Electric tandem experience?

[fifthmass]

Has anyone out there ever done an ebike conversion on a tandem?

If so, I'm curious about range and speed performance compared with a conventional ebike conversion. I have a blind friend in Florida. Back in the late 80's we did lots of serious miles on a tandem. He still has our old bike in FLA and my talk about my current ebike has raised some thoughts on converting it. The bike is plenty strong enough (heavy steel frame and fork) and has a rear rack for the battery.

All riding would be in FLA (flat) so a 408 or similar would be plenty speed and should not over tax the motor especially if we use pedal power for the accelleration and few small hills. Would not get much use if we did convert it so NiCD or NiMH might be the best battery choice since it can sit flat for extended periods.

Any experience with this?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[icecube57]

This is kinda one of those weird subjects. I was thinking about doing a tandem for me and the misses to go out on. In our case it would have to be a pack mule of a motor and i consider a 408/4012 and sacrifice the speed for the torque. It just depends if the two people are actually going to pedal like they are supposed to. I also thought about starting a peddie cab service in my town and knew i was going to need help hauling me and my passengers around and its still all about torque. You need help to probably get things moving but the motor should be able to assist or run fine when up to speed. But u also need torque to maintain a speed too in the higher speeds. Get a 408/4012 best of both worlds run it at 48v. Earl at the Power Ride Store has em stock in his store for sure.

 

[billvon]

I did an ebike conversion on a cheapo tandem. Worked OK. Actually it didn't work all that well because the bike was so lousy - chain broke, frame flexed, derailers sucked. But when it was working it worked well. I used a Tidalforce 750X motor and a lipo battery.