Sixthreezero EVRYjourney

[WArmand]

Could I get some advice on this build?

I got a Sixthreezero EVRYjourney cruiser (7 speed variant) for the wife, and then I bought myself an e-bike and everything changed. Now I gotta electrify hers so she can come with me. I'm trying to keep it economical. Must go at least 20mph in real-world use. Must operate with throttle or pedal assist, preferrably thumb throttle.

Option 1: Bafang BBS02+battery
This one will work but it's $500 with no battery. The convenient thing is that I can keep the rims and the white-wall tires that give the bike it's nice look. I don't want to compromise the "cuteness" if you will, because the Mrs. really loves that about the bike. However, adding on a light kit, phone charger, and battery will bring the mod close to $1k.

Option 2: 48v 1000w hub motor kit
Universally available for $200 and easy to install. Slap on the battery and accessories and she's up and running for $600. However, the included rims appear to be a more common 35mm or so. This bike has some very narrow rims, only about 19mm wide. The tires are 26x1.95, ISO 47-559 (picture attached). What does one do about the rim brakes? Do I need to get wider calipers or can I just make the existing ones open wider? Would the original white-wall tire be able to fit on a wider rim or would it be no good? If I had to sacrifice the brown rim it wouldn't be as big of a deal as losing her white-walls. Lastly, these typically seem to be twist-throttles. Are twist-throttles reversible? She has a right-hand grip-shifter, so I'd have to put a twist throttle on the left side (images attached)

Option 3: Remove rim from 48v 1000w kit and put hub motor on existing rim.
Is this even doable?

In regards to batteries, do we trust no-name Chinese kits? Or do I only want to be buying battery packs with Samsung/LG/Panasonic?

 

[amberwolf]

What does one do about the rim brakes? Do I need to get wider calipers or can I just make the existing ones open wider?

If they are actually "caliper" brakes and not v-brakes, then many of them aren't very good at stopping to begin with, and you may wish to change to another brake type, especially if this will be ridden at higher speeds than it has been so far.

If they are Vbrakes, then there are two thicknesses of washer on the brake pads. The thicker ones are on the inboard side with narrow rims; you swap them for the htinner ones on the outboard side for wider rims.

Would the original white-wall tire be able to fit on a wider rim or would it be no good? If I had to sacrifice the brown rim it wouldn't be as big of a deal as losing her white-walls.

Teh tire might fit a wider rim, but it will probably be "shorter" (smaller diameter), with a flatter profile.

If not, you can probably get new white wall tire that will fit it.

But relacing the hubmotor into the existing rim would be another option, using something like 14/15g butted (single or double) spokes, which you can get from a number of places like Danscomp and Grin Tech http://ebikes.ca , you just need to know what length. There's a spoke calculator on the latter site including instructions how to measure the rim and hub to figure out what length to use. Don't get thick ones; thicker is not stronger (unless the rim and hub are also both designed for thick spokes).


Building and truing a wheel is not very hard, just time consuming. Sheldon Brown's bicycle maintenance website (and lots of others including youtube videos) has good info on doing this. Or some bicycle shops will do it, too (some won't, or just plain don't know how).

Lastly, these typically seem to be twist-throttles. Are twist-throttles reversible? She has a right-hand grip-shifter, so I'd have to put a twist throttle on the left side

Or use a thumb throttle; there's several varieties, including one that has a lever under the bars that moves left/right instead of rotating around the bars.

(images attached)

There aren't any images attached or visible. If you use the Attachments tab below the box you type the text in, and Upload Files directly to the forum, then anyone that can see your post can see the images.

do we trust no-name Chinese kits[/url]? Or do I only want to be buying battery packs with Samsung/LG/Panasonic?

In general I personally don't trust noname batteries or many vendors--unless they've been shown to build good packs, that last....

I don't have any recommendations to which vendors, but others here will.

Just keep in mind the battery is the heart of the system, and the performance and longevity of the whole system depends on that. It usually costs at least as much as the rest of the kit, unfortunately, for good ones.

 

[E-HP]

Option 2: 48v 1000w hub motor kit
Universally available for $200 and easy to install. Slap on the battery and accessories and she's up and running for $600. However, the included rims appear to be a more common 35mm or so. This bike has some very narrow rims, only about 19mm wide. The tires are 26x1.95, ISO 47-559 (picture attached).

I haven't seen any of the cheap kits with rims that wide (I would have bought on if they were). Seems typically that they are around 22mm and come with a 26x1.95 tire on them (I tossed mine in the junk pile when I got my kit). Looking at your rim and the kit rims, it looks like you'd only need to hit the black part of the rim with some brown paint to get it to match. Is there a particular example that you're seeing?