I have a Comotion Pinion bike and I want to add a motor and battery to it. What are my options?

[pinion-ebike-guy]

There's not much about people who have done this, just the speculation it or the concern with pricing. I already have a touring bike with. a Pinion P1.18 and I want to add a rear-hub motor with a battery.

What are my options? Has anyone done something similar?

 

[Citycrosser]

I'd reach out to Grin Tech (https://www.ebikes.ca/) and see if they can put the necessary belt drive cog on a rear hub motor. I assume they can but I'm not familiar with the setup. They can also suggest a controller and battery based on your needs.

Whatever you decide, let me know as I'm thinking of building something similar!

 

[Deacon Blues]

Grin has quality stuff, but it isn't cheap. A bike with pinion gears and powerful rear hub motor would be a hoot to ride.

 

[harryS]

I've converted over a half dozen bikes with hubmotors, and one midmotor. Half of these bikes are just beaters that we've had since the kids were small. Other half were bought new, and ridden maybe a mile before getting electrified.

I maintain that you only worsen the esthetics of good looking bike by putting a motor on it. You can't do an integrated battery on a home built unless it a saddle bag bike. The wiring can be simplified down to a single cable, but it's still a rat's nest by the handlebars w/o further cutting. You're pretty much stuck with cadence sensor, and it's really good enough for a hub motor.

I'd suggest you leave the Comotion alone and pick up a less exotic bike to electrify. If you made me do a Comotion, I'd install a 500W geared motor with a cassette so I could keep the gear train.

End result though is that it will be the same as if you took any $400 bikesdirect model. No need to buy a high end bike to convert. You can always add hydraulic disks for a hundred bucks. At least I think you can. I've got a set of SHimanos in a bag waiting for Spring to install. $89.

 

[Deacon Blues]

One of the things that has prevented me from going ahead with a DIY kit is the rat's nest of wires.

 

[pinion-ebike-guy]

Grin has quality stuff, but it isn't cheap. A bike with pinion gears and powerful rear hub motor would be a hoot to ride.

Definitely looking into Grin. Not sure if their motor is too much for me. I should mention I'm looking more for a pedal assist vs a throttle motor. That might noarrow the search further.

 

[steve marino]

Probably better to have two bikes, one pedal, and one eBike. That way each can excel at what it does instead of being a compromise. I'm not sure why people prefer pedal assist to throttle. I get better mileage using my throttle than if I depend on the bike's pedal assist. A throttle is almost infinitely adjustable vs just a few presets for pedal assist. The electronics have no idea at all of what is happening in real time on a road.

I would look for a bike w/ pedal assist AND a throttle. Imagine driving a car with engine assist!!! No thank you, give me that gas pedal because I know what's needed, the electronics don't.

Pedal assist is very crude. Remember, the sensor has no way to know how hard you're pedaling, it only gives a predetermined amount of juice to the motor, whereas w/ a throttle you can add exactly how little or how much juice to the wheel because your legs are continually feeding real time power data to your brain. Always use your brain instead of the electronics because there are more possible synaptic connections in your head than there are atoms in the known universe (Dr Richard Restak's book "The Brain Has a Mind of it's Own"). AI will never be able to compete w/ that.

 

[Esther]

This is an expensive option, but Calfee has an e-bike retrofit service. https://calfeedesign.com/calfee-ebike-retrofit-service/

 

[pinion-ebike-guy]

Esther that group is perfect, thank you.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

...
Pedal assist is very crude. Remember, the sensor has no way to know how hard you're pedaling, it only gives a predetermined amount of juice to the motor, whereas w/ a throttle you can add exactly how little or how much juice to the wheel because your legs are continually feeding real time power data to your brain. Always use your brain instead of the electronics because there are more possible synaptic connections in your head than there are atoms in the known universe (Dr Richard Restak's book "The Brain Has a Mind of it's Own"). AI will never be able to compete w/ that.

Many e-bikes use torque sensing which does precisely what you describe e-bikes not doing. So I either do not understand what you are talking about or you are misinformed.

 

[Readytoride]

There's not much about people who have done this, just the speculation it or the concern with pricing. I already have a touring bike with. a Pinion P1.18 and I want to add a rear-hub motor with a battery.

What are my options? Has anyone done something similar?

Yup. 4 or so years ago. Vintage 23 year old 21 speed Giant "Nutra" transformed into an ebike by virtue of a 250w front hub and a simple throttle. I can ride it like a Class 0, or touch the throttle to get some sweet Class 2 assist.

It was a piece of cake to convert- took about 20 minutes. I bought double 20 mile range batteries with the front hub packages to give me a total average range of 40 miles.

No rat's nest of wire either. Bike still looks as clean as it did before the conversion. Total cost was about $1k ($700 of that was for the two batteries)