Convert Road Bike to Ebike - Advice!

[tomjasz]

I think that it would be a shame to convert a collectable vintage Raleigh.

What possible damage could be done? I see lots of conversions on vintage bikes. Add some koolstop eBike pads for better braking. A BBS02B won’t over power the existing brakes.

 

[RunForTheHills]

What possible damage could be done? I see lots of conversions on vintage bikes. Add some koolstop eBike pads for better braking. A BBS02B won’t over power the existing brakes.

It is a lugged lightweight frame not designed for the stress of a motor. I have the original copper paint on it in good shape. I wouldn't want to scratch that up with attaching the mid-drive and other components to it. The Sempu torque sensor I used for my Surly Disc Trucker required me to drill a hole in the bottom bracket shell, although Grin has a new one from Erider that doesn't seem to require that. And the bottom line is that I like the bike the way it is even though it does not have the original components. I have had it for 40 years, it has sentimental value to me, and I am not going to turn it into an ebike. I agree on the brakes though. I already have Kool-Stop pads on it.

 

[PedalUma]

First off I misspoke. The pads I like are made from 945 Alloy and are 73mm long.
Vintage bike conversions are cool in my book. What fun to ride a vintage bike with a well made steel frame. I will be doing one shortly that looks vintage but is not. And it will not look electric either. After I ditch the fenders it will get Big Ben 50's and I will flip the bar for a café racer look. I like the recycling aspect of updating old bikes. This one is a blood red Public V7. The saddle and grips will be black and it is getting a trigger shifter to replace the grip shift.

 

[tomjasz]

A mild mid drive, 36V 250-500W would be fine. Over my 5 years of supporting hundreds of DIY customers I’ve seen no frame issues. Now a BBSHD is a horse of another color.

 

[tomjasz]

The OP wrote,

I'm thinking about converting an old touring bike into an ebike with a BBS02 mid-drive.

. I wouldn't want to scratch that up with attaching the mid-drive and other components to it.

There is no damage from a proper build.

. I already have Kool-Stop pads on it.

There are more aggressive eBike pads by KoolStop.

 

[indianajo]

There are more aggressive eBike pads by KoolStop.

HaHaHaHaHa! Water is a great lubricant of all rubbers. Glue doesn't even stick to metal underwater. Rims carry water to the brake pad. Not everybody lives in Southern California or Arizona.

 

[RunForTheHills]

The OP wrote,


There is no damage from a proper build.

There are more aggressive eBike pads by KoolStop.

Well, it turns out that the OPs bike is not a vintage collectable, but just an old Raleigh from the mid-2000s. My opinion stays the same about electrifying vintage collectable bikes, but to each his own. Some vintage bikes are more common than others. Some are very rare. Some have been repainted in the past or not well cared for and scratching the original paint is not an issue. I wasn't aware of the eBike specific Kool-Stop pads. That is good info.

 

[tomjasz]

HaHaHaHaHa! Water is a great lubricant of all rubbers. Glue doesn't even stick to metal underwater. Rims carry water to the brake pad. Not everybody lives in Southern California or Arizona.

Works for me in Minnesota.

 

[RunForTheHills]

As much as I tell myself that I don't mind riding in the rain, I always end up driving if it is raining out. The only times I get wet is if it is not raining in the morning, but raining on the way home. I don't ride fast and I have never found rim brakes scary in the rain. I admit that I am in California though and not car-free.

 

[PedalUma]

I am in Coastal Northern California. Ridding in the hail is invigorating. That is when I know I am alive! With rim brakes I find that keeping the rims super clean with acetone is important for riding in the rain. It is not so much rain water - that gets shed - it is a build up of film plus rain water that causes braking problems riding in the rain.
Some of my bikes have internal brakes to avoid the muck that even hydro-discs contend with. I just built this wheel for a project. It has an internal brake and internal gears with a 16-T cog.
The next photo is of the 'Butch Kit' I put together for the electric conversion of the red Public V7, when I yank the fenders and chain guard and flip the bar for a café racer look and install the trigger shifter it will be bad in the good sense.
The seller's teen son got laughed at and called Pewee. So he refused to ride it. The white tires need to go.

 

[tomjasz]

I wasn't aware of the eBike specific Kool-Stop pads.

Rim Brakes-Kool-S Supra 2 pad Electric - California Ebike

Kool-Stop Supra 2 Brake Shoes and Pads Hardened and Plated reinforced steel backbone Patented Angled tip plow Water groove Knurl-lock washer system Self tow in Model: Supra 2 Brand: Kool-Stop

california-ebike.com

 

[RunForTheHills]

I am in Coastal Northern California. Ridding in the hail is invigorating. That is when I know I am alive! With rim brakes I find that keeping the rims super clean with acetone is important for riding in the rain. It is not so much rain water - that gets shed - it is a build up of film plus rain water that causes braking problems riding in the rain.
Some of my bikes have internal brakes to avoid the muck that even hydro-discs contend with. I just built this wheel for a project. It has an internal brake and internal gears with a 16-T cog.
The next photo is of the 'Butch Kit' I put together for the electric conversion of the red Public V7, when I yank the fenders and chain guard and flip the bar for a café racer look and install the trigger shifter it will be bad in the good sense.
The seller's teen son got laughed at and called Pewee. So he refused to ride it. The white tires need to go.

Well, I like the bike and the tires. However, I can see where the Peewee moniker comes from. It is a rare teen who can rise above the peer pressure and do his own thing.

 

[Dallant]

@WattsUpDude!
I have been off EBR for a while because I have been working on a lot of bikes. Some cool stuff. I think I just pulled off the cleanest 1Kw HD build to date. It is not stealthy but it is not a rat's nest either and it is solid.

For my rim brake bikes I always use 945mm brake pads. These double the surface area and can lock up if needed.

Pictures please. I’m pondering a conversion to my ‘16 Trek Verve 3. Thoughts?

 

[PedalUma]

@Dallant, Opinion:
1) Stay away from the datasheet seductions of the BBSHD. It will destroy your drivetrain in 10-days. Unless you tone it way down, then it is just bulk you have to hulk. Go for the lightest battery and motor you can find with a low nominal power expenditure but make it have high peaks and with a smooth torque sensor system so the "throttle" is in your foot. Quality cells are everything.
On your bike you will need to run continuous shift housing over the right side of your bottom bracket.
2) Do not be tempted to run housing or wires between the motor and the bottom bracket - they will get crimped and if it is power it will weld the frame and blow the controller and maybe the motor windings.
Here is the cargo HD I am finishing and a couple of superior builds that are more stealthy. If interested in these builds you can see more at PedalUma.com. Does the turquoise cargo bike look like the cleanest build you have seen so far for an HD with brake wires and a light kit?

 

[EMGX]

I am in Coastal Northern California. Ridding in the hail is invigorating. That is when I know I am alive! With rim brakes I find that keeping the rims super clean with acetone is important for riding in the rain. It is not so much rain water - that gets shed - it is a build up of film plus rain water that causes braking problems riding in the rain.
Some of my bikes have internal brakes to avoid the muck that even hydro-discs contend with. I just built this wheel for a project. It has an internal brake and internal gears with a 16-T cog.
The next photo is of the 'Butch Kit' I put together for the electric conversion of the red Public V7, when I yank the fenders and chain guard and flip the bar for a café racer look and install the trigger shifter it will be bad in the good sense.
The seller's teen son got laughed at and called Pewee. So he refused to ride it. The white tires need to go.

I put a roller brake on my parts bin TSDZ2 Cadillac. It also has a Nuvinci N360 hub because the original N171 failed even without a mid drive assist. The N360 I had laced into a bike for my wife probably close to 10 years ago, she no longer rides that bike so it was just sitting in a shed along with the roller brake that I was going to install on that bike years ago because it had pretty poor functioning linear brakes (even with cool stop salmon pads) but never did install the roller. I'll see if the roller brake can handle long downhill runs without burning up.





Currently this bike has the large LCD5 display but I have a small XH18 to replace it with when a 6 pin splitter cable finally arrives.

 

[PedalUma]

@EMGX, Keep it greased. I clean mine with a Mobile 1 soak. A small parts ultra-sonic cleaner helps too before the soak. How do you like the N360? I did not know it is compatible with the Shimano Inter-M roller brake. That is cool. Nice build!
After the six pin arrives try removing the wheel magnet for enhanced performance and feel. And set wheel size to the minimum in the display. Report back with you findings. A half-link chain works well with these hubs. They are extra robust and low maintenance after the initial break-in like a belt drive and they look nice. How wide can you fit tires? Dropping the cog is nice also, I like 16-T and can still do sustained climbs while going fast on the flats.

 

[EMGX]

@EMGX, Keep it greased. I clean mine with a Mobile 1 soak. A small parts ultra-sonic cleaner helps too before the soak. How do you like the N360? I did not know it is compatible with the Shimano Inter-M roller brake. That is cool. Nice build!
After the six pin arrives try removing the wheel magnet for enhanced performance and feel. And set wheel size to the minimum in the display. Report back with you findings. A half-link chain works well with these hubs. They are extra robust and low maintenance after the initial break-in like a belt drive and they look nice. How wide can you fit tires? Dropping the cog is nice also, I like 16-T and can still do sustained climbs while going fast on the flats.

Thanks for the advice. I've never used a roller brake before this, it seems to work pretty well so far with limited use. I read (Sheldon Brown?) that a pea size drop of grease should be added to a new Shimano roller brake so I'll do that with some high temp disc brake wheel bearing grease. This bike will mostly be used on a dusty gravel trail so I'll disassemble and clean the brake when dirty.

The N360 is a sweet hub, my wife loved it when she had it on her bike and I equally liked the N171 that came on this bike but that developed a axle wobble which can't be fixed as the bearings aren't accessible. The N360 came with a roller brake interface installed, it also came with a disc brake interface (not installed) but the interface has a threaded retainer ring that can only be removed with a special tool that is expensive and not consumer available (I tried with a pin spanner and even a drift punch without success). I would have preferred to use the disc brake that came on this bike which stopped the bike well even though it did not come with a front brake.

The Cadillac came with 2.15 tires that I wore out years ago (right thru the carcass on the rear resulting in a big bang while riding). Replaced those with Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35 tires which were too fat and heavy even for this bike. Current tires are scavenged from another bike 1.75 which I prefer over fatter heavier tires. Now only the frame, fork/stem/handlebars, seat and pedals are original to this bike. I found the frame (with fork/stem/handlebars) to be surprisingly light when I had the bike apart. The old wheel with the N171 and the Big Apple tire weighed over 15 pounds (and the seat alone weighs over 3 pounds)!

I'm not sure what a "half link chain" is, the N360 is supposed to be run with a 3/32 (8 speed) chain and I had a new one sitting around in the parts bin (N171 had a single speed chain). Rear sprocket is 24t because I had wanted low gearing for my wife when she used it. I think it came with a 18t cog but I can't find it - anyway I like the very low gearing to ride up my mountain.

 

[EMGX]

@EMGX,
After the six pin arrives try removing the wheel magnet for enhanced performance and feel. And set wheel size to the minimum in the display. Report back with you findings.

You need to have a thread dedicated to your builds and tips/tricks. Today is a rainy day on and off (we need the rain desperately) so I didn't take a long ride but I did try your wheel magnet delete on my Schwinn with the 48v 750w TSDZ2. I unplugged the magnet pickup, set the assist speed limit to the max 60km/hr (probably doesn't matter since without the magnet signal it can't determine the speed anyway) and set the wheel size to the smallest setting (10 inches). Only riding it a short distance it seemed to make a difference. On gravel I was spinning the rear tire on the level 5 highest setting. If the weather clears tomorrow I'll give it a longer test ride on a 24 mile loop that I ride often. I'm hoping that it woke this bike up because I'm planning on a few day camp and ride in eastern Oregon next week pulling a one wheel trailer where there are some killer (to me) climbs.

 

[PedalUma]

Cool! Thank you for trusting me enough to at least try, @EMGX. SPINNING OUT. It is time for a dozen gravel doughnuts to start off Saturday morning. Now you are running at low nominal waste but with high peaks.
That HD Kilowatt cargo bike went out just now. The seven-year-old is thrilled. Daddy will take her and her little brother to the school upon a hill each day, bypassing the line of cars and SUVs. The battery would not fit the triangle (by six mm) so it went low and center. Here is an update photo of the completed build. And thanks to all for the positivity. This stuff is fun.

 

[PedalUma]

Cool! Thank you for trusting me enough to at least try, @EMGX. SPINNING OUT. It is time for a dozen gravel doughnuts to start off Saturday morning. Now you are running at low nominal waste but with high peaks.
That HD Kilowatt cargo bike went out just now. The seven-year-old is thrilled. Daddy will take her and her little brother to the school upon a hill each day, bypassing the line of cars and SUVs. The battery would not fit the triangle (by six mm) so it went low and center. Here is an update photo of the completed build. And thanks to all for the positivity. This stuff is fun.

@RunForTheHills, This is what the Red Steel bike looks like now. I still need to install the eBike rear brakes which I just picked up at the LBS then I will start the conversion. It is getting all black housings and polished cranks with a stealth battery. I like classic look road and town bikes.