Sell Insight to buy E-Bike?

[Angel And The Wolf]

VSkid, have you considered striping out the mechanicals from the Insight, and building a bare frames trike?

[Angel And The Wolf]

Never mind. I had only read page one.
Guess you're well on your way to the bike by now.

[vadimr4]

Since May I have about 340 miles on my new ebike.
From my experience go with a heavy duty tire tube. After 3 flats with standard tire tubes from Target/Walmart, I got a thorn resistant bicycle tube which has been working great so far. The extra weight on the tire calls for the heavy duty tube.
I got my kit imported from China. A 1kW hub motor mounted in a 700C rim with a 10Ah battery pack. I am averaging about 24mph on my 7 mile commute (top speed is like yours at 32mph). The commute time is the same as on my car (or motorcycle). Posted speed limits on my route range from 30 to 45mph and some roads have a bit of a shoulder. The ones that do not, I ride in the lane since in Illinois bikes are allowed to share the road with cars. So far I had no issues except for a few "special" people that yell at me to use the sidewalk which would be illegal and unsafe.

With my experience of the e-bike, I hope to do an electric velomobile for winter/rainy days with a 3kW motor to allow me to travel with the traffic since it is more difficult to share the road with cars on a velomobile (because of lousy visibility).
Would love to hear more about your experience with your e-bike.

[vskid3]

Update in celebration of being featured in the forum's update email (thanks!!).

The ebike kit has just over 600 miles on it. However, the bike has been out of commission for a couple weeks, first getting one flat on the rear and another a few days later. While fixing the second flat, I discovered that the inner part of the rim was cracking at the valve stem hole. Now I finally have a good reason to get rid of that garbage rim. Ordered a new one which should be here tomorrow so I can get some accurate measurements and order spokes (I'm a little worried about rim size because the rim that came on my bike is about a quarter inch shorter than the one that came in the ebike kit).

In the meantime, I ordered an identical ebike kit for my wife's bike (Diamondback Response XE, has front and rear disc brakes). Got it installed over the weekend and I've ridden it to work yesterday and today. It works great, the only issue is that the frame is a little big for me as my wife is taller. I'm using my Ping battery in a backpack for it for now, still doing research on other batteries that would suit her commute distance (about 5 miles a day, typically) better, be smaller, and cheaper.

sidecar- I haven't done much research on cheap prebuilt ebikes, but the generally consensus on Endless Sphere is that they're garbage and you're better off spending a little more and going DIY. More expensive ebikes can work well, but the performance level is generally much lower than a DIY setup of the same cost. I'm sure there are some that are worth their price, though, just be sure to do your research.

vadimr4- Glad you're having a good experience with your ebike. I think the biggest cause of my flats was my rim. The new rim is a little wider and I'm getting 2.4" CST Cyclops tires for my bike. The tires are much cheaper than the Maxxis Hookworms they're comparable to and they look like they should preform great from the reviews. I'm considering going to a tubeless setup if I have many more problems with flats. A velomobile looks like a ton of fun, but I'm going to try to make my bike last me at least the next two years I have here in El Paso.

[samwichse]

What do you think about mid-drive motors? I've been considering one of these:

New Bafang BBS02 750W mid drive for electric bicycles | ELECTRICBIKE.COM

Mid drive, high power (up to 1000w if you take away the power limitations), and helical-cut gears so it's nice and quiet. Plus you can shift gears with it, so it seems like it'd be a bit more efficient.

Sam

[Grant-53]

Once you get the mechanics sorted we can talk streamlining. I just had a brain storm session with a triathlon fitter/dealer in North Carolina on aero accessories.

[vskid3]

I haven't looked into mid-drives much. Hub-drives seem to be easier to install generally and are pretty much maintenance free as they don't wear the chain. I think a big advantage of the mid-drive is that the ability to change gears makes it less likely to overheat when going slow up steep hills. So a hub motor would probably be best for most commuters and mountain biking that is done at a higher speed (no steep hills to climb slowly), while a mid-drive would excel with steep hills. I would check Endless Sphere, though, as I may be completely wrong.

Helping the aerodynamics would be great, but I want to keep it as bicycle looking as possible.

[Grant-53]

I will be working on designs for triathlon aero water/electrolyte containers that you might find acceptable.

[benphyr]

YKYAEM when
You read on ecomodder about vskid3's ebike build to replace an Insight and go alongside a Prius as a second vehicle and you still are thinking of ways to make the ebike work more efficiently using techniques learned here on ecomodder:
-coasting to stops and any place you need to slow down,
-anticipating ahead,
-aero-mod,
-tire pressure optimized for best handling (because over-clocked bicycles need all the help they can get and are going to get best rolling when on wheels rather than sliding on side along pavement been there on my me-bike--that is me-powered.)
-driving with load

Then you realize you have probably learned some of those techniques from the person you propose to teach. Thanks Vskid3

-Benphyr

[vskid3]

Put the 26x2.4 CST Cyclops tires on my wife's ebike the other day because I wanted to try them out and its going to be a bit before my ebike is running again. They feel much better than the stock knobbies that came on her bike. I think I have the rear pressure a little high, I'll be experimenting with lower pressures to try to turn the hardtail into a not-so-hard-tail. I wish I had gone with these tires in the first place.

I got a Bell Sanction full face bike helmet. Only been on a few rides with it, but it seems like it has enough air flow to keep my head cool while also providing more sun protection and (hopefully) protecting my melon more in the event of a crash.