An electric bike for touring

[ufkacbln]

My wife rides a BIonx equipped bike, and we had this fitted with a throttle. You have to be moving to trigger the assist, but the system works well for us. It is rear wheel fitted

The Bionx has 4 levels of assist and a throttle so you can select how much help you need.

We did our first "tour" on it round the Isle of Wight, two 35 mile days, and on a single battery, recharged at night. However this milage will be variable on weight carried, hilliness and the amount of assist used.!

 

[AndyPeace]

Hmm.. lithium ion batteries and lifepo4 batteries are pretty equal weight wise... and on reliability. lifepo4 are just less harrardous to the enviroment, their is lots of hype about lifepo4, but its main advantage is it can be made into any shape. Their are other less expensive batteries from lead acid batteries to Nihim batteries as well as a variety of lithium chemistries. Not all batteries are the same 2 36v 15ah batterties can perform differently depending on their C rating (which describes how much power can be delivered at any one time). To ride 100 miles you would need to invest at least £1k into buying batteries, more if you want reliability and reasonable warranties . . I have ridden both front wheel and rear wheel drive. rear wheel drive is far superiour on climbing and carrying loads. Any motor above 250w needs thought about the frame your building on. Either way a touring bike conversion is gonna cost a good weight of notes. Interesting thought about swapping the wheel back to a normal bike, but this would be as simple for the rear wheel. Given we're talking about a touring bike, I'm guessing the guy won't be carrying a spare wheel?

 

[albion]

AM sure ones I had checked out seemed to have a 30% weight premium.
Price was also premium so that £1000 is maybe about right now.

Ready made bikes often use cheaper unstable lithium ones.

 

[AndyPeace]

Its been a few years since I looked into batteries, so maybe things have moved on and your right. However, the quality of a battery depends on many things. Cell voltages must be carefully balanced and ever increasing sophistication in electronics helps maintain a batteries health. Wisper bikes have a link to a blog on a 'world tour ' on electric bikes , with a solar panel attached to the trailer.

Given the climate in the UK, I doubt solar panels would be effective... I wonder if rain can be used as a renewable energy source? Despite owning an electric bike I have to say any touring I do will not be on an electric bike, but they are good fun....

 

[zac 64]

my wife has a freego electric bike which is pedal assist with 3 power levels and can also be powered by battery only (motorcycle type throttle) which you could use for a short rest from pedalling. the battery lives behind seat post and lifts out for charging.does 40-50 miles depending on how much you help it!