Bike selection for ebike kit.

Hello,

I have a lot of difficulty in selecting a donor bike for modification into an ebike. I currently don't have any suitable bike for transformation.

I am looking to get a 9C, 2806 or 2807 in rear for disc brake compatibility with a ping probably 36v 15A. This is going to be my daily commute bike for the summer time in canada, not ride in heavy rain nor winter. I plan on not pedalling except after a complete stop to start. I just want a comfortable ride that will be secure with the minimum amount of maintenance.

I need a frame suitable for this setup. I like the cruiser style frame seem very comfortable, but I haven't found many with disc brakes. Also, I dont mind if this is a single speed bike, however, there doesn't seem to be an option for less then a 5 speed rear wheel.

From what I understand a steel frame or chro-moly is ideal. front suspension and thudbuster are good for your but also fat tire like fat frank or hookworm helps, probably a comfortable saddle too.

Options I am considering but can't decide on what is best.

1- Cheap full suspension bike like a mongoose with disc brake, suspension may not be the best, neither the disc brakes. Don't know about experience from other e-bike users about if this should be avoided.

2- Cheap hard tail bike, put new suspension, thudbuster, saddle, ... basically rebuilt the bike. or even buy a frame a built a bike from it.

3- Decent quality cruiser style bike, however, no disc brake, and suspension may not be installable, however cool looking bike.

4- mediocre quality hard tail with suspension and disc brake, however this may be harder to find with a steel frame.

5- Used bike of any of the above. However, bike sales are starting since the season is pretty much over in Canada.

I put about 3000 miles on the cheaper ($150) mongoose FS bikes when I started. Better than no suspension for sure, but no comparison to what I ride now.

But in the lower price ranges, under $500, my best recomendations are the Mongoose Blackcomb FS, and the Trek 820 with hardtail and front shocks. Both in the $300 or so range, but maybe you can find used ones cheaper. The trek has steel front forks and steel frame, but I think it's rim brakes. The blackcomb has an alloy front shock that is a bit better than the trek, and a very very nice rear suspension setup that is still steel. So perfect for a rear hub, and it's disk or rim brakes. The blackcomb has a very very strong frame which is great, a nice ride which is great, but no frame space to carry a big battery. So this bike works best with a lipo battery setup, that is many smaller packs that can be attached to boxes on the frame.

If your ride is under 8 miles, the trek will serve you very well. But for a 15 mile ride one way that I do, I just love full suspension.

Speed(voltage) and weight(batteries) - probably the main qualification to make to avoid comparing apples/oranges.

Planning for 36V is no speedster so if your intended roads aren't too rough while planning under 5 miles each way a strong simple cruiser (use Schwalbe Big Apple tires) might be all you need.

+48V coupled with longer routes you should probably start with suspension bikes. I'm totally with Dogman suggestions - my commuter is an old steel Mongoose like his 1st one. Crap suspension but it still helps and since I run Lipo, I'm fine without a triangle frame.

But I also have a grocery/girl-getter cruiser running 36V on front hub. It's "legal" and best for my local errands. It can perform my normal commute too but not nearly as quickly, safely or efficiently as my Mongoose FS.

The beauty of rolling your own is that you really can't go wrong with any attempt. Once you go down this road you'll probably do another and another until you have all the bases pretty much covered. You have been warned, LOL...

Well,

Street legal here is 32 km/h, meaning 20 MPH. I plan on putting a rack in the rear for simplicity. I still on the fence whether it will be street legal, but it probably will... Can controller put a maximum speed on a higher voltage setup (better acceleration)?

The page I found on the moongoose blackcomb says it as an aluminium frame. Is the moongoose XR comp a significant upgrade on this bike?

For a more expensive bike what would you recommend? I was about to plunk 2300$ for a Pedego interceptor. If I could have it right the first time it would be ideal.

Also, the disc brake on the mongoose are mechanical disc an not hydrolic disk, which If I understand what was said on the thread on this subject doesn't give much advantage over rim brakes (v-brakes).

kafka-cloud, the Blackcomb is a great ride. I have a 9c rear on it with 48v and it does 29mph unassisted. As for the rear brakes, not too good stock. I put rim brakes on the rear with a 8" front rotor. Now it stops! As for the aluminum frame, it's great, rear suspension is steel and very nice as Dogman says. the Blackcomb is my most comfortable ride. Lots of suspension front and rear.I can't comment on the other bike you are considering but at that price it must be a good bike for the project.
Dan

I may actually plunge and get an Electra Townie, install my own disc brake and get a suspension fork. ( an eventually get a thudbuster on top. That should comfy enough. I would probably but a 48v 9c 2806 rear with speed limited to 32km/h for more torque and better acceleration.

I am still working out the legal wrinkle in my region in Canada and my commute would include two different provinces, can we build our own electric bike and go on the street? I emailed transport canada with some questions since they require us to have a sticker affixed by the manufacturer stating it is a power assisted bicycle. If I install it, does it make me a manufacturer =)!!!

cheers

If your speed limiting it anyways, why go with the 06? Go with the slower wound 07. As far as legality, technically you are limited to both 32km/hr and maximum 500 watts. However 500 is pretty pathetic. Will barely climb hills. So long as you stick to the speed limit part though, no cop will be able to tell how much power you are running.

Yup, go with the slower wind. Too bad the 2810 (6x10) is not avaliable anymore. I find it perfect, at 1000 watts its got plenty of power, but 21mph is the top speed at 48v. Few cops care about watts if you are slowish. But it will climb a wall.

I meant the 2807. Well I'll see if ebike.ca gets more rear 2807 before next spring. planning on taking all winter to finish bike. And wait for sales in the next months before the winter for a bike and bike gear. 500w is probably sufficient in my case, Should propel my bike on a couple of long low gradient hills when coming back home and take about 30 minutes includings stops and light to get to work and park in the interior garage(without paying a dime =) 11 km ride.

I was told the cycle analyst may be used to block speed at a certain maximum.

As for a maximum speed, I would like to have this bike has legal as it can be. Since, I only saw 2 ebikes on the road this year, police may be more then willing to stop and check by curiosity. Also my commute would bring me in close proximity of a high number of polices, Canada Parliament, supreme court of canada... Last thing I want is for my bike to seized and given a massive fine for driving a motor vehicule without proper registration. These may in the 1000$. Also since in am in a field related to law, it would look pretty bad.

cheers

Cruiser style bikes are cool but a PITA to make right.I built one and the biggest problem was mounting a front brake.The coaster brake with the big fat tire stops ok for 99% of the time but that other 1% you'll need a front brake.

I would go in another direction if you're gunna use it for commuting.I just use mine to fart around town.
DON

Revisiting the blackcomb. Yes it's a cheap bike. So it will have fairly cheezy stuff on it, like the rear shock, and the mechanical disk brakes. But having disk brake mounts, means you get a choice. You can upgrade to decent disk brakes, can't if the mounts aren't there. If you like rim brakes, the bosses are there for that too. Same for the rear shock, and the entire front fork. Easy to throw money at to improve.

But the key thing is that the blackcomb has a nice stout frame, and STEEL REAR DROPOUTS. So if you want to really power up, you can weld all you want on it.

But back to what you will be doing. keeping it legal, you won't need fantastic brakes, or maybe even suspension. Going slower, some good balloon tires are all the spring you need, and some simple v brakes will be fine. So pick out a bike you like, that fits you. It will not be a problem whether the frame is steel or aluminum when using lower power levels. The comfort bikes, that have 7 speed derailurs are all very good choices, and will have front and rear brakes. The ride will be very similar to a beach cruiser. Lot's of people really like the townie.

I probably either select the townie with front suspension or add a suspension to mount a disc brake. That way, no problems with the fatest tire the bike can handle