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Lightest electric bikes
I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy.
I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lb http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lb http://store.kalkhoffusa.com/Product...ow=TechS pecs |
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#2
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Lightest electric bikes
On Jun 1, 8:59 pm, spasmous2 wrote:
I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lbhttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/gocycle-electric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lbhttp://store.kalkhoffusa.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=KA09PROC&... Eat oatmeal. Push cranks. |
#3
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Lightest electric bikes
spasmous2 wrote:
I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lb http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lb http://store.kalkhoffusa.com/Product...ow=TechS pecs For a powered vehicle, hard to beat a Lotus Super Seven. Quick, light, pretty too. Otherwise, bicycles are actually enjoyable and a lot less trouble. Mine's easily carried up a flight of stairs with no effort at all. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#4
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Lightest electric bikes
On Jun 1, 9:24*pm, AMuzi wrote:
spasmous2 wrote: I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lb http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lb http://store.kalkhoffusa.com/Product...Code=KA09PROC&.... For a powered vehicle, hard to beat a Lotus Super Seven. Quick, light, pretty too. Otherwise, bicycles are actually enjoyable and a lot less trouble. Mine's easily carried up a flight of stairs with no effort at all. I rode a bike to work for a year, shivered in the AC every day, got shingles. I love bikes, but I need to try something else for the commute |
#5
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Lightest electric bikes
spasmous2 wrote:
I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Batteries have really poor energy density. So basically you have to choose between a bike with good range, a bike with good performance, or a lightweight bike. Unless there is some horrible source of parasitic drag (not unheard of in the e-bike world), it's just a really heavy bike. If you think a 60 pound 1950s balloon tire cruiser can't be ridden, well, that's your call to make. But a dead e-bike is like that. It's maybe not a lot of fun to ride home, but a damn sight easier than pushing the thing. Some direct drive hub motors have an obnoxious amount of drag, to the degree that you can pedal along with the thing, but pedaling it unpowered is a huge chore. Others are not so bad. Geared hub motors have one-way clutches that eliminate the drag losses of backdriving an electric motor. So do most e-bikes with an external motor. Another possible layout for an e-bike is a normal bike with a pusher trailer containing both batteries and motor. At high power outputs, this kind of vehicle has troublesome handling, but at modest e-bike power levels it seems to work OK. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? The Giant Twist Express weighs 48 actual pounds. It's the successor to the well-respected Giant Lafree Lite, and it's much more refined and iterated than most other electric bikes. Chalo |
#6
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Lightest electric bikes
Chalo wrote:
spasmous2 wrote: I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Batteries have really poor energy density. So basically you have to choose between a bike with good range, a bike with good performance, or a lightweight bike. Unless there is some horrible source of parasitic drag (not unheard of in the e-bike world), it's just a really heavy bike. If you think a 60 pound 1950s balloon tire cruiser can't be ridden, well, that's your call to make. But a dead e-bike is like that. It's maybe not a lot of fun to ride home, but a damn sight easier than pushing the thing. Some direct drive hub motors have an obnoxious amount of drag, to the degree that you can pedal along with the thing, but pedaling it unpowered is a huge chore. Others are not so bad. Geared hub motors have one-way clutches that eliminate the drag losses of backdriving an electric motor. So do most e-bikes with an external motor. Another possible layout for an e-bike is a normal bike with a pusher trailer containing both batteries and motor. At high power outputs, this kind of vehicle has troublesome handling, but at modest e-bike power levels it seems to work OK. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? The Giant Twist Express weighs 48 actual pounds. It's the successor to the well-respected Giant Lafree Lite, and it's much more refined and iterated than most other electric bikes. Chalo Many of the e-bikes in the $1,000-1,500 price range seem to use relatively heavy cruiser bikes with 10-15lb extra for motor, battery and controller. At the other end of the spectrum, you have the Gruber -- ~$2,500 for the add-on, which will add only ~5lb to a possibly sub-20lb bike. |
#7
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Lightest electric bikes
Chalo wrote:
Another possible layout for an e-bike is a normal bike with a pusher trailer containing both batteries and motor. At high power outputs, this kind of vehicle has troublesome handling, but at modest e-bike power levels it seems to work OK. I built an electric powered boat trailer last summer. I used a 450W/24V motor with a reduction gear driving one trailer wheel. It uses a 9T sprocket on the motor driving a 32T sprocket on the freewheel. The trailer is long (16' boat), made of wood and couples to the seatpost. I was surprised by how well it pushed up a hill, figuring the total weight of me, my bike, trailer, batteries, boat and boat stuff at around 600 lb. I wouldn't nail the throttle with the trailer sharply turned, but judicious throttle in sharp turns didn't seem to be a problem. Other than sharp turns, I didn't find (or expect to find) any handling quirks. A lightly loaded trailer might be different, but then I don't really see the need for lots of power in that case. A seatpost mount seems to be more or less in line with the center of mass (slightly below), so the thrust wouldn't seem to torque you around. The only time I had problems was when I negatively loaded the trailer tongue, got off the saddle and had the rear wheel go up in the air and I couldn't hold the brakes on a slope -- that was a little dicey. Making U-turns, even on a narrow street, even with such a long trailer, wasn't particularly tricky. I don't find that pulling a ~350lb trailer on the flats to be particularly difficult, but even modest hills can be show stoppers and accelerating from stops is slow -- that's pretty much the only place I need assist, so I geared accordingly (~150 rpm max on wheel). Right now my only problem is throwing the chain when I go over sharp bumps under power. I didn't think I needed a chain tensioner/guide since I laid out a minimal chain length. I turns out that under all that torque there's enough deflection to skew the chain line enough. The short freewheel teeth don't help either (running a #25 chain), don't know if I can find a deep tooth 32 sprocket with freewheel. |
#8
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Lightest electric bikes
On Jun 2, 5:34*am, Peter Cole wrote:
Chalo wrote: Another possible layout for an e-bike is a normal bike with a pusher trailer containing both batteries and motor. *At high power outputs, this kind of vehicle has troublesome handling, but at modest e-bike power levels it seems to work OK. I built an electric powered boat trailer last summer. I used a 450W/24V motor with a reduction gear driving one trailer wheel. It uses a 9T sprocket on the motor driving a 32T sprocket on the freewheel. The trailer is long (16' boat), made of wood and couples to the seatpost. I was surprised by how well it pushed up a hill, figuring the total weight of me, my bike, trailer, batteries, boat and boat stuff at around 600 lb. I wouldn't nail the throttle with the trailer sharply turned, but judicious throttle in sharp turns didn't seem to be a problem. Other than sharp turns, I didn't find (or expect to find) any handling quirks. A lightly loaded trailer might be different, but then I don't really see the need for lots of power in that case. A seatpost mount seems to be more or less in line with the center of mass (slightly below), so the thrust wouldn't seem to torque you around. The only time I had problems was when I negatively loaded the trailer tongue, got off the saddle and had the rear wheel go up in the air and I couldn't hold the brakes on a slope -- that was a little dicey. Making U-turns, even on a narrow street, even with such a long trailer, wasn't particularly tricky. I don't find that pulling a ~350lb trailer on the flats to be particularly difficult, but even modest hills can be show stoppers and accelerating from stops is slow -- that's pretty much the only place I need assist, so I geared accordingly (~150 rpm max on wheel). Right now my only problem is throwing the chain when I go over sharp bumps under power. I didn't think I needed a chain tensioner/guide since I laid out a minimal chain length. I turns out that under all that torque there's enough deflection to skew the chain line enough. The short freewheel teeth don't help either (running a #25 chain), don't know if I can find a deep tooth 32 sprocket with freewheel. These bikes are popping up around PDX, although the article does not really tell how the motor is set up. I was looking at one the other day operated by Portland Roasting Company, and it looked pretty cool -- probably hauling 600lbs of stuff. http://b-linepdx.com/press/bikeportland-2009-04/ -- Jay Beattie. |
#9
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Lightest electric bikes
Per spasmous2:
I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lb http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lb http://store.kalkhoffusa.com/Product...ow=TechS pecs Gocycle looks pretty slick to me, but I didn't even look at the price.... You can convert a beater bike using a FWD motor. I do that during the winter with my Surly 1x1 in order to avoid mouth breathing-induced bronchitis. I use the electric assist only on hills to avoid mouth breathing. Main problem with ebikes is the battery weight. I hear that better days are coming - something about batteries that use atmospheric air as part of the process and weigh about 1/7th what Lithium batteries weigh today. Since I use so little battery, I get along with a couple of DeWalt 36v power tool packs. IIRC, I get away with about 36 lbs. The conversion route isn't that hard, but there is definitely are a few things one has to know beforehand. -- PeteCresswell |
#10
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Lightest electric bikes
spasmous2 wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:24 pm, AMuzi wrote: spasmous2 wrote: I'm interested in getting one but don't get why they are so heavy. I've seen some over 100 lb! When the battery runs out these things can't be ridden. Here's a (very) few moderate weight ones. The gocycle is light but doesn't look like a bike and looks flimsy. The cytronex and kalkhoff seem reasonable. Any others people know about? 32 lb http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ric-assist.php 30 lb http://www.cytronex.com/bikes.html 46 lb http://store.kalkhoffusa.com/Product...Code=KA09PROC&... For a powered vehicle, hard to beat a Lotus Super Seven. Quick, light, pretty too. Otherwise, bicycles are actually enjoyable and a lot less trouble. Mine's easily carried up a flight of stairs with no effort at all. I rode a bike to work for a year, shivered in the AC every day, got shingles. I love bikes, but I need to try something else for the commute Ouch. Someone of my acquaintance reports that's now quite manageable with modern antivirals. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
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