kmcrawford111

Hi all,

Can anyone explain to me how the throttle works on this kit? I'm going to get a left-hand twist since my right side has a twist for my IGH. My kit will be a 26" front wheel conversion.

Does the throttle have distinct steps or an analog range? Does the twist return to center (no throttle) when released? My concern is going to be braking with this kit installed. I'd just like to know how this is going to operate. Thank you.

Finally, I see speed posted for this kit (with 36V battery) as being about 20 MPH, but it isn't clear if that is assisted speed or not. Can anyone clarify? Thank you.

rscamp

I have two of these. The standard throttle (as supplied by ebikes.ca) is a spring-loaded analog infinitely-variable thumb or twist throttle.

This simulator shows everything you could possibly want to know about the performance of this motor. https://ebikes.ca/simulator/ .

kmcrawford111

Thank you sir. Can you comment on the speed? I'm about 200 lbs. and try to travel light, but I will be carrying some stuff since this will be for commuting. I'd like to go a littler faster than my typical unassisted pace of 16ph or so, but much more than 20 might get sketchy. Does the throttle return to center when released, and is center "off"?

General impressions of the kit? I'm leaning towards the 14 Ah LiMn battery. This isn't going to be cheap, but if this allows me to do my new 15-mi. one-way commute without a car say 90% of the time I'll be happy. I do like getting the exercise of my current ~5 mi. commute though, so I'll probably do a mix of assisted and unassisted riding.

Hopefully I can find a second charger because I may want to have one at work too. I did find that simulator already - in fact that will probably be the store I order from. Thank you again!

rscamp

Speed maxes out around 20mph according to the sim - depends on hills of course.

I like the eZee motor - light, low drag and reasonable torque.

Control is one-sided - not centering.

I use 48v LiPos, hobby chargers with a Cycle Analyst to govern speed.

johnin

I have two of the Ezee kits, one 20" front wheel on a LWB recumbent and one 700c front wheel on a touring bike. I use the same 14ah Ezee LiMn battery for both since I only ride one at a time. The recumbent has twist shifters and I use a right hand thumb throttle on that one - it is easy to shift and throttle at the same time after a little practice. The touring bike has bar end shifters so I set up a left hand thumb throttle on the drop bars so that I could shift the rear derailleur and use the throttle at the same time. Shifting the front derailleur requires that I let off the throttle but I haven't found that to be a big deal. Speed on both bikes on level ground tops out at about 20 mph if I don't pedal. I weigh about 225 pounds (16 stone or so). Longest ride to date was almost exactly 80 miles on the recumbent on a fairly hilly route and the BMS shut the battery down about 2 blocks from home. My Cycle Analyst told me that I had used 12.5 ah of the 14 the battery is rated for. Since then I have cut the max amp draw down from 20 to 15 so that might let me get a little more out of the battery. I started all this a little less than a year ago and so far have about 2,000 miles on the two bikes with the motors - no problems so far. These bikes are primarily for fun and exercise, not to go fast - if I want to go fast I ride one of my motorcycles. The Ezee kit seems ideal to me for this type of use - that is as an assist not a primary power source - the primary power source is me - the motors are for help up the hills.

kmcrawford111

Thanks for the response, johnin! I think I'm ready to go ahead with this.

kmcrawford111

I still think I'm going to get this kit, but I have another concern. Any insight is appreciated!

I'm thinking about downsizing from having 3 bikes to having 2 bikes, partially because I'm going to be living in a more compact home (a condo), with less space for bike storage. I currently have: a vintage road bike (27" wheels), a commuter-type bike (26" wheels, with IGH), and a folding Brompton. What I'm thinking about doing is replacing the two full-size bikes with something in-between the two. The overwhelming majority of my riding is commuting, but I do the occasional recreational or fitness ride too. This one bike neeeds to be high-quality, relatively fast, and not heavy (before the electric kit is installed). I'm not sure whether I want drop bars or flat bars yet but I'm leaning towards 700c wheels. So far, the bike I like most for this, based on online research, is the Trek 9th District.
I like the relative simplicity of the 1x9 setup and I'd rather have a derailliuer than another IGH.

My concern is: can I set the bike up to be relatively easy to convert between having and not having the eZee kit installed, so I can remove (at least) the front wheel w/hub (I'm going to have a spare wheel anyway) and the battery? I reckon those two components are probably 90-95% of the weight of the kit. The rest I can probably leave on. I need the electric installation to be weatherproof, and I'm plenty capable of redoing the wiring/connectors. For example, it looks like there are multiple connectors for the hub; I might want to modify this to get down to one connector. I want to be able to switch between having the motorized hub wheel and battery and having a "normal" wheel and no battery in no more than a few minutes. This way, I could have "one bike to rule them all". A full schematic (I haven't been able to find one) would help. What do you think?

This is a difficult decision, as I haven't actually used the eZee kit yet.

rscamp

The battery mounting method should allow this no problem. But honestly I think you will quickly tire of swapping the wheels. I would also be concerned about the wear and tear on the connectors and wires on each installation and removal.

I ride without using power all the time. It is only when climbing hills or wanting/needing to accelerate/go fast that adding power is necessary. With the eZee and a light lithium battery setup I just don't think the need to lighten is all that great. And with the eZee one way clutch you don't have parasitic drag either. And if it is exercise you are after the added weight helps rather than hurts so to speak. You aren't racing. Sure you won't be quite as fast without power but it doesn't hurt your fitness.

Of course, only you can decide what is right for you...

kmcrawford111

Thanks once again. I understand how the additional weight offers more exercise, but there are times when I like having a lighter, faster (w/o motor) bike... like my road bike. In fact I ride the road bike to work as much as possible. I break out the heavier bike for winter because I have Nokian Extremes for it, and it just "fits" better with winter shoes and gloves on. I'm just not sure I'm going to have room for 3 bikes when I move soon, and I also like having less stuff.

Maybe a good middle-ground between my plan and your observations would be to simply remove the battery when I want a lighter bike. Come to think of it, that brings up another concern I have. Can the battery be easily removed to charge it elsewhere or does it need to stay on the bike? I'm hoping to store this bike in the carport at my new home, but there's no power available there. I would like to be able to bring the battery inside to charge it, which I've read is better for the battery anyway in cold weather. Same applies to work - no outlet available where I park the bike.

kmcrawford111

Btw, the frequency of swapping the front wheel would probably be something like 12 times a year.

rscamp

As hinted in my previous post, I think any good design - either purchased or engineered by the installer - will have an easily removable battery. With some battery technologies, it is better to charge off the bike anyways. And this makes using multiple batteries a breeze. In my case, I have multiple trikes with multiple batteries which are all interchangeable. This is the best way to go to maximize flexibility and reduce complexity...

johnin

I always remove my Ezee battery from the bike to charge it - it fits in a frame bag on the recumbent and in a double decker rear rack on the touring bike - either way it just takes a few seconds to remove it. The battery locks in the rear rack but not in the frame bag - I'm working on a way to lock it to the bike when it's in the bag but as I don't have occasion to leave my bikes unattended for very long it's not a big rush. The double decker rack is available from ebikes.ca, the bag I use is the Revelate Tangle bag in the large size - fits the Ezee battery with room to spare. As far as changing the front wheel to save a little weight occasionally I think you'll get tired of that fairly quickly. The wiring harness from the wheel goes to a pair of connectors about halfway up the fork leg and the connectors are protected by a plastic box with a screw-on cover - all this comes with the kit. So to remove the front wheel you need to unscrew the cover on the box and disconnect the wires, then undo the torque arm and the axle nuts and remove the wheel. This leaves you with the wiring from the box going up the fork leg - I guess you can just put the connectors back in the box and screw the cover back on - I wouldn't bother with all that but I'm not you of course.

kmcrawford111

Many thanks for both of your help.

johnin

I got a PM from bikerbob1 asking if I'd weighed the Ezee stuff - I did not -

I couldn't answer through the PM mailbox as I haven't posted 50 times - seems bizarre but whatever -