Please recommend a high-powered e-bike

M

minime

100 mW
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
43
Location
Hull, UK
Hello everyone

I am looking to buy a new e-bike and would like your advice.

I live in the UK and I recently purchased my first, road-legal e-bike, a Cyclamatic CX1 (250w motor, 36v/8.8Ah battery) for 450 GBP from thesportshq.com. I find the Cyclamatic lacking in many ways and would like to get a new e-bike that meets the following requirements:

1. Bike type: Mountain
2. Max speed: at least 25mph (I intend to restrict the top speed to 20-25mph but I might destrict it from time to time)
3. Max Range: the greater, the better
4. Torque: the greater, the better
5. Budget: 1500 GBP (at most)
6. Rider size: I weigh 165 pounds at 5' 11" and usually carry a 10-20 pound backpack.
7. Terrain: mostly flat roads with asphalt
8. Waterproof (even though I'll avoid riding it in the rain).
9. Frame size: 18" - 20"

Thanks
 
Most of your questions are answered here.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
 
1500 GBP?

Build it yourself. I recommend a sinewave controller, leafmotor, full susp mountain bike and either spot welding a battery yourself or buying one from a forum member.
 
wesnewell said:
Most of your questions are answered here.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
Click to expand...
No, they are not. In fact, I structured my post based on the instructions of the first post in the thread you quoted.
 
flat tire said:
1500 GBP?

Build it yourself. I recommend a sinewave controller, leafmotor, full susp mountain bike and either spot welding a battery yourself or buying one from a forum member.
Click to expand...
GBP = Great Britain pounds (currency)

I'd rather not build the bike myself if I can avoid it. It'd rather pay 200-300 GBP more and get an off-the-shelf bike with warranty.
 
I know what it means. And you won't pay 200-300 more you'll pay out the ass for a new bike someone else puts together. There's no two ways about it. Your budget can get you a badass bike IF you manage to find one used or you put it together yourself based on a used bicycle. That's it, otherwise you'll buy new and be quite disappointed with where that money got you.
 
flat tire said:
I know what it means. And you won't pay 200-300 more you'll pay out the ass for a new bike someone else puts together. There's no two ways about it. Your budget can get you a badass bike IF you manage to find one used or you put it together yourself based on a used bicycle. That's it, otherwise you'll buy new and be quite disappointed with where that money got you.
Click to expand...
How about the Pedalease 1500w https://pedalease.co.uk/index.php?rt=product/product&path=70&product_id=13172396 ?
Or thesmallgreenroom's bikes https://www.thesmallgreenroom.com/high-performance-electric-bikes ?
 
OK, those bikes at least will be fun to ride and you won't have to pedal, but you could do better performance wise and frame wise if you built it yourself.

Here are the problems:
--No full suspension
--Decent battery capacity, but power is limited beyond what it would be with a better motor / controller / cell type due to deficiencies in those areas
--No full suspension (this can't be overemphasized...if you're riding a ebike in the real world you need full suspension. my first ebike was hardtail and only went like 45...it still SUCKED majorly compared to even a 4" travel build)
 
flat tire said:
OK, those bikes at least will be fun to ride and you won't have to pedal, but you could do better performance wise and frame wise if you built it yourself.

Here are the problems:
--No full suspension
--Decent battery capacity, but power is limited beyond what it would be with a better motor / controller / cell type due to deficiencies in those areas
--No full suspension (this can't be overemphasized...if you're riding a ebike in the real world you need full suspension. my first ebike was hardtail and only went like 45...it still SUCKED majorly compared to even a 4" travel build)
Click to expand...
From what I understand, if I want to place a physically large, triangularly-shaped battery between the rider's legs, then I can't have full suspension. Only front wheel and seat suspensions.

Also, I don't have a clue about how to build an e-bike so I'd rather not experiment.
 
It's plug and play, but all right...let's say you can't.

Also, you can mount your battery on top of the top tube. That is extremely easy and what I've done. Also, the last guy who posted is right. You're building a really low power e-bike.

The saddest thing is that given your budget, you actually COULD build a badass bike that doubles as a weapon to the uninformed...IF some braincells and a small exposure to this site's vast repository of information were involved.

Look, if you don't want to put brainpower or effort into this, or pay a lot of money, you'll get a crappy bike. That's the state of the market. How many more different ways can can this be said?
 
flat tire said:
It's plug and play, but all right...let's say you can't.

Also, you can mount your battery on top of the top tube. That is extremely easy and what I've done. Also, the last guy who posted is right. You're building a really low power e-bike.

The saddest thing is that given your budget, you actually COULD build a badass bike that doubles as a weapon to the uninformed...IF some braincells and a small exposure to this site's vast repository of information were involved.

Look, if you don't want to put brainpower or effort into this, or pay a lot of money, you'll get a crappy bike. That's the state of the market. How many more different ways can can this be said?
Click to expand...
Badass in what way? Could you elaborate?

My main concern with building an e-bike myself is component suitability, compatibility, bike assembly and quality control.
 
Okay you want off the shelf and you're in the UK with 1,500 of the queens currency.
That is not going to happen, you'll need to do at least a bit yourself.
What you CAN do is nuts and bolts, what you don't want to do is welding/soldering/pins/plugs/wiring.
A rear shock adds complexity for your battery, complexity adds expense. Go FatBike for comfort but ease of conversion.
You're sick of 250watts so realistically you want 2,500w to make having an eBike worthwhile.
Look around for a bargain FatBike (new, or barely used) and spend the rest mainly on your battery.
 
http://www.elektrofahrrad-einfach.de/products/Elektrofahrraeder/Wheeler-E-Allterra-Speed-S-Pedelec-2015.html

Sadly not available anymore but within your budget, Maybe you can find something similar.

BionX 500HS has quite low torque but is very fast, especially with a 48V BionX battery. 60km/h+ should be possible for short periods.

Add a second console and within 3 seconds you can decide between a slow and a high Speed Version. Both are not street legal because the Motor is labeled as 500W. BionX motors use 48V 30A Controllers, so real Maximum power is higher, but at Maximum power the motors get hot very quickly.
It's street legal in Germany as a 45km/h speed pedelec with proper insurance, but you don't have legal speed pedelcs in UK, do you?

A larger battery in addidition to the Standard battery is added easily to BionX Systems at the BAAS connector next to the motor. But voltage and polarity must be correct when conecting it and you need two chargers for two batteries!

---

PS: Of course vou can e-ride such a bike during rain, too.

---

If you can find a moderatly cheap 27,5" MTB you could try this one:

http://www.elektrofahrrad-einfach.de/products/bionx/BionX-D250-DV.html

It's easy to attach, maybe 1-2 hours of work.

The d-Motor has lots of torque (50Nm) and rides up to ca. 50km/h, the battery is 48V 11,6Ah and should be large enough for 30-40km riding fast...

You need someone with the Software tools to modify the top speed limiter and maybe add a throttle, too...
 
Cephalotus said:
http://www.elektrofahrrad-einfach.de/products/Elektrofahrraeder/Wheeler-E-Allterra-Speed-S-Pedelec-2015.html

Sadly not available anymore but within your budget, Maybe you can find something similar.

BionX 500HS has quite low torque but is very fast, especially with a 48V BionX battery. 60km/h+ should be possible for short periods.

Add a second console and within 3 seconds you can decide between a slow and a high Speed Version. Both are not street legal because the Motor is labeled as 500W. BionX motors use 48V 30A Controllers, so real Maximum power is higher, but at Maximum power the motors get hot very quickly.
It's street legal in Germany as a 45km/h speed pedelec with proper insurance, but you don't have legal speed pedelcs in UK, do you?

A larger battery in addidition to the Standard battery is added easily to BionX Systems at the BAAS connector next to the motor. But voltage and polarity must be correct when conecting it and you need two chargers for two batteries!

---

PS: Of course vou can e-ride such a bike during rain, too.

---

If you can find a moderatly cheap 27,5" MTB you could try this one:

http://www.elektrofahrrad-einfach.de/products/bionx/BionX-D250-DV.html

It's easy to attach, maybe 1-2 hours of work.

The d-Motor has lots of torque (50Nm) and rides up to ca. 50km/h, the battery is 48V 11,6Ah and should be large enough for 30-40km riding fast...

You need someone with the Software tools to modify the top speed limiter and maybe add a throttle, too...
Click to expand...
The company "thesmallgreenroom" offers a VooDoo HooDoo 1500w bike withat a 52v/20Ah battery for 1400GBP. Isn't that a better deal than a 500watt bike?
 
minime said:
wesnewell said:
Most of your questions are answered here.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
Click to expand...
No, they are not. In fact, I structured my post based on the instructions of the first post in the thread you quoted.
Click to expand...
Yet, you can't seem to follow the most basic instruction of adding your location to your profile. I think it took me about 2 hours to build my first ebike after ordering a kit to go on my bike. You have modest request. Any of the 48V 1000W motor kits will do what you want.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=48v%201000w%20rear&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1&_trksid=p2045573.m1684
 
wesnewell said:
minime said:
wesnewell said:
Most of your questions are answered here.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
Click to expand...
No, they are not. In fact, I structured my post based on the instructions of the first post in the thread you quoted.
Click to expand...
Yet, you can't seem to follow the most basic instruction of adding your location to your profile. I think it took me about 2 hours to build my first ebike after ordering a kit to go on my bike. You have modest request. Any of the 48V 1000W motor kits will do what you want.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=48v%201000w%20rear&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1&_trksid=p2045573.m1684
Click to expand...
My location is in my original post but I updated my profile all the same.
 
The dude weighs 165 and carries a backpack AND is going to every effort to add "crappy (heavy) bicycle" to the list of problems. He needs at least 5KW for the thing to accelerate with some authority.
 
minime said:
The company "thesmallgreenroom" offers a VooDoo HooDoo 1500w bike withat a 52v/20Ah battery for 1400GBP. Isn't that a better deal than a 500watt bike?
Click to expand...

For me 500W is plenty to ride 25mph, if you pedal and drive an efficient bike. I prefer a good bicycle and a good drive system over some "Walmart"-bike with a Chinese xxxx Watt motor, but the thread opwer has to decide for himself. I wouldn't drive 50% of all bikes shown on ES because I would be afraid that they would brake while riding them or their batteries would ignite sooner or later, but this is just me...

The Voodo hoodo seems to have a super cheap Shimano Altus 27 drive with to low gearing to pedal at higher speeds. They have unspecified Shimano disc brakes, I assume the cheapest crap available. There is no lights, no rack, no fenders, things that are quite important for me for a daily commute.
No specification on the battery either. How does it look like, which cells are used, etc...

But if you are ok with that, why not?

In my country there is also the "problem" with street legality. Afaik it doesn't matter in the UK, because everything above 25km/h is not legal, but we have the option to drive s-Pedelecs at 45km/h legally. If you have 1 million in cash to pay after you hurt someone in an accident riding an uninsured motorcycle this could be an option, too. For me it isn't.

500W on BionX is only the sticker, all recent BionX motors have 48V 30A controllers inside, also those with 250W stickers. Of course this is only peak power, they will get hot quickly at their peak power...

Using the BionX d-Motor I can ride 25mph even on a +5% grade. For me this is plenty of power on a bicycle.

If I want to drive 250km/h I take a car.
 
Cephalotus said:
minime said:
The company "thesmallgreenroom" offers a VooDoo HooDoo 1500w bike withat a 52v/20Ah battery for 1400GBP. Isn't that a better deal than a 500watt bike?
Click to expand...

For me 500W is plenty to ride 25mph, if you pedal and drive an efficient bike. I prefer a good bicycle and a good drive system over some "Walmart"-bike with a Chinese xxxx Watt motor, but the thread opwer has to decide for himself. I wouldn't drive 50% of all bikes shown on ES because I would be afraid that they would brake while riding them or their batteries would ignite sooner or later, but this is just me...

The Voodo hoodo seems to have a super cheap Shimano Altus 27 drive with to low gearing to pedal at higher speeds. They have unspecified Shimano disc brakes, I assume the cheapest crap available. There is no lights, no rack, no fenders, things that are quite important for me for a daily commute.
No specification on the battery either. How does it look like, which cells are used, etc...

But if you are ok with that, why not?

In my country there is also the "problem" with street legality. Afaik it doesn't matter in the UK, because everything above 25km/h is not legal, but we have the option to drive s-Pedelecs at 45km/h legally. If you have 1 million in cash to pay after you hurt someone in an accident riding an uninsured motorcycle this could be an option, too. For me it isn't.

500W on BionX is only the sticker, all recent BionX motors have 48V 30A controllers inside, also those with 250W stickers. Of course this is only peak power, they will get hot quickly at their peak power...

Using the BionX d-Motor I can ride 25mph even on a +5% grade. For me this is plenty of power on a bicycle.

If I want to drive 250km/h I take a car.
Click to expand...
According to their ebay listing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voodoo-Ba...ah-Battery-Offer-50-Off-Free-Del/222410408271, they use high ah rated Panasonic Lithium cells and Tektro hydraulic disc brakes.
 
Well, they don't tell you what the actual parts are so that speaks volumes. Those are not going to be good cells, they're going to be cheap cells and may well be counterfeit.

Also, in case it's not clear, you may pay GBP 1500 but you might only getting around GBP 750 of bike on average I mean these guys have to make a profit. If you spend a couple weeks on here, and exercise that brain of yours, you can recoup the extra GBP 750 and add it to your build, and profit. And of course the money isn't meaningless to you, don't say you can just afford it, or you would have a bigger budget and already have bought a Stealth B-52 or whatever the hot ready-made ebike is these days.

Also let's look at it like this, you can get the drivetrain kit and battery you want for 900 quid off ebay, that leaves a bike.... for 600 quid I don't think, I KNOW you can find a ride off craigslist that's 10x as nice as the piece of shit they give you with the ready-made ebike.
 
flat tire said:
Well, they don't tell you what the actual parts are so that speaks volumes. Those are not going to be good cells, they're going to be cheap cells and may well be counterfeit.

Also, in case it's not clear, you may pay GBP 1500 but you might only getting around GBP 750 of bike on average I mean these guys have to make a profit. If you spend a couple weeks on here, and exercise that brain of yours, you can recoup the extra GBP 750 and add it to your build, and profit. And of course the money isn't meaningless to you, don't say you can just afford it, or you would have a bigger budget and already have bought a Stealth B-52 or whatever the hot ready-made ebike is these days.

Also let's look at it like this, you can get the drivetrain kit and battery you want for 900 quid off ebay, that leaves a bike.... for 600 quid I don't think, I KNOW you can find a ride off craigslist that's 10x as nice as the piece of shit they give you with the ready-made ebike.
Click to expand...
You have a bad attitude and are quite rude and condescending.

I don't want your help.
 
minime said:
You have a bad attitude and are quite rude and condescending.

I don't want your help.
Click to expand...

You posted the thread IN A PUBLIC FORUM, and you'll get my advice until you're enlightened or I'm banned. Your troubles are now everyone's troubles. At this point you're telling us that spite of every advice to the contrary, you insist on wasting your money with little to no understanding of what it's going toward, or what the opportunity cost is. Opportunity cost is opportunity lost, as the saying goes; it's what your money would have bought if you didn't waste it paying some dude to put plug and play components on a cheap bicycle and ship it to you.

Spend a few days on the rest of this site, then spent 5 seconds thinking and you can not only see that your current plan is a very poor use of money, but that the resources to fix that problem and get what you want are available at your fingertips. It's extremely obvious.
 
lYupsDb.jpg
 
minime said:
According to their ebay listing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voodoo-Ba...ah-Battery-Offer-50-Off-Free-Del/222410408271, they use high ah rated Panasonic Lithium cells and Tektro hydraulic disc brakes.
Click to expand...

Panasonic makes some good cells.

Maybe they can give Details which cells are used. Nontheless a 52V 20Ah battery + charger for 500 GBP sounds quite cheap to me, you wouldn't be able to save much Money to built it on your own...

Even with not so good cells a 20Ah battery pack should do quite well with 30A max peak current (which I assume from a 1500W system)

The 50mph (80km/h) top speed doesn't sound like a good idea to me because the motor has to have a fast winding for that. Driving at a more reasonable 25mph this means less torque and less efficiency and more heat...

Gearing Looks to be 42t in fron (?) and maybe 11 in the rear, if it's just a cheap 7x or 4x freewheel maybe only 13 in the rear. You can pedal around 20-25mph at that gearing, but definitly not 40mph or 50mph...


True specs of the barkes should be given, They write Shimano here and Tektro there. At least the fronst brake needs to be high Quality if you ride qucikly and the fork must be able to withstand a good brake. 1800mm Rotors are okay, imho.

Good tires are very helful, too. Imo they are one of the most important and underrated parts of an efficient and comfortable and safe bicycle.

The offer is cheap and it will be difficult to beat that price siginficantly with your own built if you have to buy a new bicycle. My concern would be if it really offers what you want... Do you need a motor running up to 50mph? Do you need a 1kWh battery?
A cheap bike with a 1500W motor attached to it stays a cheap bike running faster than it was originaly designed for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
    • Like
help recommend a <250W mid-drive and battery or e-bike
Replies
3
Views
667
docw009
docw009
e-beach
‘A Dangerous Combination’: Teenagers’ Accidents Expose E-Bike Risks' A New York Times Article
2 3
Replies
72
Views
5,780
nicobie
nicobie
AverageJoao
Recommendations for 20" electric cargo bike / moped build
Replies
7
Views
1,276
electric_nz
E
jetpackjbd
    • Like
1000 Miles In - JoyKie 350W 36V Mountain Bike Review (Risky Cheap Chinese Bike Purchase)
Replies
10
Views
582
2old
2
J
4-wheel skid steer fruit bin mover
Replies
16
Views
1,469
Reid_in_QC
Reid_in_QC
Back
Top