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?

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/

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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. The Wisper 905
line looks good. The Trek Sprint 7 must be a model not sold in the U.S.,
but all the Trek electric bikes on the U.S. web site look like a regular
bike that they just stuck a motor and battery onto.

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. The
Wisper 905 line looks good. The Trek Sprint 7 must be a model not
sold in the U.S., but all the Trek electric bikes on the U.S. web
site look like a regular bike that they just stuck a motor and
battery onto.

Thanks for that. Brain was asleep when I posted that. The models I am
considering are the Wisper and the Ezee sprint 7. (Dn't know why I put
Trek.)

On 1/17/2011 9:49 AM, Fred wrote:
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. The
Wisper 905 line looks good. The Trek Sprint 7 must be a model not
sold in the U.S., but all the Trek electric bikes on the U.S. web
site look like a regular bike that they just stuck a motor and
battery onto.

Thanks for that. Brain was asleep when I posted that. The models I am
considering are the Wisper and the Ezee sprint 7. (Dn't know why I put
Trek.)

Some of the conversion kits cost nearly as much as a whole bike from
Pacific EBikes.

The bottom line here is that this isn't rocket science, it's a motor,
battery, and controller, but you really need a frame that's designed
with a good place for the battery to be placed with a low center of
gravity. You don't want the battery sitting on a rack over the rear wheel.

Also, don't get carried away with range. If it's a commute bike you know
how far you're riding each day, and carrying more battery than you need
is not necessary.

"SMS" wrote in message
...
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. The Wisper 905
line looks good. The Trek Sprint 7 must be a model not sold in the U.S.,
but all the Trek electric bikes on the U.S. web site look like a regular
bike that they just stuck a motor and battery onto.

Aside from "balance" when picking the bike up, what is your issue with the
battery over the rear wheel? Modern batteries aren't very heavy, and the
rear wheel is so over-built that additional loading is not a factor. The
advantage to having it placed as Trek does is perception- it doesn't "look"
like an e-bike at first glance. People like that. I thought that was silly
at first, but old dogs can sometimes be taught new tricks.

The features people should really be looking for in an e-bike are-

#1: Ease of wheel removal. There are e-bikes out there that can take well
over half an hour to remove and reinstall. This is particularly true for
some of the less-expensive units sold at Best Buy.

#2: High-quality charger & decent battery warranty. The two tend to go
together.

#3: Good track record and/or company standing behind the product that will
be there for you two years down the road when some proprietary part gives
out that is no longer available. For the companies with a track record,
they'll have the part. For others, they'll likely go to significant length
to take care of you. We get customers bringing in e-bikes frequently that
are just a few years old for which you cannot get what's needed to make them
functional. Hate that. And of course, no matter where it was purchased, they
blame the shop that can't fix it for them (us).

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA