How and why did you get into Ebikes?

[Ussyamoto]

First post, please be kind.
Was wanting to share my ebike story and hear some other's.

I go to school and work, school being 17 miles away and working being 11, and was spending about 300-400$ a month on gas and really did not have a large enough budget to support the fuel/upkeep needs of my 1992 SC400. So I looked into motorized bikes again, remembering I had a 49cc china girl when I was a kid and how fun it was, after a little research and a few days I built a 66cc with jack-shaft and other mods on an old Schwinn suburban. With the setup I had I was able to do around 40mph on level ground and maintain 35 up hill. It smelled horrible and was also greasy mess so I kept it on my apartment porch with a cover over it to prevent prying eyes, but OC management came by after a while and said it was a fire hazard and I had to get rid of it. So I sold it to a friend for 700USD only after 200miles on it and looked into ebikes, did research and decided that the MP3 48v 10Ah was in a price range and I have enough DIY knowledge to maintain it. I've had the MP3 now for 3 months and have put a little over 400miles on it with only 2 accidents both my DA fault but over all very happy with the product. I now prefer Ebikes over china girls because of the lower amount of maintenance, no smell, no noise, more torque, and most of all NO VIBRATIONS! I'm already looking into upgrading for more speed, thinking 72v, but my wallet and wife keep me sane

additional info for interested persons,
Motor-MP3
Batt - 48v 10Ah
Range WOT W/o assist - 18miles
Bike weight - 80lbs
Rider - 190lbs
Average 26wh/mi
Bike- full sus mongoose.
Speed- 24mph flat, 22 up hills, 28 down.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great day.

 

[Ussyamoto]

I might post pictures of my bikes later if anyone is interested.

 

[Tommy L]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Please update where you live on this planet and/or other planets

My Name is Tommy L and I wanted to explore Electric Propulsion because I knew the Torque of electric motors was very strong.
I have built (in order of builds) .......

Electric Pusher Trailer - Baldor 3 phase motor with VFD to control speed
Hooligan Mountain Bike - 9c 2810 running anywhere between 24 - 40s
2 Catrikes with Bionx's
15.5hp Lawn Tractor Conversion to Electric ME1004 motor with 1.88KW LiFePO4 at 54v


Tommy L sends.....

 

[dogman dan]

I got into ebikes by flying hot air balloons till I had spent enough to have bought a second house. Don't regret a cent of it.

Then, in 2008, it was looking like anything could happen to the $25,000 I had by then on the charge cards. Had it all at 4% or less, but it looked like any month they could jack it to 21%, on a whim. Started to feel a bit exposed.

So I also started looking for any way to shave my budget, and bought the first ebike intending to only do the shortest trips by bike. Stopped flying of course, still have two balloons in the garage that haven't flown in 6 years. Value by now, $0.

Then, having always loved anything with two wheels, I fell in love with riding the thing. Next thing you know, I'm doing the 30 mile round trip to work at least 3 days a week. Debt was gone 2 years ago so I could finally afford a better car, for when I do drive. As little as I drive now, It could be the last car I ever buy.

 

[spinningmagnets]

I wanted my son to get a 2-year degree from the nearby college, he agreed and thought accounting would be a steady job. After that he could go anywhere and support himself at roughly the age of 20. He had worked and saved and bought a used car. He then rapidly got two speeding tickets, and his license suspended for a year.

I already knew about the gasoline "chainsaw" kits that could be attached to a bike (for him). Went to Staton-inc on the web to see what was the latest. In Google searches came across electric bikes, found VisforVoltage (some E-bike info, mostly E-scooters). Fechter was on both forums, mentioned I might also find useful answers on endless-sphere.

Oh...and my son joined the Army because he couldn't imagine attending college for a year without having a car to take girlfriends out.

 

[Ussyamoto]

I wanted my son to get a 2-year degree from the nearby college, he agreed and thought accounting would be a steady job. After that he could go anywhere and support himself at roughly the age of 20. He had worked and saved and bought a used car. He then rapidly got two speeding tickets, and his license suspended for a year.

I already knew about the gasoline "chainsaw" kits that could be attached to a bike (for him). Went to Staton-inc on the web to see what was the latest. In Google searches came across electric bikes, found VisforVoltage (some E-bike info, mostly E-scooters). Fechter was on both forums, mentioned I might also find useful answers on endless-sphere.

Oh...and my son joined the Army because he couldn't imagine attending college for a year without having a car to take girlfriends out.

I was kind of in the same boat as your son and I wish him the best of luck. It's a good decision and it will help him through college at a later date if he decides to continue. Although I would have suggested the airforce

Hello and welcome to the forum. Please update where you live on this planet and/or other planets

My Name is Tommy L and I wanted to explore Electric Propulsion because I knew the Torque of electric motors was very strong.
I have built (in order of builds) .......

Electric Pusher Trailer - Baldor 3 phase motor with VFD to control speed
Hooligan Mountain Bike - 9c 2810 running anywhere between 24 - 40s
2 Catrikes with Bionx's
15.5hp Lawn Tractor Conversion to Electric ME1004 motor with 1.88KW LiFePO4 at 54v


Tommy L sends.....

Seems like a large project to jump into "Electric Pusher Trailer - Baldor 3 phase motor with VFD to control speed" do you have a background in electric motors or just hobby knowledge?

 

[Tommy L]

Seems like a large project to jump into "Electric Pusher Trailer - Baldor 3 phase motor with VFD to control speed" do you have a background in electric motors or just hobby knowledge?

I just one of these guys that does a lot:
Built a motorhome
built two houses all aspects, I pull own permits
Red belt Tae Kwon Do
Amateur Radio Operator VE7TAC
Open Water II NAUI SCUBA Diver
I Build Guitars and Basses
I play several instruments

I can become a SME (Subject Matter Expert) quickly.....

I don't know everything, I learn everyday.

The Pusher Trailer was my first project to prove to myself that there is OFF THE SHELF products, and once put together, can make you go!

Tommy L sends.....

 

[Goathead]

As Bob Seger might say:
"I'm little bit older and a lot less bolder than I used to be . . .
I used to pedal 'round, but now I have to worry about my knees"

House is on a mesa, driving to the grocery seemed sort of absurd. Kind of like driving one's bike to a bike path or driving the car to a gym. Why not cut expenses and save time?

More than half a life ago, I was an avid cyclist. Still enjoy it, but now I want a little help. (Back then I didn't need bifocals, either, so . . .)

Looked briefly at 2 and 4 stroke ICEs for a bike, but -- having lived in timber country, when that chainsaw chain snaps -- bad things can happen. And I haven't really seen any gasser designs that shield the chain adequately. Add to that, noise, smell, banishment from bike paths and it's pretty easy to look to electric.

 

[Eclectic]

OK…so it started 45-50 years ago (when I was 10-12 years old). I saw a picture of an electric truck that Prof. Ferdinand Porsche (iirc) had developed for the German army during WWI. It used dd hub motors. I became totally fascinated with the idea of hub motors and the concept was stored as a cool device in the inventor’s database in my head.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s. I saw an interview with Gen. Wesley Clark who was promoting electric bikes with hub motors. Bingo!! This was a perfect application for those hub motors that had been rattling around in my head for so long.

Unfortunately my life was tanking very badly about that time and building an electric bike took a back seat to keeping everyone I love heads above water.

Finally after years of very hard work, I could see a little tiny glimmer of light. In 2012 I got an 80s/90s vintage Univega mountain bike from CL, an 800w motor from Yescomusa (paid cash for it from the warehouse) and 10Ah 20c hard cases from HK and started working on my build. It’s taken nearly 20 months (@ 5-10 hours a month, which was about all I could devote) to get it to the point where I can now use it to commute 1-2 days a week (31 mi round trip).

I love my bike. I love riding my bike. I love designing and building things for my bike. I love the concept that it is one of the most energy efficient ways of human transport. I love that it has a dd hub motor that I have been thinking about most of my life.

 

[kfong]

When I saw the potential of Ebikes for trail riding. I knew I had to have one. Since they where either too expensive at the time or not suited to trail use. I had to build my own, been electrifying things on two wheels ever since.

 

[electr0n]

I was looking for frugal transportation options more than anything else. While researching different options I came across electric bicycle conversions. After trying a couple out for myself I was sold. I bought a Crystalyte kit and used it primarily for recreation at first, since at the time I was too far to commute. After moving and finding a job closer to home I sold my car and used my bike as a sole means of transportation for a couple years.

Recently I'm back to having a car again but only at my wife's insistence

I'm thinking my next vehicle is going to be a diesel truck with a waste vegetable oil conversion to save on high gas prices. Although I'll still be stuck with Ontario's excessive insurance costs unfortunately.

Economics aside, riding the electric bike is just pure fun.

 

[mateusleo]

I had never heard about ebikes till my dad talked to me about it. Said it would be a good alternative to bus to go to tennis class and to move from home to girlfriend's and eventually to my grandmother's, also to his working place like four times a week, so i could help him there. The idea grew up in my mind add went very exciting, so I made a good research in a Brazilian sales site(just like eBay but only Brazilian sellers) a found this good 1000w 48v 26' ebike. After a while the stock sla's became useless and I had to change, so I made my first big international purchase: 48v 20ah lifepo4 battery from sunthing, very good battery so far. I found ES a little while before buying the battery and found many resources here, since then I've been reading this forum and my knowledge about ebikes have grown significantly. Now I have plans to build a great ebike after I finish college, which will still take about 4 years, electrical engineering btw. Short story long: ebikes are to damm addictive!

 

[Drunkskunk]

I was board, drunk, and unsupervised around power tools. I really have no idea what happened beyond that. I started off going into the garage to repair a bottle opener that had worn out, and I woke up naked on a motel room floor in Vegas 3 days later next to a naked older lady petting a duck, and an ebike.
The duck and I agreed never to speak of that night again. The Ebike blackmailed me into taking it home, and the granny sends me a dozen cookies every month so I won't send her grandkids the pictures I don't remember taking.*









* Some facts may have been slightly altered to protect the innocent from boredom.

 

[imorton]

I was board, drunk, and unsupervised around power tools. I really have no idea what happened beyond that. I started off going into the garage to repair a bottle opener that had worn out, and I woke up naked on a motel room floor in Vegas 3 days later next to a naked older lady petting a duck, and an ebike.
The duck and I agreed never to speak of that night again. The Ebike blackmailed me into taking it home, and the granny sends me a dozen cookies every month so I won't send her grandkids the pictures I don't remember taking.*

* Some facts may have been slightly altered to protect the innocent from boredom.

PRICELESS !!!

Thanks, I needed a good laugh… Loll

 

[mateusleo]

I was board, drunk, and unsupervised around power tools. I really have no idea what happened beyond that. I started off going into the garage to repair a bottle opener that had worn out, and I woke up naked on a motel room floor in Vegas 3 days later next to a naked older lady petting a duck, and an ebike.
The duck and I agreed never to speak of that night again. The Ebike blackmailed me into taking it home, and the granny sends me a dozen cookies every month so I won't send her grandkids the pictures I don't remember taking.*









* Some facts may have been slightly altered to protect the innocent from boredom.

The story matches your nickname haha

 

[Ussyamoto]

I was board, drunk, and unsupervised around power tools. I really have no idea what happened beyond that. I started off going into the garage to repair a bottle opener that had worn out, and I woke up naked on a motel room floor in Vegas 3 days later next to a naked older lady petting a duck, and an ebike.
The duck and I agreed never to speak of that night again. The Ebike blackmailed me into taking it home, and the granny sends me a dozen cookies every month so I won't send her grandkids the pictures I don't remember taking.*









* Some facts may have been slightly altered to protect the innocent from boredom.

HAHA! amazing story

 

[drew12345]

I was mountain biking a lot and then I injured my foot (from jogging). To stay on two wheels, I got a currie ebike less than year ago and got hooked from there. Now have 2 ebikes. Love it.

 

[USAEBIKECO]

For me , I hated taking the bus or owning a car. I always liked biking but I wanted a less physical way to bike to work. That's when I started building ebikes. I wanted others to share the same positive experience that I went through. Its also nice to cut costs by not owning a car, and not having to waste my time waiting on an overcrowded bus. Parking is also plentiful with my ebike!

 

[TotalConfusion]

Ive tried to get into Ebikes because my partner is very sick and the medical bills kept racking up and i had to leave my job to look after her, We sold our two cars to pay the bills and i sold my KTM 300 to build my ebike 5 months ago with no luck at all.
Now sitting here pondering if ill ever be able to save the money to send the controller back that didnt work from the get go and as much as i hate those gas powered bikes, it now seems i should have chosen that route instead of this one.

 

[mikebikerad]

When I was in high school I had a beater car that barely ran and had a 16 mile ride to school growing up in the hills. The ebike was the answer but it did not come quickly, required lots of revs. First few bikes I fried some cheap controllers and had shotty wiring with lead acid batteries so I never made it very far and found myself walking on a few occasions. Now just a few years later things have come a long ways in e-bike technology!

 

[molybdenum]

My commute to work is 14km each way and I've been riding my bike for years to save money and lessen my impact on the planet. I've always struggled with the fact that there is no shower at work, and I'm often pressed for time and have to make the commute very quickly.

I was riding my non-electric Kona hybrid from work one late afternoon last winter, when I was handily passed by a 60s something gentleman. Being used to leaving the lycra in the dust, I couldn't believe my eyes; I tried to keep up. It took everything I had to maintain the distance between us for 6 blocks when he became stopped at a light. That's when I realized he was riding an electric bike.

It still didn't sink in at the time (call me daft). A couple weeks passed and I was making the same trip home. I sensed a bicyclist behind me and thought I'd make him/her work for it and there he was again! - zipping by; that's when it hit me and I was bitten. My research quickly led me to the sphere and I just completed my first build yesterday!

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=57825

Grin on

 

[The fingers]

My commute to my night job went from 3 miles to 10 miles against a relentless headwind when we moved five years ago. Going electric saved gas as well as commute time versus driving or pedaling, as well as my legs which were wearing out.

 

[stiffi]

Trying to save the planet Maaaan...

Well, partially. I used to drive electric scooters to the train station, then our great State government banned them completely from public roads. Then I looked at ebikes as a way to bridge the gap to the train, found out that with a little work I could actually ride all the way to work! I'm a firm believer in "live where you work" so I try to stay within 20 miles of my house for work. So far, have been lucky in that regard.

Also, I'm a reformed motorcyclist. I rode in high school in college, then took a break while I got into ebikes. I then took a break from ebikes for about 3 years while I bought a gas powered scooter. Just sold it last month so now I'm back. I think I got the need for speed out of my system finally. To me ebiking is like motorcycling but usually a little safer. I realize you can still smash your face in a bike crash, but at 20 MPH you probably have a better chance of surviving than the 75 MPH I was doing on my motorcycle/scooter.

 

[Ussyamoto]

I realize you can still smash your face in a bike crash, but at 20 MPH you probably have a better chance of surviving than the 75 MPH I was doing on my motorcycle/scooter.

Truth be told. I was addicted to racing, going 160mph down the high way just cause I could and it was fun... and cause I like beating 4 cylinder wanna-be cars with my 92' V8 . Then reality kicked in. Ebikes keep me down to a nice 30, where I wont die or go to jail instantly.