Electric Rider Kits?

Hello everyone,
I'm new to Endless Sphere, and have been contemplating an e-Bike conversion for some time. I've been really impressed so far with all the literature and information that electric rider supplies about their kits and was wondering what the general consensus was for them?

In particular I'm looking at the 48V Roadrunner Kit, for use making quick hops around town (Denver). Would this kit be suitable for use on a Trek 7100 (http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/hybrid/7100/) I'm roughly a 170 pound rider and I don't really see any need to exceed 20mph except perhaps in emergencies, and a range of as little as 10 miles isn't a problem given how close everything tends to be downtown.

Would you recommend substituting parts from the Roadrunner 4825 Kit? Different controllers? I've love to get all the input I can before I undertake my first electric bike.

Thanks much!
Dougal

Crystalyte is a non geared, non clutched, non waterproof motor. Electric Rider says that a 7 speed rear motor is a special order, ( please tell us you are not going with a front motor) Be sure your rear stay widths are the right opening for the motor width.

Dont bother with SLA batteries, the hills in Denver will really decrease your range due to SLA weight.

Your Trek has 700c wheels, you will need some fat rear rubber, make sure the bike and rear hub motor rim will support big tires, 700x45c Schwalbe for example. You may not run that big a tire, but you would hate to be locked out if you wanted a bigger tire. Lots of weight over the rear tire.

I would go to Ft Collins and Boulder and ride what the local dealers have (21 wheels and Small Planet)
In Denver Bird Rv has some used Bionx around, you should ride some for a point of refernce.

D in colorado springs.

hey that trek 7100 is a 700c and alumin frame ? The crstallyte are heavy and strong. But like a big battery.Do go to these local bike shops see what is off the shelf. They are usaly under power with a small battery. Talk to ilila at ebikessf.com a complete kits plug and play and lifepo4 battery I think 3 or 4c rate. Sounds like the most trouble free. $

700c and alumin frame

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please tell us you are not going with a front motor

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Actually it was my intention to go with a front motor, replacing the aluminum forks of the bike with steel if the aluminum strength became a problem. As I understand it, having wheelspin on the rear wheel of a bike will put you on the ground much more often than on the front wheel. In addition, the hills around town that I frequent aren't really very steep, so I don't think I need the extra climbing ability of having rear wheel drive, I can afford to pedal a little harder.

Crystalyte is a non geared, non clutched, non waterproof motor.

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What motor would you recommend in instead of the Crystalyte motors? I'm not sold on geared motors because of the fragile nylon planetary gears and additional cost over direct-drive motors, perhaps that is folly.

As for the batteries, It's my intention to get SLA's to "try out" and then step up to lifepo whenever I've become accustomed to Ebikes and can justify the cost. I'm trying to remain relatively budget minded doing all of this, though I understand it will easily cost in excess of $600 for even a basic kit.

I welcome your input and ideas, I'm really excited about getting into all of this.

The best is a old como steel frame with a 21sp. they are under a 100dls. with good compentes LX ect. 26in. tires. it can take a rear motor or front. about 10yrs. old and save your 700 for the street

Hey there. I was in your position not long ago.

Had my 'dream bike', which was a diamondback insight one. light weight aluminum, skinny tires, etc.
But an aluminum frame can handle only so much power. If you search around, you'll hear stories of dropouts being ripped! more so the front ones than the rear.

Ended up getting an older Trek cromoly hybrid/mountain bike frame. A bit heavier, but no worries about torn frames and the like. Also.. i can put stupidly heavy duty/wide tires on the thing. 700c tires and rims usually don't come in a wide size. Besides, most eBike stuff is made for 26" by default anyway.

Geared motors are for high efficiency and low weight. If you want something that is easy to pedal, they are absolutely the way to go also, since they freewheel when the motor power is off. What they cannot handle is things like repeated starts from full throttle at 0mph, being boosted past their rated power levels, or any other type of abuse.

cell_man sells a fairly barebones geared motor kit for $150. It looks like exactly the same stuff that's in the ampedbikes kit. If you are handy with a soldering iron and are okay with filling in the pieces, I recommend it.

Front or rear motor? they both have different upsides and downsides. I decided to go rear motor for the sake of not having the wires flex constantly. That and the stealth factor.. rear motor is certainly more stealthy.

That sparrow is, imo, going to be a dog on those 700 wheels (especially on hills). I'd seriously consider following the previous advice on finding a 26 inch steel framed MTB for your build rather than modifying that Trek. Otherwise, consider a geared hub motor, as suggested, if you really want to use the Trek.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned nine continents motors yet. These motors are available from ampedbike, e-bikekit.com and ebike.ca

I'd get one from ebike.ca since they bundle theirs with a cycle analyst. They are phasing out the crystalyte since the 9c motors are higher in quality and are more waterproof than crystalyte (though I've never had a problem with any of my crystalyte motors. )

Same suggestion here. The Xlyte hubs are great for overvolting and pushing hard, but they are heavy and not very good for hilly areas. Ebike-kit has more affordable solutions that are direct drive. Bafang makes some great little assist motors, or the more powerful BPM motors.


Unless I am using a hub to go past 30mph, I am all for a geared hub setup. Used within their parameters they are much better than direct drive.

i have a Norco mtb with a bafang [front mount] in a 26" rim [john holmes laced] with a 36v, 12amp ping battery,,,about 30kph.... alsp a geared puma on a tadpole trike,26"wheel [also john holmes laced] 36v,20amp foxx battery 40kph.... : both run very well... puma is the stronger motor... reccommend adding one steel gear to either motor...see Lyen fot gear

Thanks for your help everyone. The Nine Continent Motors and kits from ebike.ca sound very interesting. And I'll definitely have to consider visiting some of these places to take test rides.

I'm still not really convinced with geared motors, using nylon gears seems like typical cheap chinese engineering that is destined to fail on me, and in the City (since I obey traffic lights) stop/starts are going to be common, and I don't want to shred them. The concept of a maintenance free motor with as few moving parts as possible sits rather well with me.

It's a shame my bike isn't really suitable for electric because of the aluminum chassis and 700 wheels. I was hoping using front drive with a steel fork would be enough to make it usable. I don't really have room for a second bicycle in my small studio apartment, so I may have to put the whole project off for awhile until I can figure out what to do.

I see no reason why a 9c motor in a 700c rim wouldn't be very acceptable if you changed your fork to a chromo one. It will be heavier than a geared setup, but it will climb hills well enough and be pretty quick too. Hit up Ebikes.ca for any other questions you have and I bet they will point you in the best direction 8)

Don't let 700c stop you, and if your planning on going light, don't limit yourself to just a hub motor, you have several other options too, a friction drive like this one can be cheaper than the hub motor too (it's so efficient it takes a much smaller lighter battery for the same performance)
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You have other options too in other forms of friction drives, many are here.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=28

If you're going light and wanting to get the lightest out there, I highly recommend a good friction drive. My Kepler Drive set up (AKA Eboost Tail Wind Electric assist) I will have only added a total of 10lbs to my bike total, that includes the entire kit and batteries.

I would go with Amped bikes front wheel system with a 48v 15 ah ping battery for your commuting. Chrystalyte system is over priced in my opinion.

johnrobholmes said:

I see no reason why a 9c motor in a 700c rim wouldn't be very acceptable if you changed your fork to a chromo one. It will be heavier than a geared setup, but it will climb hills well enough and be pretty quick too. Hit up Ebikes.ca for any other questions you have and I bet they will point you in the best direction 8)

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Thanks for the encouragement, I was hoping this was possible, I don't need blistering performance, but having the bike work with me (I intend to continue pedaling) to increase my speeds and extend my range has always been my goal. I'll talk to the ebikes guys about their 9cont kits, and I'll visit a local bike shop to see about a new fork

friction drive eats tires a bit more. And wet traction is typically a problem with friction drive. Kepler says his system doesn't have wet traction issues... but i'll tell ya, other friction drive systems certainly have problems. So.. ?
The upside is that it can be INCREDIBLY fast and setups are typically ~5lbs rather than ~10-20lbs for a hub motor.

I'd like a friction drive setup, but i live in Oregon and it rains a lot. li-ghtcycle has one though and he lives in the same rainy climate as i. If you have this issue, he may have some advice/experience.

You can pull off a front hub motor on 700c bike just fine as long as you have a steel/cromoly front fork and keep the power levels low in order to play it safe. My guess would be under 400 watts.

neptronix said:

You can pull off a front hub motor on 700c bike just fine as long as you have a steel/cromoly front fork and keep the power levels low in order to play it safe. My guess would be under 400 watts.

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What would be the dangers of using more power if the fork is steel/cromoly? Is the power likely to break other parts of the bike?

A front fork can only handle so much power. Go look at where the wheel connects to the bike on the front and the rear. The rear dropouts are typically 2-3 times more solid, since the majority of the weight sits on the rear wheel.

I am only saying '400w' because it sounds like you're looking for something safe and reliable. Some people on here say don't use front motors *at all*. But i haven't seen any stories of low powered front drive setups on cromoly being problematic.
One downside i didn't mention.... front motor makes the steering a little weird because there is quite a bit of extra weight on the front tire.

BTW i have a 250 watt geared rear hub and it will do 15-18mph. 400w is a good amount of juice for a geared hub motor.