Hey guys! So lucky to have access to such a great website and community. I'm a bike messenger based out of New York and thought it was a good idea to invest in an electric bike/system. Weekend days, I ride upwards of 50 miles in a single day. After a while, it began to take a toll on my back, I ultimately ride 200 miles a week. Initially I was looking for an entire bike for $3,000 but haven't found a single one that can manage a 50 mile range. If you know a bike that fits my budget and has 50 miles or range, please comment. I've stumbled upon the BionX D-500 and it seems to be the choice to go with. I figured I'll most likely be converting my bike. Should I go with the BionX D-500? Based on the reads, BionX seems to be the industry leader. Will it be able to handle 10,000 miles in a course of a year? How much would I have to spend on maintenance? There are other conversion kits that cost significantly less, around $700 for 25 miles. I was thinking on installing two slots for batteries, like the Riese & Müller bike https://electricbikereview.com/riese-muller/delite-gt-nuvinci-hs/ and make it more affordable. Are their other routes I can take? Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share.
Bike Selection. Please read!
- Thread starter Maks
- Start date
flymeaway
Well-Known Member
Depends how you classify the "industry leader". They certainly are a well known manufacturer, but there are many good kits available. BionX is one of the most expensive kit manufacturers but there are a lot of very good kit manufacturers to choose from beyond BionX.
Court J.
emco5
Active Member
Would there be a reason to ride powered all the time? If you are sensible with the e-assistance and use leg power when boost isn't necessary, you should be able to travel beyond 50 miles per charge. Gearless hubs tend to cog/drag when the power is off, so focus your search on geared-hub and mid-drive setups. Read up on regenerative charging, there are conflicting opinions about whether it is worthwhile.
Ravi Kempaiah
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
- City
- Halifax
(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
With 48V, 32Ah, you could easily do 50 miles.
This is the biggest battery pack I have seen 52V, 34Ah
https://lunacycle.com/roam-fusion/
Needs a bit of maintenance from your side. you will get a long life and 75+ miles per charge on this one.
Would you mind to name a few? Thanks
emco5
Active Member
Ravi, what kind of maintenance challenges did you have on your 5K ride?
Did you do it all on one bike?
flymeaway
Well-Known Member
I'm not impartial because I've only used two types of motor kits. I've used MAC geared hub from https://em3ev.com/ the MAC geared hub is a very capable motor that would provide all the power you need. The owner, Paul, is a very knowledgeable source. em3ev, builds their own battery packs of very high quality. The other kit I've used on 5 bike conversions is the Bafang mid-drive. The Bafang 48V BBS02 coupled with a 54V battery will provide all the power you need. I'm not endorsing this company, it's one of many that can provide a turnkey Bafang kit https://lunacycle.com/mid-drive-kits/. Range won't be an issue, buy the battery Ravi references in the post above and you will easily exceed 50 miles. I have ridden my mid-drive bikes in excess of 50 miles using the 13.5AH pedaling the entire time in hilly terrain. Now I'll give you my personal plug for a must have upgrade. If you go with a mid-drive have a high quality wheel built with the Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 IGH, it is well worth the upgrade.
These are just my opinion and there are a lot of good options. Ravi posted one above that will do the job. Good luck on your search, you might contact Chris Nolte at http://propelbikes.com/. He's local and can show you plenty of ebikes. He also knows a lot about NYC laws regulating ebikes.
Court J.
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