Electric Bikes - BB motor ebike

I was just in Vancouver for a visit, cruising downtown on my schwinn izip from crappy tire, and happened upon an ebike store on hastings east of main about 4 blocks. They had an ebike with a BB motor. It seems to be what a few of these threads were mentioning about making. I can't find this bike on the net, and I dint have my camera at the time. Anyone know anything about it? I wanna dump my crappy tire special and break all my piggy banks for this sucker. Had LiPo battery too. Before this, I was thinking of converting my izip to better batteries. What's the catch?

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u160/dudleydorite/ebike.jpg


Ok, I found a pic of this bike I was talkin bout. I think the motor is gear driven to the BB. What do you guys think? It looks like the cat's but hole to me. Only concern is if the drive is perpendicular and would suck up a lot of power.

Ok, I found a pic of this bike I was talkin bout. I think the motor is gear driven to the BB. What do you guys think? It looks like the cat's but hole to me. Only concern is if the drive is perpendicular and would suck up a lot of power.

It is one of the best config for MTB ebike!

looks good to me. you buy it first last time i saw that motor it was on a wheelchair would be nice to up the volts to see that that motor can do:)

those fenders are pricey i have a set

what does it sell for?

The salesman said the rear fender was about $450. I like that the rear bracket is part of the frame. I have no luck with putting on rear brackets and have them stay put. I have one finger on my wallet, but wanted to see what everyone else thought first, and besides, the wallet is still empty. So what about the motor? on a wheelchair? I would expect someone who designs this setup would select a half decent motor? It has cable operated disc brakes. Last I heard, that setup doesn't work, needs hydraulics?

The salesman said the rear fender was about $450. I like that the rear bracket is part of the frame. I have no luck with putting on rear brackets and have them stay put. I have one finger on my wallet, but wanted to see what everyone else thought first, and besides, the wallet is still empty. So what about the motor? on a wheelchair? I would expect someone who designs this setup would select a half decent motor? It has cable operated disc brakes. Last I heard, that setup doesn't work, needs hydraulics?

Cable operated discs stop fine. Hydraulics will self balance the pressure on both sides of the disc. Racer pushing the limits of the brake system might benefit by opting for hydraulics and you could get longer life on brake components with the hydraulics and slightly more linear actuation control, but the hydraulics is more of a marketting gimmick for most people.

i have cables and there fine for stopping. im sure the motors fine. it will get you up that steep hill thats for sure.

i have cables and there fine for stopping. im sure the motors fine. it will get you up that steep hill thats for sure. Now that depends on the power you end up with and how long a car window worm gear motor actuator drive will last in contionus use.Though all motor/grar drives are noisy and rob power espacily after gearing down to drive a bottom bracket then gearing up the other way to drive the wheel is a waste of mulitpul reduction.
For $19. a nice BLDC reduction motor with 5 to 1 reduction planatery gears in a small package would probably assist the rear wheel nicely if driven directly to the wheel.The obervolted Window opener gearbox/motors may not handel as much power for too long but you can find them on ebay for under $30.
http://cgi.ebay.com/VEXTA-6GH5K-D1-Brushless-DC-Motor_W0QQitemZ200145760516QQihZ010QQcategoryZ42920QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For $19. a nice BLDC reduction motor with 5 to 1 reduction planatery gears in a small package would probably assist the rear wheel nicely if driven directly to the wheel.


so you don't think ebikes should be driven through the BB? My izip has the motor chain driven to rear wheel now. I would think having gears would increase the usability?

Don't mind eddie - he's gotta hard-on for anything that's not his idea. $19 BLDC, yeah right...

Merida used something kinda like this example - I have Panasonic drive unit in one of my e-bikes and driving the chain/gears is much more efficient than hub or second cog/chain setup.

How much for the bike in the photo?

so you don't think ebikes should be driven through the BB? My izip has the motor chain driven to rear wheel now. I would think having gears would increase the usability? Ebike motors so far have been small high rpm motors with vary little torque without reducing them 20 to 1 or so.The motors get hot fast and the reducers are NOT efficient but its all there is unless some finds the right motors that are light and efficiently provide more than enough torque efficiently.Hub motors are NOT a option for performance or efficiency.Ether are fast moving gearsboxes and brushed motors.
BTW that small 200 watt BLDC $19. motor on Ebay sells for over $1000. for industrial use.In a BLDC motor/Gearbox reduction io 5 to1 at 1/4 Hp at up to 600 rpm with 23 lb. In of torque seems to be a exlent gear/motor in a 4"X4" package to hook to a wheel sprocket to assitst with up to 200 watts of pedal power. This would be the best aproach with any gear/motor.Anything with more power or speed gearboxes and low torque motor systems will hang you up But will be GREAT FUN! for as long as it does last. Has anyone 24 volted a "PowerWheels BigFoot" ?
It was so much fun for my boy when he was a toddler that I got back up motor/gearboxes and sets of extra wheels to keep it going for a couple of years of doing burnouts and powerslides. The same apllies to most ebike drives with geardrives and motors they use..

@Broadway Joe: That bike was in the store @ $1500 cdn. bionx kits are more than that. I don't think I am in position to design/build an ebike right now, so trying to learn and upgrade my izip which is a dog, but a very cheap dog. I haven't test driven that bike or even looked at it in detail, will do next time in Vancouver, but by then, my attention may have been diverted elsewhere.

@Broadway Joe: That bike was in the store @ $1500 cdn. bionx kits are more than that. I don't think I am in position to design/build an ebike right now, so trying to learn and upgrade my izip which is a dog, but a very cheap dog. I haven't test driven that bike or even looked at it in detail, will do next time in Vancouver, but by then, my attention may have been diverted elsewhere.
Which store? Just say on what street and near what ave?

@ebikehawaii: Thanks for your input. I'm pretty new to this whole ebike thing. It seems the field is in it's infancy, like the wright brothers trying to decide where to put the wings. will be interesting in 20 years to see where all this goes. My izip has a brushed motor, I expect that is why it can only go 8 miles on a charge, and can't do hills. Maybe replacing the motor with that $19 BLDC motor would smarten it up. Shouldn't be too much modification on the mounts. nahhh, I think I'll find a bike I like and buy it.

@the7 It's a store on Hastings about 4 blocks East of Main. The Store name is on the Backbone of the bike. They claim to have designed and produced the bike themselves. The address on the business card sez it's on Pender. Are we not aloud to name stores here? I'm not associated with them, was just interested in opinions on that bike.

If they designed it someone is selling knock offs on ebay Australia from time to time. :)
Biggest draw back is all the proprietary parts around the BB area, if the supplier disappears what happens?
I wish more of these type of designs were around as you get good climbing and high end assist without requiring and illegally high powered motor but with one change, keep the front triple rings to increase gear range.