avengine

Hi Metal Man,
I am just new to this forum and I saw your bike is very well build and you carry a lot of stuff around, I like to do this all the time and I would like to get some advise from you or anyone in this forum.
I am living in Toronto Canada, here the winter is -4F to 100F in summer, you did use studded tires before, how is this in the winter time.
my distance from home to work is about 4 miles in a day. Summer time is easy but I never try in winter. most are flat only 3 min on a small slope inside the park that might have a lot of snow in the winter time. if that is the case I have to go on the normal road and that is something I try to avoid to make it safe. BTW I am 50+.
Few months ago I saw the copenhagen wheel, it would not be ship until end of this year, and it will cost about $850 for me to get it. and it ready make me to think about adding this to make me ride more and go farther.
I have few thing not sure on my idea.
1. copenhagen wheel is 350W on the rear wheel, and control the pedal assist by the iphone,( I have a phone for the control part already), is the rear wheel Hub is a good idea for snow?
2. this wheel cost about $850, when I compare this to many front or rear wheel hub kit, most of them cost about the same. Is this a good idea to wait or there are something make more sense for my application.
3. copenhagen wheel did not mention about changing the tire to studded tires, but I guess it might be possible since it is also 26" rim. is there anyone know more about this?
4. is the mid-drive motor make sense to me too?
5. what is the suggested clothing for winter ride? and what is the point that it better using the car again.
6. I did test drive a new electric is about $1600 in here, it is rear wheel hub 500W Li battery in the middle, almost double the kit, and I am the handy man myself and I don't mind to do a bit of upgrade to my toy.
Thanks.

here is the photo of my bike now.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/tkp287zin...CzsRVekl9a8JCa

2old

This is not what you asked, and I'll let MM answer those questions, but here's my $0.02 worth (may be even less valuable). If I resided in Canada my choice of vendor would be ebikesca arguably the most respected vendor in the industry.

avengine

thanks for the info, sound like $800-$1000 is the average price for the kit.
is there any good site will point me on how to choose parts, pro and con etc, with detail explanation without bias.
thanks.

powell

ebikes.ca
maybe respected vendor, but they never sold respectful/quality ebike drives/kits, just China run off the mill .
They never offered Tidal Force or Eplus, both no Chinese DD hub kits - designed and built in USA. If you see inside such motors after thousands of miles you would know what quality means.
You cannot buy Eplus anymore unless used one. There are probably hundred or more Epluses out there with dead original Nickel batteries sitting useless in garages , most with less than I would say 2000miles - treasures which they can be converted to Lithium like described in this thread.
Now ebikes.ca do not offer one of the best - FALCO which was designed to Western standards by the same team in USA.
FALCO Motors offers 5 year warranty - the best in industry.
miro13car

dilkes

You may want to check out the Toronto Electric Riders Association (TERA) group at https://www.meetup.com/Electric-Bicycles/.

You'll find a number of threads of interest including some on winter riding, clothing, etc.

powell

I am approaching 11,000 kilometers /!!!/ on my 1000W EPLUS.
I am going to report soon when I reach that millage with pictures.
No any mechanical or electrical problems, couple of glitches on power ups, maybe 2 a year, beside that EPLUS drive works flawlessly.
Bicycle parts replacements I did are not related to EPLUS electric drive.
Due to EPLUS regen disc brake pads seems to last for ever on my Biria.

Metal Man

I now have over 16,000 miles on my E+ Big Dummy. I'm hoping to make 5,000 bike miles this year, but it's not looking like I will make it.

powell

Metalman
that is impressive millage.
That is 25700 kilometers!!!
The biggest I ever heard/read on ebike.
Especially that you actually ride your Eplus with no constant tweaking, repairing struggle of cheap edrives.
Before putting my EPLUS for winter storage I managed to reach 11,226 kilometers.
A123 20Ah battery has now 650 discharges, but rather mild discharges mostly less than 50%DOD /depth of discharge/.
Beauty of well designed edrive like EPLUS is that it can be very frugal in power levels 1-3 or it can be like a rocket in power levels 8-9.

Metal Man

Winter storage?? I just got new studded tires.

powell

Metalman,
kind of funny, one is putting into winter storage while other putting on winter tires.
Yes, I admit:
EPLUS as much as I love it is my summer ride.
Tidal Force /if you know what is it/ is my winter ride.
I found changing tires twice a year /from summer to winter and back again/ so tiring.

Metal Man

And we are finally legal in PA. PA House Republican Caucus - Fleck Bill to Regulate Neighborhood Electric Vehicles and Electric-Assist Pedal Cycles Awaits Governor?s Signature

powell

Metalman
what do you mean legal, Eplus?

Metal Man

E bikes in general.

Metal Man

I now have 17,000 miles on my E Plus Big Dummy.

Metal Man

I now have over 18,000 miles on this thing and it has never been better. I finally did the conversion it get rid of the front hub battery and relocate the electronics that were inside of it.

powell

Congratulation Metalman,
With Lithium conversion your EPLUS started second life.
But total millage is impressive indeed considering your EPLUS drive is used on cargo bike.
With A123 20Ah cells in your pack , it cannot get much better than that.
I am also powering my EPLUS on A123 20Ah cells.
Maybe one day another EPLUS owner will read this thread and decide to convert to Lithium.
There must be tens of abandoned EPLUSes out there with dead nickel batteries out there in USA.
All of them with bearly couple of thousands miles on the clock.
Happy riding.

powell

So I crossed 12,000 kilometers on my EPLUS.
1mile=1.6km
aside of couple of glitches on power up /wrong initialization/ and error5 shown couple of times during those 12,000km /thermal switch on power board of NMH electronics touching other components/
my EPLUS works just fine - powerful and silence.
Look at the pictures - Newest additions to my EPLUS: lock and suspension post Thudbuster the best out there.
HAPPY RIDING.

chas58

linky no worky.

you need to define your budget, speed, range bicycle style (in your broken link?).
note: speed and range make the price go up quick, as most of the money is in the batteries.
you can start by reading em3ev.com web site. Lots of good info there if you are not turned off by all of the technical details. They are by far the best vendor in Asia. You will pay about double if you by something in North America, but then again the vendor support may (or may not) be invaluable.

My kits cost about $500 delivered (Q100 with 36v10ah), and for most people gives a top speed of either 15 or 20mph and a range of about 20 miles. About 2/3 of the cost is for the battery.

(I have a spare motor in my legs, so I end up going significantly faster and a bit farther).

Metal Man

Still going strong, over 19,000 miles on it now.

powell

Congratulation Metalman.
I hope your Lithium conversion works just fine and your charging times are much shorter.
Our Epluses are no more one-trip-a-day ebikes after conversions.

powell

I have ridden over 14,000km /!!!!/ on my EPLUS .
Strange clicking noise from the back had nothing to do with EPLUS motor.
It was quick release not tight enough. My EPLUS fell on the side once, /kickstand sinking into soft soil/
and quick release must hit the rock on the grass.
EPLUS drive can develop 80Nm of torque and quick release must be really tight, beside EPLUS uses very solid very thick torque arm.

powell

Maybe any EPLUS owner will read this.

Last week I rescued another EPLUS owner here in my town from dead NMH front hub syndrome.
He never plugged his EPLUS during winter storage, voltage dropped to the point BMS went into "sleep mode" so charging MOSFETs would never turned on, charger would not recognize battery.
I bet it must be hundreds EPLUSes around NAmerica most with less than 5000 miles sitting out there with dead NMH batteries waiting for Lithium batteries.

powell

Since my EPLUS is in storage for winter I decided to open motor/controller to check for rust, to examine bearings, and electronics inside.
Thought there might be rust building up after many rides on rainy days.
Have a look!!!

Pristine inside .

FORGOT to add the most important: millage when I opened this motor/controller was 14,100 kilometers!!


!

NoPhart

WOW!

Metal Man

Old news, I now have over 20,000 miles on it.
Powell, I was surprised at how clean my front hub was when we took that apart. I ride mine all year through all kinds of slop and I don't waste much time cleaning anything.