Recent content by comand

An update, now that I've ticked over the 1000mi mark on this build. Here are the things that are good, and those that are not so good. When I started riding this bike to and from work, I decided on a "no excuses" plan -- no driving because I had an errand to run, or had to get home early for...

Rather than going with a ThudBuster, I bought a BodyFloat from Crazy Lenny's E-Bikes in Madison, WI (their pricing is significantly better than MSRP -- still a bit more than a ThudBuster, but not significantly so). I've been riding with it for the last week, on really rough broken pavement and...

That might be a good option -- I didn't want to add another thing to my bars, but I have the room, and it's a safety thing, so I'll look into this. Thanks for the suggestion. The motor power wires are soldered directly to the battery backplate. It could be a bump, but the battery backplate to...

I finally decided on a setup and built my bike: photos and writeup here. Thanks to everyone on this thread that guided my early investigation.

After a long period of research and procrastination, I finally pulled the trigger and built my bike. My commute is about 7mi each direction, with a lot of moderate climbing and a bit of pretty steep (>10% grade) climbing on the return trip. At the start, I was considering a geared hub, and when...

On another thread, I saw the sweet elevation chart that MapMyRide can generate. Here's my commute home from work, 5.51mi total: A couple of good climbs in there - Mapmyride rates it a 3. My bike arrived in perfect condition; it's built and on it's way to my LBS for a checkup this afternoon...

Unfortunately, after sending an ebay message at the start of the week, and an email mid-week, I haven't heard a thing from ebikeling.com. When I look at the installation instructions for the 48V 1000W 26" kit on their site, there is a section for installing a disc rotor, so I assume that some of...

I like the wheel-only option here, but I can't tell from the ebay listing whether this wheel has a mount for disc brake rotors.

This is all great info -- thanks for having a look at this. I hadn't considered running 52V. It seems like the 52V pack you recommended in the end would be the longest-life option, while providing plenty of range. The price is a squeeze for my overall budget target, but it seems like a good...

I see that lunacycle has an e-brake cutoff that "Can be retrofitted to work with cable or hydraulic braking systems." http://lunacycle.com/motors/hub-motor-accessories/ebrake-cut-off-switch/ That's pretty much all the information the site has to offer though, so it's not clear how I would go...

Okay, I finally decided on a bike. I bought a Motobecane 550HT (26er hardtail w/hydraulic disc) from bikesdirect this week ($399 out the door). Before I came back and checked the thread this evening, on advice from further up in the thread, I was strongly considering a kit from EM3ev (UPGRADE...

Thanks to everyone above for the advice and guidance -- I'm deep in the research hole on this one, but maybe nearing some conclusions.

Alright, maybe I was overly ambitious with the cruise speed -- I don't want a hotrod (well, I do, but I don't really want to spend like that right now), I just want to get to work and home quickly and efficiently. If I were to adjust my details to 20-25mph would I be in the ballpark with the...

A couple of months ago, I bought my wife a Raleigh Detour iE to allow her to commute to work without having to worry about parking. So far, it's been working great -- so great that I now want to escape the terrible traffic of my commute as well. However, I would prefer to build a kit into a bike...