What is your reason of building ebike?

[middriveebike]

I am kind of curious in what is the reason behind why so many people love building ebikes.
Feel free to share your reason.
Let me start first.
I build my first ebike as an experiment to see how practical to use it for communition. I throw in all kind of cool ideas, such as remote start, etc.
When I am done, I am using it everyday to communte to subway station. Although it is noise as I am using brushed motor, I still manage to blend in my bike as a regular bike on the street. No more sweating!
My background is electrical, but I am also really handy with mechanical stuff too.
How about your story?

 

[Jolly Jumper]

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Independence from gasoline
Cheap (normal bike parts) and safe(DH frame + good brakes) individual transportation
Driving on bike lanes(lycra speed) or pedestrian zones(slow) without freaking out people like a motorcycle or scooter would do

And it makes more fun than driving a boring car.
I have access to car sharing and use it about 1 day in month.
Makes me sad so many people here drive only them self from A to B in a car without transportating anything. I would bet 70% of them could use a ebike for that.

 

[Eskimo]

Always been a rebel kind of. I built electric RC-planes back when all guys were laughing at me. They said only gays fly electric and all that. Now electric RC is a commonplace standard. I was downgraded on scale competitions because "elecric planes has no sound". While listening those big two strokes without silencers, who judges said were more scale-like , i was just happy actually.
I don"t know if a chainsaw imitates radial engine better than electric, maybe it does.
This is what is gonna happen for E-bikes too. In Holland they already opened first E-bike freeway, for E-bikes only. Then my knees are shot, which is bit depressing when thinking about the future which is gonna be painful. E-bike is already for me kinda combination of bicycle and a wheelchair. It performs this role beautifully. Lawmakers of course do not understand but when in the near future it"s down to my bike that i"m able to go shopping food example, who gives a damn about lawmakers. Lawmakers that ban your basic mobility are just bad lawmakers. I mean throttle of course.
E-bike is waaayyy better option for many, many people, who can not walk long longer distances without evil pain, than a wheelchair. They can do few yards well but can"t do a mile. Most European cities are not car-based cities like US cities are, having a car in European city can be quite expensive and PITA. It"s wheelchair or die here for many people. Most people do not have a car.
It"s way better to go E-biking, pedaling lightly, than rot in your home.
Then of course i am interested about new technical things too. I almost naturally avoid doing things like other people do them, always searching freedom from those grey areas. Most people shy away from things they can not place in old boxes. Boring. Creativity means you do thing wrong with intent. Nothing new comes out if you want do things right.

 

[shock therapy]

mdb,

Personally vs buying a turn key one - dollars and sense (& laws).

If money were no object then I'd go stealth or etc (If I was B Gates I'd have Ferrari or NASA build one). If there was anarchy, I'd need to mod a CA for front and rear tasers. There's a lot of excitement and motivation when you think the limits are more your own.

In terms of benefits to going electric - if you compare my car to the flintstones' it's a similar analogy.

cheers
Shock

 

[dogman dan]

I started as a cheap way to get to stores less than 5 miles from my house. Within a month I was using it to get to work 15 miles away.

By the next year, I was spending every dime I saved on transportation on more ebikes built just for fun. And then some. Became more of a hobby than just cheap wheels.

Now I don't (can't) work, and haven't the strength for riding like I used to. But I still bike to the stores a lot, and get in a short fun ride nearly every day. The main bikes are now a very light off road trail bike, and a very heavy longtail cargo bike.

 

[r3volved]

Truck broke down
Building an ebike was about half as much money as fixing my truck to drivable. Plus, no gas cost and no insurance cost.
I Tavel mainly inner city, so it works great for nearly anywhere I want to go. I just one of my parents cars if I ever have to travel anywhere excessive.

On top of all that I'm the hacker type who likes to fiddle and build shit.

That's what interested me. I took the plunge due to all the super awesome posters on this forum.
My thanks goes out to all of you for your help, your successes, failures and your ideas.

Now I want to electrify everything and tell the world how awesome it is

 

[arkmundi]

personal divestment from the fossil fuel industry, to go car-free, a net-zero life style, and have fun in the process

 

[Ykick]

Nearly 8 years ago I needed a way to get around NYC. At the time, living next door to destroyed World Trade I also realized foreign OIL is/was responsible for most if not all of the "evils" of society.

Since I've ridden m/c's forever, assisted bicycle seemed like a no-brainer. Coupled with the vast improvements in battery technology over the past several years - made the decision of going from problem-to-solution a breeze….

My point is - have you considered how much breathable AIR it requires to burn 1 gallon of gasoline? It's truly mind-boggling and to finish off the ICE process, dump nasty pollutants into the immediate area we're all trying to breath from. Never-mind the congestion, HEAT pouring out from engine compartments, and stoopid hurtling chunks of machinery running over people, pets and bicycles.

There has got to be a "better way" of moving our fat asses around for work & play. eBikes appear to me to be that "better way". Of course, they're illegal in NYC (pending payoffs and back room deals) but I can assure you many NYPD who remember that fateful day "get it" and see no reason to hassle those of us who help reduce all sorts of pollution and traffic congestion while using minimal amounts of DOMESTICALLY produced transportation energy!

I believe some call it the "Electric Revolution"…..

 

[dogman dan]

Your power is not from fossil fuel where you live? Or did you invest in solar?

I'm just happy that the bike uses a shitload less of whatever fuel provides the power. That's a huge gain over using cars even if the power is coal. Better than even electric cars for minimizing the fossil fuel impact.

 

[Tommy L]

I was curious
I understood power to weight ratio as I raced when I was a youngster.

But it all started like this.......
I wanted to build an electric car. So I started my first build with an AC Inverter Duty 3 phase Baldor 3/4hp motor, 1/2 hp VFD (variable frequency drive....controller of sorts) Put it on a Bicycle trailer. Rigged up an axle. Powered it with 2 12 volt 50ah AGM batteries in parllel to a Xantrex Inverter out to the VFD which has
an AC 120 input (it also has a 200v DC input, but that was too much for me lol) The VFD then took the 120v power to a DC bus and split it into 3 phase AC.

Yes.... DC to AC to DC to 3 phase AC and it still went 53kph and 35km before the Xantrex would go into LVC. lol
So now I understand how Variable Frequency Drives worked and also realized that a car was going to cost big dollars to build.

So I built my bicycles and a lawn tractor on lithium LiFePO4 cells
I justified the expense in the 1.88 KW pack in the lawn tractor as the motor needed to be rebuilt, and to act as a Power Outage battery back up as soon as I purchase a 48v Inverter. (tractor is 48v nominal set up)

I hope to move on to a car. I keep thinking of a motorcycle, but I have a Honda VTX1800C and I can get cold and wet on that (I've got good riding gear)
So the next logical step for me is a car.

Tommy L sends......

 

[Ykick]

It's a mixture of Fossil/Nuke as far as I understand. But even if Fossil, it's still primarily domestically produced and NOT directly funding Middle East interests who've sworn to harm me/you/us.

Even if it were a little more expensive (which it isn't as you point out DM) I'd much rather give that money to my working brothers and sisters on this continent.

 

[shock therapy]

Dogman,

"I'm just happy that the bike uses a shitload less of whatever fuel provides the power"

Do you mean if the bike was ice instead of electrical? If not then the energy used is the same. You don't get more energy by using electricity made from f/fuels. The energy is in a different form but not more or less. In fact in this case less due to efficiency. The amount of energy needed to perform an activity is the same whether solar/wind/foss/human/gravity.

Shock

 

[shock therapy]

Dogman,

Sorry, I understand now. Less wasted energy.

Shock

 

[FeralDog]

I build my first ebike as an experiment to see how practical to use it for communition.

comminution :
the breaking of a bone into small pieces.

Interesting reasoning.

I have built 'bikes" since I was a kid.
They are fun, faster, and easier than walking .
I work on motors and engines. I collect a lot of them.

I have no social , political, or religious agenda for building an e-bike; it's just another motor to me.
(I also like not having to pedal as much. I enjoy things that make life easier.)

 

[spinningmagnets]

I wanted my son to attend a local college. He got three speeding tickets in short order when he turned 18, and his license was revoked for a year. I researched E-bikes as a one-year alternative, but...he joined the army for 4 years. However, by then...I was hooked.

 

[cal3thousand]

My wife and I happened to stumble upon an iZip/eZip (Currie) store and rented a couple bikes for the afternoon. They put us on a couple E3 Metros. Real nice bikes.

I was hooked after the first takeoff from a stoplight (my face = ).

We bought one of their demo model Zumas for my wife shortly after and I wanted to find a cheaper way so I waited. Then I bought an Ebike kit and have been putting together bikes since then. Wife's Zuma was stolen so I built her a custom bike (she doesn't drive).

I was really into modifying my car and caring for it, so the mechanical aspect was enjoyable and found another use for my growing tool collection. Endless-Sphere has been a big reason why I keep wanting to build better bikes and ride more. I'm on this site everyday even though if I don't ride everyday yet, just to learn and see what the brains are coming up with.

Of course, the gas savings and the (bigger picture) benefits that come with it are also a draw. I feel that we can't all have cars in the future, so ebikes will have their place. Some day, that pedestal will be higher than the others.

 

[dgk02]

Two questions apparently. First, I like using an Ebike because I'm getting older (over 60) and commuting 25 miles a day on a bike can be annoying with big hills (Williamsburg Bridge NYC) and headwinds. So, after 12 years of commuting on an old Trek Hybrid I decided to get the Trek (Bionx) Valencia+ Ebike. It was expensive but I love it. I bought a Currie EcoRide for $600 for the significant other - not bad, small external motor and chain drive and a 24 volt Li Ion battery. It will do 15 mph or so which is enough.

Second question is why build one instead of just buying one. I've had the axle on the BionX wheel break twice, which means replacing the motor. Once was under warranty and the other was $400. Next time I'll have to find a wheel on Ebay. So I figure that I'd like a good spare ebike to take some of the load off the Trek. I've been putting one together from a Schwinn Comfort bike that I bought a few years back just to have as a backup. I put a front wheel Q100 kit on it, learning how to swap out and replace the various controls on the handlebars, and then learned about pulling the cranks and bottom bracket in order to get on the Pedal Assist sensor. A bit of a learning curve but now I know how to do those things. And I have a very good idea what to look at if something goes wrong.

 

[LockH]

Hey Big Smoke! (Well, it's been a nickname used for lots of cities, but I suspect these daze may refer to all the cars parked, while they try and "drive" to get around in Toronto.) So yeah, I'm from the "big smoke" too! First stumbled across watt some might say is "the better way" (for transportation), not for ebikes at all! But I too have somewhat of a "background" in electrical things (having gone to "SMU" in Halifax, to be an "EE" - electrical engineer) many, many moons ago, I only bought my first "ebike" (it wasn't a pedal bike at all, but a tiny two-wheeled standup scooter) to reacquaint myself with "all things electrical". My interest at the time was in electric BOATS, to get one nautical mile across Toronto harbour (I was a member of Queen City YC, and ended up living on the Islands (Wards and Algonquin) for many years. Actually a sailor most of my adult life, and I admit, the wind doesn't always blow (the Club "tender" boat was - still is - one of those watt some others might refer to as a "stink pot"... ). So yeah, maybe like some others here, I sorta stumbled across the electrical bicycle. I am currently in the middle of highly modifying an electric tricycle (foot stirrups, better lights, etc, etc), but the subject of this thread is *building*, not modifying, an ebike, so I'll butt out now... 39 posts here on ES? Sorta a "newbie" I guess? `Spect we all were at one time. So, welcome aboard the "Good Ship" ES, you're hanging out w/a bunch of mavericks, eh? Well, some others might term those here as "rebels"... Myself, I guess I'm sorta a damn "pirate"... But not on the water, just in business, where if I understand correctly, one objective is to *slay* the competition.
Cheers (from Canada, eh? You hoser...)
Hehe
Lock

 

[heavymetalthunder]

I have many reasons for building a E-bike. I was always interested in building a E-powered vehicle but the costs and weight of batteries was a project killer. My E-bike It is used as a supplemental transportation to my car. I build and test large RC model planes and have access and use many Lipo batteries and have high powered chargers to support them. So I can now get double duty out of many of my packs. There wasn't of learning curve to adapt lipos for E-bike use, as I have all the equipment to monitor, solder, and test everything. I built my own bike because the off-the-self E-Bike were too slow and costs too much. Living in Southern California, and expect for a few rainy days, the weather is just about good year around for riding. It is late October and it is a sunny and 75 degrees out there. I get more exercise on the days I ride for shopping and work as I do a bit more pedaling on the way home. Killing two birds with one stone, getting exercise and while getting around at the same time, hard to beat that.

 

[footloose]

I've always liked bikes (both ICE and pedal).

Starting around 10 years ago, I began building pedal bikes from (nearly) scratch. Have never built a frame up from tubes, but I've modified a couple frames pretty extensively.


Why did I start building?
Three reasons originally.
I couldn't find exactly what I wanted from any of the manufacturers.
Or, if I did find it, I couldn't afford it when I did.
And I was getting into touring, and believe in the simple axiom that if you built it, you know it and can fix it in a pinch.
As I got into it, I found a fourth reason: it was fun!

Why did I build my first ebike a couple years ago?
Because there are two monster hills between me and the grocery store, impractical to get groceries with just pedal power, and I hated firing up the car just to make a couple mile trip. So I found ES, got some education, and built my first electric-assisted bike.

Naturally, turned out it wasn't *exactly* the right configuration for hauling groceries up monster hills even though it was a great for other terrain and commuting.
So I build my second ebike!
It is exactly right configuration for that task -- basically a high-torque, reasonable-speed, light-weight electric motorcycle. Pedals are a nice accessory.

Why am I building my third ebike?
Danged if I can give anyone (least of all my spouse) a good sound logical reason. I've just got the bug :wink:

 

[ev tocak]

great topic middriveebike 8)

i was driving bikes since my childhood (petrol ones) and was very passionate about it ..until afew years ago i got sick to the point that it would be dangerous to continue driving them ,that was very tough for me to accept... in the end i bought a car .at that time i wasnt working (lost my job due to illness) so i had lot of free time on my hands .i searched for solution that would allow me to get around to stores and around town without a car.by accident saw a utube video of an ebike ... i dont rem anymore which was it ,but i knew that it will be just right for my needs

 

[John in CR]

I absolutely HATE having my time wasted in traffic. The final straw that started me on this path was a trip to Radio Shack that was exactly a mile from my house, and including the less than 5 minutes I was there, the trip took an hour and 45 minutes. Now, regardless of time of day, the majority of my time for the same trip would be whatever I time I take at Radio Shack.

 

[veloman]

I've been a cyclist for years and love bikes.

But I wanted a bike to be my transportation, so an electric motor was key so I could go faster, with little/no effort.

I always liked building things. I thought driving a car was too wasteful and not fun. I didn't want to support the oil industry if I didn't have to.

I didn't even know store ebikes existed when I first got into in 2008. But then later, I realized I could build a much better machine for much less money.

Best hobby, ever.

 

[SHARKBITEATTACK]

Biking is one of my favorite activities. Getting out into nature alone and exploring. The ebike will allow me to go out past my 15 mi radius comfort zone.

Also the second reason is that I'd eventually like a fast ebike that could compare to a low powered motorcycle/dirtbike. When I was younger my parents wouldn't let me own a motorcycle. I'm old enough now and on my own that I could do whatever I want, but I still have some internal desire to build my own "motorcycle" than buy one

 

[spisska]

I've ridden bikes since I was a kid, though not so much in the last few years. But the idea of an electric bicycle is something I've been kicking around in my head since the '90s. The last time I seriously looked into it was around 2006 or 2007. There weren't anything then like the resources available now, and the project just didn't seem in any way practical.

I've lived most of my life in cities or towns with dense population centers. This is how cities should be. But to think that cities can just keep expanding and putting more and more people into moving metal boxes forever ... It's just not sustainable. You cannot have a growing, modern city with a population-dense core without transport options that reduce automobile traffic.

In this context, the ebike is such a self-evidently Good Idea that it's hard for me to believe there aren't a lot more of them, at least in my part of the world.

What got me back into the topic (indeed, launched on my first build) was an article I saw in August in the Economist, I think. It mentioned that there were at the time of writing over 200 million ebikes and electric scooters on the roads in China -- a greater number than automobiles in the US.

That number floored me. We think, mostly because we're told, that electric cars are the big revolution in personal transport going on right now, but really there is a quiet revolution happening right beneath us and out of sight (pun not originally intended).

It's very hard to argue that when an item didn't really exist 15 years ago, but is now selling at the rate of millions or tens of millions per year, that it's anything less than a revolution. We in the US are very slow to see revolutions that we don't cause. Shit, we refuse to see or understand anything that happens outside of our borders.

I would argue that the ebike is a *new class of vehicle*, quite different and distinct from both a bicycle and a motorcycle/scooter. It's also got the potential to force a rethink about how people should move around in crowded places.

This is a revolution that is obviously already happening in China, and it stands to reason that such a good idea will spread. The scale at which motors and controllers are being manufactured means that they'll only get better and cheaper. Batteries are the real roadblock right now, but there has been enormous progress in the last few years.

There is a ridiculous amount of R&D going on right now in battery technology, particularly for the automotive market. Any advances made there to pack more power into a smaller and lighter battery (very much a goal) will find their way to ebike batteries too.

Who knows what the future will hold, but in a city like Chicago, many people who live in town have given up cars, or have cut back to a one-car household. Bikes, however, are ubiquitous. It wouldn't surprise me to see ebikes become incredibly popular here, especially as the price-performance numbers get more favorable over time.