gmanning66

Can I get a welcome wave?

I'm amazed at all the postings I see about people's frustrations in communicating with Golden Motors. I think GM's English is very poor, but mainly they don't want to step on their distributors toes. Ampedbikes looks like a good guy to buy from. Another way to buy these kits is to go to golden motors home page and click on their Distributors Link. They have 5 around the world. In fact, it seems like their Canadian distributor has an incredible price - so good I'm gonna buy two. $179 plus 40 shipping !! I'm not affiliated with anyone, just been researching ebikes for 2 months now, gas, electric, hub, complete bike, too many damn choices! but after the great reviews above I know which way I'm going for my first one. thanks bikefreaks !

cerewa

Holy smokes, the canadian distributor for golden is selling at $209 CAD, shipped? If only I had gotten such a deal!


No. I can't find a "wave" icon, this will have to do. welcome!


My guess is they wouldn't. My battery (which i bought from Yesa through ebay) didn't come with a connector for the battery wires, just a negative and positive wire ready to be crimped/soldered into a connector. I suspect that if you buy your batteries and motor from separate suppliers they usually will not come with matching connectors already attached, because there doesn't seem to be any standard connector type for these sorts of batteries.

jim124

I emailed the Canadian dealer for goldenmotor asking a few questions. However they told me that they do not ship to the US. This is too bad, there prices are outstanding.
Has anyone else bought this motor? and if so where?

thx jim.....

johnbear

Me and my friend have a goldenmotor kit bought from a distributor. They work very well.

arni0202

I'm looking at getting the AmpedBike electric conversion set, I don't know if BikeFreak is still checking this site, I didn't catch how many batteries he purchased from Fox Batteries and I'm wondering how long they project the batteries will hold a charge?(how often they'll need to be replaced/recycled) I'm so so so ready to bike electrically! the only thing preventing me from biking everywhere is the fact that it wears me out and gets me down.

PS Can I get a wave? New to the site any Minnesota Bikers here?

arni0202

Oh also I found these at Batteries Plus... any thoughts on if they'd be good at least as a "starter" battery pack?
https://www.batteriesplus.com/p-30294...-terminal.aspx

arni0202

I don't think I'll be carrying mine up and down the stairs too much.. Hmm but I'd be worried to leave my bike on my school campus chained up with batteries on the back, maybe I'll bring my bike to the classroom lol. so how many of the big heavy batteries(the batteries plus ones) would I need? I'm not sure how to do any of this, I actually thought for some reason that the brushless motor from ampedbikes.com was for the front tire... could I put it in front? I sound like such a noob jeez

Abneycat

I personally found that SLA is the best option if you just want to leave it on your bike. My old pack was so massively heavy that the one time someone apparently *did* try to cart it away, they took it off the bike and got about 3 feet with it before giving up. Anyone with half a brain will realize that a bundle of lead isn't a hot thieving prospect, its well, a bundle of lead.

arni0202

ohhh okay gosh I need to read more, lol I'm not used to reading so many threads, you've got the canadian motorhub right karma?... I thought you had the ampedbikes one (even though they're similar)... I was confused because the ampedbikes kit is for the front tire(your pics show a rear mounted hub). I'm glad you guys are patient and understand my confusion. So clamp them down in the back, 3 cells, replace rear rim... oh yeah and save up some money! lol the only thing standing in my way, along with 25degree temps,
**little off topic but hey, karma you live in Canada right? I'm in Minnesota so it's cold here too, do you just bundle up extra warm when you ride during winter? gloves, face mask etc? any tips or tricks for braving the cold?

Richlec

Ya... I made the same mistake as well. Rear hub is much better IMHO..

arni0202

Why do you think the rear is better? I've never been on a bike front or rear powered so I'm open to all opinions.

Richlec

With a rear hub you have the benefit of using your gears as well to ramp up your speed. With a front hub and a steep incline or sandy surface your front tire is asier to break loose. Just some of what I have read. I've never been on a bike front or rear powered either. I'm new to this concept as well and just starting to research it so I am also open to any other ideas as well... Also you can set the degree of assist with the BionX because it monitors the stress and kicks in as needed. I'm not sure how that would work with a front hub.

arni0202

those bionx electic bike kits look really cool! For me they are out of the question though because I can't afford a kit of $1000+ and those kits are expensive. As a starving college kid I'll probably have to go with a less expensive front mounted hub from ampedbikes.com, oh well, I'm pretty agile on a bike so breaking loose may not be as much of an issue... who knows lol. the sooner I save up the sooner I'll fill you in on what I get.. How soon till you take the plunge in to electric biking? Hope to join you soon! I saw all the snowy cars in my neighborhood today and I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we all had electric bikes?" Imagine! we'd all be healthier, happier, richer(cars are expensive!), and our environment would be healthier too! shucks I'm ranting.

jim124

I've installed both my "FRONT" hub motor and battery pack and been testing them for about 2 weeks.

After a few reconfigurations i have it set perfect for me. I used a lunch box cooler, the one with the plastic liner. In the front of the cooler is a small zipper pouch, this is where i installed the controller. I was worried about heat disapation so i unzip it when i travel, but found when i forgot to do this i found that it wasn't even warm.

The batteries are from a dealer on fleebay in China. I have to say that he is extremly professional and replied to my endless emails quickly ( i will be using him again soon). They are 36V 10ah lifepo4 and weigh in at 7.5lbs. I had some SLA's but i will never go back to them. I wired in a regular electric wall on/off switch and an automotive 30amp fuse (which i blew the first time when i wired it backwards). I unplug my battery pack (that looks like a bomb by the way) and put it in my backpack that also holds my real lunch and catch the train.

I also have a cyclometer and it shows i average 21mph no pedaling on a flat surface. My commute is 3 miles in morning to load it on the metro bus. Then my way home i do 13 miles. Now after a few charges and discharges i never use over 33% of charge.

I was trying to build an Ebike that doesn't look like an Ebike. Take a look at the attachment and let me know what u think. I just want to blend in with all the other bikes, that is till there is a strong head wind and i blow past them!

jim...................

jim124

His name is "Ping", email address - pingping227@hotmail.com

Here is an active link for one of his auctions - https://cgi.ebay.com/36V-18AH-Electri...QQcmdZViewItem

I see that the prices are rising due to the excellent feedback he is getting. I sent him an email asking for the size and shape for the pack and to also make it a Buy Now.

jim....

arni0202

good find Jim124!!! I think I'll go with a LiFePO4 battery when I get my bike set up... where do you live? How often do you charge??

jim124

I live down in South Florida. So there isn't too much snow to contend with

I only charge once a day. I plug it in at around 8:00 pm, it charges for a couple of hours hard, then it trickle charges the rest of the night till i unplug it at4:30-5:00. There is no way that i'll go back to lead, these are way better than sliced bread.

I contemplating picking up another hub motor kit and battery pack so as to make a backup bike. Still alot cheaper than buying another car for the house.

How about 10 people pr so get together and commit to buying the kits and packs so as to get a bulk rate discount?

jim..........

arni0202

Lucky Floridian! That's a brilliant idea getting a group discount. I want my friend to get one but he wants a little Scooter thing Honda makes it gets like 120mpg but using any gas still sucks. I'll work on convincing him. and I have some more hippie friends (like me) who enjoy exercise and being kind to our environment so they should be willing thanks for all the input everyone

Charbuque

I have just fitted a Goldenmotor 36v 500W rear with regen. Here are my observations, for what they're worth.

1) Ditch the tyre (it's a shocker) - probably the rim too although with a bit of tweaking mine is acceptable.
2) Check your wiring carefully - whoever lashes up the cables doesn't worry too much about convention so I used voltmeter to check the inputs/outputs first. Everything was OK, but there was a lot of transposition of +ive and -ve going on (although it always balanced out).
3) The hub pulls like a train
4) 3 x 12V lead acids and a hub on the back wheel makes for some interesting bike handling when your not sat on it.
5) Not sure about the regen. It brakes fine, but sometimes that is a pain - if you are trying to signal a right turn without slowing for example. I think I would have preferred a freewheel.
6) The regen limits your top speed.
7) The hub size fits 130mm forks with no problem.
8) First trip - 16 km (10 miles) + hills - Full power all the way and still juice left when I got home.
9) err...
10) That's it.

Happy to answer any queries.

meanjoegreen

I think the best deal on the net is to check out the refurbished wilderness energy models. I got the 600watt brushless hub w/extended battery pack from werelectrified for $329 +$20 shipping works great. There is a link to it on www.ebikehub.com (check under bike kits)

Charbuque

Thanks for that - I'm having a look at it today. I have also made a battery carrier from two reusable shopping bags and suspended the 3 sla from the cross bar with velcro straps - it has made a big difference to the handling and feel (especially when walking it about) at a total cost of $2. The bags even have 'Green and environmentally friendly' stamped on them so I can feel holier than thou

edit: checked - mine and had zinc paste on the heat sink and proper support posts ~ sounds like yours was made on a Friday afternoon

meb

I noticed his site says SLA chargers may be used to charge LiFePO4 batteries. Any problems with that, particularly as dangerous as it is to overcharge LiFePO4 batteries ?

Anyone know if the other other way around also works for 2 way interchangeability - SLA battery on LiFePO4 charger?

jim124

Thx Karma, i really appreciate the hard work u put into these instructions.
I'm going to be doing them this weekend.

OTW, my LifePO4 pack from Ping is still going strong. In fact i emailed him with specs on my trolling motor to see what it would take to get 12V and around 50-60AH.

jim.........

meb

What does bms stand for?

meb

So are you suggesting Ping has unduly thrown caution to the wind charging lithium poly batteries with SLA chargers?