Alan B
100 GW
A lot of brake maintenance is dependent on how you drive. Slowing down a bit earlier can reduce brake wear significantly.
The braking requirements of an e-bike are far beyond a recreational or non-powered bicycle. They are much closer to a Moped or Motorcycle's requirements. Average speeds are much higher (even on a low power ebike), and average miles per year are much, much greater. Riding conditions are different, much more likely in traffic at commute times with more stops and more emergency actions required. Hence a design that works fine on a non powered bike is not necessarily even minimally adequate on a commuter ebike.
I had a high end Moped years ago that had cable operated drum brakes. They were very poor at stopping and required fairly frequent shoe changes and frequent adjustment. Hardly low maintenance or very safe. They were barely okay on flat ground at 30, if you didn't need a quick stop. They were very scary on a 10% downhill with a stop light at the bottom. Had to run the red a couple times, just could not get stopped that fast.
Then I graduated to a Honda CB125S with cable operated front Disc brake and rear drum. MUCH better than the drum front brake. Pads lasted a long time, but braking forces on the lever were very high. Stopped okay from 50, but not authoritatively. Just adequate, many would consider it marginal.
Then I graduated to a 500CC 450 pound Honda watercooled shaft drive V twin with front hydraulic disk and rear drum. The brakes were MUCH MUCH better. A finger or two were all that was needed for the front hydraulic disc for authoritative braking. Put near 100K miles on, maybe changed pads once. Engine braking takes most of the load off the brakes, similar to regen.
My first disc on an ebike is a Hayes and it works really well, takes only a finger or two to stop. Rear brake is high end Shimano XTR rim brake on the mountain bike. Never needed maintenance or adjustment so far, though the rim brake squeals a lot. Adjustments don't seem to quiet it for long.
Then I had a couple of different dual-disc on the front of the Greyborg (Gatorbrakes 4 pot and now Tektro Auriga), plus regen, fixed at first, now variable with the Sabvoton. Many thousands of miles, no adjustments, great stopping power.
The problem with cable brakes of all kinds is needing frequent adjustment. That may or may not be okay for you. I consider them weak and fiddly.
The rim brakes wear out rims. Remember this is an ebike with lots of commuting miles, not an occasionally used exercise bike. Higher speeds, more miles, more stopping, more bouncing, hard use wears out bicycle parts much faster than usual. The rimbrake screeching is often difficult to stop and annoying to listen to.
I considered a Sturmey-Archer drum brake for the front wheel of my eBikeE but the ebike shop said they don't stop very well.
Hydraulic brakes require very little or no adjustment. Using regen makes the brakes last just about forever.
Regen places some stress on the dropouts. Properly mounted motors don't have a problem with this. Either good torque arms or clamping dropouts and high end locking washers such as NordLock on the nuts makes it low maintenance. I use regen all the time and don't have either clamping dropouts or torque arms on my Greyborg, just using NordLocks and the motor fully into the cromoly dropouts and it works perfectly well, now for many thousands of commute miles, with some very steep downhill braking up to 15% on the route. The dropouts and torque arms that aren't right will be a problem, regen or not. Regen may hasten it, but done right it is a non problem period.
I don't have an Adaptto, but I find that saving a couple dollars on stuff you use all the time is usually a foolish plan and results in rework and higher long term costs. The cheap stuff you are talking about is in no way comparable equipment. The Mini without all the extras is not that expensive. You don't need the BMS or the charger, you already have that covered and you want a removable pack and charge separate from the bike.
The Sabvoton is big, but it is rock solid at 3KW and those 6KW peaks don't even make it warm. You want reliable, the Sabvoton delivers.
The braking requirements of an e-bike are far beyond a recreational or non-powered bicycle. They are much closer to a Moped or Motorcycle's requirements. Average speeds are much higher (even on a low power ebike), and average miles per year are much, much greater. Riding conditions are different, much more likely in traffic at commute times with more stops and more emergency actions required. Hence a design that works fine on a non powered bike is not necessarily even minimally adequate on a commuter ebike.
I had a high end Moped years ago that had cable operated drum brakes. They were very poor at stopping and required fairly frequent shoe changes and frequent adjustment. Hardly low maintenance or very safe. They were barely okay on flat ground at 30, if you didn't need a quick stop. They were very scary on a 10% downhill with a stop light at the bottom. Had to run the red a couple times, just could not get stopped that fast.
Then I graduated to a Honda CB125S with cable operated front Disc brake and rear drum. MUCH better than the drum front brake. Pads lasted a long time, but braking forces on the lever were very high. Stopped okay from 50, but not authoritatively. Just adequate, many would consider it marginal.
Then I graduated to a 500CC 450 pound Honda watercooled shaft drive V twin with front hydraulic disk and rear drum. The brakes were MUCH MUCH better. A finger or two were all that was needed for the front hydraulic disc for authoritative braking. Put near 100K miles on, maybe changed pads once. Engine braking takes most of the load off the brakes, similar to regen.
My first disc on an ebike is a Hayes and it works really well, takes only a finger or two to stop. Rear brake is high end Shimano XTR rim brake on the mountain bike. Never needed maintenance or adjustment so far, though the rim brake squeals a lot. Adjustments don't seem to quiet it for long.
Then I had a couple of different dual-disc on the front of the Greyborg (Gatorbrakes 4 pot and now Tektro Auriga), plus regen, fixed at first, now variable with the Sabvoton. Many thousands of miles, no adjustments, great stopping power.
The problem with cable brakes of all kinds is needing frequent adjustment. That may or may not be okay for you. I consider them weak and fiddly.
The rim brakes wear out rims. Remember this is an ebike with lots of commuting miles, not an occasionally used exercise bike. Higher speeds, more miles, more stopping, more bouncing, hard use wears out bicycle parts much faster than usual. The rimbrake screeching is often difficult to stop and annoying to listen to.
I considered a Sturmey-Archer drum brake for the front wheel of my eBikeE but the ebike shop said they don't stop very well.
Hydraulic brakes require very little or no adjustment. Using regen makes the brakes last just about forever.
Regen places some stress on the dropouts. Properly mounted motors don't have a problem with this. Either good torque arms or clamping dropouts and high end locking washers such as NordLock on the nuts makes it low maintenance. I use regen all the time and don't have either clamping dropouts or torque arms on my Greyborg, just using NordLocks and the motor fully into the cromoly dropouts and it works perfectly well, now for many thousands of commute miles, with some very steep downhill braking up to 15% on the route. The dropouts and torque arms that aren't right will be a problem, regen or not. Regen may hasten it, but done right it is a non problem period.
I don't have an Adaptto, but I find that saving a couple dollars on stuff you use all the time is usually a foolish plan and results in rework and higher long term costs. The cheap stuff you are talking about is in no way comparable equipment. The Mini without all the extras is not that expensive. You don't need the BMS or the charger, you already have that covered and you want a removable pack and charge separate from the bike.
The Sabvoton is big, but it is rock solid at 3KW and those 6KW peaks don't even make it warm. You want reliable, the Sabvoton delivers.
