Luna's folder

Was wondering what you all think of Luna's new folding mid drive e-bike for 1399.00?. Look's like a good deal for a folding bike. My other question is can a mid drive 9 speed really go 28 mph no-pedaling on 20 inch wheel"s. Looking to try my first mid-drive and was wondering what you all thought. All opinion's welcome,thank's and good day.

My BBS02 with 46/11 easily went 30 mph with 52V, 10 a/h (24 or so with 20" probably), so the BBSHD should approach 28.

Thank's 2old, it come's with the bbs02 though. Thank's again and have a good day.

Put a big chain ring on it and it'll go as fast as you want it to, until it runs out of power anyway. A 48 or 52T would probably get you to 28.

thanks as i like to pedal so that was i was thinking. thanks all for your feedback.please keep the opinion's coming.

I saw that bike couple weeks ago. Was thinking about buying one. It seems like a good price. Need something I can ride around on when traveling. Was thinking about sit down scooter as alternative.

It totally plausible that 28 mph is real. But bear in mind,, 4 miles down the road, after the battery voltage drops some as it empties, you don't have 28 mph anymore. This is true for all electric vehicles.

25 mph cruise more likely for most of the ride.

Thank's dogman, any opinion on the battery pack it use's. Pro's, Con's. Realistic range at 25mph.

That's a pretty tiny battery, 300Wh or so. I'd say if you keep the speed around 20MPH and help a little you can expect 18Wh/mile or so, so maybe 16 miles?

Bump that up to 25MPH, you're probably sucking more like 25Wh/mile and are probably looking at 10-12 miles practical range. The battery is probably gonna be pretty hot at the end of that. I wouldn't make a habit of it. If sustained cruising at 25 is what you want, I'd strongly recommend a bigger battery.

dustNbone said:

That's a pretty tiny battery, 300Wh or so. I'd say if you keep the speed around 20MPH and help a little you can expect 18Wh/mile or so, so maybe 16 miles?

Bump that up to 25MPH, you're probably sucking more like 25Wh/mile and are probably looking at 10-12 miles practical range. The battery is probably gonna be pretty hot at the end of that. I wouldn't make a habit of it. If sustained cruising at 25 is what you want, I'd strongly recommend a bigger battery.

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Agree with that. I have a BBS02 on a mountain bike frame, and those watt-hrs consumption are about what I expect.

Also, that 300 watt-hr should be derated 10-20% because LVC keeps you from using all the advertised watt-hrs. I have a Luna mini too.

I have the folding bike from Luna Cycles with the BBS02 and it can get up to 31 mph on flat ground.

Id have to personally test any battery to have an opinion about it.

But my general rule of batteries remains. Take max amps spec, cut in half,, that is your reasonable draw for continuous cruise. And don't exceed max amps with the controllers max amps. Ideally, have that controller max amps perhaps 75% of the max battery spec.

Hell yeah the battery can do max spec,, but I'm just saying don't bet your last bippy the battery likes it.

Re range,, 25 mph is usually at least 30-35 watt hours per mile. Unless you are a UCI pro rider.

That battery is way more interesting than the bike IMHO. For a light (3.3lb battery) build it looks like a winner.

The range and size have been addressed well by docw and dustN.

In the case of the Lunacycle folder, this performance is easy to simulate if you understand batteries. The battery will be your limiting factor as the cells in the offered packs are not designed to output the full power of the motor, especially at max speed or at lower depth of discharge, thus your power delivery will decrease depressingly in use. This system is poorly optimized, but to the uninitiated or tame users will be quite fun until the battery fails.
If used at full potential @30mph this failure would likely be within 2-3 months, but under low usage scenarios(rarely used, slow speeds) it may last up to a year.

There is also the excellent Tern Vektron with a 10-year warranty (and twice the price), but the MATE takes the folding cake imo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mate-the-coolest-and-most-affordable-ebike-ever-bicycle
I enjoy the MATE folding bike for the large Ah battery with a capable motor which doesn't stress the battery. This system is well designed and should easily last 3+ years. If you value your investment it is important not to stress the battery.

Batterypro, considering this is your second post no offense but you sound like a paid troll. good day.

Just report it to the moderators. We have two new ones now.

The Mighty Mini pack that I have is made with 30Q cells, 14 series and two in parallel. These are considered 15A capable cells, so the pack would be considered a 30A capable pack since it also has a 30A BMS.

Running this with my BBSHD, I have certainly drawn 30A from it without significant heating.

Running any pack at max current from full charge to dead would not produce the longest pack life. Ebike loads are peaky, and the pack needs to be able to handle that, but we don't generally run max current all the time.

The "range" and "max speed" ratings of an ebike don't occur at the same time, just like the range and top speed of a car don't happen concurrently. Modest speeds increase range significantly.

A folding ebike with a small battery is designed for "the last mile", rather than as a long range vehicle. The goal is to make it small and light but adequate. It can be carried in the trunk, in the RV, or on the bus/train, and then deployed for the last few miles of the trip. It is a brilliant way to augment the transportation system. It can also be more safely stored at the endpoints by taking it inside and keeping it secure rather than trusting locks out in the parking lot.

If considering longer trips with a folding bike such as this, either a second small battery or a second larger battery would be a useful addition to the kit. Then flexibility is increased and the battery complement can be chosen for the day's needs.

slacker, this is an electric vehicle forum, yes? I don't see how I can be paid by an indie gogo campaign? I've also looked at folders for my own transportation needs to carry on the train and store under my desk, except I need 20 miles minimum and prefer a decent warranty or reasonable tolerance for the application. I'm sorry if you've taken offense to the information I've offered but I assure you I am not paid-- I highly doubt any ebike company would choose to afford my rate. No offense intended of course, but do you get paid to post or have I offended you in some way?

I base my battery advice on my engineering experience, including a substantial amount of work in an electrochemical laboratory. AlanB makes good points; if you can carry an extra battery (+$300?) or as previously discussed use it at a reasonable bike speed of 12-18mph then it will last longer. The 30Q is the most powerful option, but even at 10A a single exposed cell at room temperature can reach 55°C without active cooling. 15A is a 5C load for that cell, which would be closer to 70-75°C. That option is $70 more? The MATE is under $1000 and can have a battery nearly 3x larger. It seems an easy winner in my view.

No offense intended battpro. asked about luna and you suggest tern and indiegogo. thanks anyway. peace out.

mate from indiegogo does NOT have bosch middrive. it has rear hub motor, clearly visible in most pictures on their IGG page. 17Ah battery is cool, though. but this surely is not the right topic for this.