First build commuter bike advice/opinions

[Vanisle1]

Hi,
I'm looking at converting my existing bike to an ebike to try and replace my car for most of my local travel. I will be using it to commute and for local errands. I would appreciate any thoughts, advice and comments. My commute is 48 km round trip, some hills to start then rail trail. Local rides will be more hilly but nothing extreme, all on roads or rail trail. I would like to keep the commute to 1 hour or only slightly longer. The amount of pedalling I do will depend on my arthritis, varies from week to week. My current bike is a Gary Fisher Wahoo, aluminum frame mountain bike. The combined weight of myself and the bike will be about 100kg. I'm thinking of using an ezee kit from Grin upgraded with their CA and torque arm. For the battery I'm considering Pings 48v 20ah or the AllCell 48v 20ah pack from Grin. The AllCell pack is a few hundred more after I calculate all the shipping, taxes, etc. Is it a better solution than the Ping? I think it's about half the weight. I would like to end up with a reliable system that I can count on. There will be times that I will be hauling a trailer with perhaps as much as 75 kg max. Appreciate any thoughts to steer me in the right direction.
Thanks, Bill

 

[bowlofsalad]

http://www.ebikes.ca/tools/simulator.html Use this to play out some worst case scenarios for yourself with weight, hills, range and so on.

I probably wouldn't put that motor in an aluminum fork even with torque arms unless they were amazingly well made and you had the watt limit set pretty low. I'd seek out replacement forks made of steel, I'd use doctorbass torque arms https://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=29129 and weld them on if you could.

 

[camerons98]

That's quite a demanding system you're asking for there, you may need a bigger battery than 20Ah if you're wanting to go 48km in an hour and potentially pulling a trailer up to 75kg, you will need quite a powerful motor which will eat up your battery, I'd recommend at least a 30Ah battery.

Put you're information in this format so it's easier for people to read and understand your requirements.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302

 

[Drunkskunk]

Welcome to the forum.

The Wahoo is a good bike to convert, however, not good for a front motor. With the 8 speed rear cluster, you should be fine for a rear motor.

The battery you picked would be fine for the round trip at speeds around 30kph. That would get you the 24km one way in under an hour, but not enough to do the full round trip in under an hour. If you could charge while there, you could increase the speed of each leg by quite a lot.

Allcell make a better battery, and would be my first choice of the two.
Ping's batteries are fine, but add another ~$100 in shipping cost to his price.

 

[Vanisle1]

Thanks,
To make it more legible,

Desired max speed on level ground. 30 kph
Desired max range at what cruising speed. 48km at 20-25kph
Preferred bike wheel size, or wheel size of bike you want to convert. 26" Wahoo mountain bike aluminum frame
Brake type of motor wheel. rim
Rider weight. 80kg
Terrain. A few hills at the start of the commute, about 60-70% relatively flat rail trail, local rides small hills less flat
Budget. would like to be around $2000 cdn but can up that if necessary.

Planning on rear wheel drive, the dropouts are 7mm thick 6061Al I think. I'll have to check that. The trailer will not often be used on the commute but on local ride of about 10k. The commute distance is 24 km each way. I could see the possibility of making a trip to town and back without having an opportunity to recharge but not often.
Bill

 

[dogman dan]

One way on the commute will need close to 15 ah of 48v. So best to plan on charging when you get there. 48v 20 ah will do it, but you'd have to slow down to about 25-28 kph.

48v 20 ah ping too big and heavy, so get the allcell.

Towing the trailer with the Ezee will be fine, if the hills are short, as opposed to several miles long. Rolling hills ok, big mountain pass with the trailer no.

 

[Vanisle1]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!
Bill

 

[MadRhino]

If you are pulling a trailer, this is a good place for extra range batteries. Build the bike lightweight with reasonable battery size for fun, and extra batteries in the trailer floor for the long range to work.