Cargo bike / bakfiets / trike

[kamaleon]

Hey everybody how's it going.
I'm working on creating a job for myself selling vegan ice cream on the streets.
I looking to buy an old Christiania Bikes cargo.
Is it possible to electrify it by using two hub motors one on each front wheel? They're 20" 406 iso sized wheels like most BMXs.
Is it also possible to use a bottom bracket motor? Or these can only be used in specially-built frames?
I ask this because it'd be nice to keep an IGH on the back. I have a Shimano Alfine 8 on my current bike. Since the trike is going to be charged it's nice to be able to change gears fast and whilst stopped and also not worry about the chain coming off.
Thanks in advance!

 

[skaplan]

I can't speak to a 2 hub solution, but there are plenty of ways to bolt on a bottom bracket / mid-drive. The non-hub forum has lots of info and friendly / knowledgeable people with more info. Either way you go this looks like it will be a very interesting project.

*** If you go for a non-hub solution, be careful to make sure your IGH is up to the torque of your solution. Some of them do not take big motors well. *** So if you have lots of hills you might have to upgrade your IGH to something like a nuvinci http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=30641 whereas if your area is mostly flat, a smallish motor should work.

 

[dogman dan]

A lot would depend on the hills you would need to climb. It might be possible to drive the bike with just one front wheel motorized. Delta trikes often have just one rear wheel driving. Likely you'd want to have something very slow, so the slowest windings you can find if you went with hubmotors.

 

[kamaleon]

Thanks y'all.
A motor in just one of the front wheels? Would never have thought this to be possible.

 

[ebent]

Why not a hub on the rear? I have a tadpoletrike set up that way and I like it. There are many tadpoles in this configuration. It might be more balanced as the large payload area in front could be an overwhelming weight.

 

[kamaleon]

just because, as I said, I'd like to have the possibility of having and Internally Geared Hub (IGH) like the Shimano Alfine 8 I currently have.

 

[Samd]

If the rear hub is geared internally with enough torque, i don't think you'll need gears for your pedal ratios...

This one does have what you want. Gears plus a hub.
http://www.cargocycles.com.au/bikes/box-cargo-bikes/zeitbikes-longhaul-electric

 

[Joseph C.]

If the rear hub is geared internally with enough torque, i don't think you'll need gears for your pedal ratios...

This one does have what you want. Gears plus a hub.
http://www.cargocycles.com.au/bikes/box-cargo-bikes/zeitbikes-longhaul-electric

At 200 watts it is a good bit lacking in power.

A 12 turn MAC on 48 volts should be enough to haul loads.

The internal hub makes things unnecessarily harder and it probably wouldn't be wanted if you have a decent hub motor. A rear hub motor with a freewheel should suffice.

Another option not mentioned is a custom trailer to carry the ice-cream or something a bit more inexpensive such as below.

Something like this http://www.carryfreedom.com/downloads/Y-Frame%20EPP%20boxes.pdf coupled with one of these http://www.carryfreedom.com/Y-Frame.html.

 

[Samd]

Ha! I just figured it went without saying on here not to stick with std power.

Geez, now I will have to amend every post I have made if people are going to infer that.
Only thing 200 watts on my bikes is the power sticker....

 

[Joseph C.]

Ha! I just figured it went without saying on here not to stick with std power.

Geez, now I will have to amend every post I have made if people are going to infer that.
Only thing 200 watts on my bikes is the power sticker....

Regulars are well aware of this. New arrivals may or may not be. It's all about context, context, context.

 

[kamaleon]

I don't understand, the bike in your link has a IGH on the back and a hub motor on the front... what's so special about it?
edit: posted this above before I read the last couple of replies.
Anyway so what you're saying is a by having a back hub motor with just a flywheel basically I have to have the assist on all the time... not exactly the situation I'm looking for...or am I missing something?

 

[ebent]

You have a choice. You can have a throttle of various types or none and it will auto assist or a switch for both. My preference is throttle only. It is a twist type. Half is gears half throttle. If your budget allows, adding a flashing sign and/or a stereo for the purpose of attracting attention and business.

Will you need electric coolers? The hotter it gets the more ice cream you'll sell but the more you'll need refridgeration.

Good luck

 

[kamaleon]

Yes but I'll have no choice of gears when the electric motor is OFF... ok maybe you'll say "but who wants to go back to pre-historic times! :lol: " but I do want to be able to pedal (and make use of gears in slopes!) even if the battery isn't there...
Thanks for the tips and yes I'm thinking of those... find a very small lightweight amplification for an ipod with some 12V DC speakers from a car or something an maybe a led strip would be funky when it gets dark.

I still don't know about the electric cooler, still have to figure this out. I do have a 50W solar pannel I'm thinking of puttin on the roof of the cargo box. That'd be groovy! I have a charge regulator and could get hold of a smallish gel 12V battery to power cooler. The pannel won't be able to produce enough for the cooler but stil lit's better than nothing. I'm a bit of a control freak and I have watt's up meters so I can keep track of everything that's going on. That part I'm more used to. It's the electric bike part that I know little about.

 

[kriskros]

i had a tadpole trike with a Pu... ma[mac]geared motor on the rear wheel... 36v 20amp lcellman a123 battery...21 speed shimane system for pedaling,,,worked fine..40kph,but i ,of course,idudnt have your load to push...see cellman for mac motors,,very cheap

 

[kamaleon]

Independently of the choice of motor, what do you guys recommend controller-wise etc? If it's unrelated to the motor.
Also as said before I like to keep a good control over things, being used to wattmeter from the RC world, so I'd like to have a good battery monitor. Could you guys recommend one? Thx
I'm also used to battery chargers I have a small EOS 0606i for the odd battery I have around but I'll need something bigger for my e-trike I think I can invest on something a bit more powerful so feel free to give your opinions.

 

[skaplan]

For a self identified "control freak" probably a controller from lyen that connects to a cycle analyst from ebikes.ca. Gives you access to lots of data and the ability to manage power limits, throttle etc all in one place.

 

[kamaleon]

Thanks! Yep ebikes.ca that's the website I was looking for and couldn't remember yesterday (It's been a while I haven't done any reading about ebikes )
About controllers: here in Europe I have to have the pedal assist for legal reasons, can I combine that with a throttle for cheating? and if so which parts exactly do I need?
Also will that Lyen controller work ok with non-hub motors should I decide to go that route?

 

[Joseph C.]

Thanks! Yep ebikes.ca that's the website I was looking for and couldn't remember yesterday (It's been a while I haven't done any reading about ebikes )
About controllers: here in Europe I have to have the pedal assist for legal reasons, can I combine that with a throttle for cheating? and if so which parts exactly do I need?
Also will that Lyen controller work ok with non-hub motors should I decide to go that route?

Best to pick the hub motor first. Then controller second. If, for instance, you choose a MAC motor from cell_man you would need to use his controller as Lyen's are too rough.

The motor is the starting point not the controller.