Lupulin
10 mW
Hi everyone, sorry for the long first post. Long story short, I'm looking for some help choosing a hub motor but first here is where I am coming from and what I'm trying to accomplish:
I have been looking for an ebike for a while but can't quite find what I'm looking for. I have ridden an el Mundo fairly often and like it, but I would rather have a Mid-drive for hill climbing/battery life reasons (plus I just like the idea of using the gears better than a hub motor). That and its just too big for my storage situation. I have ridden a few other ebikes: Juiced riders ODK 2, eZee expedir and xtracycle edgerunner (non powered). FYI my normal ride is a Surly LHT 26" with drop bars and 90% of the time I am on the hoods.
Juiced Riders: I have ridden this bike twice. I would like to say that I had really high hopes for this bike.
I like the wheelbase, the dual 20" wheels, the stout frame, stout kick stand, powerful disc brakes (again 20"??), huge battery and the placement. The price is pretty good too for what you are getting. The rack could be a little lower, but certainly not a deal breaker for me. The first time I rode the bike the motor really stood out to me, and not in a good way. I will say it was quite powerful and I was surprised how much I liked the cruise control, nice feature IMHO. But the motor was loud and there was a lot of resistance to the point that I felt I needed to use the motor, making it seem more like a human assisted electric bike vs. an electric assisted bicycle. The second time (a few months later) I will say this seems to have improved (geared motor getting broken in??). But the worst part, for me, was the riding position. It was too upright for me and I didn't feel like I could get much power thru the cranks. I hated the seat (easy fix), and the bars were terrible, completely wrong angle for my hands. I understand they come long so you can cut them back but I don't think that would change anything. I also don't particularly care for the step thru frame. With the smaller wheels I feel like I could easily swing my leg over and would prefer a more traditional frame.
I like what Tora has done and if I could get this with a freewheeling mid drive I probably would try to fix the riding position with different stem/bars/seat post. I have read the reviews on here and online and am glad there are so many people happy with their bikes, but as it currently is, it just isn't the bike for me but I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this company in the future.
eZee Expedir
This was closer, but I still wasn't wild about the seating position and I really didn't like the Pedal Assist. It seemed like when I stopped pedaling for safety reasons (stop light/sign or car/pedestrian) the PA would keep powering the bike for another whole second. To me, very unnerving and somewhat dangerous. I might be able to get used to it, but I really didn't like it. I want a throttle bike. I know this has a throttle (and I saw 22ish MPH) I just don't think I want the PA.
Xtracycle Edgerunner
This was my favorite! Riding position was pretty much spot on, I think they nailed it. I don't like the two different size wheels! I don't get why they did that? If the realize the advantages of the 20" wheel in back, and this is a cargo bike, why not have a 20" front with a nice low frame mounted rack?? Back to the bike, the reviews I have read online seemed to say that it was responsive, sprightly, impressively light weight feel. I didn't get that feeling, it felt heavy (it is, but hey, its a cargo bike) and slow but STOUT. Man that bike is built like a brick ****house. I bet it comes into its own when heavily loaded down like it is meant to be! The tires could have something to do with that (Fat Franks I think?).
So I'm leaning toward having a friend of mine who builds frames make me a custom frame! I'm leaning toward something like an edgerunner with dual 20"s and a hub motor mid-drive with a lighter tube set (I don't think I will need a bike THAT stout). I'm not sure of if I should make it xtracycle compatible or not, again for length reasons. With the mid drive I'm thinking it will be between and Edgerunner and the ODK (this seems like a nice practical size for me) in length. I had been leaning toward modeling the drivetrain on a da Vinci tandem until I saw the Stokemonkey equipped Edgerunner from Grin Technologies. I'm still leaning toward the tandem design b/c I don't think I like chain line but keeping an open mind (KISS).
A couple other designs I like:
Bridgestone Josis wagon (pretty good)
EBS Work (Really like this bike and they actually make a few really cool bikes)
Xtravois 2.0 but with a traditional double diamond frame and free wheeling mid-drive
Pretty much a mini velo Yuba Mundo with a frame that incorporates an Urban Commuter Mid-drive.
So I'm starting with looking for motors and it has me wondering why the Stokemonkey was originally (and will continue?) to use a 500W motor? I'm not a speed freak, but I was thinking 1000W 48V system. I'm still researching batteries so I don't know what xSyP yet, but I figure I'll get to that after the motor dimentions. Any help with the motor would be much appreciated. One of the nice parts of the original motor (crystalyte 407 I believe) is that it is QUIET and this is more important to me that all out speed or being able to haul 600 lbs up 25% grade. I'm a 40yo 6'0" 175 lb male that is in fair shape that will be using this for transportation and running around town/grocery store.
Anyway I'm looking forward to this project and sharing it with all of you. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot and try to minimize my mistakes. After having several hobbies, I've learned to invest more in the beginning that tip toe into it and have a bunch of useless equipment by the time I finally decide to get what I want.
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.
I have been looking for an ebike for a while but can't quite find what I'm looking for. I have ridden an el Mundo fairly often and like it, but I would rather have a Mid-drive for hill climbing/battery life reasons (plus I just like the idea of using the gears better than a hub motor). That and its just too big for my storage situation. I have ridden a few other ebikes: Juiced riders ODK 2, eZee expedir and xtracycle edgerunner (non powered). FYI my normal ride is a Surly LHT 26" with drop bars and 90% of the time I am on the hoods.
Juiced Riders: I have ridden this bike twice. I would like to say that I had really high hopes for this bike.
I like the wheelbase, the dual 20" wheels, the stout frame, stout kick stand, powerful disc brakes (again 20"??), huge battery and the placement. The price is pretty good too for what you are getting. The rack could be a little lower, but certainly not a deal breaker for me. The first time I rode the bike the motor really stood out to me, and not in a good way. I will say it was quite powerful and I was surprised how much I liked the cruise control, nice feature IMHO. But the motor was loud and there was a lot of resistance to the point that I felt I needed to use the motor, making it seem more like a human assisted electric bike vs. an electric assisted bicycle. The second time (a few months later) I will say this seems to have improved (geared motor getting broken in??). But the worst part, for me, was the riding position. It was too upright for me and I didn't feel like I could get much power thru the cranks. I hated the seat (easy fix), and the bars were terrible, completely wrong angle for my hands. I understand they come long so you can cut them back but I don't think that would change anything. I also don't particularly care for the step thru frame. With the smaller wheels I feel like I could easily swing my leg over and would prefer a more traditional frame.
I like what Tora has done and if I could get this with a freewheeling mid drive I probably would try to fix the riding position with different stem/bars/seat post. I have read the reviews on here and online and am glad there are so many people happy with their bikes, but as it currently is, it just isn't the bike for me but I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this company in the future.
eZee Expedir
This was closer, but I still wasn't wild about the seating position and I really didn't like the Pedal Assist. It seemed like when I stopped pedaling for safety reasons (stop light/sign or car/pedestrian) the PA would keep powering the bike for another whole second. To me, very unnerving and somewhat dangerous. I might be able to get used to it, but I really didn't like it. I want a throttle bike. I know this has a throttle (and I saw 22ish MPH) I just don't think I want the PA.
Xtracycle Edgerunner
This was my favorite! Riding position was pretty much spot on, I think they nailed it. I don't like the two different size wheels! I don't get why they did that? If the realize the advantages of the 20" wheel in back, and this is a cargo bike, why not have a 20" front with a nice low frame mounted rack?? Back to the bike, the reviews I have read online seemed to say that it was responsive, sprightly, impressively light weight feel. I didn't get that feeling, it felt heavy (it is, but hey, its a cargo bike) and slow but STOUT. Man that bike is built like a brick ****house. I bet it comes into its own when heavily loaded down like it is meant to be! The tires could have something to do with that (Fat Franks I think?).
So I'm leaning toward having a friend of mine who builds frames make me a custom frame! I'm leaning toward something like an edgerunner with dual 20"s and a hub motor mid-drive with a lighter tube set (I don't think I will need a bike THAT stout). I'm not sure of if I should make it xtracycle compatible or not, again for length reasons. With the mid drive I'm thinking it will be between and Edgerunner and the ODK (this seems like a nice practical size for me) in length. I had been leaning toward modeling the drivetrain on a da Vinci tandem until I saw the Stokemonkey equipped Edgerunner from Grin Technologies. I'm still leaning toward the tandem design b/c I don't think I like chain line but keeping an open mind (KISS).
A couple other designs I like:
Bridgestone Josis wagon (pretty good)
EBS Work (Really like this bike and they actually make a few really cool bikes)
Xtravois 2.0 but with a traditional double diamond frame and free wheeling mid-drive
Pretty much a mini velo Yuba Mundo with a frame that incorporates an Urban Commuter Mid-drive.
So I'm starting with looking for motors and it has me wondering why the Stokemonkey was originally (and will continue?) to use a 500W motor? I'm not a speed freak, but I was thinking 1000W 48V system. I'm still researching batteries so I don't know what xSyP yet, but I figure I'll get to that after the motor dimentions. Any help with the motor would be much appreciated. One of the nice parts of the original motor (crystalyte 407 I believe) is that it is QUIET and this is more important to me that all out speed or being able to haul 600 lbs up 25% grade. I'm a 40yo 6'0" 175 lb male that is in fair shape that will be using this for transportation and running around town/grocery store.
Anyway I'm looking forward to this project and sharing it with all of you. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot and try to minimize my mistakes. After having several hobbies, I've learned to invest more in the beginning that tip toe into it and have a bunch of useless equipment by the time I finally decide to get what I want.
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.