Three internally-geared bikes from Costco

[Toshi]

here are three bikes that i found on Costco.com that i think would lend themselves well to electric conversion. recall from my own build thread that i am a fan of internally geared rear hubs for commuting purposes. ebikes.ca is as well: from my private correspondence with them i'm told that one of their shop bikes with a Nexus 8 rear hub is among their favorites to ride.

1) Costco.com: Pulse by Kettler Ibiza. $300. Nexus 7 drivetrain, aluminum frame, 26" wheels, V-brakes front and rear, full fenders, and a rear rack.

add lighting, maybe upgrade the rear rack or find a way to mount batteries in the frame, slap a front hub motor on there and then you'd be set, possibly undercutting my commuter bike build by $100 or $200 while getting a similar bike.

2) Cadillac Fleetwood Geared Cruiser. $650. NuVinci rear hub. 26" wheels and a rear disc brake.

the Fleetwood is a nice looking bike for sure, and those ridiculous bars could be easily fixed. it also is priced well given its NuVinci hub. cons include its abbreviated fenders, lack of a rear rack or mounting eyelets as far as i could tell, and lack of a front brake, with neither disc brake bosses or canti studs on the front fork. it would need a couple of hundred dollars of upgrades to make it worthy assuming you feel the need for a front brake (i think they are essential), but it would make a great platform for a front hub motor e-bike if one could figure out a good mounting system for the batteries within the main triangle, perhaps with an ebikes.ca 36V 8Ah NiCad pack in a triangular frame bag.

3) Cadillac AV-T Mens Adventure Touring Bike. $850. NuVinci rear hub. 700c wheels. full fenders and a rear rack. disc brakes front and rear.

the Cadillac AV-T actually looks good to go out of the box. slap a eZee geared front hub motor kit on it from ebikes.ca (to accommodate the front disc), add some lighting, and you'd basically be set with no further work.

 

[dumbass]

Am I wrong or does it look like a rather heavy angle on the spokes? I was trying to tell if they used a triple cross. Only reason I am wondering is because I just had my local bike shop install my Nuvinci for me. I picked it up new on Ebay for $216 + $20 shipping. It's a pre November '08 model so it's 9 ozs. heavier then the one for this year. Bottom line I told the shop that Nuvinci requires a single or double cross only. It's actually written in the install manual that I gave them. But when I picked up the finished wheel it had a triple cross and the spokes were actually bending at the nipples from the stress. They assured me this is the way they always installed Nuvinci hubs. I called Nuvinci and told them the story and they recommended having the hub respoked as a single cross. I took the wheel back the the shop and they agreed to redue the install as a single cross with a no charge labor because it was their screw up. However, finding the correct size spokes was a problem (14g x 208mm).

 

[dogman dan]

Good thing you are no dumbass, but the shop boys were. They allways lace em that way to avoid hunting the proper spokes. Sheesh.

Those bikes all look like great choices for a front hub bike.