Anyone into electric cycling? Electric Bicycles

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Nubo said:
I've cycled most of my life. I fear that an electric bike would be the beginning of the end. Personally I need the bike as a means to measure myself against the world. That is the best thing about riding and I don't want to give that up, ever. If I begin dottering, sit me on a trike or quadricycle with super-low gears and let me grind away at a snail's pace if that's what it takes to get me outside moving under my own, and only my own, power.

I'll report back after this weekend's test runs, but so far, from the short uphill rides that I've done, the e-bike has had the opposite effect on my aging and vulnerable 64 year-old psyche. Far from feeling geriatric, I felt like a kid again riding those things. To each his own, but for me, this looks like a road (or a trail :D ) back into fitness and outdoor enjoyment.
 
Hey Boomer,

I've been riding a BionX-Mountain Bike since 2008.
In fact I have a PL-350 rear wheel motor for sale on eBay right now.

I bought my first setup from the Laguna Beach shop you mentioned.
I love the BionX, I am on my 3rd setup. The battery pack lost a cell or two on my first unit. When that happens it just quits.
I believe the battery is the weak link on the BionX, and not cheap. My 2nd pack started to get weak so I outfitted it with A123 cells, which worked fine; until my bike was stolen. I got about 3000 mi on the first pack, which is about 300 cycles of 60% DoD. I thought that was poor lifetime for these LiMn cells. The BionX guy (at another bike shop) thought that was exceptionally good.

My 3rd pack and setup seems strong still; about 2k miles and counting. I bought it used though. I often ride to work when I can go in at off-peak hours. It's nice because I can ride in without breaking a sweat, but on my way home I can get a workout. I also like the regen since it saves wear on the brakes and reduces the DoD of the pack for my ride.
Be safe and enjoy! I've had many close calls with stupid drivers and they always win in a head to head contest.
 
sparky said:
Hey Boomer,

I've been riding a BionX-Mountain Bike since 2008.
In fact I have a PL-350 rear wheel motor for sale on eBay right now.

I bought my first setup from the Laguna Beach shop you mentioned.
I love the BionX, I am on my 3rd setup. The battery pack lost a cell or two on my first unit. When that happens it just quits.
I believe the battery is the weak link on the BionX, and not cheap. My 2nd pack started to get weak so I outfitted it with A123 cells, which worked fine; until my bike was stolen. I got about 3000 mi on the first pack, which is about 300 cycles of 60% DoD. I thought that was poor lifetime for these LiMn cells. The BionX guy (at another bike shop) thought that was exceptionally good.

My 3rd pack and setup seems strong still; about 2k miles and counting. I bought it used though. I often ride to work when I can go in at off-peak hours. It's nice because I can ride in without breaking a sweat, but on my way home I can get a workout. I also like the regen since it saves wear on the brakes and reduces the DoD of the pack for my ride.
Be safe and enjoy! I've had many close calls with stupid drivers and they always win in a head to head contest.

Thanks, Sparky. We have some great off-road paved trails here in the OC and I'm usually off road or on lightly used roads like Bayside Drive, a one-way, low speed road along Newport's Back Bay.

You're right about battery replacement costs being high. I think that the pack in the 48V unit I'm getting is $900 for about 0.4 kWh (8.8 Ah). Try scaling that up for a LEAF pack replacement. Ouch! I assume that replacing the cells in your bad pack was complex to do, right?
 
This is what I've been looking into, after seeing a demo at the Denver National PlugIn Day event:

http://www.ridekick.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can still keep my bike(s) and use the trailer when I want.
 
ampitupco said:
This is what I've been looking into, after seeing a demo at the Denver National PlugIn Day event:

http://www.ridekick.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can still keep my bike(s) and use the trailer when I want.

What is really cool is the variety and inventiveness of all of the choices of electrified cycling that have been mentioned in just three pages of this thread. Invention and entrepreneurship are alive and well!
 
Boomer23 said:
You're right about battery replacement costs being high. I think that the pack in the 48V unit I'm getting is $900 for about 0.4 kWh (8.8 Ah). Try scaling that up for a LEAF pack replacement. Ouch! I assume that replacing the cells in your bad pack was complex to do, right?
Not too complex. If I had used the same chemistry cells, replacing would have been a cinch. Since the A123 cells have a different voltage profile, I changed the series/parallel configuration. I wanted to learn a bit about Li packs and just used this as an excuse to mess around.
I also learned a bit about ordering cells, pre-welded, from Hong Kong suppliers on eBay. Anyway, it was fun and educational.
I hope you get a lot of use out of your BionX e-bike. They're still the slickest design out there IMO. With 48V, the accel should elicit a nice EV grin, something you're already familiar with!
 
There are a couple of nice articles and 4 e-bike reviews in the October issue of Bicycling magazine:

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/bikes-and-gear-features/e-bikes-are-absolute-sure-thing-maybe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
asinclair said:
There is a local manufacturer her in Marin making a very cool e-bike: http://picycle.com

I test rode one at an EV-event and it was fun, can't say how it works in the 'real world' however...

That picycle looks very cool, but a little too odd for me. I like that they're using smart phones for instrumentation.
 
GRA said:
There are a couple of nice articles and 4 e-bike reviews in the October issue of Bicycling magazine:

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/bikes-and-gear-features/e-bikes-are-absolute-sure-thing-maybe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nice site, Guy, thanks.
 
So I went to Electric Cyclery expecting to have the BionX 48V kit put on my GT Avalanche, but no such Luck. It wouldn't fit because the rear dropouts on my bike weren't deep enough to accept the axle of the BionX motor properly. The installer wasn't comfortable with the fit, and if he wasn't, I certainly wasn't going to push it. Words like "possible catastrophic failure" weren't reassuring.

So long story short, I rolled out with my second choice, a more expensive Stromer. Based on web research, I'd thought that all I needed was the "entry level" model for $2,850. But come to find out that was the 2011 model and no longer available. By the time I left, I'd talked myself up to the top line Elite model, with 27 speeds, and hydraulic disk brakes.

Oh well, my LEAF Is saving me gas money, right?
 

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asinclair said:
There is a local manufacturer her in Marin making a very cool e-bike: http://picycle.com/

I test rode one at an EV-event and it was fun, can't say how it works in the 'real world' however...
I checked out their web site and like it a lot, until I look at the $6K price and I just about flipped over in my chair.
 
My wife was having problems keeping up on our bike rides, so I bought her an "E-bike" off eBay a couple years ago. It works great. Variable pedal assist works nice and smooth. The biggest problem I've had is finding out she has too much assist dialed in, and she's not getting any exercise! :lol: I ride it once I a while, to go to the Post Office or grocery store, and it is addictive. The E-bike is VERY heavy framed though, making it cumbersome when you run out of battery power. If I recall, I waited until after Christmas, and got 15% off, so I only paid ~$900 for it. :D
 
Volusiano said:
asinclair said:
There is a local manufacturer her in Marin making a very cool e-bike: http://picycle.com/

I test rode one at an EV-event and it was fun, can't say how it works in the 'real world' however...
I checked out their web site and like it a lot, until I look at the $6K price and I just about flipped over in my chair.

Apparently, the Picycles are $2500 now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcSqqKHiqE
 
First trip report on the Stromer e-bike:

Distance: 22.4 miles, fairly flat terrain with a few hills and underpasses.
Average speed: 13.1 mph using pedal assist almost exclusively, rather than throttle
Battery status: indicated 50% upon return (ind. 95% at full charge before trip), so the claimed 45 mile range is realistic with a new battery and a 200 lb rider.

A really fun ride. I used mostly the two lowest assist settings except when hill climbing. I passed everyone on the trails that wasn't dressed in Lycra and riding a skinny road bike. I could have kept pace with them, but I didn't want to ride with a crowd and I wanted to keep my speed below about 15 mph on a somewhat crowded trail, just for safety. I did get some exercise and I feel like I rode maybe 7 or 8 miles instead of 22.

The only mechanical problem was that a couple times I noticed that I wasn't getting any assist even though the display showed that I was in assist mode. This was after re-starting after a rest stop. It was probably my error or something easily worked around. A quick off/on cycle fixed it. The nice thing was, though, that the bike's gearing made it reasonably easy to ride even without assist, despite it being a very heavy 62 pound bike.

I'm impressed.
 
ampitupco said:
Volusiano said:
asinclair said:
There is a local manufacturer her in Marin making a very cool e-bike: http://picycle.com/

I test rode one at an EV-event and it was fun, can't say how it works in the 'real world' however...
I checked out their web site and like it a lot, until I look at the $6K price and I just about flipped over in my chair.

Apparently, the Picycles are $2500 now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcSqqKHiqE

Nice video. Susan Carpenter is very cool.

Compared with the Stromer, the Picycle has a noisy drive train from what I hear on the video. The Stromer is silent. I don't like the front hub drive placement, the throttle control switch operation, the shifter design, the fact that the batteries appear sealed inside the frame, and the look of the bike. Not a fan.
 
OK, $2500 is much better than $6K. But who do trust more? A price claimed on a youtube video? Or an official price posted on the company's website?

For the kind of motor and capacity size of the battery, I really doubt that it's $2500. But I've emailed the company asking for price clarification. I'll post back here when I hear back from them.

Even at $2500, the lack of front and rear suspension on a 70 lbs bike is puzzling. The bumps must be pretty jarring...

The 30 mph top speed is nice, but now it would require license and registration in many states.
 
Volusiano said:
Even at $2500, the lack of front and rear suspension on a 70 lbs bike is puzzling. The bumps must be pretty jarring...

Strangely enough, Stromer is deleting suspension as standard beginning next year, though it will be optional, and the same with the power on demand throttle. Probably trying to keep costs down and avoid pricing themselves out of the market.
 
I have a self-converted ebike. The bike is a full suspension Giant NRS 2 with hydraulic disc brakes. It is fitted with a rear-wheel Ezee motor and a 25A Infineon controller. I built a triangular battery which fits in a custom bag inside the frame. The battery is built from Sony LiMn 18650 cells taken from Bosch FatPacks which once could be gotten cheap on ebay. Battery specs is 10Ah@48V.

My cruising speed on level ground is about 26mph and max power output is around 1.3kW. Power is controlled by twist throttle only (left side). Right side is twist gear shifter (SRAM X0).
 
In 2004 I built a simple electric bike using a Currie US Pro-Drive that I installed on my old Peugeot U.S. Express city bike. I put a lot of miles on that E-bike. I would even take it mountain biking. It was a blast. Because of the extra weight of the electric motor and batteries, I eventually wore the bike out.
 
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