Hi from South-East London, UK

[Spaghetti888]

This is my steed. Started life as a hotch-potch of mountain bike parts my cousin built into a bike for my dad years and years ago. I decided a year ago that I didn't want to endure the crap 3-modes of public transport drudgery to get to South-West London for work so decided to take it off his hands as he wasn't using it anyway.

First thing I did was to get rid of the chunky 26"x1.95" MTB rubber for some Schwalbe Marathon Plus hybrid tyres and add SKS Blumels mudguards. The mudguards at 26" sizes don't have narrower widths suitable for 1.35" hybrid tyres so I may get wider Schwalbes at some point. Plus, I'm finding the ride can get quite hard on the terrible London roads anyway.

Power comes via a Bafang geared hub motor and a 17.5Ah battery. I live on a 4th floor flat (that's 5th in usa) and keep my bike in the bike park downstairs so I didn't want to have to take the battery off too frequently to recharge.

Those of you familiar with kits may know that most hubs require a separate motor controller to be installed. This kit came with a housing that was designed to be clamped around skinnier steel frame tubes. However, it wouldn't go around the thicker aluminium tube. So, I 3D printed a new base plate that clamps underneath the downtube but accepts the original housing cover. The new plate is bolted upside down under the downtube to an upper clamp which doubles as a stabiliser under the battery plate. I was worried about the heavy battery pulling on the aluminium braze-ons and this does feel more secure than when I screwed it straight to the frame. There's also a separate smaller stabiliser on the lower mounting screw of the battery plate.

The kit came with a light which I've since discarded and replaced with a Busch & Müller IQ-XE which is so much better.

So anyway, it's not as fancy as some of the shiny OEM ones on here, but half my enjoyment comes from constantly tinkering with it.

 

[CodyDog]

Nicely done! Welcome to the forum.

 

[Dewey]

Recently I saw they had set aside some road space for a cycle lane through Greenwich. What do you think of the Cycleway infrastructure on your route across London? How long does your commute ride take?

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Not bad, what's the weight?

 

[Spaghetti888]

Recently I saw they had set aside some road space for a cycle lane through Greenwich. What do you think of the Cycleway infrastructure on your route across London? How long does your commute ride take?

Hi,
They've revamped the road from East Greenwich going east and installed a car-lane wide path for a two-way cycle lane. Going into Greenwich centre, the main road only has enough space for single-lane two-way traffic. I don't know how they will solve that. I live by the main road so I think the cycle scheme is great in principle.

I work in Wimbledon - I used to before covid - now I work at home. When I commuted, it was a 13-mile ride on the main arteries. I can do it in under an hour but if the traffic lights gods were favourable, I've had it down to 46 mins moving by time.

.

 

[Spaghetti888]

Not bad, what's the weight?

Not sure yet. It was super light as an MTB with the alu frame. The motor is about four and half kilos I'd say and the battery is about the same. They tyres have a high level of puncture resistance so they add a bit more too. The box above the battery adds almost another kilo too. It's heavy, but I don't think it's as heavy as some of the commercial bikes I've seen. I can just about hoist it up some stairs...

 

[Dewey]

You rode the A2 across South London? that’s brave. The A3 seems to have Cycle lanes in stretches, good to separate them from bus lanes where possible. I found Greenwich town center’s one way system a mess when I lived there 20 years ago, it’s encouraging to see some efforts being made to connect up the Cycleway routes. For 6 months I commuted to South Kensington by train. Wistfully thinking if there were affordable Lithium battery ebikes 20 years ago would I have cycle commuted on an ebike, your big battery is a good idea for going the distance. Great you have bike parking.

 

[Spaghetti888]

Yeah, but I don't take it all the way - Greenwich to New Cross then down Queen's Road, Peckham Road, left at Kennington and straight. There are cycle lanes on all the big roads. Unlike closed off cycle lanes, the ones on the main road are just a strip of blue tarmac next to the car lanes - it can get dicey but I'm comfortable riding faster for the distance. The only annoying thing is all the motorcycles using cycle lanes or stopping at the cycle box at the lights. Traffic is congested all the way so it's really satisfying to just zip straight through to work. We have secluded bike parking at work too so it works out really well.

 

[Bev_dev]

That's interesting, I've just been given an e-bike, and considering using it from Carshalton to Kennington. I have a Renault Twizy electric quad, but of course can't use in the bus lanes, which is really frustrating in all the traffic. I'm going to have to build up a bit of confidence on the Specialized bike first though!