Note on battery placement

Just a quick note on battery placement -

I just switched my battery placement from rack bag to low on the seat tube (or whatever you call that tube right in front of the seat tube on the Montague frame.) And man, what a difference. The bike went from squirrely to rock solid, with no shimmy or tendency to wander any more. It's even happy being ridden hands-off now. I should have done this a long time ago.

Bike is a Montague folding frame with a Crystalyte H+ on the rear, a Phaserunner controller and a Lunacycle battery that weighs about 8 lbs. It was VERY tailheavy with the battery back there.

Pivot tube?

Basically inside the triangle if its a regular bicycle. I zip tie my main heavy battery right up into the top tube/seat tube corner, then zip tie another battery for the moment to the rear rack. It is much of an improvement! then having it all in a pannier bag in the rear.

Yep, if that rack had any flex in it all, it would get squirrely with only 8 pounds back there. Mounted solid enough, up to 10 pounds is generally tolerable enough for a street ride, but it still degrades the handling if you do ride any dirt short cuts, or fun cuts.

You did the right thing to maximize your handling for single track riding. Perfect weight distribution is a must for highly technical riding, where a boo boo smashes you into rocks, trees, cactus.

Here is a BIONX battery mounted, the pic is a GIF of two pics
http://www.electriccyclery.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/electric-montague-bionx-PARATROOPER.gif

So looking at that, I would just call that tube the Locking Tube.

What would also work if you use the folding mechanism is a saddle bag on the top bar. Weight distro wouldnt be as nice as BIONX location.

More pics of same battery mount location]
http://www.bikefold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/montague_falco.jpg
https://www.electricbike.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/montague.jpg
Bag setup - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/APFWmW1fSu0/maxresdefault.jpg
Rear rack setup - https://kaneklassics.com/wp-content/gallery/paratrooper-pro/_igp0037.jpg

The best battery for a Montague folding bike is the smallest battery possible for your requirements.

markz said:

Here is a BIONX battery mounted, the pic is a GIF of two pics

Click to expand...

Yep, almost exactly what my install looks like. (It has a few extra nylon straps to hold the battery on, since relying on those 5mm threaded inserts that are designed to carry a water bottle wasn't giving me a warm feeling.)

I use both on my Montague. For my 6 AH MINI I fabricated a aluminum mount that uses the water bottle lugs on the vert post. Plus I have a 11.5 AH battery in a padded bag that hangs from my cross bar, using 1" web straps and those plastic snap fasteners that allow you to adjust the length. It removes or goes on in about 15 seconds. On really long rides, I'll put my rear rack on strap down another 11.5 AH battery, giving me a total of 29 AH, pretty good for a folding bike! https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=74781&start=2