Electric Bikes - ebike service in SF Bay Area and present state of battery development

I have an Ezee Sprint 7. I want to keep it for a long time. I'm not a complete klutz with mechanics but I really don't know how to service this thing. The bike is still performing fine but before long it will need lubrication of the front hub motor (hard-wired in). I can see bent spokes and I've got a steady pinging in the front spokes. The reaction of most local bike shops is "I'm not touching that thing".

I bought the bike from the distributor in Seattle about a year and a half ago. It's been just great but sooner or later it's going to need attention. Anybody know of any experts in San Francisco Bay area?

Another question: I bought the bike with the standard battery. I passed on the extra $100 for Li-ion and what I have is still going strong. When I was reading about these batteries some posters claimed that the Lithium batteries performed much better and lasted longer, while others pointed out that they would overheat and cut out on hills. I live in very hilly terrain and can't have the battery cutting out on the hills in my commute. (The bike weighs well over 60 lbs and I can't get it up these extreme grades with pedaling only.) Does the current crop of Li-ion batteries have the same fault?

Thanks,
Chas.

Why a li-ion would cut out is there is BMS inside the pack.Instead of to be a disadvantage, it is good to protect the battery and prevent over discharged.

For a correct set up ebike the batteyr will not cut off, insteadly the controller might cut off, when climbing. As when climbing the motor will need bigger current to produce torque, when this current exceeds the limit which the controller sets, controller cut off.

Somebody might change his controller for getting bigger current limit to increase its motor torque, but they forgot to change the battery accordingly, then his battery cuts off before controller reacts. Also you need know if your motor will agree to use bigger current before updating.

Surely for climbing purpose a 48v geared motor shall help, good geared motor could work quitely without making laud noise.

For the comparision between li-ion battery and other battery you could refer to this http://fusinmotors.com/lifepo4-lithium-iron-battery.html

Wish this helps.

Your spokes are getting too loose and you need to tighten them now before you break one. Just get a multi-size spoke wrench and make sure the size you select exactly fits the spoke nipple. Careful not to round the nipples, give each nipple a 1/2 turn counter clock wise looking from the tire side toward the axle. Grab a bunch of spokes and feel them getting tighter. Keep going until there is some resistance in turning and the spokes feel tight but with some give. If the wheel started true before you started tightened then you probably won't need to do any truing, but that is not hard either. I don't think it is critical to use a spoke tensiometer, because what you are doing will be much better than before but not perfect. If you are in the City, give me a shout.

It's been just great but sooner or later it's going to need attention. Anybody know of any experts in San Francisco Bay area?
.

Probably very little help, but about 75 miles south Electric Sierra Cycles and Pacific Avenue Cycles in Santa Cruz installed and work on mine.

Your spokes are getting too loose and you need to tighten them now before you break one. Just get a multi-size spoke wrench and make sure the size you select exactly fits the spoke nipple. Careful not to round the nipples, give each nipple a 1/2 turn counter clock wise looking from the tire side toward the axle.
If you're looking from the tire side toward the axle, then you need to turn the nipples clockwise to tighten.

But I wouldn't recommend just tightening them all and expecting the wheel to remain true. Here's one guide to truing wheels:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html
Read it and understand how the spoke tensions affect the trueness before you start using the spoke wrench.

Anybody know of any experts in San Francisco Bay area?

You could use google map to search "ebike conversion San Francisco Bay area" then you could find some shops to try your luck.

this is a kit store in san francisco which shoule be capable of solving your probem easily. http://abc.eznettools.net/D300013/X300109/eKits2.html , found them on google map.

Yep clockwise. Sorry.

Thanks a lot for all this, folks; very helpful. I'll follow some of this advice for sure!

Hello Bay Area Biker! I might be able to help you. I live in the North Beach district in San Francisco and I am an ebike guru proficient in mechanical and electrical issue down to electric component level. However, I am not officially in business here. I am here to help out people for those who need help with. You can PM me & we will arrange a time to look at your bike. Prior to that I wanted to point out the following:

1. You front hub motor's internal bearing should be packed with grease. Therefore, it should not be lubricate. If you see any rust building up, you should apply rust dis-solver and apply grease on the bearing surface.

2. The thread on the nipples for your front wheel spokes are longer secure the spoke tips. You need you have the nipples replace. If that did not fix it, then you have also need to have custom spokes made from a local bike shop. If the problem is not so bad, then the work around is to put Loctite on the nipples, put the spokes back and let it dry and adjust the tension and true the wheel. I know where to have custom spokes made locally but it is considered expensive.

3. The current Li-Ion battery you are talking about is actually call Li-Polymer battery. It is lightweight but explosive when over-heated. So the manufacturers have to include a safety/charge/discharge device to protect the battery called BMS (Battery Management System). Unfortunately, most BMS(s) and the batteries they chose to use are cheap and under power. So most likely it will tripped (kind of like a circuit breaker) when it feels it could not take higher current or AMPs when going up hill. I know because I ride my ebikes to many hilly area in San Francisco too. The other reason why manufacturers do not make higher power BMS(s) is because of the cost and the motor may also be an underdog. High power BMS may kills the underdog > hub motor in this case.

4. If you are currently using SLA or NiMh, stick with it for now until you filled up your piggy bank with another $1000 USD plus more technical knowledge to modify and upgrade your bike.

P.S. Go to the Endless Sphere forum http://endless-sphere.com/forums, there are tons of guru like to over there to assist you and you can also tell who we are. :thumb:


I have an Ezee Sprint 7. I want to keep it for a long time. I'm not a complete klutz with mechanics but I really don't know how to service this thing. The bike is still performing fine but before long it will need lubrication of the front hub motor (hard-wired in). I can see bent spokes and I've got a steady pinging in the front spokes. The reaction of most local bike shops is "I'm not touching that thing".

I bought the bike from the distributor in Seattle about a year and a half ago. It's been just great but sooner or later it's going to need attention. Anybody know of any experts in San Francisco Bay area?

Another question: I bought the bike with the standard battery. I passed on the extra $100 for Li-ion and what I have is still going strong. When I was reading about these batteries some posters claimed that the Lithium batteries performed much better and lasted longer, while others pointed out that they would overheat and cut out on hills. I live in very hilly terrain and can't have the battery cutting out on the hills in my commute. (The bike weighs well over 60 lbs and I can't get it up these extreme grades with pedaling only.) Does the current crop of Li-ion batteries have the same fault?

Thanks,
Chas.

Iyen, thanks a lot! You are very knowledgeable and helpful. I can get to north beach easily with my ebike so one day we will set something up. I guess you can't just get a replacement Nimh battery any more, eh? There's nothing wrong with those batteries.

48W would be nice, but doesn't that make your bike a "motor vehicle" in California, requiring registration?

You are welcome! Actually, my handle is LYEN. It would be easier for me to login using lowercase only. You sure can replace the Nimh battery and also improvement the speed and/or range as well with proper tools to extract the existing one. Batteryspace.com have got all you can eat batteries at cost.

48W (watts) would not be nice, but 48V (volts) would. You have a choice to either improve your speed (at full throttle) or range (at half throttle). You may still be legally riding your electric bike up to 30 MPH with proper vehicle registration and a motorcycle driver license in California. However, there is a potential risk that your ebike will fail one way or the other due to the rigidity of the frame is not designed for going high speed. Other than that, the warranty will automatically void for any unofficial modification to it. Lastly, increasing the voltage to 48V may requires a higher voltage/power motor controller, more storage space, additional weight, and possibly another throttle. It may never look & feel original again. :speedy:



Iyen, thanks a lot! You are very knowledgeable and helpful. I can get to north beach easily with my ebike so one day we will set something up. I guess you can't just get a replacement Nimh battery any more, eh? There's nothing wrong with those batteries.

48W would be nice, but doesn't that make your bike a "motor vehicle" in California, requiring registration?