Ceres egravel ebike with Acer rear hub motor

[taiwwa]

This looks interesting.

Pardon Our Interruption...

9 speed sora groupset, Acer rear geared hub. I think that it has 45nm torque, likely a cadence sensor.

$980+$250 shipping. Looks comparable to the Trek Domane+ and the momentum voya e+1 but for significantly less.

The battery is by celexpert which I’ve seen before. And they make a big deal about it being UL certified. I’m guessing this is probably 40 lbs.

I generally like hub motors for e-bikes with derailleurs.

I do wonder if it is possible to “upgrade” this bike with a bb torque sensor. Or if it is possible to use a different ebike computer. And eventually how hard it is to replace the battery or the rear motor.

 

[Chalo]

At that price point and spec, it will be a department store style piece of crap, with all the unmentioned components being the cheapest they can find. Also expect sloppy assembly and no tuning or prep whatsoever.

Drop bar bikes, generally speaking, are wanker/poser bikes that lack practicality, durability, serviceability, standardization, and comfort. If you want a drop bar e-bike (and I don't understand why you would), you should definitely try to find one that's an exception to their general trend, and convert it. Even if you do that, I'd also recommend converting the cockpit to real handlebars so they'll fit the conversion parts you want to put on there, and so they'll work better with the human body.

Most controllers don't support torque sensors. There's about zero percent chance that the controller in that bike would work with a torque sensor if it didn't come with one. The controller the bike comes with will work with the display it comes with, and probably only that display.

An e-bike of any kind has a very different job than a "sporting" (wanker) road bike. Its role is much more comparable to a loaded touring bike, both in ability to carry stuff and in its desired handling qualities. So if you must have a drop bar bike to tickle your fancy, I'd start there.

 

[E-HP]

9 speed sora groupset, Acer rear geared hub. I think that it has 45nm torque, likely a cadence sensor.

$980+$250 shipping. Looks comparable to the Trek Domane+ and the momentum voya e+1 but for significantly less.

The battery is by celexpert which I’ve seen before. And they make a big deal about it being UL certified. I’m guessing this is probably 40 lbs.

I generally like hub motors for e-bikes with derailleurs.

I do wonder if it is possible to “upgrade” this bike with a bb torque sensor. Or if it is possible to use a different ebike computer. And eventually how hard it is to replace the battery or the rear motor.

If your goal it to have the ebike that you want in the end, then you're probably pursuing the most expensive route with the least chance of success. Either build the bike that you want, or buy the bike that you want, but buying a bike that you don't want then immediately starting to "upgrade" in order to transform it to what you want is just a waste of parts that you already paid for, and adds all of the limitations that you'll need to work around in an attempt to have a good bike in the end; and you'll need to acquire the same knowledge and experience a greater challenge than the wide open slate that you have going DIY.

In this case, I'd suggest doing more research and buying the bike you want that already has a torque sensor. Aventon recently switched all of it's models to use torque sensors rather than cadence, and seem to be reasonably priced, but a lot of the factory bikes are going that route, so there are many options to try out and choose from.

 

[glennb]

Yeah, the bike bits will be junk.

Readers of this forum would mostly have the skill set to buy a decent used bike and install a hub motor dolphin battery kit. Integrated downtube batteries look slick though.

As to drop bars, their benefits aren’t entirely aligned with ebike usage. But when you’ve ridden them all your life it’s hard to adapt to anything else. Bull horns set very low somewhat satisfy, but you still miss having the extra hand positions.

 

[neptronix]

You'll end up throwing the whole bike's electric drivetrain away.
The second you want a bigger hub motor, you need a bigger battery and bigger controller.
Want a torque sensor? you'll need a new controller.

I suggest starting your journey with a kit on top of an 'acoustic' ( non-electric ) bike.

 

[glennb]

Higher power cells and VESC could negate the need for physically larger battery and controller.

 

[glennb]

I’d happily take a frame like that for free and build a good bike out of it.

 

[neptronix]

Higher power cells and VESC could negate the need for physically larger battery and controller.

If you make that trade you'll have a lower battery capacity for the higher power hub motor to use.
Higher power cells always trade energy density for power. It's hard to have it all in an 18650.

 

[glennb]

You wouldn’t hear me complaining if the frame was free. I think it’s a worthwhile trade-off for neat battery installation that’s well protected from physical damage.

And there’s the option of using a “food processor” (as Chalo likes to call them) to add a second range battery.

But yeah, it’s all silly hypothetical because nobody’s giving the frames away … and like everyone’s saying, buying a crappy bike to upgrade is nonsensical.

 

[taiwwa]

At that price point and spec, it will be a department store style piece of crap, with all the unmentioned components being the cheapest they can find. Also expect sloppy assembly and no tuning or prep whatsoever.

Drop bar bikes, generally speaking, are wanker/poser bikes that lack practicality, durability, serviceability, standardization, and comfort. If you want a drop bar e-bike (and I don't understand why you would), you should definitely try to find one that's an exception to their general trend, and convert it. Even if you do that, I'd also recommend converting the cockpit to real handlebars so they'll fit the conversion parts you want to put on there, and so they'll work better with the human body.

Most controllers don't support torque sensors. There's about zero percent chance that the controller in that bike would work with a torque sensor if it didn't come with one. The controller the bike comes with will work with the display it comes with, and probably only that display.

An e-bike of any kind has a very different job than a "sporting" (wanker) road bike. Its role is much more comparable to a loaded touring bike, both in ability to carry stuff and in its desired handling qualities. So if you must have a drop bar bike to tickle your fancy, I'd start there.

No, it has sora level shifters and derailleur, and all the other aspects look adequate. I did get a message from them that it indeed is 45nm torque on the rear hub as well as a cadence sensor. It is about 40lbs. I’ve test ridden a trek domane which was substantially similar but cost $3.5k or more than $2k more. The trek was lighter though, either 30 or 35lbs. But it had a similarly powered rear hub motor and a cadence sensor.

I think the giant momentum voya e+1 is arguably better but it is fairly heavy. Its rear hub I believe is 25nm in torque which helps slightly on hills but still is difficult. It does have a good blended torque sensor system though. The momentum voya has a 1x10 groupset and a better seat and probably better wheels and pedals as well as bike shop support.

 

[Chalo]

No, it has sora level shifters and derailleur,

Right. I'm telling you that if a sub-$1000 bike has those, plus e-assist, then everything else on the bike will be made of compressed garbage and assembled by intoxicated raccoons. That's the only way the economics can work, unless you believe the manufacturer is intentionally losing money on these things.

and all the other aspects look adequate.

That's the point of a bicycle-shaped object. To look enough like a bicycle to fool you into handing over money for it.

 

[uhmwpolyethylene]

For any of you that have attempted an eGravel drop bar build with BBSHD or similar vs flat bars, did you find the middle of the bar grip was satisfactory with the added energy, and did you feel safer on descents? Scooping up a Steel/alu/Ti gravel seems a bit cheaper than a flatbar gravel (29" rigid 90s) bike, although the Mercier kil gx t11/t16 and marin dsx/dsx2 look affordable.

 

[Chalo]

Drop bars are for chumps and posers. They replace one or two good hand positions with four horrible ones. They have an unusable diameter to drive home the point that they're for fooling around rather than getting stuff done. Nothing in the world that has handlebars, other than wanker bikes, uses drop bars. People outside rich silly countries who work long days every day on bikes, motorcyclists who rally 1000+ miles a day, don't ever use them. It's not coincidence.