Help w/electrifying Raleigh Rapid Carbon Steel 10-speed 1990's bike

[mb2033]

♪ it's electric! Or soon to be (I hope) First of all, thank you for having me, shouldn't have dressed the table so nice, I am just a peasant.

Just picked up a Raleigh Rapide Carbon Steel, 27" wheels, ten speed with the goal of adding a motor to it, always been a dream and if possible, would love to see it come true.

Would something like these, listed on eBay fit: "BOSCH Performance Line CX E-Bike Motor Gen 4 Drive Unit UNPROGRAMMED"?
Would like to stay with BOSCH, dad was a fan of such in the 80's, so, in honor of him.

The idea is to put the battery on the rear rack.

Don't mind a little hard work, to get this going, but terminology and general know-how is unfortunately limited.

Appreciate all the help!

EDIT and UPDATE: Day #1 may just have realized that the BOSCH motor is not able to mount on the Raleigh bike, is that true?

 

[amberwolf]

Would something like these, listed on eBay fit: "BOSCH Performance Line CX E-Bike Motor Gen 4 Drive Unit UNPROGRAMMED"?
Would like to stay with BOSCH, dad was a fan of such in the 80's, so, in honor of him.

As noted by docw009 it won't fit anything but a bike frame built for that specific drive system.

Then you'll probably need the programmer for it, if it's "unprogrammed" meaning it's not setup yet, and you'll probably need the battery for that specific system, the display for it, any controls and wiring for it, etc., as they're probably all proprietary (meaning you can only use the whole Bosch system, or none of it, unless you want to reverse engineer and redesign it).


Before you decide on a drive system, battery, etc., you should sit down and make a list of the specifics of your riding conditions, biek weight, your weight, anything you need to carry, your speed and range requirements, riding style, uses you'll have for the bike, your budget, etc.

Then take that to the simulators on ebikes.ca and play with them to see what it takes to do what you need under your conditions.

That will help you find how much power it will take to do what you want, and taht will let you find a system that will do the job you need. It will also let you guesstimate how much battery (wh) you will need to do that job for the distance / time you need it to.

 

[gromike]

I would start by measuring your front, rear dropouts, and bottom bracket width and internal diameter and then figure out the motor for your application.
If I could do light it would be a front geared hub motor in such a bike as you mentioned.

 

[2old]

Your other consideration with a hub motor is 27" wheels which are kind of obsolete now. You may need to purchase a motor and build the wheel (possibly with the old rim). IMO, you'd be better off with a 80's to 90's MTB donor.

 

[Chalo]

Just picked up a Raleigh Rapide Carbon Steel, 27" wheels, ten speed with the goal of adding a motor to it,

That's a flimsy bike (as built). The frame and fork are probably workable, if you replace the wheels (with 700C size), cranks, stem and bars, maybe seatpost. None of those parts were built with powered operation in mind. If you have one of the Nottingham-built Raleighs that's "blessed" with Raleigh-only 26tpi threading for the headset and bottom bracket, just enjoy it as it is for as long as it lasts. It's not worth trying to modify because the only replacement parts for those things have to be pulled off of other olde Raleighs.

I've broken one similar frame (a Puch) after converting to electric, and a couple of substantially stronger ones too. But if you start with the low hanging fruit of the weakest components, I reckon you can use the frame you have. At least for a while.

Bosch motors don't fit real bikes, and they're a trap to keep you running back to Mommy for repairs and replacement parts. Don't fall for it. Also, a mid drive motor of any kind will quickly lay waste to your drivetrain components and leave you with repair bills that exceed the value of your bike.

Most bikes of that age and style have fork tips and frame ends that will tolerate the non-turn washers used by most sub-750W hub motors. So I'd start there.