Ebike conversion 600$ budget

Reoth

10 µW
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
5
Greetings new friends and neighbors. Long story short my car was totaled and I'm only getting a 600$ check cut for the damages. I need the communities help to help me pick all the emails parts for this bike. My bike itself is a 1992 Schwinn mountain bike on good working order.where am i?
USA,South Florida very few hills very flat
what do I want?
10-15mph
20miles per charge
Budget is 600$give or take
I weigh 250 if that helps.
 
10mph? You can do that without a motor. Man up and push pedals; your budget won't get you an electrical system that is go-to-work reliable.

Use some of your settlement to get better tires and a tune-up for the bike you have, if it fits you. If it doesn't fit you, spend the whole amount on a decent commuter bike.
 
Chalo said:
10mph? You can do that without a motor. Man up and push pedals; your budget won't get you an electrical system that is go-to-work reliable.

Use some of your settlement to get better tires and a tune-up for the bike you have, if it fits you. If it doesn't fit you, spend the whole amount on a decent commuter bike.
.

Yeah I know I could but this is what I want and there really isn't any other way for me to get to work reliably it's either bike take an Uber which are awful here in Florida or take the bus which again is awfuly slow and long.


https://youtu.be/9Hh_vdDk4Kg
Is there a way to piggy back off of this maybe minus those heavy lead batteries lol.
 
Honestly, w/ a budget of $600, you would be better off looking at a "Spooky" conversion. That is, a gas engine conversion kit that can be had for less than $200.
In many States, they are allowed to roam freely, here in Az at the moment, they are restricted in speed only and are allowed in the bike lanes, etc. All without license, registration and insurance.
I have more than $600 invested in just batteries on my ebike.
 
motomech said:
Honestly, w/ a budget of $600, you would be better off looking at a "Spooky" conversion. That is, a gas engine conversion kit that can be had for less than $200.

That's even less reliable than a horrible cheap motor and used laptop batteries. Not to mention noisy, smelly, and toxic.
 
Buy a good used pedal bike and work on riding that speed or faster under your own power it'll be the best thing you do for yourself. Which is a great alternative to building about the worst ebike you could build due to the limited budget.
 
try luna cycle.com. magic pie and a battery roughly 670.00$. look's like it will meet your needs. good luck.
 
$600 is plenty if you know what to buy.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
 
Your common 1000W direct drive motor. With PAS/LCD and real throttle.
1000W direct Drive motor for $229 shipped out of Chicago

Two $340 batteries if you feel lucky.
48V LiFePO4 from China
48V LiFEP04 from USA (still from China)
Or a Luna Battery for $460.
48V Battery with charger

I had bought a similar battery from Luna in 2015. No issues. I'd rather have it than a cheaper one off ebay.

Never had a direct drive motor, but if I were to get one, I'd want one like this, with LCD , 5 level PAS, plus throttle. Have bought two geared motors from this ebay vendor and those were solid kits, in my opinion. I wouldn't want a direct drive motor to ride for fun, but for commuting they make sense.
 
The 48v 15Ah battery I bought for my 48v 1000W motor kit is doing great. 11 Miles so far, and at half capacity. That is the results from my newly assembled electric bike. I am selling my older electric bike. $500. Li-ion 36v 14ah battery. 36v 500w motor (Direct Drive). Range of 15-20 miles with a top speed of 22 MPH. It has about 400 Miles on it.
 
mark5 said:
Reoth. Micah Toll is, or was, selling a $400 pack here:

36V and 48V 20AH Panasonic batteries $400 and $500 free ship
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=87678

Ask him if he might have a motor kit too.
If you don't know, Micah is the guy with the ebike school website with lots of good info. I have bought a Bafang BPM rear geared hub motor from him for my first ebike build and it worked out great. I would recommend buying his 36v 20ah battery and ask him if he has a suitable motor kit for your bike. He has listed for sale some small geared hub motors in the past. He is in Florida, I believe.

My budget: Rear BPM2 motor w/wheel $175, 9 fet Infineon controller $30, thumb throttle, $15, 2x6S 16ah Multistar Lipo $200, icharger 106b+ $50, Lunacycle triangle bag $30, bike 90's Diamondback $65, Cycle Analyst v2.4 $100 = $665 total.

Jon
 
Isn't it the worst hearing people suggest just pedaling? If you've taken the time to register on ES and seek advice for an ebike, you obviously have no desire to just pedal. And who wants to get to work all sweaty? Anyways, I have a similar budget and plan on going with the following:

52V 14Ah lithium battery from UPP (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/produc ... 0.0.c0GZe3) - I've found this particular Chinese seller to be trusted among the ES community.
I'll be paring it with this 48v 1000w rear hub kit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/232082442648?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

This would be more valuable coming from someone who has already built and is riding their setup, but figured I'd share nonetheless.
 
chonger91 said:
Isn't it the worst hearing people suggest just pedaling?

Actually, it's worse seeing people go out of their way to be lazy sacks of crap, when they're unwilling even to commit enough resources to do it successfully.

It's the typical car driver approach to life, for sure. Therefore it's both common and banal, but still sorely disappointing.
 
Chalo said:
chonger91 said:
Isn't it the worst hearing people suggest just pedaling?

Actually, it's worse seeing people go out of their way to be lazy sacks of crap, when they're unwilling even to commit enough resources to do it successfully.

It's the typical car driver approach to life, for sure. Therefore it's both common and banal, but still sorely disappointing.

So sorry to disappoint. Don't assume this is my or OP's only source of exercise. And again, no one wants to arrive to work all sweaty. Just offering a different perspective as I can see where OP is coming from.
 
Chalo said:
chonger91 said:
Isn't it the worst hearing people suggest just pedaling?

Actually, it's worse seeing people go out of their way to be lazy sacks of crap, when they're unwilling even to commit enough resources to do it successfully.

It's the typical car driver approach to life, for sure. Therefore it's both common and banal, but still sorely disappointing.

Just....Wow! Last I recall this was an "Electric Vehicle and Technology Forum"? Not an elitist pedal only forum.
 
The guy weighs 250 lbs and can't ride a bicycle at 10-15 mph.

Call me crazy, but something's wrong with that picture and it will literally be one of the best things the OP does for himself if he just gets on the bike and rides.
 
Dear Reoth, I see you've met Chalo. I would like to welcome you to ES.

$600 is a very tight budget. You've mentioned that you already have a bike ( of unknown appropriateness). If you want to add a kit to your bike, it will take some time for the parts to arrive, plus...the installation may require tools that you do not yet have.

Since your top speed requirements are modest, you might find the most affordable options by specifying a front hub motor, which also means that a torque arm is an absolute requirement, even at a mere 500W.

Since range and power needs are also modest, you might be able to fit a 36V, 12-Ah battery into your budget.

Be aware that...any complete system that fits a $600 budget will be low performance, and reliability will be sketchy. By that I mean...After going to the time, effort, and expense of finding just the right kit and battery, it will work for a week or two, then the charger, throttle, or controller "might" die.

if there is any way you could swing $1200, you would have a much more reliable and satisfying system, but...I understand your situation.

In my humble opinion, the most reliable "cheap" system is a direct drive hubmotor with a sensorless controller, maybe a $200 yescomusa ebay kit? Battery and charger for $400-ish "might" be adequate. Best of luck with whatever you decide
 
spinningmagnets said:
Dear Reoth, I see you've met Chalo. I would like to welcome you to ES.

$600 is a very tight budget. You've mentioned that you already have a bike ( of unknown appropriateness). If you want to add a kit to your bike, it will take some time for the parts to arrive, plus...the installation may require tools that you do not yet have.

Since your top speed requirements are modest, you might find the most affordable options by specifying a front hub motor, which also means that a torque arm is an absolute requirement, even at a mere 500W.

Since range and power needs are also modest, you might be able to fit a 36V, 12-Ah battery into your budget.

Be aware that...any complete system that fits a $600 budget will be low performance, and reliability will be sketchy. By that I mean...After going to the time, effort, and expense of finding just the right kit and battery, it will work for a week or two, then the charger, throttle, or controller will die.

if there is any way you could swing $1200, you would have a much more reliable and satisfying system, but...I understand your situation.

In my humble opinion, the most reliable "cheap" system is a direct drive hubmotor with a sensorless controller, maybe a $200 yescomusa ebay kit? Battery and charger for $400-ish "might" be adequate. Best of luck with whatever you decide
On my first electric bike, the kit cost me just over $150 for a 36v 500w direct drive hub motor and $356 for a 36v 14Ah rack mounted battery. The bike is basic, $120 cruiser. I put it together for $620. I have had it for months with no problems. 400 Miles on it.
 
As well as I am the first to say one should spend enough to build a safe bike, I find the OP target speed very slow, and easy to build safe.

600$ is little but possible, one was even offered ready built for 500$. One has to start somewhere. With the cost of owning and driving even the worst sh*t car, you will save enough in a year to make yourself a very good commuter next, and you will never want to burn gas anymore.
 
eflyersteve said:
Chalo said:
chonger91 said:
Isn't it the worst hearing people suggest just pedaling?

Actually, it's worse seeing people go out of their way to be lazy sacks of crap, when they're unwilling even to commit enough resources to do it successfully.

Just....Wow! Last I recall this was an "Electric Vehicle and Technology Forum"? Not an elitist pedal only forum.

The guy says he can only spend $600 but needs to get to work. That budget works well if you're talking about a pedal bike, but poorly or not at all if you're talking about an e-bike. Part of being experienced with e-bikes is knowing how much they cost and what you can expect at different expense levels. That's valuable knowledge you can find here in this forum.

One thing I know is that a $600 bicycle will get you to work every day, but a $600 e-bike will make you late for work, or force you to change plans while fixing problems, relatively often. That latter situation is probably not right for someone who's averse to making an effort.
 
Threads that abound about YESCOM and similar DD rear hub kits which are priced at $150 - $200 and have provided 15,000 miles in some instances. Combine that with a 52V battery from Luna and you're close to $600. My "kit", which is exactly that, is running strong after 18 + months. Additionally, I use the battery off road in a BBS02-equipped bike.
 
Chalo said:
motomech said:
Honestly, w/ a budget of $600, you would be better off looking at a "Spooky" conversion. That is, a gas engine conversion kit that can be had for less than $200.

That's even less reliable than a horrible cheap motor and used laptop batteries. Not to mention noisy, smelly, and toxic.
As someone who actually rides an Ebike every day in a major city, I know more about gas powered bicycles than I ever wanted to. I share the bike lanes w/ them and they out number me at least 10 to 1. At nite we shoot the breeze in frt. of the local 7-Eleven and the fact is, even the cheapest Chinese 2-stroke kits are reliable. The biggest prob. they have is chains falling off.
Yes, they are smokey and noisey, but if one wants quiet and clean, the next level($350)will buy a Chinese 4-stroke kit at the cost of more money and reduced speed.
If reliability is paramount, there are quality kits that feature engines by Tanaka, Robin and Honda, basicly portable genset power-plants. Engines hardly get more reliable than these.
I'm not trying to swing anyone's interest from Ebikes to gas-powered bikes, I'm just saying that for anyone w/ a limited hard budget that needs reliable transpo, there is another option.
Yes, an Ebike can be built for $600 or less, I just built one for less than $600(not including the bike);

100_0107.JPG

But I used on-sale LiPoly from Hobby King and a budget charger and I wouldn't recommend LiPoly to many folks.

Even the least expensive direct drive kit, once a few necessary items are added, like torque arms, is going to be at least $200, leaving $400 for a shipped battery and charger.
And I'm not seeing any packs listed on this thread, that don't require assembly that fall into that range.

Note: I just checked Luna, the least expensive battery with a reasonable capacity would be the 48V 10 Ah. Add their medium charger(The 3A is a joke)and shipping and one is at $480. Still, it would seem to be the best option for a budget build. This would make $680 about rock-bottom for a decent build I.M.O.
 
as wesnell will tell you chalo 600$ will buy you a e-bike that will work for a long time. you need to get off your high horse and get into the real world. this is a e-bike forum and some people want advice about e-bike's not bicycles. get with the program featherhead.
 
Reoth,

You could just make your life more simple by buying one of the cheaper turn key bikes.

Most of what is out on the market is garbage, ( most of the cheap e-bikes )
However

There is a person near to me that bought a Sonders - Bike, he had to wait 8 months for it, that was over a year ago perhaps now they are available to buy now. They are simple , but should get you 20 miles if you pedal allot.

You could / should bring your battery charger to work . With either of these two bikes.

Another Option is the New E-bike being sold by Ikea , About $ 750

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWs34jgUkqk

These bikes were not available back when I started looking into E-Bikes and starting my first build.

I would have loved to have one of those 2 simple e-bikes to start off, for the cost of a conversion, or just a little more, you can have a e-bike ready to ride.

After getting one of the bikes I list above, you can then take the time to convert your existing bike, for a more performance DIY Bike, with your budget you could not do a Performance Conversion. Best to start off with Sonders or Ikea .






Reoth said:
Greetings new friends and neighbors. Long story short my car was totaled and I'm only getting a 600$ check cut for the damages. I need the communities help to help me pick all the emails parts for this bike. My bike itself is a 1992 Schwinn mountain bike on good working order.where am i?
USA,South Florida very few hills very flat
what do I want?
10-15mph
20miles per charge
Budget is 600$give or take
I weigh 250 if that helps.
 
Back
Top