On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:10:22 -0800, SMS
wrote:

On 1/10/2011 3:37 PM, Fred wrote:
I think I might add an electric bike to my collection of trusty and rusty
two wheelers. . They look like a bit of fun with a practical use. Am
looking at the Trek sprint 7 or the Wisper 905. Anyone know much about these
things? Or any other brands?

I met the owner of Pacific EBikes at Interbike, waiting for an airport
shuttle. He was quite a character. He was railing about the $2000 poorly
designed e-Bikes, of which there were a great many at the show. He has a
factory in Suzhou China which produces his products, which are all under
$US 1000. http://www.pacificebike.com/

You really want to avoid an eBike where the battery pack is placed over
the rear wheel. It should be in the center of the bike. ..

Poppycock. In theory, the weight would be better placed in the middle,
but I have a Trek with the battery over the rear wheel because Ebikes
are not technically allowed where I live and that makes it much less
obvious that there is a battery on the bike. Since the battery weighs
about 5-7 lbs (my weight fluctuates that much) weight distribution is
not an issue. The Pacific Bikes actually have a stronger battery than
the Treks (10ah to 6.4ah), but the Bionx motor is far more efficient
so the battery weight is low. The Pacific Bikes are 250 watt, the
Treks are 350.

As is mostly the case in life, you get what you pay for. I did look at
Pacific Bikes before I bought the Trek. There are no specifications
about the components of the bikes - mine is a Trek Valencia, a damn
good commuter bike even without the electronics.

I waited several years to get an Ebike. I wanted one which was a good
bike first; I did not want a motor scooter. The Valencia has a Shimano
M361 crank, not the best but very good, and no Pacific Bike had a
front crank set because they max at 7 speed.

The Bionx system used by Trek also has regenerative braking as well as
the ability to simply put it into a recharge mode while going down
hills or while pedaling along. That makes a huge difference in battery
life since I use a fair amount of power going up the big bridge and
then pedal fairly hard going down to regenerate the power.

Before I got this bike I used to think that there should be some way
to save the energy generated going down a big hill so I could use it
going up the other side. Of course, there's always a light or stop
sign at the bottom of the hill. Well, my bike does exactly what I
wanted..

Considering that a Bionx PL-350 kit is almost $2000, do you really
think that someone can sell a bike for $900 that is anywhere near as
good as the Trek?