Buying a Hub Motor in Beijing

[JeffD]

I have the opportunity to go to Beijing soon on a business trip. My plan was to pick up a C-lyte 530x while I was there for cheap. I just found out they ONLY sell wholesale to other countries and you can't just walk into the Crystalyte factory and pick up a motor from the assembly line.

I'm looking for advice on this one? Is there another hub motor manufacturer in China besides Crystalyte that would sell me something of equal or better quality?

Thanks in advance for your advice,
Jeff

 

[Lessss]

Buy from a local shop in Beijing not from the factory. now on the other hand you could find out what the minimum order is for wholesale. Buy that and if small enough ship it as cargo with your return trip and clear it through customs personally. The extra charges to ship it with you by plane/boat/train would probalby be about the same amount you would have paid to a broker to clear it through customs for you.

 

[JeffD]

Thanks for the reply Lessss.

Is there anyone on this forum from China? I believe that the Chinese government has a rule that prohibits the sale of product locally if it is for export to locations outside of China. Where is Ping from? Maybe if I am not able to bring back a hub motor I could get a Ping battery.

 

[aquietstorm]

You will soon see that there are electric bikes everywhere so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a hub motor.

 

[Kurt]

It was a trip to china two years ago that got me interested in electric bikes.I didn't even think anything of them until going to china and seeing how many electric scooter and bikes there were. Not just people playing around with them on the weekend but people using them for there daily transport.
In some of the big city's you cant look any were without spotting one.The place is so big the hardest thing will be finding were to buy one.
kurt.

 

[JeffD]

Thanks all. Those comments are encouraging. I'm not going for several weeks but I'll post my experiences here.

 

[lianjuin]

I just got back from China, I go every year. There are tons of ebikes, more and more every year. You can buy a complete bike for like $200US.
I saw a guy with delivery ebike with 10, 5-Gal water bottles on the back (very common). It is very flat in Beijing so those bikes have terrible torque and most barely have breaks. Its a form of transport like the car here. As far as getting a 530x motor, forget it. They are nowhere to be found, I looked. You can only find broke down cheap hub motors that come with the cheap ebikes, most don't even have spokes, the whole thing is one piece of steel to the rim. People don't have time or the space to tinker around with their bikes. Looking for that motor would be like going to USA to find a complete new V8 turbo motor at Pepboys. But you could easily go to the junk yard and dig out a busted-up 4-cylinder motor out of a totaled compact.

 

[swbluto]

most don't even have spokes, the whole thing is one piece of steel to the rim.

Now that's the kind of hub motor I want to see!

(It seems like dealing with the issues of spokes is a big pain in the butt. But maybe solid metallic wheels are more so? Doubtful from my perspective.)

 

[pwbset]

(It seems like dealing with the issues of spokes is a big pain in the butt. But maybe solid metallic wheels are more so? Doubtful from my perspective.)

Yeah, my commute is 50% off road single track, pea gravel, stream washouts etc. etc. I break spokes all the time... weekly in fact at my current pace. I often think how nice it would be to have a solid wheel of some kind, but then I think how much nicer it is to replace a spoke here and there as opposed to dealing with a solid bent wheel. At least spokes are dirt cheap, easy to replace and provide tons of wheel flex. Pretty soon I'll be through all my default Clyte crap spokes and have all Wheelsmith replacements, which haven't broken yet. It's all about the steel quality. My motor runs hot so I'm pretty sure metal fatigue has a lot to do with it also. The spokes always break in the same spot right at the motor mount point.

 

[Sacman]

Yeah, my commute is 50% off road single track, pea gravel, stream washouts etc. etc. I break spokes all the time... weekly in fact at my current pace. I often think how nice it would be to have a solid wheel of some kind, but then I think how much nicer it is to replace a spoke here and there as opposed to dealing with a solid bent wheel. At least spokes are dirt cheap, easy to replace and provide tons of wheel flex. Pretty soon I'll be through all my default Clyte crap spokes and have all Wheelsmith replacements, which haven't broken yet. It's all about the steel quality. My motor runs hot so I'm pretty sure metal fatigue has a lot to do with it also. The spokes always break in the same spot right at the motor mount point.

You still keep breaking spokes? You haven't changed them all out yet? I got tired of my cheap Crystalyte galvanized spokes. After my 6th broken spoke I had my LBS change all mine to GT brand stainless steel spokes. I also started running fatter tires. Haven't had a broken spoke nor a pinch flat ever since. What kind of tires are you running? I'd run the biggest, beefiest, baloon tires with knobbies on them if I were running your commute route.

 

[pwbset]

You haven't changed them all out yet?

Yeah... no... not yet. I really need to just spend the time reading Mr. Browns stuff. I need to be more proactive about it for sure. There is a tiny part of me that likes to hear the *plink* 'cause for some reason it makes me feel like a badass off road rider. :lol: I know.. I'm an idiot.

 

[swbluto]

(It seems like dealing with the issues of spokes is a big pain in the butt. But maybe solid metallic wheels are more so? Doubtful from my perspective.)

but then I think how much nicer it is to replace a spoke here and there as opposed to dealing with a solid bent wheel. At least spokes are dirt cheap, easy to replace and provide tons of wheel flex.

Do motorcycle wheels suffer the problems you suggest? Of course, most motorcycles have suspension of some sort, so that may be unfair of a comparison, but I'm thinking if something is "solid enough", bending shouldn't be an issue with normal loadings.