[SPEDcial Forces]

OK, hi first post here.

Basically, I'm a junior in high school, and I got a nasty speeding ticket ($450) that if I loose in court will also mean my lisence will be supended for 3 months and I'll have to pay a $500 reinstatement fee on top of the ticket. I wasn't actually going as fast as the cop said I was (cop said I was doing 100+, I was really doing 75...but the speed limit was 55 so I'm screwed either way). So thats not looking good.

Originally I was going to buy my grandma's old car, which is what I sped in, but the thing is a gas guzzler and goes too fast to easily. And it's a booring piece of crap anyways. So part of me seriousely wants to go for a 15+ year old miata instead (good fuel econemy, cool looking, and the 1.5 L engine isn't that fast).

However, I hate paying for gas, Old Miatas cost about $2-3000, and if the tickets get through I'll only have about $1200.

Also, while I'm mechanically inclined, I have absolutely no experience working on cars, aside from like adding oil and stuff. I can get the hang of simpler mechanical items (paintball guns, air cannons/PVC weaponry, power tools, medevel death machines, ect...) pretty easily, and enjoy working on them.

So when I heared about electric bycycles, I immediately became interested. I did a little reasearch, and it seams to make me feel warm and fuzzy about electric vehicals and the enviroment and such, I like the idea of not having to pay for gas, I could take the thing with me to colledge, even if I go to school in the city, and the fact that it has regular petals means It can be good for exercise and dosn't have the limited range of a purely BEV or even an ICE vehical.

So basically now I'm seriousely interested in buying or building one. I have afew questions abou them.

Ideally I'd like to either build it from sratch, or from a kit. I'm not sure what parts are involved, but I was wondering how much harder it would be to build one without a kit? Also are thier partial kits availble, that just say have the motor, mounting divices, and some sort of controller for the motor? Also the idea of using L-Ion batteries or maby Nmhd as aposed to lead acid seams cool.

So basically what I need out of it:

Range: The idea is for this to be my sole transportation for a while, so I want to be able to use the motor rather than petaling when I'm tired wor when I have to move around alot during the day.

Speed: That 20MPH assisted limit is something that I want to at least reacot have that by leaving out a part (freeing up time, effort, money, and weight) all the better. My girlfriend lives close enough to bike/E-bike to, but even in a car the ride sucks. More speed=less traveling time. Oh, and I'm a bit of speed junkie too.

Cargo capacity: It needs to carry myself (I wieght about 160 lbs) plus my paintball gear as there is a paintball field very close to ware I live that I attend regularely. It needs to carry a case of paint (15 lbs, about 15"x15" and 7" tall) and an air tank, a marker (gun) or two, mask, hopper, harnesses, and a small tool kit (probably like another 20-25 lbs). Thats probably the most stuff I'll ever need to carry, so if it can haul tha it can haul groceries, my books for school, or my handtools for my summer carpentry job.

Durability/Ease of maintainance: Obviousely alot of this has to do with how well I build it, but I want to keep this thing with me through colledge. I'm preparing for being broke in school, so this seams like a good thing to have. No gas, good for local commuting, and you don't have all your annoying drunk friends trying to bum rides off of you.

Buildability: I enjoy making mechanical things, and I want to have fun building it (which I probably will). However I haven't built one of these before, and don't have acess to a machine shop or anything too crazy, but want a little bit of a challenge and to have a fun project.

Cost: keep total cost (including a used mountain bike) under $1200-$1400, and preferably less. I can't rely on having more than that after the ticket and such, and even if the case gets dismissed I also want to have cash availible for other projects. I rather have a decent E-bike, a table saw, and a small kayak than a screaming E-bike, no power tools, and a pool noodle for my boat.

So what sort of design do you all think I should get/build?

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[stevesurf]

It appears that this (http://www.electric-bikes.com/bikes/index.html) is a good resource. I believe you'll spend a great deal more trying to apply a conversion kit to a used, heavy bike and possibly have less efficiency than one that's designed from the start to be a LEV.

Perhaps the best type of bike to start with might be a folder? Just a suggestion: try researching whether there is a conversion kit for a Dahon or *edit just find out if this (http://nycewheels.com/dahon-mup8-bionx-electric-bike.html) is a good choice.

[cerewa]

Let me say that for you, I think retrofitting an existing bike is likely to be the way to go. It takes extra time and requires some mechanical ability (a bit more than knowing how to use a wrench), but it also gives you a lot more options to get what you want.

In North America, a lot of places allow you to legally use an electric bike on-road without license or insurance, if the electric assist doesn't work at speeds over 20mph. This isn't going to feed your "speed demon" desire very well, since it's slower than you probably go when pedaling down a hill anyway. For a lot of trips within a city or suburbs, this will get you where you're going only 5 minutes slower than a car, at the most. The options that would allow you to go way over the 20mph limit are mostly really expensive and require more mechanical/electrical skills, too.

That said, I love to go fast too and it's pretty cool how my bike can easily go about 20mph on gentle uphills as well as downhills.

If you want to save money, a $100 used mountain bike (see craigslist.org) may be your best choice of bike. For hauling paintball stuff and groceries, the cheap/easy option is probably a kid trailer (used or new, available new from target/walmart stores for $100 or so).

For an affordable but powerful motor, i'm sure you would enjoy a 500 watt kit from http://www.cyclone-tw.com , which is what I have. Be warned, shipping takes a while, cost is about $380. A lot of people seem to be happy with lithium iron phosphate (lifepo4) batteries from e-bay, and that's how I got mine.

I don't recommend building from scratch if you actually want to get the project finished. The simplest way to do this might be to copy-cat the cyclone-tw.com motor kit, but it wouldn't be easy to attach a bicycle chain type gear (cog) to a motor, nor to create a suitable mounting bracket. It also needs a reduction gearbox, which you won't want to try to make yourself.

[dumbass]

I agree wit hthe Cyclone kit ideahowever, i would purchase it locally in the US from Jim Olson @ http://www.cyclone-usa.com/store.php?search%5Bterms%5D=kick+stand&search%5Bmode%5D=all The complete kit will cost you $455 and t yor age if you peddle it will hit 30 MPH. The important thing is the gear ratio. If your ride is mostly on flat land then you want to be sure your top grar is 11T. And for ills you want a low gear of at least 28T or better yet a 34T. I personally am going to install a 7 or 8 speed with a low gear of 11T and high gear of 34T. Remember with the Cyclone motor you replace the multiply crank gears with one gear supplied with the kit.

It sounds like you are going to be riding this thing a lot so spend the money for LiFePo4 battery sysyem. If you want good range and power buy a 24v 20ah battery or 2 - 24v 10ah batteries and like them together to get the 20ah. Don't decide this until you have the bike selected and know where you want to put the battery pack or packs. Sometimes it easier to mount 2 smaller packs then one larger one. You may want to check out Ebay for the battery pack. Cyclone is very pricy but good.

Very important when chosing your bike wather new or used be sure to measure the distance between the front of the back tire and the back of the crank yoke. It must be a min. of 3 1/2" or the motor won't fit. There are pictures on the site that show you this info.

You will enjoy building the bike and enjoy riding even more. But remember in most states the speed limit for this bike is on 20 MPH but....... I with the gearing I gave you it can hit 30 MPh no problem. Good luck!!

[ScootersNBikes]

We have a good selection of electric bikes at www.ScootersNBikes.com (http://www.ScootersNBikes.com) and are WELL within your budget. Not to mention they are very stylish, much better looking than a lot of other electric bikes. Check them out.

They are all very durable, have ranges between 20-25miles, and run at 20-25mph. They cost only $0.20 or so to fully charge so it's the equivalent to $0.20 gallon of gas or so.

Basically 1 penny a mile. I have multiples of these and saved $26.22 in gas the first week I had it just driving to and from work a few miles away.

Let me know if you need any more info!