Vilano Proton
 

Hi, So after years of bike commuting I had to stop becuz the new and improved job is a bit too far for it.
New job 17 miles ach way. In WV so hills are abundant, the rout Id be taking isn't horrendous mostly country road and or mixed with bike trail, I wanted some opinions on this bike


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...IBXHB164&psc=1






thanks

Actually seems like a pretty good deal. The motor is only 250 watts, so you'll still need to put some work in on those hills. In the lower price range it seems solid to me.

I still wanna get a good workout in, just keep my travel time to an hour give or take. I was thinking it seemed fairly legit, company out of florida and the line of bikes seems affordable but with decent components

I don't see any place where they tell you the watt hours on the battery. That's really important as it will provide you a better sense of honest range. Figure about 20 wh per mile. also, it is 50 pounds. If you already have a bike you're riding you like, you might be able to come in at a lower weight with a simple add-on kit (check Leeds e bike kits and Dillinger kits for front 250w) for no more money, maybe less. If your hills are anything other than mild uphill slopes, a 250w motor on a 50 pound bike is going to heat up like crazy and maybe you will kill it. Bare minimum for hills is 350w, with 500w or better OR a mid-drive unit ideal. I had a 45 pound 250w e bike for a while and it was only capable of getting up very very short steep hills (equivalent to one city block) with me mashing in the highest gear like a crazy person. I would suggest getting a kit with more power rather than a heavy underpowered e-bike. Just my 2 cents.
Dillinger has this one on special - https://dillengerelectricbikes.com/e...dillenger.html - and even if you paid for bike shop install, you would come out ahead with more power and range.

aaaahh ok I think on vilano website it was 8.8 Mah but I was looking at a lot f bikes. yeah around here on old route I had one portion that was over 15% and most at 8-12%


I was looking at the 8fun kit but it puts it out of my range especially since I would want a bike to use it on, wanna keep my road bike a road bike


I looked at that Dillinger kit, that could be doable, I wont be doing the bike till spring but I could do the work my self pretty easily

If you get a front hub kit, you can swap out your regular wheel for the motored wheel. Might be a pain daily but if you ride the motored wheel during the work week and swap out for weekend rides, it shouldn't be that bad. 5 mins at most. Just velcro instead of zip tie with the cables. Dual sided velcro works great, or those velcro cable ties people use to hold rolled up cables, where the tie loops in on itself then wraps. Just un-velcro your cables, then remove the wheel - don't disconnect the cables from the wheel as over time this could wear the connections out. Leave the battery holder on the bike and remove the battery. Pop on the regular wheel. Or - buy a cheap craigslist bike to put the motor kit on. For $50 you can pick up a used 7 speed which is all you need with the motor.

oh that's true! huh, that's something t think about. Is there worry over the strain on head tube from the motor?

If you buy something on CL get a bike with cromo forks, not aluminum. At 350w you could use torque arms just to be extra safe. You don't need them on 250w steel forks. If you put on your roadie, def. use torque arms for the extra protection, but people use after market kits all the time and there's no problem with a proper install. If you have a really nice road bike, I'd get the second CL bike to motorize. You may have to file your dropout openings a bit to fit the 10mm axle; frequently road bikes have 9.5mm openings and you may feel more comfortable doing that to a less valuable bike.

My existing bike is just a gmc denali rebranded as a genesis, I like it a lot, but the room for larger tires isn't really there and for commuting id prefer 35-40 or so Schwalbe marathon plus. I have 28's already but they don't fit so I must aquit!

linberl- you got me looking at the Dillinger site, that d5 commuter! that's the most drool worthy commuter bike I ever saw

Lol, never ever look at stuff except what you can afford! Don't blame me now ;-)

dont trust it