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07-17-09, 06:47 PM
Greetings! I'm fresh to the ebikes game, with less than a mile of test drives under my wheels. That was enough to show me that it's a hoot! I've been out of bikes in general for a great long while, but I just purchased a Giant Suede comfort bike that I'd like to juice up. My route to the very nice local bikepath climbs a half-mile of estimated 10% grade on the way home, and I weigh 200 lbs, a little more than I oughta. That's my performance parameters. I'm an occasional rider who might become frequent if I could get comfy on a bike. The Suede fits me like a tailored suit- now i need a little tailwind.
Last weekend I rude a Suede outfitted with a BionX kit. It felt just about perfect, but it triples the cost of the bike and takes a fearsome bite out of my credit card. This ain't the time to spend over $1000 on a new hobby! Likewise, I want to stay out of the cheapest category, 'cause I've already killed a Currie scooter on the same hills.
I've been scanning the net for days, and learning a lot from this site. The cycle9.com site offers the largest, best-described range of conversion kits I've found. Their best value seems to be the "TXED/8Fun Front or Rear Hub Motor Kit 36V rear hub." It's 36V, 350 watts, with one 36V 9.6Ah Lithium-Manganese battery, for a blink under $600. They claim it's a quality kit, with no complaints so far, but I haven't heard anything about it elsewhere. Overall, the kit looks similar to the BMC V1 hub motor, but it's much cheaper.
The motor features a planetary gearset, which sounds like a substantial advantage over direct-drives like the BionX. Izzat so?
I'm looking for good medium-duty service, with good hill-climbing abilities. I don't need a high top speed. I don't need the battery to last all the way across the city (Denver) or durability to get me across the continent. Upgradability is nice, but I might never get that far. Anybody want to weigh in while I'm pondering this purchase?
Last weekend I rude a Suede outfitted with a BionX kit. It felt just about perfect, but it triples the cost of the bike and takes a fearsome bite out of my credit card. This ain't the time to spend over $1000 on a new hobby! Likewise, I want to stay out of the cheapest category, 'cause I've already killed a Currie scooter on the same hills.
I've been scanning the net for days, and learning a lot from this site. The cycle9.com site offers the largest, best-described range of conversion kits I've found. Their best value seems to be the "TXED/8Fun Front or Rear Hub Motor Kit 36V rear hub." It's 36V, 350 watts, with one 36V 9.6Ah Lithium-Manganese battery, for a blink under $600. They claim it's a quality kit, with no complaints so far, but I haven't heard anything about it elsewhere. Overall, the kit looks similar to the BMC V1 hub motor, but it's much cheaper.
The motor features a planetary gearset, which sounds like a substantial advantage over direct-drives like the BionX. Izzat so?
I'm looking for good medium-duty service, with good hill-climbing abilities. I don't need a high top speed. I don't need the battery to last all the way across the city (Denver) or durability to get me across the continent. Upgradability is nice, but I might never get that far. Anybody want to weigh in while I'm pondering this purchase?