hello from Portugal

[rodolfovieira]

Hello friends.
I from portugal, and want to buy a kit for my electric bike.
I am very confused what should I buy the kit.

I weight 60 lbs, and I wanted an electric kit for 20km walk daily, and have a speed of 40 km / h / 50km / h.

I know that there are several kits but which one should I choose?

300 watts? 500 watts?

Help me

thanks

sorry my bad english

[liksmuzic]

Depending on where you can get your kit from, and how easy it is to get replacement parts. I ride a 400 watt Chrytalyte and the bicycle weighs 92 lbs, I weigh 195, and have ample power to go 30 km/hr, and have hills to deal with.

Your weight will be a large factor in the range of the kit.
You will be able to go very far.

Many sites are very informative, one being:

http://ebikes.ca/store/ and also http://us.itselectric.ca/category_s/33.htm

Where can you get your kits from?

Good luck, and once you decide and get to enjoy electric assist, you will be glad
you made the change.

[ejserv]

Hi Liksmuzic
Your bike is too heavy to be legal as a powered bike in Alberta. Mine s too! it is very hard to build a bike with decent performance inside the Alberta regulations. even the Canadian tire bikes are to heavy that I have seen. I doubt anyone is ever going to come and weigh my bike but I'd like to see the regs change so we don't have to run outside the law like a bunch of gangsters.
Alberta requires that our bikes weigh less than 35kg (77lbs) travel at 35kph or less and have headlights taillights and a horn or bell.
Ed Service

[rodolfovieira]

hello, but that kit that you think is best for me?
I need your opinion.

Thanks

[liksmuzic]

Hello, rodolfovieira, while there will be many opinions out there, I can recommend the kit I have, as I am very happy with it. I have a bit of a vibration problem I am working thru, but overall very happy.
I chose to have a front hub motor, then with the batteries on the back rack,
it balances out the bike quite well for me.

It is a 36volt 20 amp controller, a Chrystalyte 408 motor and 3 - 12 volt 12
hour SLA batteries. I chose SLA batteries as they were available right away.
The Soneil charger that I got with the kit is great. It won't overcharge, and while you should not leave the charger on all the time, it does not harm the batteries.

Again it depends on what is available from the nearest dealer to you, as you need to be able to get
parts if you need to. My dealer is over 800 km away, but being in the north, we are used to that.

In the US the Crystalyte kits are sold under the Roadrunner name thru dealers in the states through the company at EV depot. their site has the owners manual and how to thing on the main site at:

http://www.evdepot.com/

Another very informative site is:
http://www.electric-bikes.com/

Hello to ejserv, I was not aware that there was a weight limit on the bike.
the bike I converted was heavy to start with. Partly because of it being an older bike to start with (over 20 yrs), but mainly to the Packrat nature I have. I commute daily with it, so I have spare tools, a full water bottle, kickstand, saddle bags with rain suit, bike lock, tire patch kit. If I can put a saddle back or pack on it, I have a tendacy to fill it!!! I do have the bell, a tailight, that blinks all the time, and had a headlight, but changed the handlebars and did not have room to put it back. I do not ride at night, but then again in the north here, dark starts at 10 pm!

I have been looking to replace the bike at some point, and when the batteries need replacing, I can look into the lighter lithum batteries, then I will be legal, but I think the bike is close to legal if I was to relieve it of all the extra stuff I force it to carry, well, as well as me.

[ejserv]

We CAN change to lithium iron batteries alright................ but it makes a moderately priced bike into a high priced one. With our short bike season it will be an effort to make it economical???? That probably isn't the point though. Seems to me Alberta has intentionally made the rules so e-bikes will be impractical. Guess we got lots of oil we still want to sell???
Ed Service


Definition according to: USE OF HIGHWAY AND RULES OF THE ROAD REGULATION
1(o): “power bicycle” means a vehicle that
(i) may be propelled
(a) by human muscular power
(b) by mechanical power, or
(c) partly by human muscular power and partly by mechanical power
(ii) is fitted with pedals that are continually operable to propel it,
(iii) has a motor that produces not more than 750 watts and that is driven
by electricity or has an engine with a displacement of not more than
50 cubic centimetres
(iv) does not have a hand-operated or foot-operated clutch or gearbox driven
by the motor that transfers power to the driven wheel
(v) does not have sufficient power to enable it to attain a speed greater than 35
kilometres per hour on level ground within a distance of 2 kilometres from a
standing start, and
(vi) weighs not more than 35 kilograms

[liksmuzic]

I would like to add to my reconmendation of the Chrystalyte kit is that, for one, it was available right away, it was within resonable shipping rate from me, and it was in my country.

The price was about the mid range of the ones I had been looking at, but most of the places I contacted had their merchandise all back-ordered.

That is the other point I wanted to make, you have to decide first what you are willing to spend on a conversion and to keep looking and of course, ask questions, to find something that will work for you.

I checked on E-Bay, found one at the link below, but at $149 to ship, well that is just adds a very large amount. Mine was shipped by courier, I would have preferred a more economical way, for $65.00, but I was able to track the parcel by internet, and received in 2 days. There is always a trade off.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Crystalyte-26-brushed-electric-bicycle-hub-motor-kit_W0QQitemZ250259071774QQihZ015QQcategoryZ7295QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That one at that Link is a brushed motor, I have the Brushless motor, which from my reading is more efficient, and has less to wear out. The price of 599 is resonable, but adding 149 shipping, then drives the cost up. So that is 749.00 before any taxes are added. I had paid $811.00, for the Brushless version, I upgraded to a different battery carrier that has a built in key switch, that price was including the $65.00 shipping, and the 5%GST tax we pay.

So it pays to shop around.

[liksmuzic]

I know what you mean about the short season. I started May 14 commuting with the bike, one reason was that is when I got the kit, the other, it was finally warm enough.

This season has been a bit colder. Today it has been raining all day so far, but it looks like it will clear overnight.

I have ridden when it was raining, making sure to cover my throttle with a plastic bag. Still good so far.

So tommorrow morning I see no reason not to bike. In the mornings I have to wear a coat and gloves, as the days can start as cool as 8 C. Usually a bit of a wind, and with the downhill ride to work, I coast up to 49 km/hr down the hill I have to tackle up on the way home. So its fairly fresh those mornings.

I hope to go untill late September, even into October if I can.
But once it snows, it would be too slippery to tackle bikeing I believe.

Biking is good exercise even if its electrified, but it won't do you anygood with broken bones from slidding off the road or trail due to ice!!!!

[ejserv]

some tough guys do ride all winter, I rode till october 14 last year.I wonder how the Lithium Batteries will stand up being idle for the winter and how much maintenance they will require to preserve their life? Maybe none but it remains to be seen! I have two Goldenmotor kits, one on a bicycle and one on a homebuilt trike, they have been good except cutting out in the rain. It may be the throttle though, I'll try the plastic bag trick tomorrow. It has rained here all day today too!
Ed Service
Camrose Alberta

[liksmuzic]

ejserv, I guess as the crow flies we are not that far apart in terms of Alberta distance.
I am up here in Peace River. My brother-in-law saw my bike, and he likes the idea of electric, but feels he would be too unstable on a 2 wheeler. Can you show a picture of your homebuilt trike, maybe he could do something along those lines.

[ejserv]

you can see pictures of one of my trikes on my blog just go to edscreations.blogspot.com
look under the heading "my yellow trike".
Ed

[liksmuzic]

Very nice Ed, I will send that along to my Brother-in-law. I think a trike would be a more practical solution for someone to haul stuff, and would be handy.

Jerry

[ejserv]

The trike is my favorite transportation. It is about 80lbs as in the picture though and that is with 7ah batteries. gives about 6 miles level travel before it starts to cut out. You call yourself an old guy!LOL
how old is old? I'm 55.....

[liksmuzic]

I guess you won't be able to call me a kid, or sonny, I will be 54 next month...
That's probably why a trike has appeal....., my brother in law is 62, still a young fella too!


I don't really know what the range of my kit is. In another thread I am looking for some help on vibration, and I explained my daily commute. Most days its 5 km. Once a week its 11.2 km, and as Dad used to say it uphill both ways. Even on those days, I haven't had it cut out. But there again, I always pedal on the uphills. Some day I will try out its range, once I get time again to do the suggestions given to me.

It stopped raining I should have a good ride again in the morning. That is really the most appealing part of going to work is that I can ride my bike. After 36 years of work, the fun has gone out of it. One more year!!! Freedom 55!!!...