I’ll start with the stats;
Im 62 years old and my weight fluctuates from 195 - 225lbs at my heaviest. I’m 6 foot 2 inches tall.
Retired and living full time in Mexico…..this is important as getting parts etc is difficult here.
I have an older Tech Nova Pro non suspended chromoly framed MTB with quick release hubs and Shimano XT components front to rear, with rim style wheel brakes…..NO DISK BRAKES…..triple chainrings up front and 7 speed on the rear. 26” wheels hard anodized aluminum. This was a very high quality bike in it’s day. I have it set up well and it just fits me after changing bar risers, seat posts etc. to get the egos I needed. It took a fair amount of money in components to get it right, but the bike fits me just right so I’d prefer to keep it and simply swap out a wheel with an electrified one.
Sitting here imagining how far I might commute on the bike leaves me thinking about 50km/30mi round trip with perhaps some last minute side errands to do. From what I have read my ideal battery capacity should not drop below 80% discharge to achieve this commute so as to have a little left over just in case and make it easier on the battery. This is a lake area where pretty much everything surrounds the lake shores making most of the riding fairly flat but we are surrounded by mountains so getting to and from the lake is either up or down but not too terribly steep to allow a fit person to easily pedal it with no assist on the above said MTB. Most all the side roads through the neighborhoods and residential areas are cobblestone that are really rough making the ride quite uncomfortable - if my panniers were water proof I could put my dirty clothes in them with soap and water and do my laundry washing at the same time, but the through fare roads are paved. Average annual temperature is 76 degrees F. cooler in winter and hotter in summer and at an elevation of 5000 feet. I’d like to be able to travel at a speed of not less than 20 mph without placing any real demand on the system with regard to economy of watts/km/mile. Slower could work too. I’ve ridden as fast as 42 mph downhill on this bike on a dirt road in good condition but to be honest it was not comfortable as far as feeling safe was concerned and at 30 mph I felt fine again so I think speeds of 20-30mph on the flat would be more than enough on that upper end.
Keeping in mind that I am in Mexico, the cost of shipping could be detrimental. Shipping batteries could also be detrimental due to Lithium battery shipping rules. I have an electrical background so making up my own batterie packs is an option providing I could find the components locally such as the 18650 cells which of the ones I have found through a company called Steren (like Radio Shack) but they are about 8 dollars US each.
I like components like the Cycle Analyst from Grin Technologies, and regen braking which I need a direct drive motor for which is cool because I wanted DD instead of geared anyway simply because of dependability and no moving parts…..this is the living in Mexico thing again…..It’s hard to source stuff down here and expensive to ship in. Most companies don’t want to ship into Mexico.
When I was looking into bikes in the past to now is a different world and I feel like I’m starting all over again with a huge learning curve. I just don’t know what to buy? Brands? The only things I do know about the system that I really do want is that it be direct drive and have regenerative braking. Suggestions?
Im 62 years old and my weight fluctuates from 195 - 225lbs at my heaviest. I’m 6 foot 2 inches tall.
Retired and living full time in Mexico…..this is important as getting parts etc is difficult here.
I have an older Tech Nova Pro non suspended chromoly framed MTB with quick release hubs and Shimano XT components front to rear, with rim style wheel brakes…..NO DISK BRAKES…..triple chainrings up front and 7 speed on the rear. 26” wheels hard anodized aluminum. This was a very high quality bike in it’s day. I have it set up well and it just fits me after changing bar risers, seat posts etc. to get the egos I needed. It took a fair amount of money in components to get it right, but the bike fits me just right so I’d prefer to keep it and simply swap out a wheel with an electrified one.
Sitting here imagining how far I might commute on the bike leaves me thinking about 50km/30mi round trip with perhaps some last minute side errands to do. From what I have read my ideal battery capacity should not drop below 80% discharge to achieve this commute so as to have a little left over just in case and make it easier on the battery. This is a lake area where pretty much everything surrounds the lake shores making most of the riding fairly flat but we are surrounded by mountains so getting to and from the lake is either up or down but not too terribly steep to allow a fit person to easily pedal it with no assist on the above said MTB. Most all the side roads through the neighborhoods and residential areas are cobblestone that are really rough making the ride quite uncomfortable - if my panniers were water proof I could put my dirty clothes in them with soap and water and do my laundry washing at the same time, but the through fare roads are paved. Average annual temperature is 76 degrees F. cooler in winter and hotter in summer and at an elevation of 5000 feet. I’d like to be able to travel at a speed of not less than 20 mph without placing any real demand on the system with regard to economy of watts/km/mile. Slower could work too. I’ve ridden as fast as 42 mph downhill on this bike on a dirt road in good condition but to be honest it was not comfortable as far as feeling safe was concerned and at 30 mph I felt fine again so I think speeds of 20-30mph on the flat would be more than enough on that upper end.
Keeping in mind that I am in Mexico, the cost of shipping could be detrimental. Shipping batteries could also be detrimental due to Lithium battery shipping rules. I have an electrical background so making up my own batterie packs is an option providing I could find the components locally such as the 18650 cells which of the ones I have found through a company called Steren (like Radio Shack) but they are about 8 dollars US each.
I like components like the Cycle Analyst from Grin Technologies, and regen braking which I need a direct drive motor for which is cool because I wanted DD instead of geared anyway simply because of dependability and no moving parts…..this is the living in Mexico thing again…..It’s hard to source stuff down here and expensive to ship in. Most companies don’t want to ship into Mexico.
When I was looking into bikes in the past to now is a different world and I feel like I’m starting all over again with a huge learning curve. I just don’t know what to buy? Brands? The only things I do know about the system that I really do want is that it be direct drive and have regenerative braking. Suggestions?