Minimalist E-bike setup?

[Terry Thomas]

Hello. I have a minimalist (Non electric) bike setup:
Harper Coaster, coaster brake.

I'm looking for handle bars free from levers & lines. Something where you can break just by pedaling backwards. No gears, lights, bells, reflectors or display.

Can you make/buy an E-bike that is this simplistic?

 

[AHicks]

Not if you need to stop it. There's a really good reason e-bikes are equipped with disk brakes.

Maybe not so apparent if you live in a relatively flat area, but if there are any hills of any consequence, the need for good brakes would be much more apparent. Bikes can easily accelerate up over 30mph pretty quickly.

 

[J.R.]

Coaster brakes look good on a bike, but having only a coaster brake on an ebike can be really unsafe. When coaster brakes fail, usually due to the chain breaking or derailment, they fail suddenly and completely with no backup brake system. I can't imagine any ebike company willing to offer such a liability.

 

[Dewey]

Motor inhibitors on brake handles are an important safety feature.

 

[rich c]

No such thing as a true fixed gear with a coaster brake. You may have a single speed with a coaster brake, but on a fixie, if the wheel is going forward so are your feet.

 

[Terry Thomas]

Thanks

 

[EMGX]

You could of course make a fixed gear or coaster brake ebike but it might not be what you want. I think that a front hub motor is all that you could use and with that you would need at least an on/off cable and switch within reach on the handlebar like with a hilltopper kit. I briefly put a front hub motor on a three speed coaster brake bike. I used a thumb throttle on the handlebar and for safety I put a motor cut off brake lever to actuate a front rim brake that I had on the bike but that wasn't necessary for the bike to work. A geared front hub motor wasn't adequate for the hills I ride so I took it off the bike because the motor/battery become a significant weight penalty if the motor stalls at slow speed up a hill.

Coaster (or rim or other) brakes are just as adequate for ebikes as they would be for non-ebikes of similar weight at similar speeds. I ride non-ebikes (including one with a 3 speed coaster and front rim brake) 30+ mph and still manage to stop but definitely not as safely and well as a bike with hydraulic disc brakes. If you are riding flat routes and keep speeds relatively low there isn't much difference stopping a lighter weight ebike vs a regular pedal bike.

Edit:
I checked the hilltopper web site and it looks like they no longer list the front hub motor kit with a simple on/off switch, now it has a variable speed throttle.

 

[JRA]

Hello. I have a minimalist (Non electric) bike setup:
Harper Coaster, coaster brake, fixed gear.

I'm looking for handle bars free from levers & lines. Something where you can break just by pedaling backwards. No gears, lights, bells, reflectors or display.

Can you make/buy an E-bike that is this simplistic?

It is a bit confusing when people mention fixed gear and coaster brake in the same sentence. A true fixed gear doesn't allow for any freewheeling at all and has constant engagement of the drivetrain. I looked up the Harper bike you have and they kind of say the same thing but obviously if they use a coaster brake it has a freewheeling hub if it will coast....Granted it is what has become to be known as a fixie style bike but not a true fixed gear.

Other than the front hub/PAS option, so as not to need a throttle on the bars, as suggested with an external controller the only other option I can think of is the TSDZ2 coaster brake mid drive system as seen here:

Coaster Brake Torque Sensor Tongsheng Tsdz2 Ebike Kit Conversion DIY Mid Motor 36v 48v Electric Bicycle Motor - Re-Cycles E-bikes

Brand Name: Ebird Voltage: 36V/48v Design: Brushless Wattage: 201 - 300w Motor Type: Side Hung Motor Name: TSDZ2 Engine Ebike Kit Application: Mountain Bike,City Bicycle,Snow Bike,Sand Bike Packing Weight: 5.2KG LCD Display: VLCD5/XH18/vlcd6 Chain Wheel: 42T Feature: Coaster brake mid drive motor

recycles-ebike.com

This would do the job but you would need to have at least the minimal display VLCD6 display for the system to function as well as a battery of course that would suit your range requirements and of course a smaller one enabling less range would be the most discreet and if kept close to the motor minimal wire exposure.

 

[EMGX]

It is a bit confusing when people mention fixed gear and coaster brake in the same sentence. A true fixed gear doesn't allow for any freewheeling at all and has constant engagement of the drivetrain. I looked up the Harper bike you have and they kind of say the same thing but obviously if they use a coaster brake it has a freewheeling hub if it will coast....Granted it is what has become to be known as a fixie style bike but not a true fixed gear.

Other than the front hub/PAS option, so as not to need a throttle on the bars, as suggested with an external controller the only other option I can think of is the TSDZ2 coaster brake mid drive system as seen here:

Coaster Brake Torque Sensor Tongsheng Tsdz2 Ebike Kit Conversion DIY Mid Motor 36v 48v Electric Bicycle Motor - Re-Cycles E-bikes

Brand Name: Ebird Voltage: 36V/48v Design: Brushless Wattage: 201 - 300w Motor Type: Side Hung Motor Name: TSDZ2 Engine Ebike Kit Application: Mountain Bike,City Bicycle,Snow Bike,Sand Bike Packing Weight: 5.2KG LCD Display: VLCD5/XH18/vlcd6 Chain Wheel: 42T Feature: Coaster brake mid drive motor

recycles-ebike.com

This would do the job but you would need to have at least the minimal display VLCD6 display for the system to function as well as a battery of course that would suit your range requirements and of course a smaller one enabling less range would be the most discreet and if kept close to the motor minimal wire exposure.

I wasn't aware that you could back pedal brake with the tongsheng, my yamaha powered mid drive doesn't turn the chainring when I backpedal. I ordered then cancelled on a tongsheng like this for my wife but fitting it on her Dahon Briza would have been difficult due to the bike frame. Have you done business with this retailer? Depending on shipping or other fees that looks like a great price.

 

[JRA]

I wasn't aware that you could back pedal brake with the tongsheng, my yamaha powered mid drive doesn't turn the chainring when I backpedal. I ordered then cancelled on a tongsheng like this for my wife but fitting it on her Dahon Briza would have been difficult due to the bike frame. Have you done business with this retailer? Depending on shipping or other fees that looks like a great price.

The model in the link is the only Tongsheng that has the back pedal feature and in fact the only mid drive I know of that has it. I have purchased two of the standard 48v systems, the latest being the one with the open source firmware installed, and have been very pleased with their service.

I googled the Briza and it looks like a TSDZ2 would fit the only factor being that you wouldn't be able to drop the seatpost past the frame when installed as it would hit the motor. It would hang down below the chainring but it seems like the folding function would still work.

 

[EMGX]

Thanks for the information. Someone else posted on converting his wife's Briza with a Tongsheng, it didn't fit without cutting the bottom of the seat tube off and removing the kickstand and still wasn't a perfect fit (?some gears couldn't be used due to alignment issues) so I'm not likely to do that to her bike. The coaster version on my 3 speed would be interesting though and I already have a new 36v 15ah battery that I don't have other use for (got it for the geared hub motor which doesn't meet my needs).