first impressions - greenewheels ebike from ebay

zog

100 mW
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
44
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hi Everybody (especially Scott and Mark from work who gave valuable advice, thanks guys!)

I just got a "greenewheels" electric bike from ebay Australia... mainly as it was inexpensive and seemed good, and as someone who hasn't ridden a pushbike much for a few years I didn't want a project, just a fun way to commute now that I have moved closer in to work.

Anyway the bike appears to use the same basic frame as the wisper 905, but kitted out a bit differently, and presumably a weaker motor to fit the road legal 200W Australian limit:
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I haven't ridden it much yet (just on my 2nd charge of the battery now!) - but so far so good.

More indepth info in my little blog article I have constructed here: http://blog2.zog.net.au/category/electric-bikes/greenewheels/
 
The motor looks like the Bafang PMGR that came with my Chinese electric bike.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5459

Can we get some close up pictures of it?
 
Hi,
Just took a pic of it.. time to learn how to use macro mode on the camera anyway:

main.php


Higher res look available at: http://pix.minirig.org.au/main.php?g2_itemId=546

Doesn't have any writing except a sticker in Chinese, and other stickers that say "200W" and "36v" and a hand written one saying 26"
 
Nice package. Too bad its underpowered. Lead acid batteries or?
How much do they run on ebay
 
From the ebay listing itself:
This includes the lithium ion battery 36v 10AH that is only about 3.5 kgs and will transport you up to 50kms on a full charge.
It cost me $1095 AUD, he only sells as "buy it now" (no auction) and ships within Australia - the price jumps around a bit as well.

Yes, unfortunately the 200W is the maximum legal power limit for riding on roads in this state. Although for most purposes I am finding it just fine, just sometimes on the flat it would be nice to have that extra bit of oomph when pedalling at full speed.
 
Well a quick follow up to this.. I did a range test today and got almost exactly 50km before losing power due to a flat battery in VERY windy conditions. A lot more has been discussed about the range, etc of this bike by MickK in a lot more detail in this thread though: http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6271.
 
Nice, definitely proof that the bafang is a good little motor. It doesn't have to be amped up, and overvolted to be a good commuter. One thing you might consider changing is the handlebars. I find my palms go to sleep when the seat is high, to fit my long legs, and the handlebars low. I put bmx handlebars on, and am much more comfy on long long rides.
 
How bad do you find the noise from geared hub motor???

I have never tried one, the only Ebike I have ridden is my Specialized with a Crystalyte 406 at 33 or 66 volt, I love the almost no noise fact (I do alot of bike path and want to keep it stealth)

Have you compared your bike with a direct drive brushless hub motor?
 
Re gearmotors in general. I have a heinzmann, which is very noisy with all metal gears. But it's quite tolerable at lower speeds like riding on singletrack trails dirt roads, etc at 10 mph or less. If I ride it full speed on the street, it gets a lot more like a trip to the dentist, hitting a very hard to tolerate note. That is still only at 13 mph. Most report the bafang to have tolerable noise level. The other one with the really loud gears is the curries on the IZip.
 
My Bafang motor is not noisy at all. The time I really notice it is when I’m back home in the driveway traveling slowly and the sound bounces off the buildings and sometimes it vibrates under heavy load up a hill. On the road at constant speed it’s not noticeable except on acceleration and then it’s more of a reassuring “whirling” sound which I like. I don’t know however how it sounds to pedestrians. I have run it many times indoors and unloaded it’s a little louder than an 18" fan I have and quieter than when I’m riding on my indoor trainer.

-R
 
maybe I should rename this 365th impression... had the bike now for over a year and have clocked up over 3000KM on it..

summary: still going Just Fine. And riding it near every day (weather permitting).

I did replace the stock "noname" Chinese disc brakes with Avid BB7s.. a very worthwhile upgrade, they are a lot less fiddly to adjust, I probably could have got replacement parts for the stock ones but wanted an upgrade. Went and got some decent allen keys as well after stripping one of the allen bolt heads removing the disc rotor.
 
zog said:
maybe I should rename this 365th impression.

update quite a while later....

Well I've kept riding it until the battery faded until I had to start charging at work - i.e. range less than 22km. And kept riding it until it stopped getting me all the way to work. That was about 6 or 7 months ago, so I got a good 2.5 years and 6000+ km out of it.

Then I got slack for a while, and it's been sitting in the garage. Now I've just ordered a new battery pack for it - different vendor as greenewheels no longer appears to sell anything and I've been unable to source the exact same battery pack. More info once this new 36v 9AH LiFePo4 pack arrives - hopefully I'll get even more years of use out of it.
 
zog said:
More info once this new 36v 9AH LiFePo4 pack arrives - hopefully I'll get even more years of use out of it.
see this post:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=25696#p443543
for a battery pack which is looking like a good candidate so far...
 
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