Electric Bikes - Where to get started?

Okay, I want add an electric motor to my mountain bike. I also want to add electric motors to my wife and kids mountain bikes. Where is a good place to start?

Let me start with me:
I am going to stop driving to work, and start riding a train. So my thought was I could ride a mountain bike to the train station, take the train to work, and when I get off the train I could ride a bike to work from there.
So I need a foldable bike that I can take on the train with me. I don;t want one of those circus looking bikes, just a foldable mountain bike. And I need an electric motor on it. I way around 220 pounds, so it will need to be pretty strong. And the train station is about 2 miles down a hill, so it will need to be strong enough to get me there and back. As fast as possible, with as little pedaling as possible.

For the wife and kids, I would like something discrete. The kids ride their bikes to school, so i don;t want anyone trying to steal them or anything. In fact, they already have mountain bikes, so i'd like to just add a motor to them if possible (same with the wife). I saw some kits that had a motor built into the front wheel on ebay, and that looked pretty good to me (for the wife and kids).

Any thoughts about where I should start?

Well, where do you live? Electric assist bikes are not legal everywhere, and speed limits vary from place to place. Also, how old are your kids? Many places also set a minimum age for someone to ride one. Finally, 2 miles is a ridiculously short distance...

Okay, I live in Salt Lake, Utah. Electric assist bikes are legal here. The cops sure ride them...
My kids are 12 and 13. They should be fine. They have friends who ride gas powered scooters to school with no problem.
As for the distance, yeah, I know 2 miles isn't far at all. But the hill is kind of steep too...

(13) "Electric assisted bicycle" means a moped:
(a) with an electric motor with a power output of not more than 1,000 watts; and
(b) which is not capable of:
(i) propelling the device at a speed of more than 20 miles per hour on level ground; and
(ii) increasing the speed of the device when human power is used to propel the device at more than 20 miles per hour.

Note that an assist bike is thought of as a motorized vehicle.

http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE41/htm/41_04003.htm (http://le.utah.gov/%7Ecode/TITLE41/htm/41_04003.htm)


But they are exempt from registration.

http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE41/htm/41_01023.htm (http://le.utah.gov/%7Ecode/TITLE41/htm/41_01023.htm)


A person under 15 years of age may not operate a motor assisted scooter using the motor unless the person is under the direct supervision of the person's parent or guardian.

http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE41/htm/41_04137.htm (http://le.utah.gov/%7Ecode/TITLE41/htm/41_05002.htm)

Well, for the folding bikes you might have trouble. There are non-circus looking folders out there for sure, but the *real* mountain bikes are take down bikes instead of folding bikes, they don't click and fold up in 15 seconds like most other folders do. There are some good looking full size folders that don't take forever to fold like the Dahon Cadenza/Jack/Matrix, but they're not in the same league of durability as standard bikes and at 220lbs you'd be pretty close to their max weight limit unloaded. They also don't really fold down *that* small. The Cadenza is an attractive bike though, I think.

As for the wife and kids, the best ways to make sure your bikes arent stolen are:
Clean the brand name labels off the bike, make it hard to identify and target.
Make the bike look plain. I took all of the brand name labels off mine, its made with Deore LX parts but it can sit next to a wal-mart special where my front wheel is probably worth more than the other whole other bike, but it doesn't look any better to the observer.

Thieves choose the best looking bike on the rack that isn't impossibly locked up. The electric kits on their own don't look very appealing, and as far as I can tell they're not targeted. My personal tactic is to lock the bike with both a u-lock and a chain, putting the chain through the motor wheel.

As for the actual riding, 2 miles is a pretty tame stretch unless its an *extreme* gradient. You could probably do just fine without electric on that particular run unless you're not in good shape.

The cops sure ride them...


Why don't you ask them what they're riding and where they buy them?

I am new to this also but here are some links that may be of interest:

conversion kits-

http://66.216.117.91/Conversion_kits_s/21.htm
http://www.poweridestore.com/

similar thread-

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2588

some folding bikes:

http://nycewheels.com/folding-bike.html

Taking a car off the streets even if you're riding a foot is a tremendous achievement. The main point is that your family will be taking one or maybe two cars out of circulation during part of the day.

That photo gallery on the 1st link is very cool - get to see many practical approaches in one place.

http://66.216.110.131/pim-gallery/Pages/index.html

These guys also got it going on IMO - http://www.electricrider.com/index.htm

I've stopped by NYCE Wheels before and they're good folks - pretty much an upper east side boutique though. You might better off mail-ordering from them since walk-in prices plus tax seem quite high for my budget.

The pictures and products from that website "itselectric" are actually from the local e-bike shop here called Power in Motion. One bike in particular you guys should note is the recumbent with the fairings and the yellow aero-sock cover. That one did a 3 hour trip from Calgary to Banff, wholly impressive stuff. Thats 130km through the mountains.

The average cyclist takes about 8 hours to do that trip. Trust me, i've done it = ) going up those hills is slow.

Their prices are a higher than average, but the batteries they're selling are quite good and the price includes a charger from what I can remember.

invest in a good lock. i've had a bike stolen, and so has a friend, both were chained up with a narrow chain. Invest in a nice thick D lock - and do as other said remove labels. Ever since i went to a D lock i park my ebike and road bike (has huge carbon bits) locked to the rack never had an issue! - this is at uni where my first bike was stolen on the 2nd day i rode it :p

Okay, I live in Salt Lake, Utah. Electric assist bikes are legal here. The cops sure ride them...
My kids are 12 and 13. They should be fine. They have friends who ride gas powered scooters to school with no problem.
As for the distance, yeah, I know 2 miles isn't far at all. But the hill is kind of steep too...

Check the age restrictions just to be sure. Most places require 16 years old for eBikes.

Wow, lot of information here...
I couldn;t get to the site for a couple days so I fell behind.

Thanks for all the info guys, I will be going though each of those links.

On the age and speed requirements for e-bikes, I am not worried about it. There are lots of kids riding gad powered scooters to school (the kind you stand on, not the kind you sit on) and they aren't having any trouble with it.
And I want as much speed as I can afford. I'm not worried about a 20 MPH law. I'm quite surprised to see these laws, as I know for sure they aren't enforced.

And I am in pretty bad shape. Hopefully I will start getting in better shape, lol.

Anyway, thanks for all the info guys. I really appreciate all the help.