My amped bikes rear DD hub bike build (in progress).
Hey everyone,
Wanted to share my experiences on my bike build. So far, I've only attached the rear wheel to the bike. And, I transferred over the disc brake from the donor bike to the amped bikes hub. Amped bikes advertises their hubs as disc brake compatible and so far so good.
Only snag: The hub was rubbing against the inner part of the disc brake. There is a circular non removable screw that jutted out and was causing the rubbing. This screw helps move one of the brake pads in to clasp the caliper. I filed that screw down about 1mm (maybe less) and have fixed the problem.
This is my 2nd bike build. A long time ago, I bought a cheap golden motors rear hub that was low quality. I was not really satisfied with that hub so eventually I sold it. It was also powered by some heavy SLAs so that may have been part of my disatisfaction.
The donor bike is a Diamondback Topanga. I chose this because 1) it has disc brakes=better stopping power and 2) it has a large triangle, where I eventually want to put the battery in. Also, front suspension is a necessity IMHO when carrying such a heavy load.
I chose the amped bike direct drive (DD) rear hub rather than the geared hub, which is a smaller diameter hub. I understand that DD hubs can carry you better up hills and the geared hubs seem to top out at certain speeds (power in being equal). I agonized over this since the gear hub looks so stealthy and small. People won't realize you're on an ebike with a gear hub, I'm sure. However, I have couple of large hills in my commute so I went with the larger DD.
I have a 36v 15ah pingbattery coming to me from china. It's supposed to be sub 15lbs (12.5lbs?). Will post when I get it.
Expenses thus far:
$315 bike
$376 hub
$514 battery ($429+85 ship)
Will continue to post updates as my bike develops. Stay tuned...