250-350w, 36v, 32h, freewheel hub motor recommendations please.

331X2

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Having used the public ebikes on a recent trip to Pisa I decided that I wanted one so rushed out and bought the cheapest used electric bike that I could find to test the feasibility of commuting to my new place of work on a pedelec (5 miles each way, some slight gradients, all tarmac/paved roads).

What I bought was a dilapidated 24v, front hub motored womens style MTB sold under the name ‘AlienOcean’ which I believe were a UK based reseller of electric bikes up to around 6 years ago. The bike came without a charger as it had been lost so I assumed the battery was knackered and strapped on a 36v 10ah lipo that I had from my son’s electric motorbike build and rolled the dice in whether it would let the smoke out of the controller or run, and it ran! Initial runs showed that it was faster than driving to the same place and I got 2 trips without noticing any loss in power from this thrown together contraption so things escalated…

I’ve since bought a beautiful looking, steel framed, single speed track bike that I wanted to transplant the motor/controller into, I’ve now decided that I’d like to fit a new motor and controller instead along with the 36v lipo to build a clean looking single speed so I’m looking for recommendations on the following but open to advise or suggestions if other options are more sensible:

Lower power limit is to appease English feds…

Aiming for around 15mph cruising on the flat on 28mm wide high pressure tyres, more speed wouldn’t be a bad thing. Would like to get 15-20 miles from a 36v 10ah battery if possible, please feel free to tell me that’s unrealistic!

Hub…
36v
250-350w
Geared
Freewheel thread
32 hole (to keep the existing rims)
Disc mount not necessary but welcome
Prefer black but not a deal breaker

Controller…
To drive the hub mentioned above
Would like a small/clean LCD mounted to the bars or Bluetooth connectivity to a phone app.
Throttle not necessary, would prefer PAS

This will be bought from and shipped to the UK so any links or past experience of ordering specific parts from fellow suffers Brits would be good.

If you’ve made it this far then thanks for reading my meandering, random thoughts!
 
331X2 said:
Aiming for around 15mph cruising on the flat on 28mm wide high pressure tyres, more speed wouldn’t be a bad thing. Would like to get 15-20 miles from a 36v 10ah battery if possible, please feel free to tell me that’s unrealistic!

Hub…
36v
250-350w
Geared
Freewheel thread
32 hole (to keep the existing rims)
Disc mount not necessary but welcome
Prefer black but not a deal breaker

Controller…
To drive the hub mentioned above
Would like a small/clean LCD mounted to the bars or Bluetooth connectivity to a phone app.
Throttle not necessary, would prefer PAS
I advise buying a complete kit, to make assembly less of a hassle and so things are more likely to be compatible (never an absolute with these Chinese kits). Since you want PAS only, I advise getting a kit with a Kunteng/KT controller, since they handle cadence based PAS better than most (power based rather than speed based controller) and will feel more natural (feels less like an on/off switch). At that power level, I'd suggest a front geared hub, which will make installation and maintenance (especially changing flats) much easier.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254714752599?hash=item3b4e2eae57:g:98IAAOSw-XVdXizg

Do you have a link to the bike or pics?
 
36v is a little light 48v is better. A lot of people make a mistake on the first ebike. Ask here first. Save money. Smile longer.
A good battery first or most important thing.
 
E-HP said:
I advise buying a complete kit, to make assembly less of a hassle and so things are more likely to be compatible (never an absolute with these Chinese kits). Since you want PAS only, I advise getting a kit with a Kunteng/KT controller, since they handle cadence based PAS better than most (power based rather than speed based controller) and will feel more natural (feels less like an on/off switch). At that power level, I'd suggest a front geared hub, which will make installation and maintenance (especially changing flats) much easier.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254714752599?hash=item3b4e2eae57:g:98IAAOSw-XVdXizg

Do you have a link to the bike or pics?

Thank for the recommendations, I've been looking at the KT controllers for the configuration options that are available, good to hear they have a solid PAS control, I've noticed the On/Off nature of the PAS on the two bikes that I've used already and while it's not a massive problem it does feel like it could be done better.

This is the bike in question (stock photo):
state_bicycle_co_grey_pigeon_fixie_10_5254de79-ab64-4be1-b5fd-7d53b2bccf0c.jpg


I was considering This motor as I'm lead to believe it is the same as the Cute Q100H and can be ordered in 32H configuration along with This controller and This display. The biggest issue I'm coming up against at the minute is finding a 32H hub to allow me to keep matching rims on the bike, it may sound a bit superficial but I'm trying to keep a clean/covert look to the bike instead of my usual function > form builds!


999zip999 said:
36v is a little light 48v is better. A lot of people make a mistake on the first ebike. Ask here first. Save money. Smile longer.
A good battery first or most important thing.

Thanks for the advice, it's not quite as simple as I originally thought, especially after my self inflicted limitations :lol:

Battery will be the 36v"10Ah" I already have and I can replace that when it dies, I need the small form factor over capacity in this case.
 
I should maybe highlight that I'm going to have to modify the hub to fit within the 120mm rear dropouts too, just to make my life that little bit more difficult... :lol:
 
331X2 said:
I should maybe highlight that I'm going to have to modify the hub to fit within the 120mm rear dropouts too...

Since it is a steel frame, stretching the rear dropouts 15mm (about 3/8 inch per side) should not be much of a problem. a handy way to do that is a bit of 3/8 all thread, three nuts and a couple of washers. Put a nut on one end close to the end and use a second nut to lock it into place. Screw the other nut onto the all thread about 100mm from the others. Put that assembly inside the rear dropouts and crank the one nut so as to spread the frame ... about 3/4 inch. Then reverse nut, remove the assembly from the frame and measure the distance. You might have to do it a couple times because the steel frame will spring back some .... but 'tis better to take baby steps.

A good source for Torque Arms in the UK is:
Ian Hammon
Northampton
Phone: 07754032024
www.hammer-ebikes.com
 
Maybe you could go with a red rim and black hub to contrast with the other wheel having a black rim and red hub. I don't think the spoke count will affect the aesthetics too much.

DSC_0185_8_large.jpeg
 
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