ISO 20" wheel compatible frame

docrocket

docrocket

1 W
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
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My ten-year-old A2B Metro frame just broke in two - it's DOA. I salvaged the battery, controller, throttle, hub motor wheel and front wheel. They're all in good condition.

I'm looking for a donor bike to transform, but the hub motor I have is on a 20" x 3" tire - a weird size. Pretty much all the local bikes I see with 20" tires are kid's bikes, and I'm pretty sure the dropouts would be too small anyway.

Anybody know of a decent (hopefully inexpensive) consumer frame out there that would make a good transplant?

Alternatively, is it possible to remount the hub motor on a different wheel?

TIA.
 
Lacing the hub to a different wheel would make it easy to find a bike to fit it on. If you want to keep it as is, you are looking for a very limited choice of adult size frames. Some cargo bikes have 20’’ wheels but unlikely to clear 3’’ tires. Some chopper style frames can. Some old school DH bikes have a high enough BB to ride on 20’’ wheels with big tires, after some minor suspension mods and tuning. Other than that, some frames can be mod easily, those made for 24’’ wheels especially, fitting a longer fork and lifting the rear with custom dropout plates. Doing the same with most 26’’ frames is possible, but would require a shorter crank in most cases.
 
docrocket said:
My ten-year-old A2B Metro frame just broke in two - it's DOA. I salvaged the battery, controller, throttle, hub motor wheel and front wheel. They're all in good condition.
Click to expand...

Be great if you could snap some pictures of the frame for us to view.
I'd be curious to view them.
 
MadRhino said:
Lacing the hub to a different wheel would make it easy to find a bike to fit it on.
Click to expand...

First, thanks for the great info on the frames!

Is lacing the hub to a new wheel something that is within the competence of a beginner-level bike mechanic, or is it something that I really have to get my local bike shop to do? I can follow a YouTube instructional video. :p
 
docrocket said:
markz said:
Be great if you could snap some pictures of the frame for us to view.
I'd be curious to view them.
Click to expand...

Sure thing.

https://imgur.com/d6LLpe7
Click to expand...

Ouch! Looks like aluminum, is that correct? I’m sure someone on here will suggest fixing it.

As for rebuilding your wheel for a new rim with beginner skills, it’s possible, we all started somewhere. If you end up keeping the radial spoke pattern that the wheel has now, it will
be somewhat easier to lace, but harder to true and tension evenly imho.
 
I am very new to ebikes, but have built several wheels for my bikes, including our tandem.

I followed this: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

I also built my own truing stand out of 8020 extrusions (look on eBay for leftover scraps at $0.10 on the $); a pair of Harbor Freight dial indicators (look on eBay and Amazon too) and piece of this steel bar, screwed to my work bench. I don't have the eye sight to do truing by eye,

I started building wheels after I purchased a new bike and broke as spoke, and the shop would not stand behind it; pissed me off.
 
Thanks for the info, folks. I'll take a stab at it once the donor bike is on hand.
 
Interesting breakage on the frame.
Perhaps welding it back together at a reasonable cost would be a good idea.
I am sure there are great talented welders near you.
On the one side it looks like it broke at the weld.
I am not a welder by any means, but measure the opening, and see what kind of metal stock a store has.
Metal Supermarket is a good place to go and they are everywhere, thats where I go because they can cut it to size.
We cant see the shock side, is that open?
Plug welding thick alum stock in there would work I can only assume. No change in length of wheelbase either.

But yeah better to just get another bike. But if you were totally in love with that A2B, then choices.
 
docrocket said:
I'm looking for a donor bike to transform, but the hub motor I have is on a 20" x 3" tire - a weird size.
Click to expand...

You can put almost any other 20" tire on that rim, if the 3" one doesn't fit in the new frame.

Check out Cannondale Hooligan and Origin 8 Bully. They're both out of production, but interesting if you can find one.

Mini velos like Mercier Nano or the Respect bike might be able to receive your parts, but definitely would not fit the fat tires.
 
You could also look around for another bike of the same kind you have, broken in some other way, so you can swap out the swingarm. Or just see if anyone with the same bike sitting around unused is willing to sell just the swingarm.

However, it's possible that it's a problem in the design or manufacture of that series of frames; you can look around the web and see if anyone else has had the same failure.
 
... swap the swingarm. Hmmm. :twisted:

20180124135403_522.jpg
 
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