I want to make my first EBike conversion! Need advices, please

Joined
Jun 25, 2022
Messages
4
Location
Portugal, Sintra
Hello everybody,
I'm new here, I'm from Portugal, Sintra and I have a Riverside 500 decathlon bike where I want to assemble a motor+battery kit.
The bike is of treking type, aluminum frame, 700C wheels, without suspensions, with mechanical disc brakes.
Doubts are many...
From what I've read I think I prefer a mid-engine, Bafang or Tongsheng... which one? And what battery?

I currently use it for trekking, on secondary roads, cycle paths and off-road paths that are not too irregular, flat and some hills under 25% grade.
Rides of approximately 30 to 50 kms at an approximate average of 16 kms/h

I'm 56 years old, I've always ridden a bike since I was a child, I've done a lot of mountain biking but now my back asks me for smoother terrain eheh.
I look for extra help on the pedals to make my rides without so much effort when those longer and steeper climbs appear and when I have the wind head on...

I weigh 72kgs and measure 179mts. I think I can do all the assembly of the kit myself.

Budget around 600€
 
I personally use direct drive hub motors, you can get a kit without a battery for about $300. Get a 48v controller and then run a 52v battery, this will get you more speed and more range. Unless you need the extra torque of a midrive, Hubdrives are simple and reliable for a first ebike build. Downside of hub drives are less torque and more weight, but they are very energy efficient at higher speeds. I think 1000w motor with a 52v 13ah battery is a pretty sweet setup for cruising around town.
 
Ebike92119 said:
I personally use direct drive hub motors, you can get a kit without a battery for about $300. Get a 48v controller and then run a 52v battery, this will get you more speed and more range. Unless you need the extra torque of a midrive, Hubdrives are simple and reliable for a first ebike build. Downside of hub drives are less torque and more weight, but they are very energy efficient at higher speeds. I think 1000w motor with a 52v 13ah battery is a pretty sweet setup for cruising around town.

I dont look for speed... my rides are calm and not in town as i said. For less than 300€ i buy the tongsheng mid motor.
The midmotor isn´t more eficient them hub motor for what i want?
 
Fernando Florentino said:
I dont look for speed... my rides are calm and not in town as i said. For less than 300€ i buy the tongsheng mid motor.
The midmotor isn´t more eficient them hub motor for what i want?

Any other considerations, like noise? I like that ebikes can be silent, and although I may build a mid drive bike someday, it would likely be a BBSXX motor (not sure BBS02 or BBSHD) because it's the quietest option for DIY mid drives.

I prefer my direct drive hub, since it's the ultimate if you want silent, and you're lazy and don't want to do any maintenance, or any shifting when riding. Charge, and change the tires once in a while. I haven't changed by brake pads yet after about three thousand miles, since I use regen. I may have lubed the chain two years ago, but can't remember. My maintenance schedule is checking the air pressure every two months, and checking the axle nuts about once a week (only for safety; they never need tightening). I grew out of manual shifting cars about 20 years ago, opting for less work - more motor, so a hub motor was an easy transition, following the same philosophy. Motorcycles are another story, not many options there.
 
E-HP said:
Fernando Florentino said:
I dont look for speed... my rides are calm and not in town as i said. For less than 300€ i buy the tongsheng mid motor.
The midmotor isn´t more eficient them hub motor for what i want?

Any other considerations, like noise? I like that ebikes can be silent, and although I may build a mid drive bike someday, it would likely be a BBSXX motor (not sure BBS02 or BBSHD) because it's the quietest option for DIY mid drives.

I prefer my direct drive hub, since it's the ultimate if you want silent, and you're lazy and don't want to do any maintenance, or any shifting when riding. Charge, and change the tires once in a while. I haven't changed by brake pads yet after about three thousand miles, since I use regen. I may have lubed the chain two years ago, but can't remember. My maintenance schedule is checking the air pressure every two months, and checking the axle nuts about once a week (only for safety; they never need tightening). I grew out of manual shifting cars about 20 years ago, opting for less work - more motor, so a hub motor was an easy transition, following the same philosophy. Motorcycles are another story, not many options there.

That kind of noise is an issue that i never experince in a non E-bicycle eheh...
By the reviews i have seen both Bafang and Tongsheng midmotors are quiter.
 
How frequently do you do chain maintenance or replace your gears? I ask, because bike chains and gears are built for human power levels (maxing at ~160w) and mid-drive enthusiasts don't talk much about having to replace their drivetrain far more frequently (especially the Cyclone guys, 3000w through bike parts means some are blasting chains every few months!). They're also far more difficult to exchange in a bike, since you need to pull the bottom bracket and make sure you're gearline is true.

That, coupled with the flatter terrain you have, I'd second a hubmotor for your first ebike. You'll easily be able to pop one in without screwing with the lower brackets and it'll let you play with interesting things like Regen and the like.
 
I use a direct drive, too, and it's a simple, very trouble free option. But for someone looking for a more ordinary bicycling experience, I think I would have to consider a geared hub, rather than direct drive. I think it's a little more efficient at lower speeds, but the main thing is that it doesn't cost anything when you aren't using it, because the internal gearing comes with a freewheel, so it just coasts along.

Where a direct drive will be running against its motor coils and there's some "core loss" that slows you down. I am under power almost all the time, so it's fine for me, and if you want to use a direct drive (for example because you love regenerative braking) there are ways to draw just enough battery current to keep it happy, but the simplest thing is a geared hub that doesn't need that.

Hub drives are simpler for the garage builder to install (or remove), and they don't have any potential mess up your drive train (chain, sprockets etc.) As long as your rear dropouts are wide enough to accommodate the hub. Just put on the torque clamps that come with the kit, to keep the dropouts from getting too much exercise. There's an advantage in principle to a crank drive, because the bicycle's geared drive train can put the motor into an efficient RPM range at whatever speed or grade -- but people make way too much of it. Electric motors have a far wider efficient speed range than internal combustion motors, and in ordinary bicycling situations a single speed will do quite all right.

Sintra, you say? that's all hills, isn't it - but the hills are short? Motors can get very hot and fail, when pushed very hard, but it takes time, and usually the hill will be over long before the hub gets into trouble.

I'm very close to a possible move to Pombal, myself. I'll be interested to know more about the legal situation for ebikes in Portugal, but I suppose it's like here - the rules may not matter so much, if the authorities aren't troubled by what they see, and I can't imagine they will see anything to be concerned about in your setup.
 
Save a lot of money on brake pads using direct drive hub motor with e-brake low and high, or regen braking, my generic controller does not have regen, but it does have electrical motor-brakes and I have saved a ton of money on brake pads. If you have disk brakes, you will save even more money because I have never seen disk pads that are as cheap as v-brake pads. Years past, I would only have one brake and it was either the front or back which ever was easiest to install. With e-brake, yu only really only ever use your actual brake pads for the last 5 feet of stopping power where the e-brake does not have enough power to help stop the motor. You need a certain speed for the e-brake to kick in, you basically do not feel much of anything for braking power on e-brake at slow speeds. Then there are all the other pro's and con's of dd hub vs geared.

Without e-brake, using rim brake, cheap $4 N49 pads will last a month or two tops. No pads seemed to get beyond that with me. Maybe the $20 Salmon colored Kool Stop pads would last 4-6 months of the same riding but I have never tested things out beyond that.
 
calab said:
Save a lot of money on brake pads using direct drive hub motor with e-brake low and high, or regen braking,

A lot? I don't replace brake pads even once a year, and I'm a super heavyweight. How much expense do you think is at stake? For me, not nearly enough to consider reducing the dependability of my brakes.
 
Ebike92119 said:
I personally use direct drive hub motors, you can get a kit without a battery for about $300. Get a 48v controller and then run a 52v battery, this will get you more speed and more range. Unless you need the extra torque of a midrive, Hubdrives are simple and reliable for a first ebike build. Downside of hub drives are less torque and more weight, but they are very energy efficient at higher speeds. I think 1000w motor with a 52v 13ah battery is a pretty sweet setup for cruising around town.

Personally I think this ^ sums it up well and is the way my "guest" ebike is set up. But, I run a BBHSD on my main ebike, a country cruiser, and do suffer higher drive train wear. But a chain and freewheel are pretty cheap on the scheme of things.

One thing to mention is that if you want a silent hub drive be sure to get a sine-wave controller. Square-wave controllers are cheaper and more plentiful (at the cheaper price points) but you'll get substantially more noise (singing) out of the motor (hub or mid).
 
Hello Fernando and Best of Luck to you !
You're bike looks good with disk brakes because you'll be going fast.
I love my Bafang BBS02 @ 52Volts will not trust a rotating static ( that is dynamic) strain gauge in Tongshen because:
It will fail. The SG is a zig zaggy delicate wire that breaks especially when rotated.
Bafang works every day for years, buddy.
MV.
Ed:. Mid drive rules.( controller is miniaturized & built-in)
With your bicycle's drive train there will be a mid drive setting to maximize your personal riding style and home terrain.
You're on the right path. Go. Fernando.

Fernando Florentino said:
Hello everybody,
I'm new here, I'm from Portugal, Sintra and I have a Riverside 500 decathlon bike where I want to assemble a motor+battery kit.
The bike is of treking type, aluminum frame, 700C wheels, without suspensions, with mechanical disc brakes.
Doubts are many...
From what I've read I think I prefer a mid-engine, Bafang or Tongsheng... which one? And what battery?

I currently use it for trekking, on secondary roads, cycle paths and off-road paths that are not too irregular, flat and some hills under 25% grade.
Rides of approximately 30 to 50 kms at an approximate average of 16 kms/h

I'm 56 years old, I've always ridden a bike since I was a child, I've done a lot of mountain biking but now my back asks me for smoother terrain eheh.
I look for extra help on the pedals to make my rides without so much effort when those longer and steeper climbs appear and when I have the wind head on...

I weigh 72kgs and measure 179mts. I think I can do all the assembly of the kit myself.

Budget around 600€
 
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