Advice on upgrading rear hub motor in Gigabyke E-scooter

So I know I'm fairly new to the ebike game... just got my Gigabyke Groove a month ago. I found many issues with it, such as how outrageously heavy it is, slow acceleration, and poor hill climbing ability. The third time I rode it, it actually just stopped working altogether after only about a mile. No hills or any over exertion of the motor. Still have no idea what's wrong with it. I know I could test everything and figure out what is wrong and just fix it, but given it's downfalls in power and weight I felt it may be better to upgrade the hub motor, controller and battery. I can use the original parts to build a new mod on a lighter bike possibly. So I'm thinking a 48v 1000w-15000w rear hub motor with suitable controller and a new 52v 20ah li-ion battery pack. The battery change alone makes the bike lose about 30lbs right off (comes with SLA battery 41.5lbs). I guess my biggest question is, where is the best place to order hub motors and batteries??? I've been searching Ebay and AliExpress. They seem to have some very reasonable pricing. However, I do not want to order parts that I'll have to replace again within the next year or so. I want something affordable, yet reliable. What are your suggestions????

That is a good question and I would like to know myself where to purchase replacement batteries. The only place I know of is BikeBerry.com and they just show the entire battery package for $399.95. I found this battery on eBay, but it has a F2 terminal connector and not the screw in(Enduring 6DZM12 12V 14Ah Scooter Battery). There is also this one on eBay(6DZM12 12V 12Ah Scooter Battery Go Kart 6-DZM-12 E-Bike). I think they would be compatible with our charger that came with the Groove.
Maybe someone else here will know where to purchase the same batteries that came with our bike.

bike360 said:

That is a good question and I would like to know myself where to purchase replacement batteries. The only place I know of is BikeBerry.com and they just show the entire battery package for $399.95. I found this battery on eBay, but it has a F2 terminal connector and not the screw in(Enduring 6DZM12 12V 14Ah Scooter Battery). There is also this one on eBay(6DZM12 12V 12Ah Scooter Battery Go Kart 6-DZM-12 E-Bike). I think they would be compatible with our charger that came with the Groove.
Maybe someone else here will know where to purchase the same batteries that came with our bike.

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Oh, I don't want the same battery, lol. I want a li-ion battery. They last way longer and weigh about a quarter of what the SLA battery does that came with the groove. Plus I want to upgrade to a 52v with higher amp hours...

Beware of the Li-ion batteries because they don't like being jarred around or high temperature conditions. Increasing the voltage to 52V with higher amperage will no doubt have you writing another thread here asking, "why are my wires/connectors melting, motor burning out, and controllers smoking". The engineers design these bikes with the size of wires , motor ,connectors, and controllers in mind and you can only exceed that very little before you start damage components.
Try here and good luck; visforvoltage.org/forum/4884-converting-48v-sla-setup-48v-lithium-ion

As far as I've seen, the socalled "engineers" do a terrible job matching the wires and connectors to the output of the system on these kind of generic scooter bikes. That's based on the many that I've repaired, and the ones that I got dirt cheap and broken down from their frustrated owners that were over them always failing.

Also, she said higher amps hours, not amps. Putting a larger capacity battery (amp hours) wont overeat anything, as opposed to pushing more power (amps) thru the system.

For the OP, usually the motor on these is the one adequate part. With a higher voltage controller and battery, and better connectors between them, you might be happy with the existing bike.

If you're ready for a little heavier modifying, throw most everything except the motor away, and build something like one of these....




The one on the left came off one just like yours that I got free after the plastic bracket that holds the pedals broke apart and the wires melted.. that's their quality engineering for you...


The leftovers from a different one on the way to the dump...


This is the one on the right with the 16" motor going up a really steep mountain road.. it shows you what the motor is capable of once it's unleashed from the weight and bad wires of the scooter it came on...

[youtube]FQAOSU6-LgY[/youtube]

Do you know what the current and voltage limits are on your controller? It would be good to regard those in order to determine if you want to replace that part. Otherwise, you are constrained to those limits in choosing battery/motor.

Regarding the motor, Voltron shows a good example of what you could expect to get out of it. Were you happy with the performance, or did you want to go harder? You should ask him what voltage and current he was running the motor at, and how stable it is (any risk of heat damage). If you want to go harder, you may need to upgrade the motor to a higher wattage and possibly the controller as well so it can feed the motor more juice out of your new batteries.

Regarding your batteries, maybe you should decide this after you answered the other questions first. Otherwise, you won't know what capacity (voltage, current limits) to build to. Obviously plan to add as many as you can afford/fit in parallel, to maximise your range (Ah), after you figured everything else out. So if you could tell us the voltage/current limits on your controller, we could guide you more from there.

Honestly I am thinking of pretty much taking everything off of this scooter and replacing it with something more powerful that can do a better job handling the weight. This is what I am considering replacing it with...




I like the idea of having a full range of possibilities. I'd probably start at 60v and later on I can always increase the power if I want. What are your thoughts on this set up???
Here's the link if you want a better look...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252543694984?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=551450419204&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Voltron said:

If you're ready for a little heavier modifying, throw most everything except the motor away, and build something like one of these....

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I've actually already been considering this option. I don't think this motor and controller are powerful enough for my scooter. I am planning on taking both off and replacing them. I was thinking of putting it on this...

The problem with something like that is usually how do you get good brakes on it, and where to mount the battery. I think if you start with a better controller/ battery, your existing motor will take you faster than most people want to go.

Voltron said:

The problem with something like that is usually how do you get good brakes on it, and where to mount the battery. I think if you start with a better controller/ battery, your existing motor will take you faster than most people want to go.

Click to expand...

For the Stingray, I actually found a 52V 20Ah li-ion triangle battery with mounting bag that I could attach to the bike seat bar and the top bar, and, seeing that it already has a fat tire in the back, I know my hub will fit without modifications. And as far as brakes, Gigabyke sells every individual part of their bike online. You could practically build your own Groove piece by piece. So I could just get the breaks from there...

And the only problem with keeping the same hub on my Groove is that I have no idea the power it's actually capable of. Even though Gigabyke sells all their parts (which is great) they do not give any specs on anything. I wouldn't know what controllers would bring it to it's full capability. And I don't know enough about them to be able to figure it out myself at this point...

So do you know what controller you have on the scoot? There's a chance it's strong enough, but you're right, move it to the bicycle and go higher power for the scoot if you can. Then you'd have a couple of cool whips by the end.

Regarding your motor, that new one you linked is only 1500W. That's a bit of a constraint. May as well go higher if you're planning on replacing everything, maybe 3-5000W if you can (why not?). Check out some options for scooter hubs here: http://www.qs-motor.com/product-catagory/e-scooter-hub-motor/ These top out at around 8000W. More power than that? Click on motorcycle hubs on the left. They have even more models on their Alibaba page. Keep in mind wheel-size. You can measure the diameter of your current hub (maybe 10-12"?) and try to replace that. If you want to go bigger, then you need to extend the swingarm, which is a welding job. Keep in mind tire clearance. With an extension, I was able to take a 16" rim and low-profile tire on my rear wheel.

Regarding brakes, you can get a controller capable of regen braking and that does 90% of the work. I will go from 100KMPH+ to 10KMPH in seconds on the regen only, and for the last couple seconds I squeeze the actual brake, and hold my bike still at the light. You probably don't need to upgrade your brakes, or throttle for that matter, since regen is king.

Try to see what controller you have, and measure your rear hub diameter and let us know how wide the rim is. Most likely you will upgrade the controller too, which is easy to match from Kelly or somesuch. The controller will be your main current/voltage constrainer, and you'll build your battery to match what it can do. A bit of math tells us how many watts that will generate, and we can see if the motor is capable of it. Your stock 750W motor is probably fine up to ~3000Wish, whereas a motor rated for 4000W should be able to handle 8000W, which means way more torque off the line and up hills (more current = more torque), and if you're at a higher voltage, then you'll get a higher top-speed too. Do you have any goals for top-speed, like 70KMPH or what?

My original motor was on a 48v 600 watt rated system, but I've been putting 72v and about 3500 watts peak thru it. These motors work way better than one would think, as the small diameter produces lots of acceleration and power, as they build in rpm quicker than a larger diameter wheel.

I think that motor you linked to would be a way powerful upgrade to the scooter, but dangerous over kill on something like the Stingray with no suspension. I think you should concentrate on the battery and controller, and the existing motor will take you faster than you want to go!

What $20 bucks got me broken down and not running, with the pedal bracket broken in pieces. The motor, the rear shocks and the seat are the only things that didn't get tossed. (the shocks went to my full suspension trike, and the seat became the passenger seat on my cargo bike )
But the motor is still running like a champ in my second cargo bike!

Greetings from Ireland. Some more info on the subject. I got one of these recently the same as the last picture from Voltron. I peeked inside the controller, the caps have 63v on them so naturally I pumped 62v to it to see what will happen not surprisingly it let the magic smoke out. It will still turn the wheel one of every 5 tries but do not be deceived 48v is probably the max on the stock controller. So I ordered the usual one: "48V/72V 1500W Electric Bicycle Brushless Motor Controller for E-bike" aka Series: SH471815-WZ45
I will post pictures and more info when it arrives from china.
On a side note the previous owner removed the pedal shaft if anybody knows how I can get my hands on spares I will be immensely grateful, scrap is fine I would fabricoble something only I don't exactly have a workshop here.
I actually like the shape of the thing especially the big seat.

The bike in question is sold as: Celtic BEETLE, Top Prince, B.H.M. E-Road, RICH PRINCE, Easy Motion Clever, Chaoya CY-QS, gigabyke groove, NICOM Zhejiang Nicom Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.

Alas, I have no success tracking parts in china.

I don't know how many you'll find of the pedal holders..I won't even call it a bottom bracket, as it was just a couple of flimsy pieces of plastic holding barely functional fake pedals, and it breaks off as soon as you hit a speed bump with it. I would find a scrap steel bike frame and cut and weld the bottom bracket shell onto your frame if you really want to pedal.