Hello All,
I have been a bit preoccupied with work to get this build going. I spent the weekend test riding bikes for my wife. She is 6'1" and only 3" shorter than me so I figured I am close enough. Downside is most women specific bikes end at 5'10" but many are fine for a bit taller. I tried just about every Dutch geometry type city bike I could find: Pure City, Public, Electra, Raleigh & Linus. I also tried a few Mixte types as well. The Mixte would be perfect since my wife is French but of the ones I found they felt a bit small. Public has a nice one but could not find one to try. Also Linus has one in a Large but can only find Medium locally. Price is also an issue and I found the Pure City for $249 and at one bike shop I found a public C7 and the guy will let it go for $275 out the door. I am leaning toward the Public C7 since its red, rode nice and has a color matched rack. I hated how the Linus Dutchi felt. If money were not an issue I'd likely buy the Public Mixte. Anyhow, Below I have a few pics of the bikes with some simple configurations for the battery. I imported the jpegs into Solidworks, Scaled them until the wheel were 622mm and then sketched a simple battery and Q100. I decided against the rack integrated battery and will use a shark pack instead. One reason is I can use the shark pack on my mtn bike when I convert it in the future.
Public C7:
This bike has a rear derailer and with that it gives me options to put the motor on the front or rear. The image below does not have the rack but the bike I can buy does. I was thinking to mount the battery on the rack and then either hide it behind the cassette or put it on the front but it will be more noticeable. I'm on the fence with either configuration. On the front shares the weight front to rear, but this setup will be light and if the motor is on the back only the battery will be seen and if I add panniers I may be able to hide battery. Or place it in a basket on the back. Bike cost $275, BMS $585 for a total of $860
Public M7:
This bike has a nexus rear hub so Q100 would go on the front. The frame has room for the battery. as I said if money were not an issue Id go this route for sure. Bike cost is $765 than the items from BMS are $585 for a total of $1350
I also really liked the Electra loft but the curve of the frame would not allow the battery to fit inside it. I would choose the Public over this if I were going to buy a more expensive bike.
Last question in regards the the items from BMS. When I converted my bike I bought a Q128Cst 201rpm at 36V and a 52V battery and 48V controller. Dolphin case setup with waterproof wiring. I did this to overvolt the Q128 to get closer to 260RPM. I see that the Q100 is available in a 260 RPM version so unsure if I should just stick to a native 36V setup on her bike. Or buy the Q100 in 201V and buy the 48V pack and controller. I'd likely prefer 48V if I wanted to use her pack on a mountainbike, but my first priority would be what is best for this build. If I can re purpose the pack I will but its not needed. My mtn bike may not even be convertible as there is not much room in the triangle anyhow. So my question is what are the pros and cons of each motor setup mentioned above.
Thanks again for all the help everyone..