What's your favorite ebike accessory?

mlt34

mlt34

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I'll be headed to Florida later this month for the filming of a video series on building ebikes for beginners. The goal is to develop an ebike "course" for beginners with a series of video lessons from start to finish - everything from initial planning stages to final assembly of parts and routine maintenance.

In the accessories section, I'll be including a demonstration of a number of bicycle and ebike specific accessories that have really been proven useful on ebikes, such as a few ebike headlights, the airzounds horn, wire wrap options, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an accessory that they've found is perfect for their bike? Maybe a favorite style of kickstand, the best anti-flat tire sealant, a saddle so comfy it's like sitting on cotton balls wrapped in the fur of a baby panda?

If so, I'd love to hear about it and perhaps share it in the video series. Everyone needs a baby panda seat...
 
My favorite accessory is without a doubt, a Cycleanalyst, or at least some kind of wattmeter.

But as for the bike part of it, a good kickstand rates very high on the list. My frankenbike is a monster, and stands very nicely on level ground with a double kickstand with adjustable leg length. Crow Cycles has a great selection of them.

http://www.crowcycleco.com/bicycle-components/kickstand

They also carry some very nice saddles. I still like some padding, but their spring saddles have the kind of springs I look for in a saddle. The open looking spring with lots of space between the coils provides a nice cushion effect when you hit the really big bumps. Lots of other saddles come with what I call decorative springs, that don't do much but look pretty.
 
xt-60-connectors.jpg
 
dogman said:
My favorite accessory is without a doubt, a Cycleanalyst, or at least some kind of wattmeter.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this one. We already have a CA included in the script, but I'll mention a few others for beginners that don't want to shell out for the CA. I believe one of the biggest benefits of a CA (or other wattmeter) besides tracking battery consumption is that it really teaches you how your throttle control affects your battery usage. A lot of people treat the throttle as an on/off switch, but once you start looking at how little adjustments in throttle position make a big difference in watt usage, you can teach yourself to drive much more efficiently. I'm still guilty of peeling out for fun a lot, but when I'm getting near the end of my battery, having learned how to drive efficiently with the CA is a really handy thing to know.

Also, there's a company working on a new ebike dashboard that could end up being a direct competitor to the CA. I don't think they've publicly announced it yet so I won't mention them by name, but hopefully it will be coming out in the next couple months and should be pretty neat. I love the CA but I wouldn't mind seeing someone else get into the game as well. Competition in the marketplace is good for everyone.

dogman said:
But as for the bike part of it, a good kickstand rates very high on the list. My frankenbike is a monster, and stands very nicely on level ground with a double kickstand with adjustable leg length. Crow Cycles has a great selection of them.

http://www.crowcycleco.com/bicycle-components/kickstand
Click to expand...

These look great, I think I might include one in the video. Do you have a recommendation on any specific model or all they pretty much all good?
 
Very happy to see CA mentioned in the first post, also the XT60 and larger XT90 connectors.

I have a hardtail frame, any future new bike is likely to be a full-suspension, but...for all the hardtails out there I have a long-travel Thudbuster seat-post. Pricey at $120, but recent competitors are much more expensive. It works better than you might think by just looking at it, and the cheap "tube inside another tube with a coil spring" suspension seat-posts do not work as well.

We have an aging population, and I am 54. I have found when I hit an unexpected pothole, my back cannot take as much abuse as it used to. Several celebrities have been credited with the quote "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself"...getting TB for a hardtail is good advice, along with better work shoes and a better mattress

canecreek_thudbuster_recall_m.gif
 
spinningmagnets said:
Very happy to see CA mentioned in the first post, also the XT60 and larger XT90 connectors.

I have a hardtail frame, any future new bike is likely to be a full-suspension, but...for all the hardtails out there I have a long-travel Thudbuster seat-post. Pricey at $120, but recent competitors are much more expensive. It works better than you might think by just looking at it, and the cheap "tube inside another tube with a coil spring" suspension seat-posts do not work as well.

We have an aging population, and I am 54. I have found when I hit an unexpected pothole, my back cannot take as much abuse as it used to. Several celebrities have been credited with the quote" If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself"...TB is good advice, along with better work shoes and a better mattress

canecreek_thudbuster_recall_m.gif
Click to expand...

Spinningmagnets, do you think a Thudbuster would support a say Ping 36V 10Ah inside a big seat bag such as:

http://www.topeak.com/products/bags/mondopackxl_qc

without creaking and disadjustments on the medium term? Or the 3.7kg of the Ping battery would be too much for this seat post? Of course, I do not dare asking about the 36V 15Ah ...
 
Arbol said:
Spinningmagnets, do you think a Thudbuster would support a say Ping 36V 10Ah inside a big seat bag such as:

http://www.topeak.com/products/bags/mondopackxl_qc

without creaking and disadjustments on the medium term? Or the 3.7kg of the Ping battery would be too much for this seat post? Of course, I do not dare asking about the 36V 15Ah ...
Click to expand...

Arbol, can you really fit that ping in there? Have you successfully done it or are you going by the measurements posted on the site? I worry those are measurements of the very ends of the bag, and the curved parts might make it hard to fit that ping.

Though to the question about whether it could support it, I would assume it would not be an issue, right spinningmagnets? If it mounts on the seat, then it's only adding another 3.7 kgs to the weight of the rider which is already on the seat. Assuming a 70kg rider, you're talking an extra 5% more weight on the seat.
 
do you think a Thudbuster would support a Ping 36V 10Ah inside a big seat bag
Click to expand...

I suspect the seat-bag will work just fine on the $120 TB (edit: as far as the battery pack weight), but...the only problem I see with a TB, is that shorter riders cannot lower the seat as much as they are used to doing, and this may limit the customers and frames that can be used. the Cirrus body float is over $300, and the main benefit is that its patented construction allows it to sit a couple inches lower than a TB.

I have a downill hardtail frame with a low top-bar and I'm tall, so it is not an issue for me. I only wanted to mention this before someone spent $120 and found it wouldn't work for them.
 
mlt34 said:
Arbol, can you really fit that ping in there? Have you successfully done it or are you going by the measurements posted on the site? I worry those are measurements of the very ends of the bag, and the curved parts might make it hard to fit that ping.
Click to expand...

Just measurements:

Bag: 32 x 13 x 16 cm
Ping: 150x105x150 mm

For length, 32cm is more than double the longest Ping dimension (15cm). Then, in theory 16cm should fit the other 15cm dimension, and the 13cm should fit the 10.5cm. But I agree the bag is not a rectangular cube, and real dimensions for a rectangular cube are clearly lower. Possibly the 16cm is the biggest challenge.
 
Hmm, I guess I didn't realize the Ping was so small. I've used 6 or 7 of his 48V15AH but I guess those are twice as big. I've actually got a couple Ping batteries coming in for the video series, one is a 36V10AH like you're talking about. I guess I'll finally get to see what a smaller ping looks like. The 48V15AH Pings are amazing, but take up nearly all of the frame triangle on most mountain bikes...
 
spinningmagnets said:
do you think a Thudbuster would support a Ping 36V 10Ah inside a big seat bag
Click to expand...

I suspect the seat-bag will work just fine on the $120 TB, but...the only problem I see with a TB, is that shorter riders cannot lower the seat as much as they are used to doing, and this may limit the customers and frames that can be used. the Cirrus body float is over $300, and the main bnbefit is that its patented construction allows it to sit a couple inches lower than a TB.

I have a downill hardtail frame with a low top-bar and I'm tall, so it is not an issue for me. I only wanted to mention this before someone spent $120 and found it wouldn't work for them.
Click to expand...

Interesting point, thanks. I am 5' 9'', so this may be an issue for me. I am intrigued by Thudbuster and its clones, since full suspension bikes have their own issues (especially regarding the battery: it is hard to put a battery inside the frame, and a rear bag is difficult with full suspension), and the Thudbuster solves a bit the rigidity of a hardtail.
 
mlt34 said:
Hmm, I guess I didn't realize the Ping was so small. I've used 6 or 7 of his 48V15AH but I guess those are twice as big. I've actually got a couple Ping batteries coming in for the video series, one is a 36V10AH like you're talking about. I guess I'll finally get to see what a smaller ping looks like. The 48V15AH Pings are amazing, but take up nearly all of the frame triangle on most mountain bikes...
Click to expand...

How do you fix the 48V15Ah Ping battery inside the frame? I have seen em3ev has a big bag inside the frame. But it seems that bag is only good for the triangular Samsung battery, which is quite narrow. A Ping is quite wide, does it fit naturally for pedalling, inside the frame?
 
Arbol,

Just FYI, I love this bag for putting a battery in the front triangle of a hardtail. It's really cheap for a good quality bag and also has the added benefit of better weight balance than putting it behind the seat. http://www.amazon.com/Ibera-Bicycle-Triangle-Frame-Large/dp/B006JA8WEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378146700&sr=8-1&keywords=triangle+frame+bag+ibera

91HPTxeZVcL._SL1500_.jpg


edit: whoa, holy image sizing batman!
 
Arbol said:
Ah, interesting, thanks!

So, a Ping 48V 15Ah fits inside this bag, in a "normal" 18'' frame?
Click to expand...

Ahh, sorry I should have been more specific. No, a Ping 48V15AH won't fit in that sucker. The Ping 48V15AH is a mammoth. It fits a 48V10AH and 48V 15AH made by BMSbattery.com with LiCoMn cells, but Ping uses LiFePO4 cells (which are better) but also pretty big, even by LiFePO4 standards.

Here's a pic of my 48V10AH BMSbattery battery in it with room to spare.

 
I assume you are referring to something like:

http://www.bmsbattery.com/48v/166-48v-10ah-lithium-ion-electric-bicycle-battery-pack.html

which has sizes of:

66mm X 168mm X 158mm

I assume the 66mm is narrow enough to fit inside the frame comfortably for pedalling.

Instead, the 48V 10Ah and 48V 15Ah Ping only differ in length, but their smallest size, supposedly the one to be the width inside the frame, is always 10.5cm. Do you think that even a 48V 10Ah would not fit inside the bag you suggest? Meaning, the "mammoth" problem is a width one (ie Pings are too wide), or in general, the 48V 15Ah is too bulky?
 
actually I think the length of the 48V 15AH Ping could be a problem. From my experience, sometimes it seems like a battery will fit in these triangle bags based on just the numbers, but when you actually get it in, the girth of the thing means the bag ends up somewhat conforming around it and then the zipper won't close. I don't know what your time frame is for wanting to get a battery in a bag, but in a couple weeks I'll have both a 48V10AH ping and that bag in my hands, so i'm happy to let you know what happens when they do the dance...
 
That would be great, thanks! I subscribe to this thread, so if you could let us know if the Ping 48V 10Ah fits into the bag, I would appreciate that.

Batteries are really a problem to fit in, I had not thought about it before.
 
I haven't E'd my bike yet, but since you specifically mentioned kickstands here is the one that's been on my bike since I extensively researched them, the Pletscher double-legged kickstand:

http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/k22.htm

It's not real light or cheap, but it works great. I have trunk and pannier bags, and when I load them the high c.g. would very likely tip a single-leg, lean-the-bike kickstand, whereas with the double-legger the bike just stands there balanced.

The double stand makes loading the bags easier and is also nice for minor maintenance, airing tires, etc - the front wheel is usually just off the ground or you put some weight on it to bring the rear wheel off.

A very close second would be fenders, then my iPhone's Cyclemeter app, the handlebar mount for the phone, front and rear battery-powered lights, and more.
 
Definitely, it takes a pretty big frame triangle to fit a 48v 15 ah ping, that is configured in the normal, long stack arrangement. FWIW, that box in the pic below is for a 48v 15 ah ping. The frame I chose is extra big, since it used to be a Currie USPD, and had a big box of lead in the triangle.

The crow cycles stand I am using is the long one, with screw adjustable legs. My frankenbike has FS, and results in a need for a very long stand. I think it's this one, that I bought. It's out of stock in black, but in stock in silver.

http://www.crowcycleco.com/bicycle-components/kickstand/double-leg-kickstand-screw-adjust-black-extra-tall.html

Very sturdy, to be holding up this.
Bouncing Betty 5-2013.jpg

Another notable accessory, for those in the desert climates, is homemade. I covered my seat with white lycra. Priceless if you must park in the sun. You still get a hot seat of course, but 120F seats beat 160F seats.

Lastly, worth mentioning that the blue box is gone from the frankenbike now. I no longer have a ping, and am using the really superb battery bag from EM3ev. It fits 48v 15 ah of RC lipo perfectly. Fits in many frames, but not the smallest ones.
 
EM3ev bag review here.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=51549
 
I had to have an argument with myself about that, thanks very much!
1> the Cree LED light in blue, back mounted
2> cargo trailer

It was a question of aesthetics over function. The light was a surprise - it garnered my bike "cool" in the community. Its what gets people's attention. I then get to talk about ebikes with them, which is awesome. The cargo trailer is pure function and the reason for my ebike - getting a load of groceries up the hill where I live.

The other day I'm riding my ebike in Elm Park and a kid, must have been about 8-9 years of age, with the biggest possible grin on his face, was like "wow, so cool". Priceless! :mrgreen:
 
What's your favorite ebike accessory?

My favorite accessory, and the one that I use the most is the throttle. :mrgreen:
 
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