What to buy in UK

[RandomFactoid]

Hi,

this is my first post on this forum

I'm planning to move to UK, London for a year where i'll be living in a suburb area (Romford). As i've checked on googlemaps, it's around 30km to the center of London. I thought an e-bike would be a good mean of transportation both to work (1-2-3 km) and to the center.

As my budget is pretty tight (not yet sure how tight), i'd like to ask for a bit of advice on what conversion kit to choose. My plan is to buy a used bike (steel frame?) and a conversion kit (ebay/china/local stores/rest of the internet). I'm leaning towards front wheel hub motors. My ebike experience is very short...had just one ride on a magicpie3 ebike.

Regarding UK laws, is this info correct, that maximum speed allowed is 15mph and wattage - up to 200 (or is it 250W)? (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws#United_Kingdom)
That kind of sounds pretty weak (esp. the wattage). Is there a real possibility of getting fined (UK ebikers?) ?

Another thing that worries me is distance. 30km to one end sounds quite a lot (if i was going from Romford to London center). It doesn't mean i'd not be cycling at all, but still...

Is this project "doable" at all ?
Thanks for help

 

[Tench]

While I don't know how informed the London police are but up here in central UK, Derbyshire, they don't seem to fazed by ebikes, I have ridden my Bomber around without being bothered by them. I think common sense is all it takes, if you travel at a comfortable speed to pedal so you can contribute a little, I find 16-17 mph is about right then no one will give a second look, zoom around about at 30+mph infront of them and expect to be tugged!
So I would say build a 500w+ system and ride sensibly! and when the roads are empty you can of course open it up a bit! 8)

 

[RandomFactoid]

Thanks for a quick answer That's a good start.

What low budget kits should i look at ? I realize a good battery is an important part of the whole setup, so buying it separately is an option.

 

[Tench]

The mac motor would be a good choice for a moderate power setup, or there are several Bottom bracket fitment mid drives you could consider. A one stop shop for all your needs could be Paul at EM3ev
http://em3ev.com/store/
or you could get a battery from Ping,
http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/StoreFront
Both these suppliers offer quality and have earned the respect of many on here. I have used them both and always been impressed with their products.

 

[Wurly]

I'd recommend a rear Bafang BPM, code 10, 11 or 12 and run it on 48V. Front hubs are too obvious. Ping batteries every time for me. Keep them within their discharge spec of 1.5C and they will serve you well. They are bulky and heavy so get a full suspension steel framed bike. EM3ev get good reports here. Speedict controller/computer can make your bike 'instant legal' from your android phone if you are worried about the law. None of this is available is readily available in the uk, you have to buy secondhand or import.
18miles each way? do-able, where are you from ? don't forget to factor in wet and cold, we get plenty of that.

 

[drsolly]

Be sure to check out the BM2 bicycle superhighway. It goes from Stratford to Aldgate. So your trip in to London would be Romford to Stratford, and then on the bike superhighway in to wherever your destination is in the middle of London. It isn't 30 km; Romford to Westminster is more like 25 km, 15 miles. You'd probably be able to do that in not much more than an hour. The reason I'm saying you should check out the BM2, is that for a lot of the route, you have a segregated bikeway; cars can't get you. And where you don't have that, you have a blue ribbon of road that's all yours, and cars seem torespect that a bit more than a simple while line paining in a bikeway.

But there might be a better way. Maybe you can take your bike on the train. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11701.aspx

Notice that if you have a folder, you can take it pretty much any time on the train. or on the tube.

The other thing I'd tell you about, (maybe you don't already know) is that there's lots of lovely wide bus lanes all over London. In those, only bicycles, buses and taxis are allowed (and electric bikes). Again, a lot safer than mixing it with the general traffic.

I've ridden my ebike around London, and I've never been queried by the police, and there's really no way that you could tell just by looking at the bike whether it's within the UK ebike rules or not. So bike sensibly; look like a bike and you'll be treated as a bike. The only place I've felt rather nervous, is Hyde Park Corner. But that's tricky even in a car.

 

[friendly1uk]

Pretty much stuck with a folder, but that does not mean you can't have 26" wheels. You could get a bike that don't fold, but your limiting how far you can explore. You might want to jump on a train to brighton (seafront) or simply cross your own city, which is rather large by any standard.

Be careful in bus lanes. The bus will purposely close gaps on you at every chance, to show the passengers that they are better on the bus than a bike. Their jobs depend on it. It is the buses themselves that stop people from cycling by making it dangerous.

Our top gear team recently cycled london for the day, and found everyone perfectly well mannered even when they were in the thick of it. Everyone except the bus drivers, who made it dangerous for them.

Get off! http://youtu.be/Vku7K4X1kME
^^^ good link. Watch the bus top left. just 26 seconds.

 

[d8veh]

The project is doable, but where will you put the bike when you get to work? Have you got a secure place because leaving it locked on the street every day in the same spot is not an option if you want to cycle home.

The best low budget kit, considering your requirements would be a 260 rpm rear Bafang BPM kit with the 20aH shrinktube battery:

http://www.bmsbattery.com/ebike-kits/347-bafang-350watts500watts-bpm-motor-e-bike-kit.html
http://www.bmsbattery.com/36v/445-36v-15ah-lithium-ion-electric-bicycle-battery-pack.html

If you want to go this route, post details of your bike and shopping list here so we can check it before ordering.

The law in the UK is 200w max, but we have an unofficial concession to use EN15194 plus throttles, which means that you can have any power you want provided that the motor is marked 250w by the manufacturer. Nobody checks,but you need to take sensible precautions about standing out. a member of the UK Pedelecs forum recently got stopped on his 2KW Dahon when he jumped a red light. The police started to ask a lot of difficult questions about his bike with giant batteries hanging off everywhere. In the end they were happy to fine him for jumping the lights. If you were involved in an accident, it would be a different matter, so my advice would be to make your bike look as much like a 250w one as possible. This one that doesn't belong tome has a 250w label on the motor:

 

[alsmith]

Try asking at the uk forum pedelecs, they may have advice about the journey/route.

 

[d8veh]

Just while I think of it. Have a look on the Pedelecs site for events. There will be a big show at the Redbridge cycle track in Romford where you can try all the different bikes around the hilly circuit. It's free. It.ll be in April or May.

 

[rich43]

I am from UK. I do the same, I have 2000-3000w on my ebike, 40mph top speed. But I live out in the countryside, pretty much never see police cars out here. (Hell, my brothers give the speed limit some abuse in their cars out here!). I highly recommend a rear motor kit, the front forks usually cant cope with much torque/power being put through them. Pretty much never going to be as strong as the rear drop-outs on any bike.

I only open the taps when I am just nipping off to the local shop (next village along) and back.

When I ride in city, I slow down and ride it at normal bicycle speeds. Always wear helmet, and reflective jacket and follow all the other laws to the letter. That can score some extra brownie points with the cops

Make sure you have decent torque arms on your bike, I recently decommissioned my ebike kit to take the time to fit them.

 

[RandomFactoid]

Thanks for all the answers

So far i'm leaning towards a rear wheel drive kit either from bmsbattery or the other chinese site menioned above. The bottle shaped battery also looks clean ant tidy. I'm just not sure if those ~10k mAh are enough for me. I really like the fact that you can hook up a mobile phone to the bottle's USB port and charge. Another thing is...what battery should i look into ? As i understand LiFePO4 is more or less the best you can get. However those are a bit expensive, so I'm thinking to start with Li-Ions.

And one more thing...bike-thieves. What are the ways of protecting the bike ? Apart from the regular metal locks. Is there some on/off key...etc. What are the options ? From what i've learned from my RC hobby (mostly multicopters)...hooking up gps to stuff is a neat thing But i guess the idea of a gps tracker on a bike is a bit utopic.

Thanks!

 

[alsmith]

Where will you be storing / parking / leaving the bike?

There are a lot of threads on here about theft, try the search function on the forum- there's a multitude of solutions and experiences, some really bad ones. One thing comes through quite often- make your bike look less attractive than the others around, and use at least two different style of locks. If you can take your battery with you.
And talking of batteries you're talking about getting one of the bottle batteries- why not get two if you need two?


I'm sure you'll get lots of useful ideas from the people here but please don't forget all of the earlier posts- there's a vast amount of really helpful stuff in there! Hit the search button at the top right and be ready to lose a few hours for the gain of knowledge and experience.

 

[CEGB]

Also in the uk, east London.

I built a mid drive ebike using a GNG kit. 1.2kW and 30-odd mph when let off the lead, but I use a v.3 Cycle Analyst and a three position switch to turn the power down to economical and legal levels when on the Queens highway.

Power from ping, and stronger motor mounts from ES member LightingRod.

All other parts are eBay finds, including the frame. I had the frame and all the motor/reduction gear parts powdercoated the same colour to make it look a little less obvious and more "factory" then it would otherwise have looked;



I struggled to find parts in the UK, so ended up importing most parts. Even so, the cost was minimal, and I have an ebike with stacks of power and huge range for less than I could have bought some feeble front drive electric shopper from Halfords.

I don't have a lock per se, since the bike is locked in the house most of the time, or stored securely at work when I commute on it.. I'd definitely be plumping for a very serious lock for it if I took it anywhere else though... A montague frame would make it easy to move around on public transport, but the options are getting better all the time for cyclists. You can now use the DLR off peak in East London (except Bank station), the river bus, and the cable car, even with non folding bikes.

 

[friendly1uk]

A bottle battery might be useless. I keep waiting for one that can produce more than 10amps, but still nothing during yesterdays search. I see a picture where bottles are for 250w eu bikes. Seat posts offer enough to use a 250w eu bike in an unlimited state. Frog boxes much the same. Batteries with rear carrier can support 20-30mph. After which we are talking custom builds.

edit: Rear racks can offer a bit more now, but it's not a good place to put it

 

[RandomFactoid]

Alright...so i've been reading and reading E-S forum and pedelecs.co.uk..not to mention any other info i could find.

Currently (until you change my opinion ) the idea is to make the ebike in a way that it stays a bicycle, not a scooter, etc (=weight as low as possible).

I'm thinking about buying a hybrid bike (Trek/Carrera or smth like that). As i'm 189cm tall, i'm guessing a ~20" frame with ~26-28" wheels should be fine. I'm thinking about the stealthy looking Q100C motor from bmsbattery. As i've read it should go ~30'ish km/h on 36v. I'd like it to be a bit faster...~40km/h or so.
As I understood that motor can easily take 48v, instead of the recommended 36v, meaning higher max speed. Em3ev's Samsung bottle type pack http://em3ev.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=35&product_id=161 seems like a very attractive option. For now i prefer a bottle type battery due to easy removal as I'm not yet sure if the bike parking spot at my work will be safe enough to leave the bike together with the battery connected.

Questions..
1. Will i need to look for a different controller, other than the ones I can choose to come with the motor (S06P and alike). Or will those do the trick?
2. How much speed should I get with this setup ?

Any additional tips are welcome

Thanks

 

[alsmith]

Your bike, your choices. You seem to pretty much decided which is a good thing. Bear in mind the guys here are more extreme with their bikes, designs and ideas and advice than in many forums which is good because you can pick up some good information and hopefully make a more informed choice. You've asked before buying so you've not come with a tale of woe or looking for upgrades within weeks of buying.
Ultimately its your choice after you've been through all of that information.

 

[d8veh]

A good 48v 6 FET controller is not easy to find. Ideally, you want one with several levels of PAS. I know Conhismotor do one, but the speed display doesn't work correctly with a geared motor.