Electric Bikes - Best option for 300 pounds total weight?

I am working on bike commuting about 16 miles each way to work daily. My total estimated weight for bike, laptop, supplies, motor, battery will be around 300lbs on a Trek 7.2. I have about 5 hills with anywhere between 2 and 7% grade for a total rise in elevation (sum of all hills) of about 2500 ft.

My goals are to be able to pedal at a decent pace without killing my knees and getting up the hills while trying to maintain about a trip time around 1 - 1.25 hours (about 15-17mph avg).

I looked at ezip, but the concerns with the battery, noisy motor and poor reviews have me looking at other options.

Anyone got a recommendation for these requirements?

Thanks much,
Brent

See the thread below:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=539413

See the tread below:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=539413

Thanks for pointing that thread out, it was good read and gave me most of what I needed. Not sure how I missed that one :)

Hey OM:

I have a 480 crystylite rear hub motor, 36volt 12AH calcium lead battery and controller kit I tossed on my mountain bike, which is just slightly over 300 pounds total cruising weight. I go 26 miles round trip and under I94 twice. I've been doing this 2 days a week for 2 months. If the head wind gets over 15MPH I get 22 miles before I'm limping home pedaling. It takes me 50 mins. to get 13 miles to work. I found a low grade hill going under I94, doesn't use as much battery juice to go up the hill, compared to the other I94 underpasses. 7% grades hardly have any effect on battery loss. It's wind and higher grade hills like 15% grade, that suck the battery down.

I have to pedal all the way both ways to do this but the pedaling is easy, on battery power, in top gear.

I can go 15 miles so far on battery only and that's a lot of starting and stopping, I haven't tested beyond that.

You would need a larger AH battery to do what you want something like 20AH. I got a crossbar mounted battery but I would have liked to get a rear wheel rack mounted one instead.

later OM,
ray

Hey OM:

I have a 480 crystylite rear hub motor, 36volt 12AH calcium lead battery and controller kit I tossed on my mountain bike, which is just slightly over 300 pounds total cruising weight. I go 26 miles round trip and under I94 twice. I've been doing this 2 days a week for 2 months. If the head wind gets over 15MPH I get 22 miles before I'm limping home pedaling. It takes me 50 mins. to get 13 miles to work. I found a low grade hill going under I94, doesn't use as much battery juice to go up the hill, compared to the other I94 underpasses. 7% grades hardly have any effect on battery loss. It's wind and higher grade hills like 15% grade, that suck the battery down.

I have to pedal all the way both ways to do this but the pedaling is easy, on battery power, in top gear.

I can go 15 miles so far on battery only and that's a lot of starting and stopping, I haven't tested beyond that.

You would need a larger AH battery to do what you want something like 20AH. I got a crossbar mounted battery but I would have liked to get a rear wheel rack mounted one instead.

later OM,
ray

Thanks for sharing your real world experience. I am still determining which conversion kit I will get, but have settled on the battery - I will get 20ah regardless.

I am working on bike commuting about 16 miles each way to work daily. My total estimated weight for bike, laptop, supplies, motor, battery will be around 300lbs on a Trek 7.2. I have about 5 hills with anywhere between 2 and 7% grade for a total rise in elevation (sum of all hills) of about 2500 ft.

My goals are to be able to pedal at a decent pace without killing my knees and getting up the hills while trying to maintain about a trip time around 1 - 1.25 hours (about 15-17mph avg).

I looked at ezip, but the concerns with the battery, noisy motor and poor reviews have me looking at other options.

Anyone got a recommendation for these requirements?

Thanks much,
Brent

Yeah, it's called a motorcycle...













If you're dead set on an ebike, based on several years experience, you're gonna need much more than 20AH and quality motor along with very sturdy bike components.

Seriously, ebikes are great for highly congested areas and trips averaging 5-10 miles with mild cargo. Anything more than that is fairly experimental transportation. And if you're dealing with high speed traffic - you're really better off with a motorcycle.