Newbie e-bike

LLCoolDave

1 µW
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
2
Location
Las Vegas
Hi all, I am looking for an electric bike for a 35 mile round trip commute in Las Vegas. During the summer I will cycle through 110 degree heat during the summer and around 35 degree chills during the winter. I'm just wondering what is the best bike for me. I got to this forum through MMM. I have a road bike and a fixed gear bike but I would like an e-bike to ride to work so I don't arrive to work in a sweaty mess and I have some crappy nights where I don't want to ride a bike 15 miles home. I would like to spend less than $2k. I can charge the battery at work if I have to but would like 40 mile round trip capability. I'm looking at Prodeco X2 and X3 on amazon. I would prefer a non-folding bike to retain rigidity (also no shocks) but these look like the best price/performance option. X3 is $300 more but it might be worth it because of the temperature variation.
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave
 
Here's the thing; if you have a base bike that you're looking to convert and a fair amount of know-how you can build something that'll get you 40-50 miles on a charge with a lot of power for around $2k (or a bit less).

If you go with something like the Dawes Haymaker 1500 (which is a solid aluminum frame, full Deore/Deore SLX human-powered drivetrain,Rockshox Dart 2 (or XC28) front forks, and is currently retailing for $300 on sale), then you have about $1700 left to play with to put together the electric part. If you get one of the 48V 1000W YescomUSA kits off eBay for something like $300-$500. You can upgrade the controller that comes with it to a 72V/40A controller for peak power somewhere on the order of 3kW for another $175, leaving you about $1000-1200 to spend on batteries. If you want to get 40-50 miles of range out of that setup (which shouldn't draw more than 40Wh/mi or so) then you're going to want 2-2.5kWh of batteries to work with. 20S LiPo will give you 74V nominal, and if you put together a 30-40Ah pack then you'll have 2-3kWh of battery available, which should last you a while. If you want to get 2-3kWh of 20S LiPo for cheap, then look into the 4S 5Ah Turnigy hardcase packs on Hobbyking. Each of those packs retails for about $25 plus shipping, and 30 of them arranged as 5S6P will give you 2.2kWh of battery (74V, 30Ah) for about $800. Add in a 20S-24S BMS from BMSbattery or AliExpress, and a frame bag to hold the batteries and controller, and you'll come in right around the $2000 mark.

The bike you'll have when you're done would be capable of 30-35mph unassisted on the flats, and having the weight of the battery pack and controller (which will come to around 40lbs or so) in the front triangle rather than hanging off the rear rack should give you a lot better handling. The electrical system would be capable of delivering four or five times more power than the one on the Prodeco (2-3kW on the homebuilt bike, 500-720W on the Prodeco), and would have about four times more battery (16Ah at 38.4V gives about 615Wh on the Prodeco, as opposed to 30Ah at 74V (which gives about 2250Wh) on the homebuilt bike). The main drawback to doing that is weight; the battery and controller plus assorted wiring will likely weigh about 35lbs, and the hubmotor will probably weigh another 10 or so. Add on the weight of the bike itself (30lbs or so) and you'll finish up with a 70-75lb system, as opposed to the 59lbs of the Prodeco. You're not going to feel the extra ten pounds much when you're riding because of the increased power, but it might be a bit much if you need to store the bike somewhere besides a first-floor room or garage.
 
Welcome to ES****Do this before your first post or now (it's retroactive)*****
Please go to the User Control Panel, select Profile, and then enter your city, state/province, and country into the Location field (country minimum) and save it. Once done, your location will appear in every post so you won't have people asking where you are ever again. This will help people help you. Example: Wylie, TX, USA. or just USA, but country as a minimum, and country is the most important. There are many cities with the same name all over the world. Without knowing what country you are in it's hard to make any recommendations. Thank you.

If you have a suitable bike already, about $600 is all it will take to get what you want if you make the right choices and diy.
 
You don't say how fast you want to go, but I put a $200 kit (q100 motor) and $400 (36 volt 15 ah) battery onto a $250 Schwinn comfort bike and it does my 30 mile r/t commute with plenty of power left over. I could easily do 50 miles. But I usually only go around 15mph although I do sometimes hit 22 or so. I have to do some preventive maintenance though, redoing some of the connectors so that they stay in good contact. Still, it's amazing what it can do for $600.
 
I'd love to piggyback on this thread. I'm in a similar situation to LLCoolDave - came here from MMM site, wanting to set up a commuter e-bike. I have a bike (Fuji Absolute 2.0), and only have a 12 mile round trip commute. Weather can be extreme (Louisiana), so extreme heat/humidity, down to cold (but rarely freezing) and often wet. Roads here stink and there are lots of stops, so I don't think high speed is my goal. 20 mph on a flat without me pedaling would probably be fine, and I intend to be pedaling most of the time, so hopefully I can hit 30 with some effort added in. Hills are not a significant issue. I'm about 160# and will usually be carrying no more than 15# of cargo. My goal is something reliable, fairly low maintenance, and less than $1000 all in. A rear hub setup seems most promising to me. I'm handy, though electrical stuff is not something I usually mess with.

I'm going to research the suggestions from dkg02, but wondering if there are other avenues I should look?
 
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