New to E Bikes, question should I build/convert a Townie 3 or purchase a Rad City Step Thru?

[Mark Baugh]

Hello guys,
I'm brand new to the world of E Bikes, my price point is ~ 2k or below, I live in north central Florida, no hills, pavement only riding, I'm in my mid 60s with a bad knee I envision rides of 12-15 miles total. At 5'6" I need a short bike hence the Townie 3 I already own or a bike like a Rad City step thru or Amego infinite step thru, I'm fairly handy with tools and have found a kit on Electrify.com for $795 that would convert my bike using a Tongsheng TSDZ2 motor.

Any thoughts on which path to take?

I appreciate your time.


Mark

 

[Dewey]

Townie will be lighter, & you like how it fits. You might need to swap out the rear sprocket for a lower tooth count one if you find yourself spinning out in a higher level of pedal assist, but that’s an inexpensive fix

 

[Mark Baugh]

Townie will be lighter, & you like how it fits. You might need to swap out the rear sprocket for a lower tooth count one if you find yourself spinning out in a higher level of pedal assist, but that’s an inexpensive fix

Thank you for the reply although I’m a tad confused regarding changing the rear sprocket, I have attached a pic of my current sprocket with only has one gear vs the normal multiple as found on other bikes...

 

[Browneye]

Internal-geared hub? You won't find a powered version of that - is that what you meant?

As mentioned elsewhere, the City is fine, but it's a 26" wheeled bike with a direct-drive hub motor. Because of that, and for about the same money, Ride1Up has a 27.5 with a geared-hub drive, which IMHO is a much nicer bike.

If you really like to tinker, are good at mechanicals, and good at troubleshooting, a conversion can be a fun project. I have one of each, but it's not much cheaper, if any, to convert one.

I thought 'townie' was a cruiser-line of bikes from Trek, and they have them with hub-drives now.

 

[Mark Baugh]

Internal-geared hub? You won't find a powered version of that - is that what you meant?

As mentioned elsewhere, the City is fine, but it's a 26" wheeled bike with a direct-drive hub motor. Because of that, and for about the same money, Ride1Up has a 27.5 with a geared-hub drive, which IMHO is a much nicer bike.

If you really like to tinker, are good at mechanicals, and good at troubleshooting, a conversion can be a fun project. I have one of each, but it's not much cheaper, if any, to convert one.

I thought 'townie' was a cruiser-line of bikes from Trek, and they have them with hub-drives now.

Thank you for your reply, my Townie is ~ 5 years old, any idea if a short 5’5-5’6 guy can reach the ground from a Ride1up? My bike has an internal geared hub....

 

[Dewey]

Thank you for the reply although I’m a tad confused regarding changing the rear sprocket, I have attached a pic of my current sprocket with only has one gear vs the normal multiple as found on other bikes...

Yes the sprocket is that single cog gear the chain is wrapping around on the right side of the rear hub. Yours is likely a 20t sprocket for Nexus IGH, which is the standard fit for a Townie 3 according to the Electra website, but you can count the number of teeth to be sure. If you swap out for a smaller sprocket (you can go down to 16t) you might need to remove a link or two from your chain to keep it tight, but the effect will be to raise your gearing, making it harder to pedal at low speed, but making it easier to keep up with the motor running at high assist levels. You can achieve the same effect by replacing your front chainring with a higher tooth count one and there are several chainring options for the TSDZ2 motor particularly if you get a 110 BCD spider chain ring adapter, but I suggest starting with the rear sprocket as they're cheap and most any local bike shop ought to be able to change a sprocket and remove a link from your chain. You might not need to do this if you're happy with your pedalling after you fit the motor.

 

[Browneye]

For fitment, it would be best to call them directly.

So you're looking at a mid-drive conversion for the existing bike?

 

[indianajo]

Thank you for your reply, my Townie is ~ 5 years old, any idea if a short 5’5-5’6 guy can reach the ground from a Ride1up? My bike has an internal geared hub....

I'm 68" and I could not touch the ground with both toes on a 27.5" bike. My pants inseam is 28". Not if the seat is set up to where my leg is nearly straight at full extension, which is the way it is supposed to be for best pedal efficiency.
Nexus IGH sometimes works with mid drive. I wouldn't suggest decreasing the sprocket at first. Getting the shifter off & back on again to access the rear sprocket may not be simple. Nor might the center of sprocket pattern be standard. I couldn't find any sprocket larger to fit my Suntour SA80 IGH, which doesn't have the reduction gears of a nexus.
Really, front wheel hub motor conversions are simpler than mid drive. No frame modification, no puller tool to remove the crank arm. If your bike has a steel front fork with no suspension, no problem. You might have to grind out the slot in the front fork a little bigger with a 3" grinder wheel or ideally, a 4.5" body grinder. Use safety glasses with tools. A torque arm is useful to prevent excessive load on the slot. I make a 3.5" arm out of bed frame rail, cutting the oblong hole with 2 5/16" holes then connect the dots with round & triangle nicholson files. I clamp the torque arm to the strut with a U of sheet metal fastened with #10 machine screws.
I like geared hub motors since I pedal myself a lot, but maybe you won't want to. DD hub motors are okay in flat states like Florida if you're not going to be pedaling unpowered a lot. My 1000 W 48 v DD hub motor with controller throttle & brake handles was $189. Worked okay but dragged when I pedaled unpowered, so I replaced it with geared hub motor from ebikeling which has a one way clutch.
Biggest problem with the townie is probably rim brakes. Those don't work well in the rain, and your state has a lot of summer showers. The front hub motor will come with screw holes for a disk. Use it to install one, then install a mechanical caliper on the strut with a cable to the switched brake handle that comes with the power wheel kit. A U clamp on the caliper to front of fork strut will resist the rotation, also. I like the tektro mechanical calipers my bike left came with, but the generic calipers I bought from ebikeling.com with the geared hub motor kit seem to be okay also.

 

[rich c]

Fairly handy with tools and being a bicycle mechanic is two different things. If your major goal is to save money by building, choose a purchased eBike. If you goal is to learn how to be an eBike mechanic, buy a kit. With one of them you will be riding in about a week. The other one, not sure.

 

[Deleted member 4210]

Go for the conversion. You'll have fun, and it'll let you understand better what you might want in the future vs dumping $1.5k to $2.0k into a new ebike.


This firm also offers the TS kits. Eco-ebike.com. Interesting combinations and customization available too.

Townie makes for a great conversion. Have done several of them also using TS mid drives.

 

[AHicks]

I bought an '18 City, and as I had built a couple of e-bikes prior to it, was getting pretty picky about what I like and didn't like. So basically, I ended up using the 'City as the foundation for my "kit". I loved the fit and feel of the bike, but hated the electronics, and it felt underpowered. So I started with an Amazon supplied 1500w direct drive rear hub kit that included everything I hated about the bike. That worked pretty good - way faster than I needed though. After riding it for a year or so, I decided to focus on more low speed torque for better hill climbing performance and the ability to literally squirt across busy street crossings. After a LOT of research, I ended up going with a well known torque monster, the MAC 12t. It's perfect! It's purpose built to be all about max torque with limited high speed ability. It's all done at a little over 20mph. What I was not expecting, is the 30% better efficiency. The 1500w direct drive motor would run about 25 miles reliably in the hilly coastal area I run a lot of the time, but the MAC will run 35 miles reliably in that same area. So bottom line, all the performance I could hope for, with 30% more range.

Among the lessons learned, is there will be no more direct drive rear hubs in my future. I'm too big (300lbs) and there are too many hills for them to work well. Too, all the comments regarding more noise and increased maintenance associated with a gear driven rear hub no big deal. You couldn't prove either by me.... -Al