Hello all. I’ve come close to building my first ebike before but ended up not going forward - got cold feet on the two speed motor as it seemed more experimental than I wanted to go with. But this time, I have a fun little project that I am ready to move on, if it can come together as I hope.
I have three bicycles (well, one is a tandem shared with my wife, so maybe that should be 2-1/2) as I really enjoy cycling and want the ebike to be more about supplementing my power, rather than replacing it. Living in hilly Seattle, I am looking for some help on the hills, valuing torque over speed.
I am intrigued by mini-velo bikes which essentially have a full size frame with smaller wheels. I am looking at a steel frame / steel fork bike with 20” wheels that will fit tires up to 2” wide. I figure the 20” wheels will help with torque.
My goal is a very simple lightweight ebike, preferably with a front hub motor. The mini-velo is single speed (I’ll ride freewheel, not fixed) and weighs 20 lb. My plan is for the hub motor to help me up the hills - I’ll take care of the flats and descents, which I usually coast down. My cadence is usually about 90 but I am comfortable going from 60 to 120, can go less that 60 as needed. I can swap out the rear cog to find the ideal gear to work with the motor. I weigh about 170 lbs and will carry little on the bike. In a perfect world battery, motor and controller would add about 10 lbs to the package making 30 lbs total for bike, 200 lbs total for bike and rider. Total cost would be about $1000, with $350 of that going for the bike.
I’m okay with 12 mph climbs but I would prefer a little more speed but not if it means moving from a 5 lb motor to a 10 lb motor. I have been reading about the small hub motors from Bafang, Cute, etc. and looking at batteries. I really like the idea of this 52V mini battery from Luna:
http://lunacycle.com/batteries/packs/52v/52v-mighty-mini-cube-ebike-battery-pack-panasonic-ga-7ah-3-pounds/
Can I use it to power a Q100H? I was thinking of using the 201 rpm version instead of the 260 rpm version even though I am just putting it in a 20” wheel, assuming I’ll get more torque and the speed would be acceptable for my purpose. Would running 52 volts give me more speed than the 201 rpm rated value? Would there be a better motor choice in the 5 lb weight range? What should I limit amperage to? Can you recommend a controller? I was thinking of just a thumb throttle - I’ll pedal to get moving a little then add the electrical power.
The main reason I want a front hub motor is that one future tweak might be to fit a Sram automatix two speed hub in the rear (modify shift point as desired) to get an extra gear without adding a shifter. This would increase cost to $1100 - $1200 range.
Can this be made to work well without going to a bigger motor or bigger battery? If no, what would be best? I really want to keep the weight down. Thanks for your thoughts, comments and advice!
I have three bicycles (well, one is a tandem shared with my wife, so maybe that should be 2-1/2) as I really enjoy cycling and want the ebike to be more about supplementing my power, rather than replacing it. Living in hilly Seattle, I am looking for some help on the hills, valuing torque over speed.
I am intrigued by mini-velo bikes which essentially have a full size frame with smaller wheels. I am looking at a steel frame / steel fork bike with 20” wheels that will fit tires up to 2” wide. I figure the 20” wheels will help with torque.
My goal is a very simple lightweight ebike, preferably with a front hub motor. The mini-velo is single speed (I’ll ride freewheel, not fixed) and weighs 20 lb. My plan is for the hub motor to help me up the hills - I’ll take care of the flats and descents, which I usually coast down. My cadence is usually about 90 but I am comfortable going from 60 to 120, can go less that 60 as needed. I can swap out the rear cog to find the ideal gear to work with the motor. I weigh about 170 lbs and will carry little on the bike. In a perfect world battery, motor and controller would add about 10 lbs to the package making 30 lbs total for bike, 200 lbs total for bike and rider. Total cost would be about $1000, with $350 of that going for the bike.
I’m okay with 12 mph climbs but I would prefer a little more speed but not if it means moving from a 5 lb motor to a 10 lb motor. I have been reading about the small hub motors from Bafang, Cute, etc. and looking at batteries. I really like the idea of this 52V mini battery from Luna:
http://lunacycle.com/batteries/packs/52v/52v-mighty-mini-cube-ebike-battery-pack-panasonic-ga-7ah-3-pounds/
Can I use it to power a Q100H? I was thinking of using the 201 rpm version instead of the 260 rpm version even though I am just putting it in a 20” wheel, assuming I’ll get more torque and the speed would be acceptable for my purpose. Would running 52 volts give me more speed than the 201 rpm rated value? Would there be a better motor choice in the 5 lb weight range? What should I limit amperage to? Can you recommend a controller? I was thinking of just a thumb throttle - I’ll pedal to get moving a little then add the electrical power.
The main reason I want a front hub motor is that one future tweak might be to fit a Sram automatix two speed hub in the rear (modify shift point as desired) to get an extra gear without adding a shifter. This would increase cost to $1100 - $1200 range.
Can this be made to work well without going to a bigger motor or bigger battery? If no, what would be best? I really want to keep the weight down. Thanks for your thoughts, comments and advice!