would you buy this bike?

Hello all

A friend of a friend has offered me his diy ebike its a normal bike frame nothing special doesn't have disk breaks but it has...

60volt lifepo4 12ah battery
50amp controller
60amp bms
1000 watt rear hub

The guy says its a couple of years old and can do 40mph, would you pay £750 for a second hand bike in the above spec and is it powerfull enough to reach 40mph on the flat?

Assuming the battery needs replacing how much is a battery in that spec going to set me back? Ive tried googling the battery and didn't realy come up with any hits.

thanks for any imput.

Well, if it's only 12Ah then if you actually used it at the BMS's max rating continously, you'd be pulling 5C from the pack, which many LiFePO4 cells don't much like.

As long as you're not pulling that much continously (probably wouldn't) then they'd probably be ok.


However, as Dogman (and probably ohters) have said: A used battery pack should be estimated to be worth $0 until you yourself prove it's worth something, so unless you think the rest of what's on there is worth that much money....

"lifepo4 60v 12ah" should return almost 50,000 pages...you didn't get any hits, or you didn't feel like reading any hits?

https://www.google.ca/?#q=lifepo4+60v+12ah

Thanks for the replys If the battery and everything else is uptogther would it be able to hit the claimed 40mph I thought from what id been reading over the past week that you need 72volts to start getting that fast?

So in other words this kit isn't worth jack because its 2nd hand and could be on its last legs, getting so tired of riding a normal pushbike to work I don't want to start making rash decisions.


r3volved
ive been at work googling 60volt lifepo4 12ah electric bike and it kept coming up with 36volt bikes and mainly 48volt bikes got fed up its abit easier at home on the lap top, the thing that was also throwing me is allot of the hits were coming back with 30ah or evan 60ah which is obv not what the battery I was looking for is.

entirely depends on what brand / model the motor controller, battery and charger are.

more details needed.. pictures would help a lot.

when ever I ask sellers for details of motors or what amp controllers can handle etc they normally get realy pissy with me (shops inc) and just say its a 1000watt motor straight from japan etc I think you guys refer to them as 9c clones?

The only info I can get is its direct driver motor 1000watt
60volt lifepo4 bat with 50amp bms and 50amp controller

I think its only clued up people off this board that actulay know what motors etc are fitted to bike, ive trawled through these forums as been given questions by a member off here to ask and the 2 shops that I emailed simply replied saying all details are on the add which they clearly arnt lol.

You can usually find something similar on ebay for around £1250 that has just been built. I think I saw as high as £1400 but that was using a new £350 bike.

Maybe £750 is what it cost him. That seems more realistic. I keep knocking bikes out between £450 and £800

I have been looking for bikes around the tra1000-1400 mark and that will get you a similar spec bike but the battery is only 48 volts not 60 volts would the extra 12 volts make this bike more special then the 48 volt bikes that normaly pop up on flebay?

Out of all the £1000 bikes on ebay most come with there issues the wing bikes are advertised as buy it now and when you phone up they are waiting for shipment of batteries, the link to the stealth from the uk company for £1100 isn't available till end of next month and the only bike available is from xipi at £1400 with only one years waurentee not the 3 that wing are offering so still leaning towards building or buying secondhand and maybe factoring the fact I might have to buy another battery sooner then expected.

40mph with rim brakes. You must be mas to even think about it!.

Hi d8veh i have front disk breaks and hydraulic rear magura to swap over, from your ebike knowledge would you say the bike would be capable of 40mph?

If you like the stealth bike and think the price is right then I would wait for it.

If you buy a used bike it will probably need some degree of work to. Similarly, a kit will take time to fit (and requires a reasonable level of DIY skill). Amongst delays waiting on parts etc you'd probably find yourself well into next month before your used or kit bike is ready.

I'd be more inclined to expect a 35 mph, true, top speed. I don't doubt it has gone 40 mph, but most likely with a slight downgrade and no headwind.

A true speed test is done on a pretty calm day, and run both directions on the road used. And BTW, riding on the street, 35 is plenty. It's already a completely illegal vehicle for the street. No need to do 40 mph and really draw attention to yourself.

It IS a very hot controller, and the motor is likely a faster 6 trurn rather than a 7 turn. If it fits your budget, it WILL be a very fun bike to ride. Plenty of amps to get you from 0 to whatever it's top speed is.

The main caveat, is whether the battery is worth any money at all. Likely it's lost some capacity, which could be a good thing, since your ride will end before smoke pours out the motor.

Yes, the controller is WAY too much for that motor. But fun as hell for a ride less than 10 miles.

What would be a suitable battery for that controller? In general, not lifepo4. Look for something able to put out 100 amps, for a 50 amps controller. if you have headways, then your controller is maxing out the amps, and while it works, the battery doesn't like it.

Hi what do you mean it is probably a 6 turn and not 7 turn? Also what is a headway?

I dont plan on going faster then what a normal person can ride on the road as like you say it will draw unwanted attention, im figuring if it will do 35mph it would be able to climb those steep country road hills.

my journey is 7.5 mile each way and most of those are derestricted back lane country roads and my main convern is at present i can ride about 5mph up the hills and cars are waiting behind pissed at me, if i could climb at 15-20mph that would be great.

any tips on what kind of 100amp battery i can shop for if not lifepo4 so i can factor this in to replacement cost?

Thanks for replys

Turns is the number of wraps of the copper wire inside. a 9x7 (7 turns) motor is typical for 800w direct drive motor kits. It will go about 27 mph on 48v. (which charges to close to 60v)

The 10x6 motor is faster, and typically goes about 31 mph on 48v. So I think you have a 6 turn, they are also fairly common motors used in "1000w" kits. At 60v,it would cruise at 35 mph or so, and be able to hit 40 mph in the right conditions, like gently downhill with a full charge.

Headways are a type of lifepo4 battery. One of the few with a c rate higher than 2c. Chances are the battery is headways. They usually are long blue cylinders with a screw terminal on each end.

As always, battery is worth zero till proved otherwise. If you can get 7-8 miles out of it riding fast, they are still very good.

Most used ebikes have worn out battery from using to.big a controller. Ruining the battery. Or other battery problems. So if you got it it would may need a new battery soon. 40 mph is the clue.

For it to be a working battery it would to be headway or better cells

Il give headways a google and then i can ask him about the type of battery cells and if he knows understand his reply lol.

Most of this stuff is just flying over my head. I definetly wont be building any batteries lol.