Ebike Kit Review

[Shoestring]

Greetings EBR members, I have been running an ebikekit on my diamondback mtb for over 1 year now. the system is bulletproof thus far. The kit is 500w geared hub, 9 speed freewheel, throttle only, 48v 20ahr allcell battery. top speed 28mph unassited flat ground. range is consistently in excess of 30 miles- I do pedal along 75-85% of the time. I usually cruise in the 14-17 mph range and have done multiple rides in excess of 50 miles.
Like most geared hubs, a little gear whine is present while on the power but I don't find it to distracting or bothersome while enjoying a ride. Installation of the kit is pretty straight forward but thought and planning make the job turn out better. I had to modify the rear disc brake mounting bracket do to clearance issues. I filed .125 of aluminum off the bracket to center the caliper between the motor and frame rail. The BB7 mounting adjustments took care of proper alignment. The torque arm is a little "cheesey" and takes care to preload it while tightening the axle nuts . All in all, I'm very happy with the system. It lacks some fancy features: no pedal assist or torque sensing, but it flat out works.

 

[Ann M.]

Thanks for the notes, especially about the disc brake mounts, @Shoestring. It's good to get feedback from someone who's ridden a system for a long time. Would enjoy seeing a couple of pics of your bike with the kit . If that torque arm bugs you too much, upgrade to a Grin technology torque arm. They're well machined high quality steel and come in several designs to work on different front & rear wheel setups. You can get these from the manufacturer in Canada or on Amazon and a few other places.

 

[J.R.]

Greetings EBR members, I have been running an ebikekit on my diamondback mtb for over 1 year now. the system is bulletproof thus far. The kit is 500w geared hub, 9 speed freewheel, throttle only, 48v 20ahr allcell battery. top speed 28mph unassited flat ground. range is consistently in excess of 30 miles- I do pedal along 75-85% of the time. I usually cruise in the 14-17 mph range and have done multiple rides in excess of 50 miles.
Like most geared hubs, a little gear whine is present while on the power but I don't find it to distracting or bothersome while enjoying a ride. Installation of the kit is pretty straight forward but thought and planning make the job turn out better. I had to modify the rear disc brake mounting bracket do to clearance issues. I filed .125 of aluminum off the bracket to center the caliper between the motor and frame rail. The BB7 mounting adjustments took care of proper alignment. The torque arm is a little "cheesey" and takes care to preload it while tightening the axle nuts . All in all, I'm very happy with the system. It lacks some fancy features: no pedal assist or torque sensing, but it flat out works.

I drafted a bike with that description for 45 miles yesterday

It's a very nice bike and fairly stealth, even with the huge battery. The 500 watt geared hub is a little larger than my 350 watt Dapu, but nowhere near the size and weight of the 500 watt direct drive on my X3. On the flat the speed is evenly matched with my Easy Motion 29'er, but your bike is a killer, speed demon on serious hills (serious, being >500 ft. and >1 mi.). I can't see ever needing more speed or torque than your build.

 

[Shoestring]

Thanks for the notes, especially about the disc brake mounts, @Shoestring. It's good to get feedback from someone who's ridden a system for a long time. Would enjoy seeing a couple of pics of your bike with the kit . If that torque arm bugs you too much, upgrade to a Grin technology torque arm. They're well machined high quality steel and come in several designs to work on different front & rear wheel setups. You can get these from the manufacturer in Canada or on Amazon and a few other places.

Hello Ann, thanks for the tip on the Grin torque arms. I will post a few pics , the ones I have on file now are to high resolution to upload. I'll wash the bike so its nice and pretty and take a few shots for anyone interested.

 

[Shoestring]

I drafted a bike with that description for 45 miles yesterday

It's a very nice bike and fairly stealth, even with the huge battery. The 500 watt geared hub is a little larger than my 350 watt Dapu, but nowhere near the size and weight of the 500 watt direct drive on my X3. On the flat the speed is evenly matched with my Easy Motion 29'er, but your bike is a killer, speed demon on serious hills (serious, being >500 ft. and >1 mi.). I can't see ever needing more speed or torque than your build.

Now JR, truth be told , the EVO 29r was breathing down my neck for the majority of the ride! At least thats from my perspective.

 

[Lightning P38]

Review of Ebikekit kit I installed on my my recumbent road bike recently.

I bought a 36 volt geared rear wheel motor, with a 9 speed freewheel. And a 10 amphr battery. The kit is rated for up to 25 miles of riding. Max speed is rated at 30 mph. Includes PAS and throttle. The cost was $1,200 in 2019. The 36 kit has been discontinued and they offer a 48 volt

The install: Pretty straight forward. I did it all, except the crank arm removal to get the pas sensor installed. I have a crankarm tool, but not the correct one for my bike, nor the know how to remove a HollowTech crank, on a Lightning P38. I did have a tight fit to get the wheel to fit between the drop outs. I got it in, but I should have taken it to the bike shop to do it and saved myself a lot of frustration. Everything worked once all the wires were plugged in. All the wires were color coded. The display programming instructions were easy to follow. The company was very responsive on sending me parts missing from the kit.

The ride: You ride your bike like you would normally, but when you pedal, the e-assist motor kicks in to get you to the max speed at pas level you have selected. It is seamless.
There are 5 pas levels, and you can change them on the fly. The up and down buttons work nicely with a positive click and your selection is shown on the display. The display shows odometer, trip A, and Trip B miles.
The pas setting determines what speed your motor runs when you are pedaling. PAS level 3 gets you going to 13 - 14 mph when you start pedaling. PAS 2 goes to 10 mph. PAS 1 goes to 5 mph. I could start in any of those settings. But I needed to have my bike gear in low gear like I usually would to start from a stop. And it takes 4 or 5 pedal revolutions to get up to speed, while I am shifting up the bike gears.

I have found I prefer to start with pas in either 2 or 3. The kick from the motor helps recumbent riders get started, which was an unexpected bonus for me. On residential streets or on the trails I like to ride in pas 3 most of the time. Without e-assist I would ride 10 mph, with e-assist I ride about 15 mph.

High speeds: PAS 4 goes up to 20 mph...a bit fast on the trails or a bumpy road. But nice riding in city traffic, or an uncrowded trail, or a smooth residential street. This power level eats into your battery time, but it is sure fun! PAS 5 goes up to 28 mph...ok...that is fast, way fast. This is for riding on streets without stop signs, or thorough fares with speed limits up to 35 mph. If I pedal hard I am over 30 mph, or a little downhill and pedal hard I am up 35 mph. In the middle ring, my bike gearing goes up to 35 mph.

Hill climbing: Due to my medical history, I can only climb one hill at 5 mph, then I stop. With e-assist, and pas set at 2, I can climb that same hill at 7 mph comfortably. If I use pas 3, I can go 9 or 10 mph up that same hill comfortably. If I use pas 4 on that hill I would climb at 14-15 mph. But it eats up too much battery time to use pas 4 for climbing. So I use pas 2 or 3, depending on how much I want to conserve the battery.

Battery Distance: I am riding about 15 miles a day when I go out on a rail trail with 2% grade and paved. I use about 25-30% of the battery charge, if I use pas 2 and 3. So in theory I could get 45 miles and have a 10% reserve if I am careful.
The most I have used so far is 40% of the charge, going on hilly city streets, but I don’t recall the distance.
The battery takes about an hour to recharge for every 20% it is discharged.

One thing about the kit, is the odometer does not record your miles when you coast. So I rely on my riding partners iphone to get the actual miles. This is normal for this type wheel and clutch. I will add my own gps odometer at some point.

Overall, I like this kit. The boost from this kit is awesome. It is smooth, intuitive, and easy to use. I did find I needed a bike with full suspension to handle the extra speed and extra weight on the rear wheel. I found a nice used recumbent with full suspension, so I can now use the high speed pas settings more. I want to run the battery down to a 90% discharged level and see my actual max distance.

 

[Shoestring]

Glad to hear you're up and running. sounds like the kit is working fine. I'm still running my kit as well, over 6 yrs now. everything is still working. All the crap I heard about battery maintenance seems to be a non-issue. So far, the key is charge to full before a ride and let it sit at 30-50% until the next ride. My allcell battery sits at about 51V (full at 54.6) for weeks at a time. I have a Haibike also and ride that more often. Last winter I forgot about it for 4 months, clicked it on 51.2. I know it sat for at least 6 months unattended. It takes about 3 full charge cycles to bring back full range and it seems to sag a bit more under full load. Hey, the battery is more then 6yrs old, about 4K miles total. The kit still delivers 1085 watts fully charged at full throttle and about 25mph top speed. Its still more powerful then my Haibike but our local trail has a "no throttle class 1" policy. I would not hesitate to purchase one of these kits again. The fat bike kit is next but we need rear spacing for 190mm drop outs!!!??

 

[Van Haren]

What is the contact information for kits with real throttles. Do to combat injuries I can't do much pedaling and can't drive a car. Also must be 24".

 

[harryS]

Van Haren, pretty much all ebike kits have throttles. Some motor kits are availalble with 24" wheels. In general, a motor kit will range from $200-400. A mid notor kit, which drives the crank is about $500. Batteries range from $100 fire bombs up to $600 for DIY. Your choiceof donor bike, desired speeds, required range all affect the choice. And there are dozens, if not hundreds of sellers.

 

[Van Haren]

Do you know of any with just the throttle? The way they used to be. Names?

 

[RunForTheHills]

You don't have to install the cadence or torque sensor with most hub kits. The mid-drive kits will have it built in, although it is probably possible to disable it. You can pick and choose what components you want with a kit from Grin (ebikes.ca). However, they don't offer mid-drive kits and they are expensive kits. They will also lace the motor into the rim size of your choice.