Anyone just do a basic ebike conversion

[Ole's son]

Has anyone done a simple, basic conversion to a nice donar bike. What I'm thinking is, add a hub motor/ rear wheel, throttle and skip the sensors, cut offs, etc. Just basically power a regular bike with a throttle only. Thoughts?

 

[indianajo]

Changed from a 350 w motor & 500 w controller to 1000 w motor & 1000 w controller this summer. The state narrowed the road I was riding to 108" lanes between cones, and in zones like that before trucks with lawnmower trailer have passed me with 0" clearance. I had to ride off a 12" pavement edge to avoid being hit by the trailer. So I needed to ride instead another road with steeper hills that had burnt up a 350 w motor last year. The 500 w controller wouldn't drive the 1000 w motor; ran for 2 seconds then shut down.
Brake cutoff of the motor is important. I've been buying basic scooter controllers that don't have a PAS pickup input, just a throttle. The connectors fit old motors & sensors better, not as specialized as the juli connectors fashionable now. Swapping phase order or hall effect order is easier, just pushing pins out & moving them. But even those scooter controllers have a brake shutoff input. When I'm pushing or parking, sometimes I twist the throttle by accident. Sometimes the brake handle will hit my hand before the bike goes down.

 

[Rexlion]

If you don't care to pedal, I suppose that would work ok, Ole's son. But trying to use a throttle to provide partial power along with pedaling would probably be unsatisfying, because the throttle can be difficult to regulate for the amount of supplemental power you'd want. JMO.

 

[gromike]

I use a quarter twist throttle and it works well backing up the pedaling, but I also use PAS, pedal, and/or throttle all in some sort of mix.

 

[indianajo]

If you don't care to pedal, I suppose that would work ok, Ole's son. But trying to use a throttle to provide partial power along with pedaling would probably be unsatisfying, because the throttle can be difficult to regulate for the amount of supplemental power you'd want.

I have no trouble doing that at all. I suppose if I held the throttle more than 4 hours my hand would get tired. But my commute is usually 3.7 hours. Having only 1000 watts accelerating 250 lb (empty) or 330 lb (with supplies) makes the time constant of acceleration pretty long.
PAS (cadence assist) forced me to go too fast in many circumstances. 11 mph minimum, 500 w acceleration minimum. So I moved the magnet away from the pickup to disable it. Throttle control is good down to 2 mph which is perfect for my rutted 500' grass driveway.

 

[harryS]

I can ride with throttle only, but it's boring. When I am at a cross walk with cars whizzing by at 40+ mph, I always keep a finger on my brakes, Last thing I want is to bump the throttle or on a torque sensor bike, activate the pedals, amd have ny bike pull me into the street.

If the ground falls off on the throttle connector, it's a well known fault. Most all bikes, well every bike I own, will see that as full speed throttle. It's happened to me twice on rides, but not on my fastest bikes. Also had a fault where the cruise control kicked on after holding the throttle for 15 seconds. Cutoffs kill that.

 

[Chargeride]

No cuttoffs, throttle only, no display, no power levels, I didn't even have a gear change for a year .

 

[Ole's son]

Good intel, people! I'm gonna go with adding a hub motor/rear wheelset, keep it very basic, with a cadence sensor and cutoffs with a base monitor. Battery and controller mounted to rear rack, hidden inside a storage bag to keep it stealthy. Most of my riding is flat, paved using PAS about 50% and throttle with ghost pedaling the rest. That said, what's your recommendation for this setup? Bafang seems to be the obvious choice, but I'd appreciate your input and experience on what you'd use!

 

[Chargeride]

I will say I had a scare in very heavy rain, just nipping across a busy road to another track about 100m towards a junction, the bike stuck on full throttle, it overpowered the rear brake and the front locked up in the wet.
I had to quickly reach for the battery switch as it plowed me through standing traffic.
If you don't have cutoffs, make sure you have a good rear brake.

 

[Hootz]

Good intel, people! I'm gonna go with adding a hub motor/rear wheelset, keep it very basic, with a cadence sensor and cutoffs with a base monitor. Battery and controller mounted to rear rack, hidden inside a storage bag to keep it stealthy. Most of my riding is flat, paved using PAS about 50% and throttle with ghost pedaling the rest. That said, what's your recommendation for this setup? Bafang seems to be the obvious choice, but I'd appreciate your input and experience on what you'd use!

I have two bafang rear hub converted bikes (500w) and for the two months and about 200 miles on each they have performed well. I had a good experience with vendor accolmile on amazon for both kits. They offer a rack mount battery.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I'm waiting for Boost (a UK company) to start producing their through axle rear hub model (they presently only have a drop axle hub setup) and to start shipping to other countries.
I really like its simplicity-small hub motor, water bottle styled battery, and only one wire (from the hub motor to the battery). Display is via a smartphone or wireless display.
The kit is only 250W, but since it's going on a light road bike I won't need any more power.

 

[PedalUma]

@Ole's son, having the battery low and centered would help with handling. Doing a decent on a corner, the bike will tend to flip with a rack-pack when you hit the brakes.

 

[Ole's son]

I'm into my build, and ran into a problem I need your help with. My bike has Shimano Hyperdrive system, which uses an all in one gear shift/brake. I took off the front derailleur and brake lever combo, and replaced it with the brake only lever with power cutoff that came with my kit. I'm fine leaving the rear brake/derailleur as is, but the kit has both brake levers wired into the same plug for the controller. What would happen if I cut the wires for the other brake lever with cutoff and left the original in use? Would that tell the controller that I have an open fault? The kit has both brake levers wired into the same plug , but I only want to use 1 of their brakes, and leave the original combo levers in use with the rear derailleur. What's the answer? I appreciate any and all help!!

 

[Ole's son]

Well, the bike is together. No testing yet, but it runs and moves. Lots of tweaking and tuning, but it's assembled! I wanted a bike that didn't look like an ebike, and think I got it! Will let you know how it works and rides. Stay tuned!

 

[Hootz]

What kit did you end up using?

 

[Ole's son]

What kit did you end up using?

Viribus kit, 1000w hub for 28" wheel. 48V 14ah battery. Nothing special, but we'll see how it works out.

 

[Ole's son]

Had my 1st real ride yesterday, 20 miles of flat paved bike lane. Went well, unit is quiet, pretty fast at 30+ with me aboard. Battery was down to 25% , started with 9 miles used for testing before I struck out, so I'd say it's good for up to 40 miles when full. It's not as comfy as my other bikes with bigger tires, but all in all it's a fun ride, good for a grocery run or a quick trip. Already thinking about the next build, maybe a single speed belt drive or ??

 

[harryS]

That wasn't too hard was it, Happy riding!

Battery drain isn't linear. Figure on 25 miles until you prove to yourself there is more. Those kind of motors aren't easy to pedal w/o power as you may have found out.

 

[Ole's son]

That wasn't too hard was it, Happy riding!

Battery drain isn't linear. Figure on 25 miles until you prove to yourself there is more. Those kind of motors aren't easy to pedal w/o power as you may have found out.

You're spot on about battery drain! Same Route today, but into a stiff wind. Battery was flashing low on monitor, and power dropping last mile of ride. Have revised my expectations of range down to 20, and if I need more, I'll take the beast.

 

[Catalyzt]

No cuttoffs, throttle only, no display, no power levels, I didn't even have a gear change for a year .

Ha! But if memory serves, you've been known to dispense with other features others might consider mission-critical-- the correct number of spokes, insulation for wires, tread or even air in the tires, etc...! Ride on, my favorite e-madman, you're an inspiration to us all!