Originally Posted by
tds101
The Qualisports ebike was more solidly built, had a 48v battery (Dahon is a 36v), more range (higher capacity), and could easily hit around 28 MPH while pedaling (throttle was up to 20 MPH) after I replaced the rear cassette. The Dahon is mid drive (it's good, but not all it's cracked up to be), lighter, and definitely folds smaller. I could also swap parts and use an IGH if I decided to go that route. Battery wise, they have a replacement seatpost battery available now, but the damn thing is currently "on sale" for $609. And it's not easy to just open up the seatpost (
afaik) and just swap out the batteries. I've, honestly, moved back to riding solely human-powered bikes at this stage. I'd just rather get the work in, than have to deal with the constant need of worrying about electrical/electronic componants.
Yeah that's a lot for that battery, considering what you paid for the whole bike! For what Dahon is currently asking on it, you should be able to get your money back if you sell it, at least if there is demand on the Dahon; There's a lot of competition, including the (name escapes me) electric with the Pinion mid transmission.
A mid drive will typically have a smaller motor than hub motor, because it can use the bike transmission, so I would not doubt if the E20 is a bit weak accel in the higher gears.
IGH on a mid-drive electric, you'd want to check the torque limit rating of the hub before doing that, this was a discussion on another thread. Unfortunately, some manuals just say, "Don't run a small chainring", rather than give an actual torque value. However, most ratings are with large wheels; Smaller wheels means less torque for the same ground thrust, so that would be in your favor.