Electric bike options? make my bike electric or buy one?

[ridiqls]

URGENT!

Can someone confirm if I will really loose my use of gears on my Dahon Speed P8 if I decide to get the geared hub motor for the rear? Someone made an offer on my dahon and if I will lose the use of the gears, I am going to sell the Speed P8 and get a boardwalk and that will actually give me $200+ cash to put towards the ebike setup.

 

[melodious]

Your Dahon (unless it's the larger MTB style folders) have 80mm fronts. Not too many motors have those widths. How do I know? I had to buy a wheel/motor kit for a newly purchased Tern (a folding bike company very similar to Dahons). I found two sites that offered 80mm motor/wheel kits. The 1st I found was ridiculously high priced. The 2nd I found was at BMSbattery.com thanks to another veteran member here. Check out that sight and you will see your avenues opening up. Don't forget, if your bike has 20" wheels, get the high RPM versions, otherwise you get a slow EV and you'll be disappointed at it's lack of power.

If I had the chance to go back in time and make the purchase again for this style of bike, I'd get the high RPM version & a 48V battery (I purchased a 36V). Just a tad more noticeable power & speed at that voltage. If your a lipo guru, you could even run it at 60V as long as your careful when pulling higher loads (i.e. big hills, very stiff headwinds) without burning the motor from excessive heat.

My advice? Sell your folder. The 80mm front is an obstacle in a world where the standard for ebike front hubs is 100mm. If you need the bike to be foldable, get the larger MTB style folders with 100mm fronts. Or a swift steel folding bike (similar to Dahon's but with 100mm fronts).

It's a shame when you search bicycle specifications that leave out the stuff ebikers want. For motor in wheel builds we want either front fork widths or rear dropout widths. For midmounted motor builds we want the bottom bracket length. :|

 

[ridiqls]

Your Dahon (unless it's the larger MTB style folders) have 80mm fronts. Not too many motors have those widths. How do I know? I had to buy a wheel/motor kit for a newly purchased Tern (a folding bike company very similar to Dahons). I found two sites that offered 80mm motor/wheel kits. The 1st I found was ridiculously high priced. The 2nd I found was at BMSbattery.com thanks to another veteran member here. Check out that sight and you will see your avenues opening up. Don't forget, if your bike has 20" wheels, get the high RPM versions, otherwise you get a slow EV and you'll be disappointed at it's lack of power.

If I had the chance to go back in time and make the purchase again for this style of bike, I'd get the high RPM version & a 48V battery (I purchased a 36V). Just a tad more noticeable power & speed at that voltage. If your a lipo guru, you could even run it at 60V as long as your careful when pulling higher loads (i.e. big hills, very stiff headwinds) without burning the motor from excessive heat.

My advice? Sell your folder. The 80mm front is an obstacle in a world where the standard for ebike front hubs is 100mm. If you need the bike to be foldable, get the larger MTB style folders with 100mm fronts. Or a swift steel folding bike (similar to Dahon's but with 100mm fronts).

It's a shame when you search bicycle specifications that leave out the stuff ebikers want. For motor in wheel builds we want either front fork widths or rear dropout widths. For midmounted motor builds we want the bottom bracket length. :|

I cant get fronts because of the aluminum forks anyway
but will a rear fit and allow the gears to still work? I understand internal hub gears will not but i thought i read somewhere that the regular 8 speeds will work.

 

[chisixer6]

ridiqls;

I know you are confused now. I thought I present another choice for you. I have no experience on these, but I see them all the time on Endless sphere. Instead of a hub motor, try a midmount external type, from GNG. AFAIK, these are quick, and lighter than a hub motor version. Look over the site, they also sell various folding bikes too. They also have hub motor kits. Prices are reasonable too, but it needs to be shipped from the orient. It looks good for unpaved riding too. Like I said, I have no experience on these, just what I have read here. endless spere has a section just on them. check it out.



http://www.gngebike.com/mid-drive-kits

 

[desertcodfish]

I have a Prodeco Mariner folding bike All Aluminum weighs in at 43 lbs including an 8 LB lithium 36 volt 6 AH battery.
If you can Resist buying a Mountain Bike I think you'll like this American made bike for only $1000.00 free shipping.
I bought it mainly cause I was looking for the lightest bike out there with Quality parts and a 2 year full warranty.

I also have a Hill=topper kit on a beach cruiser with almost exactly the same speed capability as the prodeco (about 15 MPH on flat).

 

[melodious]

Your Dahon (unless it's the larger MTB style folders) have 80mm fronts. Not too many motors have those widths. How do I know? I had to buy a wheel/motor kit for a newly purchased Tern (a folding bike company very similar to Dahons). I found two sites that offered 80mm motor/wheel kits. The 1st I found was ridiculously high priced. The 2nd I found was at BMSbattery.com thanks to another veteran member here. Check out that sight and you will see your avenues opening up. Don't forget, if your bike has 20" wheels, get the high RPM versions, otherwise you get a slow EV and you'll be disappointed at it's lack of power.

If I had the chance to go back in time and make the purchase again for this style of bike, I'd get the high RPM version & a 48V battery (I purchased a 36V). Just a tad more noticeable power & speed at that voltage. If your a lipo guru, you could even run it at 60V as long as your careful when pulling higher loads (i.e. big hills, very stiff headwinds) without burning the motor from excessive heat.

My advice? Sell your folder. The 80mm front is an obstacle in a world where the standard for ebike front hubs is 100mm. If you need the bike to be foldable, get the larger MTB style folders with 100mm fronts. Or a swift steel folding bike (similar to Dahon's but with 100mm fronts).

It's a shame when you search bicycle specifications that leave out the stuff ebikers want. For motor in wheel builds we want either front fork widths or rear dropout widths. For midmounted motor builds we want the bottom bracket length. :|

I cant get fronts because of the aluminum forks anyway
but will a rear fit and allow the gears to still work? I understand internal hub gears will not but i thought i read somewhere that the regular 8 speeds will work.

I dont want to stray you to bad info from me so I started looking up various various widths that IGHs cater to. Check out Sheldon Brown's website here: http://sheldonbrown.com/chainline-internal-gear.html
and here: http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

Generally speaking, IGH width is less than derailleur type wheels. So placing a hub motor on your folding bike with a 8speed IGH will limit the amount of external gears you place within the drop outs. Dogman has already mentioned that a possibility of just making the conversion to a motored single speed bicycle. I'd only go this route only if your motor can push enough power so you don't ever need to rely on any pedal input.