Custom conversion stolen, do another or buy or built?

[poken1151]

Hi all, I need help deciding between doing another conversion or buying pre built.

I received help on converting my old trek mountain bike (see here https://electricbikereview.com/foru...king-input-direction.16153/page-3#post-136147) from this forum. About a month ago sometime gained access to our condo garage and stole it.

Luckily I had the battery out for a side project (3d printed case). So I still have that. I made a lot of custom and part updates to get the kit working and switch to disk brakes. I went for the max battery and rear lot I could from ebikekit at the time.

So, now I'm wondering, I want to switch to a fattire bike, and I still have the battery. Should I buy a regular fattire bike and start over on my conversion? Or should I search for a or built one like from radpower bikes here in Seattle?

Thoughts?

S

 

[indianajo]

Many radpower bikes are DD hub motor. Those are okay in the flat, but inefficient with steep hills. If you intend to pedal any yourself, DD hub motors drag.
Two bargain bikes that have no-drag geared hub motors are Magnum & Blix. Both are in the $1400-2000 range.
If you have a source of donor bikes, it is certainly cheaper to convert a bike. I find them at Salvation Army Clarksville, although many charity resale shops won't mess with bicycles. Craigslist is another source of used bikes. Do stay away from carbon frames. I don't ever see disk brakes at the charity resale shops however. In the rain, those are so superior to rim brakes IMHO it would be worth converting to mechanical disks if necessary. The hubmotor wheel will come with a disk suitable flange out of the box. I don't see fat tire bikes on the used market, either.
You still have the skills you had before. Lunacycle and magnum sell conversion kits with various hubmotors. I received a competent DD hubmotor via ebay, $189, although I decided I did not like that technology and moved on to geared hub. My conversion of the bike left was $840 with 630 of that the luna 48 v 17 ah battery. Your thief got IMHO less than the deductable on your home insurance.
One advantage of rear hub, it gets rid of the shimano 7 speed axle that can come unscrewed and drop the balls while you are out on a trip. It happened to me, having looked at the design I don't know why they aren't more infamous. Nobody rides a kiddie bike more than 500 miles?
BTW using the motor mostly on the hilly (up to 15%) 8 miles of my 30 mile commute, the DD hubmotor would draw the battery down from 50 v to 43. The geared hubmotor starting at 50 was 48 when I got home Monday.
Depends in part what part of your career you are in. If you're working 70 hours per week and doing your own home maintenance, your time may be more valuable than mine. In that case, buy a factory bike: And a better cable/lock/hitch post.

 

[AHicks]

I have a couple of kit bikes under my belt, and an '18 Rad City that's been redone with a kit because I didn't care for the way it came (spoiled by the kits). I would say your next move should be about your priorities as regards to what you're looking this new bike to do. Hill climber? Commuter? Define your mission, then start figuring out what kind of bike might suit that mission best.

We're all different here, with different ideas about what a "perfect" bike might look like. This needs to be YOUR vision!

And, sorry to hear about the stolen bike. Silver lining is it gives you another chance at getting it done right!

 

[poken1151]

I have a couple of kit bikes under my belt, and an '18 Rad City that's been redone with a kit because I didn't care for the way it came (spoiled by the kits). I would say your next move should be about your priorities as regards to what you're looking this new bike to do. Hill climber? Commuter? Define your mission, then start figuring out what kind of bike might suit that mission best.

We're all different here, with different ideas about what a "perfect" bike might look like. This needs to be YOUR vision!

And, sorry to hear about the stolen bike. Silver lining is it gives you another chance at getting it done right!

The first one was pretty well done! Just that the base mountain bike was a bit old.

It's all the same stuff from my linked post.

• In Seattle, and biking up steep grades.
• I weigh in officially at 330lbs.
• I would ride it to work (mostly down hill with see slight gradients).
• And ride it home (pretty good Hill towards the end)
• At about 2.3 miles each way.

I picked the kit in my last post on that forum because it was a good price, had high torque and fit snugly.

Ideally, I'd like to basically get what I had before with more stability (hence the fat tire) and a lighter overall frame (I'm already heavy! My mountain bike plus lot came in around 88lbs).

Right now it's do I spend 350 on a new fat bike and an ebike kit from ebikekit.com without the battery (make use of the one I lucked out on getting) or just buy a good ebike altogether

 

[harryS]

The Radpower fatbikes are geared motors, not DD. That would be their City Commuter that uses a (smaller) DD motor. The OP never put up a pic of his project, but I believe it was a big DD motor on a Trek, so he should know how the DD will perform for him,

I converted a 26" fatbike in early 2016, before electric fatbikes came down in price. In the last two years, my mileage log shows 99 miles of riding. Obviously, not my favorite ride, but it was fun to build. Mine is only a 500W bafang motor, but my controller is capable of 1000W, so it's capable of speeds close to 30 mph on 52V for a short time. I currently have mine governed to 15 mph to be legal in the neighboring county forest preserves, and I never bothered to reset the limit, as that's fast enough,

On ebay or amazon, you're looking at $500-600 for a 750W Bafang mtor kit in a 26" rear rim, shipping out of China. There are direct drive kits at half the cost, but I think a fatbike should have the geared motor. Otherwise, it's a poser bike, and the geared motor is lighter as well as a better pulling motor.

Fatbikes are heavy enough that I don't feel a suspension is necessary for commuting a few miles. If you want suspension. go for it.

Nonetheless, I think fatbikes are silly for urban streets. I see a few people riding regular fatbikes on the bike paths and I know they're killing themselves pushing all that weight. If you convert one, you have to pay more for the motor kit. You may want to put on street tires for $80 each as the knobbies sound like angry bees. You use up more electricity spinning those bigger tires.