Aussie build - e-bikekit + 36V Ping + FB Road bike

[sparkcrx]

Hello All from Melbourne, Australia.

Finally my first build is up and running and after my first proper ride today of 33km's, i'm getting mightily impressed with ebikes.....
The bike is intended for commuting to work, 25 - 30km's each way.

I used a 350W geared hub e-bikekit.com system, with a 36V 15ah Ping battery.
Service from e-bikekit.com and Ping has been just excellent. Packaging of the products to Australia was first rate.
I cannot praise Ping enough for their support when I fried my BMS due a dead-short/error on my behalf.
Let's see how we go for long term testing...

These parts are fitted to my Giant FB road bike.
Overall weight is exactly 20kg's. I have swapped the carbon forks and seat post with chro-mo forks and suspension seatpost from a Giant CRX-3.
Tyres are the stock 28mm Vittoria Randonneur's that came with the bike.
I have fitted 50amp Anderson connectors to the controller and Ping battery, as the 30amp units seemed a bit like toys - and cannot easily be permanently mounted, whereas the 50amp units can be fixed via two bolt holes.

I was a little dissapointed with the performance at first, until I got out on the road with other bikes.
I get 35.2km/h unloaded from the 350W geared motor at 36V and out on the road it's about 32 at best, without pedalling. But I am no featherweight at 88kg's.

What I found incredible is the bike's ability to climb hills, even with such little power on board.
Where other (regular) cyclists are standing on the pedals and working hard, I am sitting down, pedalling moderately and "blasting" past at 21-22km/h.
While this is not fast, it's a worlds apart from doing the hard slog on 100% human power.

I love that it's still feels like a bicycle overall, yet when it comes to hills, it feels like "the hand of god" is propelling you, almost silently past other riders.
The balance of a front motor/rear battery is great. I rode the bike thru around 2km's of gravel pathways today and even with 28mm/700C tyres/wheels, it does not feel unbalanced.

Next is a cycle analyst, proper enclosure for the battery and neaten the wiring.

Thank you to everybody on this forum, without it, I would not have gained the knowledge or confidence to proceed with and complete this project.

 

[adrian_sm]

Very neat looking bike. Well done. Great to hear you are enjoying a low power and light weight set-up.
Great effort keeping it down to 20kg.

Just keep an eye on the rear rack. The seat post mounted ones have a tendency to break when loaded up with the weight of a battery.

- Adrian

 

[dogman dan]

Near perfect. Just one nit pick, add a rear fender to keep water from slinging on the controller. Even if you live where it's as dry as my town, somebody will still make a puddle you have to ride through somewhere.

It doesn't have to be a big ugly full rear fender, just a small splash guard by the controller is all you really need.

 

[Diamondback]

looks great.

glad to see you finally got the ebike thing happening.

35km/h is great from a 350W motor.
im getting just over 40km/h from my ezee (at 760W)

what's your expected range ?
i did a ride on the weekend i managed 81km on under 9ah of power from my 48V 15A ping.
average speed was just under 20km/h top speed was 42km/h.


i also second the rear fender or splash guard for the controller..

Jason.

 

[adrian_sm]

i also second the rear fender or splash guard for the controller..

Nah. Just make sure the controller is water tight (end caps, and wire entry exit holes). It will be exposed to melbournes worst anyway over the next few months anyway. Any water hitting it will just help cool it.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Great motor, ain't it? I love mine. Hauls my ratrod around faster than I could peddle that beast.


Thats a great looking bike. I don't know about fenders. No use for them my self. But I'd flip the controller over so the wires exit down. Water doesn't fall up hill very well, so it won't matter if it doesn't seal well.

 

[sparkcrx]

Hey All, thanks for your replies...

Yes, so far I love this motor and battery combo. Top speed could be nicer, but the 36V with this motor keeps it mostly a bicycle which is what I wanted. It's also very, very quiet.
I am already onto flipping the controller, thanks DrunkSkunk! With the wires exiting up, water can run down into the controller pretty easy, so i'm in the process of flipping it.

adrian_sm Good tip on the seat rack. I'm thinking to brace the aluminium box section with a small section of steel strapping. Might help to stop the aluminium fatigue and break... as it's quite "springy" with the weight of the batt!
Dogman Thanks for the compliment, I am fitting some plastic full length fenders, mostly to keep me from getting wet, but it will perhaps help the controller too.
Diamondback... 81km's range on 9ah! WOW! That is awesome... You must be pedalling a lot? Your top speed is great. Hmm, maybe I will build a heavy, quicker bike next for fun!

I have been very impressed with the range out of this thing so far. I took the bike out last night for a 38.6 km ride, at which point the battery cut-off.
But the great thing is that this was really testing the range and loading things up... I purposely rode up and around the three most hilly suburbs around here...
These are the type of hills that slow serious cyclists down to a snail pace, quite steep and very long...
Of the 38.6km's, almost all of it was WOT. Just to really test things out, 1/3 of this was zero pedalling!
I think range for normal riding could be around 50km's. But throw in a head wind and a bad mood and this might drop significantly!

So my regular 28 - 32km trip to work should be nicely covered, as for the most part it's not that hilly. Just one or two killers in there.

I just love it when I come to a hill and can maintain good speed.... Enough speed to arrive at the top and look back onto regular riders still on struggle-street.
And yet, as incredible as I believe it is as a potential transport revolution and explain this to people, the odd person has said to me, quite seriously:

"I have a working body, why would I need an electric bike for? " or "I'm not a senior citizen, why do I need an electric bike? - I'll just stick with my PROPER bike."

WTF... Is this limited imagination? Fear?

I guess some people just need their government, their media or their mummy and daddy to advocate a product to tell 'em it's okay...

 

[Diamondback]

Diamondback... 81km's range on 9ah! WOW! That is awesome... You must be pedalling a lot? Your top speed is great.

yeah, lots of pedal power on that ride. i think i got 5.8WH per km for that trip.


Jason

 

[BikeFanatic]

"I'll just ride my proper bike" WTF... Is this limited imagination? Fear?

I get this all the time esp bike riders and macho guys, I think they just need to try it then they understand.
It is not a" proper bike " ( exercise machine, make you strong) and its not a motorcycle ( cool powerful, makes you cool)
then what is it? Some people just don't understand, This is new Territory.

I love your bike, it looks great and that motor so small. Really blends in. How much do you think the front wheel weighs?
Alot of us have these huge heavy Hub motors, which is fine for the initiated. But light motors, that are light and preserve the bike feel, is where more adopters will come from. Especially city dwellers like myself that may need to take the bike up a flight of stairs or ride on city bike paths at moderate speeds.

Have fun out there!