misslexi

If you want speed then chain drives make things even more fun going down a 15% grade, hang on!

Bottom line is chain drives can do it all better, but there's a cost in added complexity, maintenance, noise etc. If chains and gears sucked regular bikes wouldn't have them. You can do more with less with a chain drive, it just costs more, which is a conundrum.

Barry Heaven

My Kalkhoff Pro Connect uses the Panasonic crank system. There is very little noise and I can't hear it at all if there is any background noise.

https://picasaweb.google.com/BarryHea...95937345952866

misslexi

Nice looking bike, may be the Prius of eBikes. If one is willing to accept a 250W motor, a top speed of 15 mph and a price tag of $3000 USD, it may be a good way to go.

crackerdog

Weight is another issue. For the same power, the hub motor weighs a lot more. Would you drive a car that didn't have a transmission? Luckily, bikes are much lighter. If you are just going to let the motor do the work, I am surprised you don't get a moped or motorcycle. I always pedal my ebike, it extends range (a lot) and gives me some exercise for that piece of pie later. If you need the silence so you can break the law, get a hub motor, they are quiet. Ecospeed is my suggestion for an inline motor. A single car going by is louder than the motor, just the noise of the tires on the roadway.

crichman

Hub motor systems don't need to be really heavy. A Bionx PL350 is about 18 pounds, but pricey. I wouldn't buy one if I lived in the mountains or if I was an especially heavy rider, but a PL350 handles the worst hills in my suburban Maryland location just fine. For me, just fine is (1) when pedalling normally I can fly up those hills at nearly the same speed I'd handle things on the flats, and (2) if I don't feel like pedalling, the motor still pulls me and my relatively heavy recumbent up the grade at a slower, comfortable speed.

One caveat: I have a continuous uphill grade for about 6 miles or so in the middle of my PM commute -- nothing steep, just long. If I use a lot of assist to keep my speed close to 20 mph the system can get hot and drop out for several seconds at a time to let itself cool down. I haven't figured out yet if it's the motor/controller combo or the battery. If it is the battery, it could be my fault because I have it enclosed in a stealthy cordura cover.

Charlie
https://ElectricCyclist.com

misslexi

If I didn't go Ecospeed, I'd go BionX. I found it to be a well thought out and executed system, best of breed.

Crankforward

I bought the Ezee kit from ebikes.ca (aka Justin).. I have 400 miles on it now and it is exactly what I hoped it would be. It is not super fast,I get about 19 mph when I crank and pedal, but I now do hills at 16-17 mph that used to slow me down to 8-10 mph. It has really increased my bike usage ,and I have put on about 1100 miles each year for the last 3 years.
The geared hubmotor has one advantage that sold me.. no resistance when I pedal with the motor off. I can regulate my usage that way. For instance ...
In the morning on the way to work its Hammer down, I dont care about how many amp hours I use cause I want to get to work as fast as possible..
In the evening I might not use the motor on flats and downhill because I want to take a much longer ride.
Also Dont rule out Nicad batteries. Thats what I bought. The Li-Ions are great and one day when I build a pleasure bike (super fast of course) I will buy them, But for my everyday get to work and around town I choose Nicad ..Why?
I can work on them. No BMS electronics genius required. If a cell goes bad ,out it goes and solder in another one. From what Ive read on Li-ion one under performing cell can lead to a horror story. I dont have the money,time,or inclination to go there.
One more thing about the Ezee, is it is supposedly pretty waterproof if you need to ride in those kind of conditions. I usually try not to but I live in Central Texas and have a choice...
Also , one thing you need to think about is how much do you want to pedal. I have been pedaling around for 3 years without a motor and I knew I wanted some assistance ,or else I would buy a gasoline motor setup from Staton.If you like to pedal you can regulate the amp hours and get around faster too. It has really improve my life..
I am not affiliated with ebikes .ca except as a satisfied customer.. READ

BroadwayJoe

Nothing wrong with any battery that works! NiCad has it's place and if you treat 'em right they'll love you long time. Just dispose of properly and feel confident that reliable lithium packs are right around the corner if not here.

I think it's best to stay away from cylindrical based lipo packs but some of the latest Prizmatic (sp?) cell packages are looking pretty darn nice. I need to step-up and try one of those soon! But, in the meantime - I mostly use mixture of lead and NiMh and that's fine. Just heavy but I live on 1st floor...

Crankforward

[QUOTE=BroadwayJoe;10079143]Nothing wrong with any battery that works! NiCad has it's place and if you treat 'em right they'll love you long time. Just dispose of properly and feel confident that reliable lithium packs are right around the corner if not here.

Ebikes runs a dispossal program for the nicads , when that time come ( may it be a long time coming)

Crankforward

have you seen this Broadway?
https://www.coloradoadvancedbattery.com/

BroadwayJoe

Yes I have and I'm highly interested. Wouldn't it be nice to have a fat R&D fund - all the stuff that could be tested and tortured?

Oh yeah, check this stackable battery rack solution:

https://www.infineumbike.co.uk/Infineum-Products.asp

The bike is UK limited and the batteries might not be for high power stuff but the physical design is impressive. I often find it would be nice to use just the amount of battery I need for my errands rather than having 20 miles range, size & weight for a 5 mile trip.

Crankforward

I have developed a strategy for my unique situation. I live out in the burbs. I like living out here but it poses challenges to bicycle commuting. It is 7 miles to anywhere,really...I work 7.564 miles from here and have keys to the building and access codes to the alarm system, so when I go for a really long ride, I might bust balls on the way to work, and set up the battery there, and the judicously ride to my next destination ,and may get an hours charge there, and ride back and pick up the battery with some more charg,... you get the picture..

BroadwayJoe

There are no two exact situations but big part of the fun is learning and adapting to the job. 'Sounds like you're living this lifestyle of highly efficient personal transportation.

It's defiinitely not the same as oil power - the other day, about 1 mile out I realized I'd forgot something I wanted to have for work. No way I was gonna turn back and run the risk of flat-lining my fresh lead weights so I managed without. If I had swappable packs, it wouldn't be a big deal but when you only have so much to start with you learn to resepct your limitations and manage with a little less.

I do get the picture - 'have those days where the chargers remain in bulk charge mode all day!