Looking for Simplicity.

[JQKA]

I’m looking for a reliable vendor of a 250 W kit for a 700cc front wheel hub. No bells & whistles needed.

 

[fill]

fwiw i fitted a yose power conversion kit just under 2 years ago - basic generic kit all in inc tools needed for crank and cassette removal. An afternoon fit and no trouble since,

 

[e-beach]

What is your budget?

 

[E-HP]

Grin is a reliable vendor. You can choose one of their barebones kits, and customize it by selecting things like the rims and spokes, controllers, batteries, etc. so the kit meets your requirements, but still is compatible/plug n play in the end. They aren't cheap, but most of the extra dollars go toward better quality.

Barebones Kits - Kits by Type - Shop

The Barebones Kits have just a throttle control with built in voltage LED indicator. They are great for minimal builds with no wiring clutter, but lack some of the features that more experienced ebike riders tend to appreciate.

ebikes.ca

 

[JQKA]

Thank you. I’ll check it out. I’ve discovered that there a lot of really smart folks on this forum!

 

[E-HP]

Thank you. I’ll check it out.

You could also get a cheap kit off of Amazon. They are a reliable vendor, in the sense that it's easy to return things. The issue with prebuilt wheels is that they use the cheapest junkiest rims on the planet. You can still get thousands of miles out of them, but spokes get loose or creaky, and the spoke holes may start to crack with a lot of miles. If you're just getting into ebiking, there's nothing wrong with going the cheap route, but if you stick with it, you'll probably upgrade things later. If it's something you're putting together for a purpose, like commuting to work or a substitute for a car, you may want to go the quality route (but you still may want to upgrade things later anyway). In either case, try to go the quality route for the battery. It can last though a few upgrades if you take care of it.

 

[offGridDownUnder]

No bells & whistles needed.

You haven't posted much yet, so I can't gauge what your knowledge is. You also did not mention saving $$, so this may not be important to you, but some advice...

The battery is the most expensive single part generally. You can make the battery last at least 3x as long if you keep it's state of charge between 20% & 80-85%. Think about the cost of buying one battery vs three - that extra savings can go towards better parts for the rest of the bike.

I use Grin's Satiator charger to automatically stop charging at my chosen percentage. I have also done this by just watching the display and pulling the plug when the charge is sufficient - but this requires a display that shows the current voltage.

 

[Chalo]

Motor:

26" BAFANG DC36V - Electric Bike Wheel with Tire (LIMITED STOCK)

This is for a previously used commercial electric bike wheel Listing is for the BAFANG DC36V - 26" Front wheel/Hub Batteries and Controllers are not included, we also just ran out of nuts, washers, and brake calipers. The wheels have good tires, but the tubes might need to be replaced. (tire...

www.batteryclearinghouse.com

It will need to be unlaced or cut out of the rim and spokes, and relaced into a 700C (as in 700 A, B, or C) rim. It ain't rocket science, but you still might want to have a professional do that.

You'll need a controller; this one is stoopid cheap:

36V/48V 350W DC Electric Bicycle E-bike Scooter Brushless Motor Speed Controller | eBay

(Rated Power: 350W. Cruise speed line. if wheel reverse, Separate the self-learning line. Docking the self-learning line again，if wheel forward ,Separate the self-learning line.). docking the two self-learning lines, the wheel will forward or reverse.

www.ebay.com

Then you'll need a throttle.

Finger Thumb Throttle 1 Pc 1.6 Meters Wire 22mm Diameter Accelerator Bike Ebike | eBay

The accelerator is specially designed for electric scooters/electric bike, suitable for most scooter/e-bike models. The thumb press is designed with raised stripe for easy acceleration and very easy to use.

www.ebay.com

And an on-off switch:

Motorcycle Fog Light Switch On/Off DC 12V Handlebar Mounted Yellow Scooter/Moped | eBay

(1) Motorcycle/Scooter Fog Light Flip Switch On/Off DC 12V Handlebar Mounted 7/8". Most orders are processed within 24 hours. You are buying, using and possessing this item at your own risk.

www.ebay.com

And a battery:

60 LG MJ1 18650 Cells in a 36v 756Wh 21000mAh 10s6p pack

This listing is for 60 LG MJ1 18650 Cells in a 36v 10s6p pack. We have meter tested to ensure all packs are resting above 25v but we have not capacity tested and are not guaranteeing the BMS to be functional. These packs are "untested" and sold as-is.*Metal casing not included* Pack Specs...

www.batteryclearinghouse.com

This is the simplest formula. You'll have to reconcile the wires from the battery at least, but that should help demystify the process a little bit anyway.

 

[amberwolf]

The issue with prebuilt wheels is that they use the cheapest junkiest rims on the planet. You can still get thousands of miles out of them, but spokes get loose or creaky, and the spoke holes may start to crack with a lot of miles.

Note that it isn't necessarily because the rim is junky that the holes crack.

It is usually because the builders of most hubmotor wheels use 12g (or larger) spokes, which require more tension than most bicycle rims are designed to handle. Even rims with eyelets can fail with cracked nipple holes because of this issue.

Once the holes crack (which may not be visible to the naked eye at first) the spoke loses tension and the nipple can unscrew from cyclic loading changes, making the spoke even looser. The cyclic loading changes also cause elbow breakage of the spokes near the spoke flange of the hub.

There are many many posts around the forum (and probably the internet in general) about this issue, though many newbies refuse to believe the root cause is actually the root cause (and many "experienced" ebikers that don't understand how wheels work also don't, despite the evidence they see everytime they have a wheel failure from it).


They could use the crappiest rims imaginable and if they simply used the correct gauge of spokes (15g preferable, 14g at largest) for the rim's limits, the problem wouldn't happen.


Build a regular wheel, no motor involved, for just a pedal bike, and use 12g spokes on a common bicycle rim, then ride it around awhile and see what happens to *that*, and you can see it doesn't matter if there's a motor or not, either.