gilberko76
1 µW
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2
Hello to all the members of the forum.
My name is Gil, I'm from Israel, and I bought and installed the Cyclone 360w kit on a bike.
Cyclone Taiwan manufactures chain-drive motor kits that can be mounted on regular mountain bikes. There are two kit options - the "1 chainwheel" and the "3 pcs chainwheel" that I installed, which is better. The company sells also LifePO4 batteries, but I guess their prices aren't too competitive, so I bought another LifePO4 battery.
The motor I bought is the smallest offered, 360w. the motor looks good and sturdy, and - has an internal driver. there is also a 500w option. More than 500w motors are said to be less efficient and have external drivers (Probably because they produce a lot of heat).
The motor has a good aluminium rack that mounts on the bike's frame, and a chainring that replaces the original one and has a free-wheel, which prevents the pedals form rotating with the motor.
I bought this kit because I was fascinated about chain-drive kits, and whether or not they have advantages over hub motors that justify the lot-more-complicated installation.
The bike which the kit was installed on is a 700c city bike with Shimano Nexus 7 speed rear hub, a very rare gear system in Israel. I was going to experiment, additionally if it is important to have hub gears with this installation instead of regular deralleur gears.
As I mentioned, a chain drive kit is not so straightforward to install like a hub motor. The Cyclone kit is not half-baked at all, but installing it involves tools, a little knowledge and spare time. Perhaps also some adjustments have to be done, like finding the correct motor alignment.
The kit was already used for 200 Km.
I live in a city which is hilly and is good for experimenting the kit.
When I first turned the motor on, I told myself "what, is that all the power of an electric bike?!". It takes proper gear work to get the best results from this kit.
Riding the bike with this kit goes like this: You start riding your bike normally, and shift to the right gear, in which you pedal efficiently. then, when you need power, you turn the throttle. Because of the application of gears, this motor can go, slowly but securely, very steep slopes. With the highest gear I can reach 33 KM/h on flat surface. The energy usage is very efficient - about 10 Watt-hour for 1 kilometer.
Hub gears shift very easily, but are'nt designed for the power of a motor. Sometimes gears can be shifted with the motor on, but it is recommended to turn off the motor when shifting gears, because they won't shift if the motor is at high power.
Installing the kit with regular gears (which I didn't) should be more complicated, because a front deralleur should be adjusted to match the kit's chainring, and have 2 positions instead of 3 - only high/low front gear.
The weight of the kit is noticable. the kit's chainring is made of full steel (why?) and is heavy. Using a Shimano hub will add 1.5 Kgs also.
I guess that the motor's quality and weight are very good. Having an intenal driver is also important, reducing the number of wires in the bike.
The throttle supplied with the kit is a simple ORO hall-throttle, an issue well-discussed in this forum, causing 2 probems:
a. It doesn't really function as a throttle, but more like an ON-OFF switch.
b. At maximum throttle, the motor would reach its highest power, more than the rated power, being less efficient and producing a lot of heat.
There is an elegant solution for both of the problems, which I learned from this forum: soldering a zener diode in parallel to the throttle's 0-5V output. I used the smallest zener diode I could get, which is 2.4V. The zener diode works just perfect. The motor doesn't exceed its rated power, producing little heat. The throttle acts like a real throttle, with great resolution. In fact, I was so happy getting this advice from this forum, that it led me consequently to write my review of this kit, for the benefit of other forum members as well!
Another issue you have to know, it that the company doesn't supply any motor cover for this kit. In Israel, it is summertime now, and I ride my bike with short pants. Riding with long pants would otherwise get my pants very dirty with oil because of the motor's chain. Building a motor cover yourself is one more challenge in the kit assembly.
I have a chain wear measuring tool, and I intend to check the chain wear in the future. Replacing a worn chain on time might prevent damage to the bike's sprockets.
To conclude:
There is really a debate whether it is worth installing this high-quality chain drive kit, or just installing a good easy-to-install hub motor. In my opinion, This kit is great for hilly places, but for flat surface places, a hub motor should be good enough.
If you enjoyed reading my review and found it helpful, let me know. After all, I was also guided by this forum when building my Ebike...
My name is Gil, I'm from Israel, and I bought and installed the Cyclone 360w kit on a bike.
Cyclone Taiwan manufactures chain-drive motor kits that can be mounted on regular mountain bikes. There are two kit options - the "1 chainwheel" and the "3 pcs chainwheel" that I installed, which is better. The company sells also LifePO4 batteries, but I guess their prices aren't too competitive, so I bought another LifePO4 battery.
The motor I bought is the smallest offered, 360w. the motor looks good and sturdy, and - has an internal driver. there is also a 500w option. More than 500w motors are said to be less efficient and have external drivers (Probably because they produce a lot of heat).
The motor has a good aluminium rack that mounts on the bike's frame, and a chainring that replaces the original one and has a free-wheel, which prevents the pedals form rotating with the motor.
I bought this kit because I was fascinated about chain-drive kits, and whether or not they have advantages over hub motors that justify the lot-more-complicated installation.
The bike which the kit was installed on is a 700c city bike with Shimano Nexus 7 speed rear hub, a very rare gear system in Israel. I was going to experiment, additionally if it is important to have hub gears with this installation instead of regular deralleur gears.
As I mentioned, a chain drive kit is not so straightforward to install like a hub motor. The Cyclone kit is not half-baked at all, but installing it involves tools, a little knowledge and spare time. Perhaps also some adjustments have to be done, like finding the correct motor alignment.
The kit was already used for 200 Km.
I live in a city which is hilly and is good for experimenting the kit.
When I first turned the motor on, I told myself "what, is that all the power of an electric bike?!". It takes proper gear work to get the best results from this kit.
Riding the bike with this kit goes like this: You start riding your bike normally, and shift to the right gear, in which you pedal efficiently. then, when you need power, you turn the throttle. Because of the application of gears, this motor can go, slowly but securely, very steep slopes. With the highest gear I can reach 33 KM/h on flat surface. The energy usage is very efficient - about 10 Watt-hour for 1 kilometer.
Hub gears shift very easily, but are'nt designed for the power of a motor. Sometimes gears can be shifted with the motor on, but it is recommended to turn off the motor when shifting gears, because they won't shift if the motor is at high power.
Installing the kit with regular gears (which I didn't) should be more complicated, because a front deralleur should be adjusted to match the kit's chainring, and have 2 positions instead of 3 - only high/low front gear.
The weight of the kit is noticable. the kit's chainring is made of full steel (why?) and is heavy. Using a Shimano hub will add 1.5 Kgs also.
I guess that the motor's quality and weight are very good. Having an intenal driver is also important, reducing the number of wires in the bike.
The throttle supplied with the kit is a simple ORO hall-throttle, an issue well-discussed in this forum, causing 2 probems:
a. It doesn't really function as a throttle, but more like an ON-OFF switch.
b. At maximum throttle, the motor would reach its highest power, more than the rated power, being less efficient and producing a lot of heat.
There is an elegant solution for both of the problems, which I learned from this forum: soldering a zener diode in parallel to the throttle's 0-5V output. I used the smallest zener diode I could get, which is 2.4V. The zener diode works just perfect. The motor doesn't exceed its rated power, producing little heat. The throttle acts like a real throttle, with great resolution. In fact, I was so happy getting this advice from this forum, that it led me consequently to write my review of this kit, for the benefit of other forum members as well!
Another issue you have to know, it that the company doesn't supply any motor cover for this kit. In Israel, it is summertime now, and I ride my bike with short pants. Riding with long pants would otherwise get my pants very dirty with oil because of the motor's chain. Building a motor cover yourself is one more challenge in the kit assembly.
I have a chain wear measuring tool, and I intend to check the chain wear in the future. Replacing a worn chain on time might prevent damage to the bike's sprockets.
To conclude:
There is really a debate whether it is worth installing this high-quality chain drive kit, or just installing a good easy-to-install hub motor. In my opinion, This kit is great for hilly places, but for flat surface places, a hub motor should be good enough.
If you enjoyed reading my review and found it helpful, let me know. After all, I was also guided by this forum when building my Ebike...
