Looking for help with first kit!

[Ludzee]

Do some research on geared versus direct-drive motors. Decide how fast, and how far, you want to go.

Suspension, disk brakes? Under 20mph, fairly smooth roads, probably not necessary. Much faster, or much rougher, possibly mandatory.

Like to pedal? Possibly make rides that exceed battery range? Need to get home?

These are reasons I choose a light, lo-power geared motor kit, generally considered of a higher quality than the Cute series. I ruled out a direct drive as the prospect of pedaling against that heavy drag with a dead battery was not something I wanted to face. I paid more money for a good quality battery that is sealed, and locks to the bike. The kit came with a fully potted controller, as a protection against water intrusion.

I could have chosen faster, and cheaper. These are valid choices if they fit what you want to do. There is no right, or wrong, just what may, or may not, best match your desires and budget. Compromises are always necessary.

Just finding a vendor with decent shipping prices to Sweden may be the most important decision factor for you.

Just like you i have decided that a lightweight geared hub motor from a vendor based in uk, shipping then only around 30usd. Since my hometown has fairly good roads i will stick with my v-brakes, however i will get some new bits for them and make sure they sit tight. Right now i will stick with my current bike. If i feel like i want to do "more" i might consider a MTB of high quality later down the line. I really like what you said about right or wrong. Advice only takes you to a certain point, in the end it's my own needs and requirements that matters.

 

[999zip999]

I find koolstop has great brake pads. Probably the salmon color colored ones for wet roads

 

[Ludzee]

I have limited my options to Greenbikekit and ebay.co.uk (or any other uk vendor)
Shipping from bms battery seemed horrible and i have to pay alot of tax.
Can anyone recommend a optimal solution/kit from greenbikekit? Excluding shipping, around 450 USD would be nice. If they dont have any solid options at all in my budget i might just skip this Ebike thing and maybe have a new look next spring. I feel like no options are solid in my budget.¨

thanks.. Ludzee

 

[Ludzee]

I've been looking a bit on the 100qst kit but at 201rpm i guess you get no real speed right?

The conclusion (i think)
Not able to find any quality kits under around 650 usd (with shipping), if im going to spend more money than that, i first want to get a good mountainbike, with suspension, disk brakes etc, then a 750w middrive to make it a really powerful bike. But that project would not be for now, but later down the line. Thanks for all the help here on this forum. Even though i have not bought anything, i feel much wiser about this now.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

I've been looking a bit on the 100qst kit but at 201rpm i guess you get no real speed right?

The conclusion (i think)
Not able to find any quality kits under around 650 usd (with shipping), if im going to spend more money than that, i first want to get a good mountainbike, with suspension, disk brakes etc, then a 750w middrive to make it a really powerful bike. But that project would not be for now, but later down the line. Thanks for all the help here on this forum. Even though i have not bought anything, i feel much wiser about this now.

I don't know how good the roads you are traveling are, but honestly, I commute a lot by bike, and full suspension is really kind of wasted on most bikes used on the street, and unless you have particularly rough roads, plan to go motorcycle speeds, or plan to go off road , FS is just more complexity and expense than you need.

A good set of balloon tires such as Schwalbe Big Apples will add all the "suspension" you need at speeds of 20 MPH or less.

Another thing to consider, even though you are on your first kit and wanting to try a lower price bracket, I would encourage you to at least try a good mid-drive pedelect.

Especially in a country where you are more limited in power output allowed, mid-drive makes a lot of sense, keeps the bike lighter than a hub motor (especially DD hub motors in the rear wheel as they make the bike handle rear-heavy and can make the bike require and much heavier duty center stand as they tend to want to tip over much easier) generally with very little difference to just pedaling your bike as you do now.

The Bafang BBS02 is very popular as it is available most places and fits most any bicycle with minimal fuss, and given that it gets to use your current gear system as transmission, it will give you MUCH more efficiency over a hub motor, win-win in my book.

As this is your first E-Bike I understand wanting to get in at the lower price point, but just remember, as it's been said, a good battery is paramount, no matter how good your kit is, if the battery is sub-par, you might end up with a really heavy pedal bike half way through you commute, or at least get about half as much performance for the $$$ spent.

TLR

Cost effective is good, just be sure you don't go too cheap in that you end up spending 75% of what a good kit costs for about 25% of the performance! :wink:

 

[Ludzee]

I've been looking a bit on the 100qst kit but at 201rpm i guess you get no real speed right?

The conclusion (i think)
Not able to find any quality kits under around 650 usd (with shipping), if im going to spend more money than that, i first want to get a good mountainbike, with suspension, disk brakes etc, then a 750w middrive to make it a really powerful bike. But that project would not be for now, but later down the line. Thanks for all the help here on this forum. Even though i have not bought anything, i feel much wiser about this now.

I don't know how good the roads you are traveling are, but honestly, I commute a lot by bike, and full suspension is really kind of wasted on most bikes used on the street, and unless you have particularly rough roads, plan to go motorcycle speeds, or plan to go off road , FS is just more complexity and expense than you need.

A good set of balloon tires such as Schwalbe Big Apples will add all the "suspension" you need at speeds of 20 MPH or less.

Another thing to consider, even though you are on your first kit and wanting to try a lower price bracket, I would encourage you to at least try a good mid-drive pedelect.

Especially in a country where you are more limited in power output allowed, mid-drive makes a lot of sense, keeps the bike lighter than a hub motor (especially DD hub motors in the rear wheel as they make the bike handle rear-heavy and can make the bike require and much heavier duty center stand as they tend to want to tip over much easier) generally with very little difference to just pedaling your bike as you do now.

The Bafang BBS02 is very popular as it is available most places and fits most any bicycle with minimal fuss, and given that it gets to use your current gear system as transmission, it will give you MUCH more efficiency over a hub motor, win-win in my book.

As this is your first E-Bike I understand wanting to get in at the lower price point, but just remember, as it's been said, a good battery is paramount, no matter how good your kit is, if the battery is sub-par, you might end up with a really heavy pedal bike half way through you commute, or at least get about half as much performance for the $$$ spent.

TLR

Cost effective is good, just be sure you don't go too cheap in that you end up spending 75% of what a good kit costs for about 25% of the performance! :wink:

Yeah, i think that has come to my understanding now, that a pair of 100 usd can do alot for the quality. I probably will save this project until the swedish winter is over (Feb-march) but just curious, is this kit that i linked a suitable one, and how fast to these go at a cruise speed? http://www.greenbikekit.com/electric-bike-kit/central-motor-kit/bafang-8fun-bbs-kits/36v-350w-bbs01-bafang-mid-crank-kit-with-36v-down-tube-frame-battery.html

 

[ScooterMan101]

It is good that you are going to wait to do your conversion, for a couple reasons ...

There will be improvements on products over the winter, in fact there are probably improvements to both Hub Motor's and Mid-Drives right now, that will be announced / shown at
the 2016 Interbike Convention , that is held in Lost Wages ( Las Vegas ) next month.

Also keep an eye on news from the different vendors ....

http://lunacycle.com/blog/

http://www.ebikes.ca/

http://em3ev.com/store/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8


And try to order 2 months ahead of the time you want to ride, it will take from 1.5 to 3 weeks to get some or all of the parts , then for your first or first couple of conversions allow a couple of weeks to get the job done right for installing/testing, and then tweaking after testing , then perhaps some more tweaking, and/or adding other things like disc brakes, because now you are going faster, etc.

 

[999zip999]

Just save money for brake pads and good tires if needed, spare tube. Don't need disc brakes front shocks Exedra just getting on the road but I would plan for use next spring. Starting for Christmas ordering your parts. China goes on hoilday for January or wait till February to start. The whole country goes on vacation. That does look like a kit that fits your needs. But things are changing real fast. Like blue tooth, batteries with usd plug. Maybe gps locator. Removable battery for winter.
Yea the Las Vegas show is changing the world to show a new light. Guaranteed. Things are changing.