becouse i carry my 100kg on them, so the 5kg addition of the engine and battery shoudln't matter much.
however i do agree about the distribution, that's why i've enclosed a picture of the kit, as you can see this is a chain engine, and battery is also located instead of water cage (and on the hybrid it could also be placed horizontally..
currently i' chose the standard 250 watt, but they have trouble mounting the engine on them (they need better, the central axis seems rather complex to them) as well they are currently unable to remove the peddle.s
Originally Posted by
Burton
I personally think that if you were told the bike wasn`t designed for it ,.... I think you should listen.
Thats a hybrid designed for city driving and the OCASSIONAL trip out loaded for a picnic. Yeah - it would even be OK to pull a trailer (kids trailer). Hybrids weigh in around 24lbs.
But people don`t drive hybrids at average speeds over 20kph - thats a fact. Mostly its leasurely driving on bicycle trails, even more so with a trailer attached.
OK - lets look at touring bikes. There the frames are STRONGER in anticipation of carrying more weight on a regular basis. As a result, touring bikes usually weigh in around 30lbs. But a touring bike doesn`t average 30kph loaded either.
So lets consider some pecularities of electric bikes in `kitsl. Aside from a motor, there`s a battery that normally requires a rack. In most cases that ends up over the rear wheel. If your motor is also in the rear, thats even more weight in the back.
Weight distribution is important to stability and touring bikes loaded are recommended to do a 60/40 front/back weight distribution and keep the centre of gravity as low as possible.
So all this helps explain why dedicated electric bikes like Velec,arguably the best e-bike in Canada, is built with a centrally located battery, oversized tubing, heavy duty rims and comes with a front suspension system. A computer controlled limiter restricts the top speed to just over 30kph because thats the legal limit for e-bikes here. But it`ll do that against a bit of a headwind and is covered by an extensive warranty program.
So althought you might be able to put together something `functional` with a kit and a hybrid, it wouldn`t be stable and you would void the warranty on the frame.
Personally if I was to put together an e-bike using a kit, I`d start with a mtb bike. And not just any model. It would have to be a frame designed for dirt jump. That would be strong enough to handle the additional stress and would have a decent front suspension.