So i've been looking at this kit .....

[AndrewTO]

Hey all!

I've been eyeballing this kit for a little while now. Seems like a pretty basic and complete kit. Comes with all necessary hardware ..... yada yada yada. Here .....

http://www.charlsgiftstore.com/showproduct.aspx?id=36007 (sorry, NOT intended to be spam!)

Does anyone have experience with this kit?

I'm not too crazy about the 22-25 kph top speed, gotta do something about that. Perhaps a simple matter or adding more juice? Hey, i'm a speed freak, so if i'm spending the money I at least gotta go fast. Oh, I mean "fast". :lol:

Can I use this kit as a "base" and build it up to something that I can get 30-35 mph out of? Or would I be better off just getting individual parts and going that route? (seems to be most popular with best results)

The plan, for now, is to put this stuff on a mountain bike and use it to commute to work and back on local bike trails on nice days. Not 100% sure, but trip distance is estimated to be 16 km each way (I know it's 14km hwy/city driving, but that's not a winding bike trail).

FWIW, I can afford to spend $1k Canadian total on this project (not including the bike purchase, of which I have enough parts to build one, so no worries there) and i'm mechanically inclined enough that I can build whatever is needed ..... i'm somewhat electrically inclined, but I can build anything if I have enough pics. No worries about burning the house down with a soldering iron here. :lol: The theory is where I lack in my electrical knowledge.

So, yeah, hit me! Help me spend all this money I don't have that's burning a hole in my visa card. :lol:

PATIA!


EDIT - just found out this kit is supposed to be the same thing as the kit from Wilderness Energy - anyone care to concur?

 

[joystix2]

If that is truly a BD36 kit by Wilderness Energy then it should say 22-25mph and not kph. I have that kit and it is a great first kit. I dont think Wilderness makes the brushed kit anymore but You can buy it on there Bargain Corner site for $255.

http://wildernessenergy.com/bargain_corner.html

 

[Lowell]

With only a 10 amp controller at 36v, 22-25km/h is realistic

 

[AndrewTO]

With only a 10 amp controller at 36v, 22-25km/h is realistic

Lowell, your reply already tells me to forget a kit and do something piece-by-piece. Is it a fair assumption? (btw, love that parking lot vid of you - what were those alarms?)

 

[Lowell]

With only a 10 amp controller at 36v, 22-25km/h is realistic

Lowell, your reply already tells me to forget a kit and do something piece-by-piece. Is it a fair assumption? (btw, love that parking lot vid of you - what were those alarms?)

Depends what sort of end result you want, but I would plan for the future. For example, a 72v controller will run fine if you want to start with 36 or 48v, but will make for an easy upgrade to high voltage later on.

The alarms were coming from Home Depot but I'm not sure why exactly.

 

[CGameProgrammer]

I too am a speed freak, and the fastest hub motors come from Crystalyte. There are a number of different vendors, and they sometimes make up names for the motors, but I bought mine from electricrider.com as it came in a kit that was simple to put together, with good instructions and stuff. Anyway, the most powerful Crystalyte motors are the 530X series, also called 500 series or X5. The 5303 is the fastest, with the 5304 and 5305 having progressively lower max speeds but faster acceleration and much better hill-climbing ability.

The above website calls the series the Crystalyte Phoenix, and the 5303/4/5 they call the Racer, Cruiser, and Brute.

Anyway, they report a top speed of 36 mph with no pedaling, using the 5303 on a 26" wheel. I have the 5303 on a 28" wheel, which should be faster, though 33.5 mph is my top speed; probably a minor battery problem though. But it's pretty fast. Note that the kit costs $1000; weaker kits cost half that or less.

Ebikes.ca is a Canadian seller of Crystalyte hub motors. I'm not sure if they're temporarily inactive since their main page, updated in March, states they were still busy moving to a real address.

 

[Lowell]

Ebikes.ca is very much in business, and I'm lucky to be local to their store. As far as what to buy for C$1k, I'd highly recommend stretching your budget a little and buying an X5 hub (5303 or 5304 depending on hills you plan to ride on a lot), 72v 35 amp controller, and 36 or 48v worth of 18Ah batteries. $12-1300 for all that, and leaves room for more speed as money permits.

If you really need to get rolling for $1k, buy good hardware and run SLA or nicads and save $$ for NiMH or lithium down the road.

 

[Mathurin]

"BD36 kit by Wilderness Energy"

Beware the BD 36 is brushed, the BL is brushless. These are essentially clyte 4X motors, but the brushes limit how much power you can put through them. Also eff is less good then with the BL variants.

 

[xyster]

Anybody know of sources selling the BL-36 kits?

 

[AndrewTO]

Wow, great info guys! A few things here I didn't find while searching, too.

Lowell - i'm thinking for the "extra few bucks" i'd go with a 72V 35a controller. That and it seems to be the biggest thing that ebikes.ca has (life would be MUCH easier purchasing within Canada). Probably start with SLAs to keep the cost down (yup, i'd rather spend the money on the 'major' components to start). More info hunting to do for SLA batteries - maybe motorcycle batts?

CGP - 28" wheel? Hmmmm, what's that?!?! Is it a 700 or 29er wheel? Again, biggest/baddest/bestest - I think my bigger "problem" is deciding front or rear hub now. :lol: I'll do some digging here to see what more I can find out about the three different motors.


Okay, so, yeah, there goes the kit purchase. :lol:

 

[Lowell]

Rear hub for sure and I'd stick with a standard 26" wheel. You can experiment with SLA's to find your ideal voltage, as they will give good performance for the first few minutes of your ride.

 

[Ypedal]

Rear wheel... if you plan to go 72v eventually..

The X5 also comes in 5302.. i have one in a 20" wheel and it's insane fast even at 48v...

 

[xyster]

Rear hubmotor. At anything over 1000 watts, a front hubmotor is too likely to rip itself out of the dropouts, or rip the dropouts apart.

 

[Lowell]

Plus wrong wheel drive is just.... wrong.

 

[Mathurin]

Dunno how it could change anything on pavement, but FWD is awesome in the slop, makes for a 2wd bike. Hard to describe but it pulls it's self in the direction you point it.

 

[xyster]

Dunno how it could change anything on pavement, but FWD is awesome in the slop, makes for a 2wd bike. Hard to describe but it pulls it's self in the direction you point it.

With a beefed-up front fork, I think 12lb 408's or 8lb Puma's would be cool front and rear. But that's more than double the expense for two hubmotors and two controllers plus fork mods.

 

[AndrewTO]

While i'd normally agree that wrong wheel drive is wrong (love it, Lowell!), i'm ..... thinking. NOT a good thing, btw.

The bike would strictly be used for commuting (and getting into the 50 mph club one day ..... maybe), no other use. Rigid steel fork to keep bike weight down (ask me how much I like the idea of a 60+ pound bicycle regardless of how it's propelled). Really tempted to do a road bike frame instead of mountain, but i'm sure the lock-to-lock on these motors is for 135mm spaced frames. (Right? Someone say it's so!!!!!) Meh, i'll stick with big, sticky slicks.

Would there be any kind of benefit to doing both? Yes, well aware about it being double the cost, xyster, but ..... I don't see it being double the effeciency or speed ..... or even 50% better. I'm trying to compare it to having two engines in a car ..... yeah, it'll go faster, but ..... :?

Any ideas anyone? Intriguing, for sure, but worth it? (I don't recall this being discussed before, but admittedly never searched for something quite like this)


Mathurin - surely it's akin to driving a car in the snow (slop). FWD has it's on pros/cons, as does RWD. We all know AWD rocks, however.


Lowell - you mention "first few minutes of your ride" - what about the rest?!?!?! Something about discharge rate you're talking about? :?