eZee kit vs. Crystalyte kit

I am new to the forum and to electric bikes. If this post is not in the correct place, please let me know. I commute 10 miles to work. It is downhill most of the way there is 3 miles of steep uphill on the way back. I weigh 175 lbs, am in good shape, but don't always want to fight the hills on the way home or just want to get home faster for some reason. I have a 27lb Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike with 26" wheels that I commute on.

After a few weeks of research on the Internet, I am looking at three main options:

1) eZee Kit with the 36V 10Ah Lithion Ion $1250
http://www.ebikes.ca/ezee/

2) Crystalyte Kit with the 36V 10Ah battery $700
http://www.ativsolutions.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ASL&Product_Code=CCS&Category_Code=EBCKW

3) Crystalyte Kit with the 48V 13Ah battery $1150
http://www.ativsolutions.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ASL&Product_Code=CCS&Category_Code=EBCKW

I am leaning towards the eZee kit because the geared motor appears to be more efficient on the hills and the weight of the kit is less, about 19lbs. I am worried that the 36V Crystalyte kit would not have the power for the hills. My guess is the 48V Crystalyte kit would be ok on the hills but with the bike would weigh 70lbs. I would also like to have enough range to run a few extra miles to the store on the way home if needed.

Your input and suggestions on the positives and negatives of the kits would be appreciated.

Randy

I have them both.. and for your description of " requirements " .. you will likely be a happy camper with the eZee.. ! ( costs a bit more initially but the 10 ah lithium and geared motor are a great lightweight combo !! )

If you were planning to hot-rod your bike with high voltage and blast along at 40 mph.. i'd say go crystalyte. but for decent range at reasonable speeds.. ezee is good ! ( plus get one with the CA meter !! )

I'm in the same situation - but I had a X503 at 36v (great combo for me!) and 408 at 72v (Also a great combo).
I want to try a geared motor, and based on your options you listed - I would without doubt go for
eZee Kit with the 36V 10Ah Lion

Nog

Thanks Ypedal and Nog. Your comments were helpful. I ordered the eZee kit.

RR

Here is a brief review of the eZee kit from my perspective (a complete novice with electric bikes, limited mechanical skills and electrical knowledge ) now that it has arrived. It took just 4 days to receive the box from the The Renaissance Bicycle Company in Vancouver, BC in Spokane, Washington.

The kit came complete with all the needed parts. I printed the installation and user guides from http://www.ebikes.ca/ezee/. It took me about 3 hours to install the kit on the Specialize Rockhopper. The hardest part was filing the fork from 9mm to 10mm to fit the axle. It took about 45 minutes as I did not want to overfile.

The battery charged in about 5 to 6 hours which is what the instructions said. I took it out for the first test ride today, the 4th of July. It is 70 degrees out. It works great on the hilly gravel roads around my house. The long steep hills on my commute to work are the reason I went with a hub motor with gears. I am glad I added the Cycle Analyst to the package which shows information about the amount of power you are using and have left in the battery to use.

The bike definitely feels heavier with the kit added, but it feels balance front and back between the hub motor in front and battery in back. The bike weighed 27 lbs before the kit and 48 once it had been installed. That includes the rear rack I purchased to mount the battery. The 21 lbs added are more noticeable when carrying the bike than when pedalling, at least the 3 miles I have gone so far.

I did not have to add much throttle to make it up shorter hills. I was able to use a much higher gear than I would have without the kit and keep the pace up. The Cycle Analyst shows the Watts you are using which can quickly run over 600 but I normally needed less than 200 to flatten out the hill and make it seem like pedalling on the flat.

The one down side so far is the controller. It works for about 2 minutes, then stops and you have no power. The red light on the controller alternates flashing 2x then 3x. The controller will start running again for a couple minutes after it is shut off for one minute. One call to the Renaissance Bicycle Company and they are express shipping a new controller out. I will post an update once it is received. In the mean time, I will be out riding and feeling like Lance Armstrong in the TDF for 2 minutes at a time until the controller needs a rest.

Your bike probably would have been 70 pounds with the Crystalite kit, so the 48 pound weight is actually light for a 36V e-bike. Its funny, now after I have been on my e-bike, when I grab a normal bike, it feels like it weighs about 15 pounds.

Let us know your range when you got a working controller. I am building a similar bike right now out of a Trek 950 steel mountain bike, with a BMC geared hub on the rear and a 36V10.5AH LIPO battery from ebike.ca in a frame pack up near the front. Should also be about 47 pounds total and have a nice weight balance. In order to have anything lighter, you'd have to start with a very lightweight bike, ( I looked at the Motobecane Fly at 21.7 pounds) which is kind of a waste of money for an e-bike conversion I suppose. Unless you have to carry it a lot up stairs. I still think it would be cool to have an ebike come in under 40 pounds though, and you probably could do it with the bike in the link below . No money left for the e-bike kit though!

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/fly_pro_09.htm

If you are placing the controller inside the battery bag, try to zip tie it to the frame instead in nice airflow.. if you are in hot weather land.. it might be just overheating and shutting down until it cools off type thing.

I have an ezee kit in the mail as of today for a local customer.. they are definately lighter than a crystalyte kit !

andys that is a beautiful Motobecane mountain bike at 21.7 lbs. I can see that it is never too early to start thinking about your next e-bike.

One of the nice things about my current e-bike is that it looks like something out of the movie Road Warrior and hopefully will attract less attention.

ypedal, you were correct regarding putting the controller on the outside, it helped, a little, but it did not solve the problem. It is warm, 70 degrees, but not that how out yet. Must be somehow related to heat though.

my Trek 950 is very similar to your bike. It has a wrong colored front fork that adds to the built-out-of-spare-parts nothing-to -steal-here look.

I just got one of these nitrogas seatpost shocks for the bike, as you spend more time seated in an ebike than a human powered one, and you also go faster which makes bumps feel bigger.

http://www.nitropro.com/index.htm

and it almost gives the feel of a full suspension bike. they custom build them for your weight and riding habits. Its the only one on the market that uses a real gas cartridge, and the ride quality is impressive. It does not bounce you out of the seat like someother posts I tried.

To follow up, the replacement controller arrived on 7/14 and I installed it that night. It has worked great, no problems with cutting out.

Riding the bike with the eZee kit installed to work each day this week (3 days so far) has shown me that it can handle the hills on my route to and from work. I was worried as they average 5-6% grade and one is about a mile long with some parts that are steeper. I still pedal, but it is as if I am riding on flat ground.

I do want to look at a better way to mount the battery. Hanging it off the rack on the back, it tends to bounce around when I go over bumps even though it is secured about as well as possible. I was not sure that I would like the throttle but it has been easy to use as I got used to it.

I am wondering if anyone can tell me if it makes any difference in the life of the battery if I charge it once I get to work for the ride home or if I wait and only charge it when I get back home. In other words, is there any affect on battery life charging it once a day for longer or twice per day for shorter periods? I believe it would make it there and back on one charge.

Thanks andys for the information on the nitrogas seatpost shocks. It looks better and better with every bump I hit.

Glad to see you are up and running and enjoying your e-bike.
As far at the seatpost shock, you spend more time down on the seat of an e-bike than a human powered one, and bumps at 20 MPH feel much worse than ones at 13mph. I still may end up trying to find a full suspension bike frame that I can fit a battery on the frame, as the difference of having real travel on the rear wheel is substantial. the Nitro seatpost comes the closest of anything I have tried to simulating that smoothness over bumps, but it still can't compare to a real full suspension back end.

rrudin said:

I am wondering if anyone can tell me if it makes any difference in the life of the battery if I charge it once I get to work for the ride home or if I wait and only charge it when I get back home. In other words, is there any affect on battery life charging it once a day for longer or twice per day for shorter periods? I believe it would make it there and back on one charge.

Click to expand...

I wondered the same thing and was told that unless the chemistry is SLA the batts don't really care about being in a state of discharge - unless it's too deep of course. I have a very skewed commute... out of 5.2 useable amp hours I use between 3 - 4ah in the morning ("up") and < .5ah on the way home ("down") and just charge once a night. No issues so far at 400+ miles in the last month.

it depends on the battery.
SLA - charge imediatly after use.
Lipo (Lithium Cobalt, or Li-Mn-Co) - these prefer to be stored at half charge, so its ok to leave them partialy charged untill needed.
Everything else - charge when its convienient.

Hi Randy,

My first ebike has an eZee front hub kit with 36V 10Ah LiMn battery. I am very impressed with the balance of this kit in terms of how well the motor, battery, and controller match up and function together with high efficiency. It all works very well.

However, like you, I don't like the way the battery is mounted. Hanging the battery+controller "pannier" off the side of my rear rack made things a bit lopsided and handling was a bit squirrely. I have since placed the battery "pannier" lying flat on top of and centered on my rear rack. I put a bit of foam on the now bottom side within the pannier to cushion the battery box (and exposed fuse holder cap) against hard jounces. The whole assembly is held in place by two bungie cords that hold it down on the rack. The switch and charger port face upward in this configuration and are toward the front.

The only downside is that the flap that covers the battery switch now lies flat instead of hanging downward and doesn't protect the switch as well from falling rain. No problems so far though.

Since the battery+controller package now rest on top of the rack I am able to hang a pair of matched panniers on either side of the rear rack. I don't miss the space lost to the batteries on top of the rack.

-- Joey

rrudin said:

I do want to look at a better way to mount the battery. Hanging it off the rack on the back, it tends to bounce around when I go over bumps even though it is secured about as well as possible. I was not sure that I would like the throttle but it has been easy to use as I got used to it.

Click to expand...

I've found the battery pannier that came with my kit very good after a couple of cusomisations.

http://www.currietech.com.au/EVS EVO Conversion Kit.shtml?openmenu=11+5

I cut a rectangle of closed cell foam (sleeping mat) to take up some of the shock. I then modified the 6 small velcro tabs a little to make it easier to get some tension on them. These really only hold the pannier in position. It's held down by a wide velcro strap with a metal d ring sewed to one end. This is quick and easy to get on & off & it's no problem to pull it really tight. You can see it clearly in the pic of the dual suspension MTB. The other great things with this pannier are the vented zip up compartment at the front for the controller, the zip up compartment on the back for house keys or whatever and the keyed 'ignition' switch sewn into the side of the bag.

All in all it's a very neat solution for stealthy bikes and easy enough to modify an existing pannier to achieve a similar result if you're friendly with someone who can operate a sewing machine. - a shoe repair place would be able to stitch on some kind of vented compartment up front etc.