10 kW
I have a Stokemonkey on an Xtracycle as a commuter bike. I have 2500 miles on it and find it to be nearly perfect for my application.
My son has a Giant Boulder with probably the smallest frame they make. He really loves his bike, but in our neighborhood, the hills are a real problem for any serious exploring on a bike. Grades above 15% are common, 20% not unheard of. If we are going to ride together, we usually take the bikes to a greenway on the back of the car.
I would like for him to be able to truly explore the area on his bike. Is there any electric conversion that would really kill the hills? My SM is like a goat, but I paid nearly $2k for it. Speed is not even on the map (in fact, speed over 15 mph would be a negative); I would just like something that crawled up the hills. Probably a really low geared hub motor would be in the right ballpark. The SM crawls up the 20% at about 5 mph. drawing 15 amps at 36V, so it is doing about 500W. Of course, with the SM, I can then gear up and fly to work. For him, speed on the flats will not be important. Since a hub motor doesn't have all the gearing available, it needs to be set up for hill climbing and will probably need more watts.
Not looking for something to do 1000s of miles. Probably even a conversion using a brushed rear motor a-la Currie would be fine, mnaybe even optimal. Could not find this in a conversion kit, except with 24V/10 Ahr SLAs. I'd like to get a higher voltage for watts on the hills since he will not be able to change the motor gearing and also LiPO4.
Anyone whose gone this route who could comment would be helpful. I realize it will not make sense to some to get a motor for a kid's bike, but he really can't explore much with the hills. Think of it as a green alternative to a 50cc dirt bike. He really likes to go adventuring and I think this would give him the physical freedom to do it.
My son has a Giant Boulder with probably the smallest frame they make. He really loves his bike, but in our neighborhood, the hills are a real problem for any serious exploring on a bike. Grades above 15% are common, 20% not unheard of. If we are going to ride together, we usually take the bikes to a greenway on the back of the car.
I would like for him to be able to truly explore the area on his bike. Is there any electric conversion that would really kill the hills? My SM is like a goat, but I paid nearly $2k for it. Speed is not even on the map (in fact, speed over 15 mph would be a negative); I would just like something that crawled up the hills. Probably a really low geared hub motor would be in the right ballpark. The SM crawls up the 20% at about 5 mph. drawing 15 amps at 36V, so it is doing about 500W. Of course, with the SM, I can then gear up and fly to work. For him, speed on the flats will not be important. Since a hub motor doesn't have all the gearing available, it needs to be set up for hill climbing and will probably need more watts.
Not looking for something to do 1000s of miles. Probably even a conversion using a brushed rear motor a-la Currie would be fine, mnaybe even optimal. Could not find this in a conversion kit, except with 24V/10 Ahr SLAs. I'd like to get a higher voltage for watts on the hills since he will not be able to change the motor gearing and also LiPO4.
Anyone whose gone this route who could comment would be helpful. I realize it will not make sense to some to get a motor for a kid's bike, but he really can't explore much with the hills. Think of it as a green alternative to a 50cc dirt bike. He really likes to go adventuring and I think this would give him the physical freedom to do it.
