Newbie looking for the truth

[PedalUma]

I am from the mid-Hudson Valley too. Are the daffodils emerging? As a kid there were 90 Acres of apples behind our house and a horsey estate on three sides. Beautiful country with purple hills. Brakes: 1) Rim Brakes with 945mm shoes as an upgrade. 2) Mechanical disc brakes. 3) Hydraulic disc brakes. Hydraulics are best and will lock it up but it takes skill and mess to bleed them and vapor lock is another issue when making a decent in the Summer. 2) Mechanical discs are more modular and easier to adjust, just use good pads. 1) Rim brakes are softer, more modular, much easier to adjust but need to shed one revolution of water.

 

[indianajo]

Thank you. I guess I should look for at least V Brakes, and hopefully Hydraulic brakes?

I hit a car that ran a 4 - way stop, after I stopped, with wet rim brakes. Sometimes it rains, here. About 220 days a year, actually.
I've got cable pull disk brakes, tektro 160 mm, the cheap ones. They are fine, will stop 330 lb gross down a 15% grade if necessary. Adjust every 1000 miles (6 months) takes 2 minutes in front & 6 in the back because I have to take the pannier off. I had enough of bleeding brakes with my car. Also 90% of time when I changed the pads cylinder started leaking. Don't want hydraulic disks. Use jaguar or clarks cables to avoid adjustments due to cable stretch. Nothing like cables on kiddie bikes.
I use organic pads. Wear faster than semimetallic, had to change rears after 4000 miles, imagine that! Organic takes less hand force than semimetallic. If downhill mountain bike racing, don't use organic pads. I only have 80 short hills, not one 2000' fall per trip. I don't brake a lot but have to be ready for deer jumping out at the bottom when I'm going 30 or 35.

 

[creativepart]

I think new eBike shoppers worry too much about the weight of the bike.

Once you own an eBike you only wonder about it when you need to lift it onto a car rack or bike stand.

I own a factory made eBike that I rode for a year and then I made a DIY eBike from a kit with a good "hybrid" bike in my garage. I love them both. I'm glad I had the experience of owning a factory made eBike before I made my DIY bike.

It may seem counterintuitive but - I think it makes sense to buy one, ride it a lot and see what you like and what you need based on real experience.

 

[jfny1978]

I think new eBike shoppers worry too much about the weight of the bike.

Once you own an eBike you only wonder about it when you need to lift it onto a car rack or bike stand.

I own a factory made eBike that I rode for a year and then I made a DIY eBike from a kit with a good "hybrid" bike in my garage. I love them both. I'm glad I had the experience of owning a factory made eBike before I made my DIY bike.

It may seem counterintuitive but - I think it makes sense to buy one, ride it a lot and see what you like and what you need based on real experience.

That all makes a lot of sense. One issue of me is that I normally will want to keep the bike inside and I don't have a garage. I'd need to lift it in and out of my apartment, which is first floor, but there are a few steps up to it. I think that would get old real quick if I had a 70 pound bike!

 

[jfny1978]

I hit a car that ran a 4 - way stop, after I stopped, with wet rim brakes. Sometimes it rains, here. About 220 days a year, actually.
I've got cable pull disk brakes, tektro 160 mm, the cheap ones. They are fine, will stop 330 lb gross down a 15% grade if necessary. Adjust every 1000 miles (6 months) takes 2 minutes in front & 6 in the back because I have to take the pannier off. I had enough of bleeding brakes with my car. Also 90% of time when I changed the pads cylinder started leaking. Don't want hydraulic disks. Use jaguar or clarks cables to avoid adjustments due to cable stretch. Nothing like cables on kiddie bikes.
I use organic pads. Wear faster than semimetallic, had to change rears after 4000 miles, imagine that! Organic takes less hand force than semimetallic. If downhill mountain bike racing, don't use organic pads. I only have 80 short hills, not one 2000' fall per trip. I don't brake a lot but have to be ready for deer jumping out at the bottom when I'm going 30 or 35.

Cool. Thanks for the endorsement of non-hydraulic disc brakes. Makes sense to me.

 

[creativepart]

One issue of me is that I normally will want to keep the bike inside and I don't have a garage. I'd need to lift it in and out of my apartment, which is first floor, but there are a few steps up to it. I think that would get old real quick if I had a 70 pound bike!

I think you’ll find most eBikes weigh about 55 lbs. And removing the battery reduces that by about 6 lbs. If you buy a eBike with a thumb throttle you just walk it up those few stairs with help from the throttle.

 

[jfny1978]

I think you’ll find most eBikes weigh about 55 lbs. And removing the battery reduces that by about 6 lbs. If you buy a eBike with a thumb throttle you just walk it up those few stairs with help from the throttle.

Ok, cool. Good point! I do think that I'm at a point where I want to build my own bike. It could go poorly, but I want to try it.

 

[harryS]

My wife's Diamondback Maravista with 700cc wheels & front suspension was only 36 pounds originally. Small hub motor, rack, and small 36V battery at home added 12 pounds. When we took it out of town, I'd install a 48V pack and carry spares on my bike.

 

[EMGX]

That all makes a lot of sense. One issue of me is that I normally will want to keep the bike inside and I don't have a garage. I'd need to lift it in and out of my apartment, which is first floor, but there are a few steps up to it. I think that would get old real quick if I had a 70 pound bike!

I agree completely about weight, less is better and makes for a more fun riding experience especially if you want to ride without assist. If you are up to a DIY project you can get a mid 40# bike pretty easily. I was only testing Tongsheng TSDZ2 on the Dahon Jack before installing it on my wife's Dahon Briza so ignore the sloppy wiring. Total wt including 36v 540wh battery was around #45 on either bike. The Jack is a nice riding 26" folder even though the large frame is still a bit small. Installation was simple and fast as long as you know how to remove the old crank/axle assembly which is not difficult. PedalUma has suggested that it performs better without the wheel speed sensor (I need to give that a try), which makes an easy installation even easier. I've run ebike kits on several bikes with only cantilever rim brakes on steep hills, speeds up to around 40mph down long hills and on wet roads without any problem YMMV.

Here is the Tongsheng on my wife's Briza before I tidied things up (installation on the Briza was not simple because of the unique frame)

Here is a rear geared hub motor on my old Schwinn Sierra weighs 55# as shown (has a larger 48v 720wh battery than the Tongsheng). I've removed the controller bag because it got too hot, moved it to under the rear rack which also improved the wire routing but this is temporary also as I bought it to put on a cruiser tandem this spring.. Brakes work well on all three bikes

 

[reed scott]

That all makes a lot of sense. One issue of me is that I normally will want to keep the bike inside and I don't have a garage. I'd need to lift it in and out of my apartment, which is first floor, but there are a few steps up to it. I think that would get old real quick if I had a 70 pound bike!

Walk mode will climb steps. I use it all the time.

 

[PedalUma]

That all makes a lot of sense. One issue of me is that I normally will want to keep the bike inside and I don't have a garage. I'd need to lift it in and out of my apartment, which is first floor, but there are a few steps up to it. I think that would get old real quick if I had a 70 pound bike!

For this reason (stairs and racks) and others I like external batteries best. Just remove the battery and it will take down the weight before lifting it. On the upside there are people who pay good money to lift weighs up steps while in spandex. You can have a lighter bike, say 40 pounds with a rack, accessories, motor and battery. Less is often more. We did a 26-mile ride today. At the end the Sondors was down to its last bar out of four. It is a heavy bike. The 2021 Vado 5.0 had two remaining out of five. My DYI would blink between 3 and 4 under high load, out of four bars. At rest the bike showed a full battery at the end of the ride. Sometimes homemade tastes better. The other guys were drafting me 80% of the time.

 

[PedalUma]

I agree completely about weight, less is better and makes for a more fun riding experience especially if you want to ride without assist. If you are up to a DIY project you can get a mid 40# bike pretty easily. I was only testing Tongsheng TSDZ2 on the Dahon Jack before installing it on my wife's Dahon Briza so ignore the sloppy wiring. Total wt including 36v 540wh battery was around #45 on either bike. The Jack is a nice riding 26" folder even though the large frame is still a bit small. Installation was simple and fast as long as you know how to remove the old crank/axle assembly which is not difficult. PedalUma has suggested that it performs better without the wheel speed sensor (I need to give that a try), which makes an easy installation even easier. I've run ebike kits on several bikes with only cantilever rim brakes on steep hills, speeds up to around 40mph down long hills and on wet roads without any problem YMMV.

View attachment 80012

Here is the Tongsheng on my wife's Briza before I tidied things up (installation on the Briza was not simple because of the unique frame)
View attachment 80013

Here is a rear geared hub motor on my old Schwinn Sierra weighs 55# as shown (has a larger 48v 720wh battery than the Tongsheng). I've removed the controller bag because it got too hot, moved it to under the rear rack which also improved the wire routing but this is temporary also as I bought it to put on a cruiser tandem this spring.. Brakes work well on all three bikes

View attachment 80014

Very nice photos and a beautiful setting. Thank you. In another post a guy would not tell details or show photos. I am suspect of those situations. Like when they want a charger but will not show a photo of the bike. Thanks again for the great photos.

 

[creativepart]

About the brakes that were being discussed a few posts back. My "factory made" bike - it's a Blix Vika+ 20" foldable - has mechanical disc brakes. They work fine but require adjustment and pad replacements more frequently. On my DIY bike (I used a Dillenger Premium Off-Road Kit, Rear Hub drive) the donor bike was a 2018 Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disk hybrid bike - and it came with hydraulic disc brakes. Which I find I like much better. The mechanical discs work fine but the hydraulics work better overall and haven't needed any adjustment.

Photo below taken on the Tucson Bike trail "The Loop" a paved bike trail that runs 66 miles around the city of Tucson, AZ. It's a great place to ride and I put 300 miles on my eBike in about 3 weeks.

 

[Clyde]

Why would anybody over 18 ride over a curb?

To get off the street and back up onto the bike path?

 

[indianajo]

. In another post a guy would not tell details or show photos. I am suspect of those situations.

Google owns the pictures I take with my phone. If I give them my birthdate, SSN, drivers lic #, address, Mother's maiden name, income level, and remember a username & password, I'm allowed to download pictures. I get enough ads from google without registering. Google can pay a credit bureau for that info if they want it. I'm not giving it away.
The $60 action camera that would download over a micro USB to the PC, the battery died after a year. No more of that type available. I don't buy stuff from ***** unless desparate. Phone has a micro USB to charge & update software, but I'm not allowed to download pictures with it. I'm not paying more than $55 for a phone, they all come from *****. Only reason I bought a phone is to call ambulance if I wake up in a ditch after a car knocks me off the bike. ****ing ***** delayed my career start with the Viet Nam war, then took all the jobs I might have in consumer electronics. Only reason I bought a bike motor from *****, 6 hour 4.5 mph days into headwinds. I tried to buy a meagher motor from SWI but they only sell container loads to OEM's.

 

[PedalUma]

To get off the street and back up onto the bike path?

To get on the cross-town bike path here I need to go through a parking lot and hop a curb. Easy. That's what bikes do. I was not thinking when I tried that out of habit with the bike in the photo. The $1,000 battery "upgrade" is so huge it is like cement in the massive downtube. And the rear hub throws off the balance. I almost got a pinch flat and risked denting the rim.

 

[tomjasz]

That's what bikes do

I guarantee many (Most?) of us older riders aren't jumping curbs.

 

[creativepart]

I guarantee many (Most?) of us older riders aren't jumping curbs.

I try not to, but it's necessary sometimes. I am what anyone would call an "older rider" at 20 days away from my 71st bday. It helps some to have a suspension fork, but you still have to yank pretty hard to get the wheel up there. My bike has a 700C sized wheel - which is 29" and they say that 29ers travel over hard breaks easier.

 

[linklemming]

I guarantee many (Most?) of us older riders aren't jumping curbs.

Not sure what the big deal is here, I do it multiple times per ride. Im not getting 3ft of air but am lifting the front (sometimes just unweighting is enough) and as the rear wheel is about to hit, shift most of my weight forward. My offroad rides require much more of this due to rocks/roots/water bars.

Coming off curbs can be alot more fun

 

[tomjasz]

Not sure what the big deal is here,

No big deal at all. Just an old fart here that can’t jump a curb with a 65# eBike. All good. Just different strokes.