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Electric bikes.
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? |
#2
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Electric bikes.
On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, "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 don't know anything about a Trek Sprint 7, but I have the Valencia+ - just went past 3000 miles. The only problem I've had is breaking spokes on that rear wheel with the hub motor. I'm supposed to get the wheel rebuilt on Wednesday but a snowstorm will likely kill that for a bit. The bike makes the commute massively easier to deal with. No throttle so it isn't a cheap motorcycle - well, at $2500 it isn't cheap at all. But when I hit those big hills or nasty headwinds, I turn on 25-50% assist and my knees sigh with relief. Several years ago I bought a studded tire for winter riding but the rolling resistance was so insane that I never used it. It's now on the front of the Valencia because if I just leave the bike on 25% assist it wipes out the rolling resistance (and a bit more I would think). I went for the commuter type bike; lots of other folks seem to want ebikes for greater speed (ie, over 25). By law most US states limit ebikes to 20 mph. Those are considered to be bikes rather than motor vehicles. Non-pedal things that look like bikes but go 20 mph aren't bikes in my humble opinion. If you want good info on ebikes, try http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...Electric-Bikes or almost any forum here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/ |
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Electric bikes.
"dgk" wrote in message ... On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, "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 don't know anything about a Trek Sprint 7, but I have the Valencia+ - just went past 3000 miles. The only problem I've had is breaking spokes on that rear wheel with the hub motor. I'm supposed to get the wheel rebuilt on Wednesday but a snowstorm will likely kill that for a bit. The bike makes the commute massively easier to deal with. No throttle so it isn't a cheap motorcycle - well, at $2500 it isn't cheap at all. But when I hit those big hills or nasty headwinds, I turn on 25-50% assist and my knees sigh with relief. Several years ago I bought a studded tire for winter riding but the rolling resistance was so insane that I never used it. It's now on the front of the Valencia because if I just leave the bike on 25% assist it wipes out the rolling resistance (and a bit more I would think). I went for the commuter type bike; lots of other folks seem to want ebikes for greater speed (ie, over 25). By law most US states limit ebikes to 20 mph. Those are considered to be bikes rather than motor vehicles. Non-pedal things that look like bikes but go 20 mph aren't bikes in my humble opinion. If you want good info on ebikes, try http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...Electric-Bikes or almost any forum here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/ Thanks for interesting reply. Sorry but had my brain switched off. The models I meant were the Wisper and the Ezee sprint 7 (not Trek). This might be similar to the Valencia. I'm in New Zealand, and they are not common in my city. These seem to be the best two available. Will have a look through the site you sent. |
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Electric bikes.
On Wednesday, 12 January 2011 07:55:19 UTC+13, Fred wrote:
"dgk" wrote in message ... On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, "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 don't know anything about a Trek Sprint 7, but I have the Valencia+ - just went past 3000 miles. The only problem I've had is breaking spokes on that rear wheel with the hub motor. I'm supposed to get the wheel rebuilt on Wednesday but a snowstorm will likely kill that for a bit. The bike makes the commute massively easier to deal with. No throttle so it isn't a cheap motorcycle - well, at $2500 it isn't cheap at all. But when I hit those big hills or nasty headwinds, I turn on 25-50% assist and my knees sigh with relief. Several years ago I bought a studded tire for winter riding but the rolling resistance was so insane that I never used it. It's now on the front of the Valencia because if I just leave the bike on 25% assist it wipes out the rolling resistance (and a bit more I would think). I went for the commuter type bike; lots of other folks seem to want ebikes for greater speed (ie, over 25). By law most US states limit ebikes to 20 mph. Those are considered to be bikes rather than motor vehicles. Non-pedal things that look like bikes but go 20 mph aren't bikes in my humble opinion. If you want good info on ebikes, try http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...Electric-Bikes or almost any forum here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/ Thanks for interesting reply. Sorry but had my brain switched off. The models I meant were the Wisper and the Ezee sprint 7 (not Trek). This might be similar to the Valencia. I'm in New Zealand, and they are not common in my city. These seem to be the best two available. Will have a look through the site you sent. Have you tried the new supplier from http://www.econobikes.co.nz/ they might be worth a try, the bikes look good and the prices are reasonable |
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Electric bikes.
On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, 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've been researching this for about a month now and I've found lots of info, and lots of conversion kits on ebay, but I haven't bit the bullet yet. I'll probably end up getting a rear wheel hub motor kit, but my real question is which one to get. 250-1000W? How effective are the smaller ones? Reviews are hard to find for the ones on ebay. |
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Electric bikes.
Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, 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've been researching this for about a month now and I've found lots of info, and lots of conversion kits on ebay, but I haven't bit the bullet yet. I'll probably end up getting a rear wheel hub motor kit, but my real question is which one to get. 250-1000W? How effective are the smaller ones? Reviews are hard to find for the ones on ebay. How do the kits compare with purpose made bikes? Mounting battery looks tricky. Like you I haven't found too much info. |
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Electric bikes.
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:29:40 +1300, Fred wrote:
How do the kits compare with purpose made bikes? Mounting battery looks tricky. Like you I haven't found too much info. Consumer ebikes are expensive and appear to be very limited in both speed and style. Building your own has lots of advantages. You can choose the style of bike you want (or already have) and you can get any style/size motor you want for it. And the cost is a lot less. Most kits come with a rear rack to mount the batteries in a saddle bag. I'd probably just use a plastic box to put them in and secure it with bungee cords. For a hub drive, I'd like to have a dual speed motor. One low speed high torque and one high speed low torque. They make a chain drive geared motor that let's you use the bike gears (rear) also, but it's a little more expensive and requires changing the chainring to a freewheel style. It's supposed to give better performance than hub driven of same motor size but looks more difficult to install. |
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Electric bikes.
On 1/11/2011 11:57 PM, Wes Newell wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:29:40 +1300, Fred wrote: How do the kits compare with purpose made bikes? Mounting battery looks tricky. Like you I haven't found too much info. Consumer ebikes are expensive and appear to be very limited in both speed and style. Building your own has lots of advantages. You can choose the style of bike you want (or already have) and you can get any style/size motor you want for it. And the cost is a lot less. Most kits come with a rear rack to mount the batteries in a saddle bag. I'd probably just use a plastic box to put them in and secure it with bungee cords. For a hub drive, I'd like to have a dual speed motor. One low speed high torque and one high speed low torque. They make a chain drive geared motor that let's you use the bike gears (rear) also, but it's a little more expensive and requires changing the chainring to a freewheel style. It's supposed to give better performance than hub driven of same motor size but looks more difficult to install. And the geared drive isn't nearly as dependable. The worst of the lot is the Currie Drive. Pot Aluminum for some of the parts and it wears out fast. |
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Electric bikes.
On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:35:18 -0700, Daryl Hunt wrote:
On 1/11/2011 11:57 PM, Wes Newell wrote: They make a chain drive geared motor that let's you use the bike gears (rear) also, but it's a little more expensive and requires changing the chainring to a freewheel style. It's supposed to give better performance than hub driven of same motor size but looks more difficult to install. And the geared drive isn't nearly as dependable. The worst of the lot is the Currie Drive. Pot Aluminum for some of the parts and it wears out fast. Curries are cheap and don't use the bikes gears. You can buy a complete ebike with batteries for $398 (was on sale for $320) at Walmart. I was thinking more along the line of the Cyclone kits. http://www.walmart.com/ip/eZip-Trail...cycle/11988713 http://www.cyclone-usa.com/store.php?crn=199 |
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Electric bikes.
On 1/11/2011 3:03 PM, Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:37:15 +1300, 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've been researching this for about a month now and I've found lots of info, and lots of conversion kits on ebay, but I haven't bit the bullet yet. I'll probably end up getting a rear wheel hub motor kit, but my real question is which one to get. 250-1000W? How effective are the smaller ones? Reviews are hard to find for the ones on ebay. Careful with the conversion kits on Ebay. Many are just plain junk but they claim to be name brand. Most of them are old kits during a time when there was a lot of junk coming in on the boats from China. |
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