nine continent ebikes kit, 700c, 48V 20Ah Ping

Two poor quality videos:

A video of the kit before installation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4K6lozFKk

A vid of the bike in motion on a bike path:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKM7Jnbq5H4

Some stats on the bike if you care:



Motor and controller:

Volts, amps, watts: 36-72V , 30A pedal first (500-1500W motor)
Weight: 15 pounds without rim (need the rim anyway,right?)
Cost: $585.00
Other stats: Motor is water resistant, comes with
computer, controller, throttle, and wiring, purchased from
www.ebikes.ca



Battery:

Volta, amps, watts: 48V, 50A (2.4 kW)
Size, Weight: 8.5" x 11.5" x 4" (21 lbs) It's about the
size of two reams of paper, but weighs more
Range: 30-50 miles on one charge (to work it's
8.6 miles, I can charge at work if needed)
Cost of battery: $728 (With shipping)
Other stats: Battery is LiFePo4 chemistry, ordered from
www.pingbattery.com (V 2.5)

Total
Estimated Speed (Sim) : 28 Mph (no pedaling) 35 mph (moderate pedaling)
Measured Speed: 32.5 Mph (no pedaling) 33.6 (moderate pedaling)
Ah per mile: 20.2 (moderate pedaling always, but only 5 miles tested so far, will update)
Total Weight: 54 lbs = 16 lbs (bike) + 21 lbs (battery) +
15 lbs (motor) + 2 lbs( controller and etc.)
Total Cost: $1,313


Notes on the installation:

Both ebikes.ca and Ping are really great to deal with. They offered good customer service and I am generally happy at this point. But there are a few things I could recommend to them and a few bumps I ran into during the installation:

1. DOCUMENTATION: Neither of these guys is big on documentation (save for the manual from ebikes for the Cycle Analyst, which is very nice). For the Ebikes kit, I really could have used some help figuring out how to mount the torque arm and the magnet for the speedo. (yes, i'm below average intelligence, but 50% of us are too, right? ). For Ping I got a battery with 4 wires and a charger with a 3 pin connector, no documentation. The pinout of the charger is easy enough to measure, but how about a piece of paper? And if anyone cares: The large RED and BLACK wires from the PING are output (to controller) and the THIN BLUE wire is the negative charging wire while the THIN RED wire is the positive charging wire. At least this was the case for my battery.

<Edit>
2. TIRE SIZE: I had some confusion on the tire size. The 700c rim is quoted as being a 622-20. After some help from Russel (see below) I see that this would require a 622-32 tire minimum (which is what I used). Clearly!!!??!!
</Edit>

3. WHEEL BALANCE: The ebikes hub is laced such that the wheel does NOT wobble left to right when it spins. However, the axis of rotation is not centered with wheel's axis such that the wheel moves up and down (about 3-4 mm). I don't know what to do about this right now. It doesn't appear to be too disturbing when riding.

4. THROTTLE: I got a thumb throttle, but had a hell of a time mounting it to the handlebars. As you can see from the first pic, I have curved bars and their diameter is larger than the throttle's inner diameter, so I had to glue it on (minor point).

5. CHARGER: Ping's charger looks nice and compact, but I really wish it didn't have a fan, so I could leave it inside my pannier bag and just charge with a single wire coming out. Yes, i know.. i has to get rid of the heat. I would even settle for a charger with less amperage.

sprocket said:

2. TIRE SIZE: So, my hub is laced to a 700c rim. They quoted me a 622x20 rim. However, any american bike store will laugh at you if you ask for a tube and tire for this. The 20 has got to be wrong, or a different system. I have seen a 622x20 tire and it's laughably thin. You would never put that on your ebike. The rim measures 1" outer width and 6/8" inner width. I put a 622-23 on it and it's fine.

3. WHEEL BALANCE: The ebikes hub is laced such that the wheel does NOT wobble left to right when it spins. However, the axis of rotation is not centered with wheel's axis such that the wheel moves up and down (about 3-4 mm). I don't know what to do about this right now. It doesn't appear to be too disturbing when riding.

Click to expand...

The rim measurement is correct, it is the standard way of denoting rim size per the organization that determines such things, the ETRTO. The "622" of course means it's a 700C and the "20" means the internal width of the rim is 20mm. This also means the 23mm tire you put on it is far too narrow for the rim. A 23mm wide tire should be on a 622x14 rim, with a 622x20 rim the minimum tire width that should be used is about 32mm.

See here for rim/tire sizing info http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/tire_dimensions#rim

If your wheel is moving up and down 3-4mm that's a lot and it should be trued. Do make sure however that the RIM is moving up and down and not the tire. A defective tire, and I've had a couple over the years, can cause this problem too.



Not many folks convert road bikes with drop bars but hey why not. That's sure a big battery for a short trip, have you considered a smaller one to lighten the load for the short trip to work?

-R

Russel,

Thanks for the feedback. I did actually look at your website (great job BTW) while deciding on the tire size. I'm sorry, I made a mistake in my original post, it's actually 622-32 not 23! oops. So a 622-20 rim goes with a 622-32 tire? Doesn't that sound like we should change that?

Also, the battery is indeed too large. But the weight doesn't bother me too much. After all, the difference between a 48V 20AH battery and a 48V 10 Ah battery is about 10 pounds, which is about 4% of the total weight (bike + rider).

The bike was just what I had laying around before the modification. One nice thing about a road bike such as this is that it's already geared so that I can still contribute at 30 mph. Plus, going into a full crouch at 30 mph saves me ~120 watts over a straight arm (mountain bike) position.

Thanks again,

spkt

sprocket said:

Russel,

I'm sorry, I made a mistake in my original post, it's actually 622-32 not 23! oops. So a 622-20 rim goes with a 622-32 tire? Doesn't that sound like we should change that?

spkt

Click to expand...

Oh ok then you're fine

The standards are there to make things less confusing and frankly I find it helpful because different people will often give you an opinion about the size of a rim or the outside width or the tire size they think works on it, but if you know the ETRTO size you're set. For example I was looking for a hybrid wheelset and found something on eBay advertised as "35mm" rims but they were in fact Sun CR18 rims with an internal width of 17.5mm and good for a wide range of tire sizes.


-R

Chalk another one up for Mr. Ping.

So I think I blew up my BMS. I shorted the charging wires together, big spark, and now it wont charge. Battery seems ok, but BMS is done for. I told Ping about it and he is shipping me a new BMS. Great customer service from him.

-S

sprocket said:

Chalk another one up for Mr. Ping.

So I think I blew up my BMS. I shorted the charging wires together, big spark, and now it wont charge. Battery seems ok, but BMS is done for. I told Ping about it and he is shipping me a new BMS. Great customer service from him.

-S

Click to expand...

Try a 'on/off/on' switch between the battery/controller and the battery/charger. Plus, comes in handy for 'ride off' security while parked if located outa sight.

1of3 said:

Try a 'on/off/on' switch between the battery/controller and the battery/charger. Plus, comes in handy for 'ride off' security while parked if located outa sight.

Click to expand...

Hmm.. I'm not sure I understand the relevance of this comment, but maybe I was unclear about what happened. There are 4 wires coming out of the pack, two for charging and two for the controller. I accidentally connected the positive charge wire to the negative charge wire when wiring up the pack. It blew the BMS, ping replaced it for me for free.

Hi sprocket, I know this is an old post, but I'm wondering how this bike worked out for you? I'm wanting to build my Fuji cross bike in a similar manor. I'm still debating the front hub versus mid drive like posted here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=54112&p=805156&hilit=road+bike#p805459.

I'd like to keep my drop bars as well as I think they add a lot more power to the ride. And also so I get a similar road ride for training purposes.

Thanks

meisert said:

Hi sprocket, I know this is an old post, but I'm wondering how this bike worked out for you? I'm wanting to build my Fuji cross bike in a similar manor. I'm still debating the front hub versus mid drive like posted here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=54112&p=805156&hilit=road+bike#p805459.

I'd like to keep my drop bars as well as I think they add a lot more power to the ride. And also so I get a similar road ride for training purposes.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum Meisert. Sprocket hasn't been on here in 5 years, you aren't likely to get an answer from him.

If you want, you can ask your questions in the general chat forum. You'll likely get more answers there. But to start, I can add some insight here. I don't know which Cross you have, but most use a carbon fiber fork. That isn't an acceptable material for adding a motor to, so that eliminates using a front motor on your bike. The Cross usues a 11 speed rear cassette, and while there are a few CST modle motors, none will accept the extra wide 11 speed, so unless you want to replace your derailers and sprockes to go for a lower number gear set, you're out of luck for a rear motor. That leaves a mid drive. Here, you're in luck. there are a couple good ones on the market such as the Bafang BBS01 and BBS02. The throttle issue can be solved with a "thumb" throttle, but making that clear the brakes may mean removing the brake handle and attaching it backwards from the end of the bar, something like this

Thanks Sprocket for the suggestions and direction. I've been leaning towards the BBS02 for some of the reasons you mentioned. It just seems like the easiest/best solution to me. But I'll follow up on the General Discussions and continue reading those post. Thanks.