (which I didn't use) for $140 shipped to your door.

Their stock comes and goes. I haven't found any place that comes close in price.

https://www.ebikeling.com/product-category/kit

I like geared motors in that they freewheel, and are far lighter for the same power output than a DD. They're often also a little more efficient (especially at lower RPM), though that isn't always the case.

I have an ezee on my Raleigh hybrid and love it. I had a MAC on my velomobile, but swapped it for a Leafbike motor chasing after higher efficiency and better durability. The added weight of the DD motor has me regretting it, handling is significantly reduced and it's slower off the line even with significantly more power.

[skyking]

yes that's a great price, but they have absolutely no stock what-so-ever.

I am on ebikes.ca
This is a tremendous site, full of information and tools.
It reminds me of the cool tools here in ecomodder
For example: Trip simulator:
htthttp://www.ebikes.ca/tools/trip-simulator.htmlp://
It will even tell you peak temps on your motor, how it cools down. Just put in all the data and plot some elevation points. Slick!
Motor simulator:
Motor Simulator - Tools
You can spend hours there building bikes with different batteries and wheels, different total weights, upright, road bike, etc.
I can drive up there and get a battery that cannot ship, which is nice. They have many batteries that do ship fine, but I have a bro in West Van I could visit easily.

[skyking]

I took a big step today towards a possible ebike.
I was tracking down shoes for wide feet, and found a lightly used 2017 Specialized Rockhopper Expert.
https://mikesbikes.com/product/speci...9-273915-1.htm
The shop had a set of takeoff Schwalbe 1.75 x 29 road tires they put on for the same price, swapped on my pedals. I now have hydraulic disks, front suspension with remote lockout, a light and stiff frame.
I may want to gear up on the chainring, but I will ride it a week and look at my top speed data. The 29's will take the beating of rough streets better, and the switchable front suspension will help greatly without harming pedaling performance on the smoother sections.
UPDATE: took a brief ride, I can spin it up to 22 MPH with the current gearing, 22/36 up front. I might go 26/40 eventually.