Electric Bikes - Choose A Fastest Folding Bike For Ebike Conversion? Dahon Matrix or Speed Pro/TT?

I am in the process of buying a folding bike to go to work. The current one I have is too slow & heavy. I need something fast in terms of speed & lightweight. I'm 170lbs & 37 years old. My current candidate would be either the Dahon Matrix or the Dahon Speed Pro & possibly the Speed Pro TT. Which one do you think is faster? Which one is more suitable to conversion? Both have aluminum frame. The matrix has 26" wheel @ 26lbs and the Speed Pro has 20" wheel @ 23lbs. Or are there any faster folding bikes? I will be putting the Phoenix motor from ElectricRider.com (X-Lyte 5303) and possibly using the 72V Cystalite 40A controller. Any suggestions if money is no object? :)

How fast do you want to go? Are you looking for top cruising speed, or acceleration, or a mix of both? A 5304/20" with 72V of lithium would make for a pretty good all around bike.

I'd like to go around up to 45mph or 72kph. I preferred a mix of both the cruising speed and acceleration since there is a lot of stop & go traffic in the city of San Francisco. The Crystalyte 5304 with 20" is probably the right choice but the maximum speed would probably be around 35mph. I know what I want sounds insane but I have simulate & test how it is like by going around the city traffic from home to work with my VW Beetle. I have purposely limited the maximum speed on my Beetle to run 45mph max from home to work on a 12 miles of distance run. It turns out the average speed is around 24mph with hills, turns, and traffic lights. So I hope you get my point on why I want something that can go up to 45mph although it will rarely happen anyways.

I'd like to go around up to 45mph or 72kph.

Would like mine could do this as well !!

Ok, the 5304/20" with a 510mm diameter tire, will go 71km/h with about 87v at the controller. That's with an unfaired, upright mountain bike, dual crown fork and fat 24x2.5" front tire. I'm not sure if a small wheeled bent would have better or worse aero, but this combo would definitely put you in the ballpark for speed.
With a 25 cell lithium pack (92.5v) you would definitely get the speed you're looking for, plus a bit extra :)

I am in the process of buying a folding bike to go to work. The current one I have is too slow & heavy. I need something fast in terms of speed & lightweight. I'm 170lbs & 37 years old. My current candidate would be either the Dahon Matrix or the Dahon Speed Pro & possibly the Speed Pro TT. Which one do you think is faster? Which one is more suitable to conversion? Both have aluminum frame. The matrix has 26" wheel @ 26lbs and the Speed Pro has 20" wheel @ 23lbs. Or are there any faster folding bikes? I will be putting the Phoenix motor from ElectricRider.com (X-Lyte 5303) and possibly using the 72V Cystalite 40A controller. Any suggestions if money is no object? :)
Let us know how the project turns out. I'm interested in the Phoenix on a folder myself.

If you do really like to pedal occasionally, 26" wheel is better.

I'd like to go around up to 45mph or 72kph. I preferred a mix of both the cruising speed and acceleration since there is a lot of stop & go traffic in the city of San Francisco. The Crystalyte 5304 with 20" is probably the right choice but the maximum speed would probably be around 35mph. I know what I want sounds insane but I have simulate & test how it is like by going around the city traffic from home to work with my VW Beetle. I have purposely limited the maximum speed on my Beetle to run 45mph max from home to work on a 12 miles of distance run. It turns out the average speed is around 24mph with hills, turns, and traffic lights. So I hope you get my point on why I want something that can go up to 45mph although it will rarely happen anyways.

Is the folding hinge even safe at that speed?

Let us know how the project turns out. I'm interested in the Phoenix on a folder myself.

Me too.

I understand this is a pretty old thread...maybe some other people have tried something like this?

I am also curious about this. I understand the space-saving that a folding bike brings, but I wonder about safety at speed, and also, could you even fold it up with a hub motor, controller, and battery bag?

It's such an old thread, you could probably look at hospital records to see how it worked. I can't even imagine how heavy and unsafe that beast would be. If a person wanted to go a normal speed, I would suggest a geared hub motor. Then it could be carried after it is folded.

I'd like to point out that, while I did bring this thread back from the dead because I was interested in doing something like this......I certainly don't want to try to get a foldable bike to go 45 mph.

Just wondering if there's a way to end up with something similar to the ezee quando....but with a little more oomph than the 15 mph or whatever that bike's supposed to top out at.

many folding bikes are quite safe at 25mph and you can certainly get a motor that'll power them at that speed. Crystalyte 405 or 404 would probably do the trick, running somewhere around 36 or 48 volts.