Originally Posted by
misslexi
What sort of "general guidelines" are you seeking? Voltage, Current, Energy and their relationship are somewhat technical in nature but not unapproachable for a non-scientific person. Try doing a web search about basic electricity, you will need to understand it sooner or later if you really want to roll your own eBike.
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When you go purchase a new vehicle like a car, motorcycle, boat, or airplane, you can get all the info on the vehicle usually in a nice little brochure or online. Information such as top speed, engine size and cylinders, horse power, engine torque, miles/km per gallon, turbo charge stats, and so much more. In comparison, a look at a typical store or site selling electric motors and batteries, or even fully assembled e-bikes, will tell you much less. I understand there are lots of variables that affect bottom line numbers, but this is true of the auto, motorcycle, boat, and airplanes as well, but still they give you much more information to help you make a more educated decision. I just think it's a bit counter intuitive to try to sell someone something and not tell them hardly anything about the product, expecting them to know everything about it in advance.
I'm not talking about anything fancy, just something similar to "labs test with rider weighing 180 lbs and the kit installed on a Trek ABC mountain bike, motor A with battery 1 will have these stats. Motor A with battery 2 will have these stats, etc." Of course add clause that variables will change numbers. Maybe also throw in information like...if your commute is 50% hilly we recommend motor B with battery 3 because....if not we recommend motor A with battery 2." As it stands, it seems to be a total crap shoot unless you are well versed in motor mechanics and physics, and battery chemistry. Or do a lot of reading on forums like this to see what others have experienced from these products. It would be less intimidating to more consumers and more people would be willing to buy the products.