fooferdoggie
Well-Known Member
I can imagine. portland is full of crazy hills like it.
Rad 750 watt motor power
- Thread starter mjorg
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mjorg
Member
Good one. Don't know if I need that much. BUT for the price...
mjorg
Member
Thanks. My present bike is a Ecotric Seagull, 1000 watt direct drive. Around here there are small steep hills and gullies off road in the park behind my house. This bike frequently stalls on them. I ride these areas 40% of the time. 60% of the time I ride parks with less steep hills and the bike has no problem (with peddle assist). To ride in these parks the bike should be class 2. Don't want 2 bikes. Just the most powerful 750 I can get that I can set to 20 mph.
AHicks
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Yup. Your mistake was the direct drive hub. I made the same mistake early on. That mistake (learned the hard way) made, I learned about gear driven rear hubs and have been MUCH happier. Going for a 750w is a good plan. Next on the list would be to assure that the controller is up to supplying enough wattage (power) to allow the 750w motor to perform it's best. 20 amp controller would be minimum, 25a better yet.
Worth mentioning maybe, if you're pretty handy at this sort of thing (not for the faint of heart) that direct drive hub could be replaced with a gear driven one, and the controller replaced with ones that have a capacity of up to 35a....
kmccune
Well-Known Member
get the whole kit if you are doing that
mjorg
Member
I've actually been pretty happy with this bike up until key failures in support and battery design occurred. It will get me up the mountain behind my house. Which I would have bet against at the outset. It was a mistake to get direct drive. But like you I was naive. I didn't want to do the research. I just wanted to jump in and learn the hard way. The ad for my bike was "1,000 watts / class 2. Every other class 2 was 750. So I thought I was getting over on it... To me it's like building a computer. Things just aren't going to match up if you build it yourself. If you buy a Dell the whole thing matches...easy peasy. My goal is to find a manufacturer that will not use cheap or purposely limited components, and one that will supply parts for a given model for at least 5 years. If you're going to go electric it needs to be stable. You have to look out for manufacturers that over price components that you know you may have to replace. The manufacturer that builds sustainably will win the long run for those who want to ditch the car. I'm handy...but I'm old and tired and just want to enjoy it (I love it).
mjorg
Member
My bike is built on a weird frame. I love it a lot. I also hate it a lot. because many regular accessories won't work. This is a good idea though.
AHicks
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So when searching for your next project, look for a manf. using proprietary parts and avoid them. Like Samsung computers in the old days.
I updated mountains of Dell's with bigger hard drives and more memory, even though many of their consumer level machines used many proprietary parts - there were Dell PC's mixed with very standard easily obtained parts as well.
MOST of today's inexpensive to mid range bikes are all built with pretty much all standardized stuff - like the Gateways, HP's, and locally assembled built to order PC's of days past.
Yes, an old hardware guy here for sure... -Al
I updated mountains of Dell's with bigger hard drives and more memory, even though many of their consumer level machines used many proprietary parts - there were Dell PC's mixed with very standard easily obtained parts as well.
MOST of today's inexpensive to mid range bikes are all built with pretty much all standardized stuff - like the Gateways, HP's, and locally assembled built to order PC's of days past.
Yes, an old hardware guy here for sure... -Al
mjorg
Member
We think alike... The proprietary Rad motor is something I'm going to avoid. This was my first choice at the outset. But, I just hate the concept of lessening performance just to save a couple bucks, and I really need some guts in my motor. The other manufacturer I was looking at batteries cost considerably more than my entire present bike. So that's what I'm doing trying to find the right manufacturer to stick to, and trust. This thread has been really helpful to me. Thanks for being here. Hope I can get smart enough to help some of you guys out.
AHicks
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My hope as well. There are not enough guys with the confidence required to get into some of this stuff. You can go a LONG way with your own repairs without involving any rocket science. More need to figure that out, and it's just a matter of enough confidence to give it a try....
As far as bikes, there are a couple I kinda like that haven't grown to the point where they're REAL proud of their product - yet.
When it comes to powerful, you're going to have a tough time beating a Bafang Ultra powered bike currently. Rize and M2S are both building pretty reasonably priced bikes that are well equipped, use standardized components, and offer standard battery sizes that don't need expensive upgrades. In other words, working on a bucks spent for bang received, I think they're a pretty good buy.... -Al
mjorg
Member
Thanks for the advice. I always hate to talk about what I'm going to do. Because then everyone else does it and the price goes up. Sondors is looking pretty good to me. He is an upstart and a little gregarious. But The price of the bikes are good. Replacement batteries are cheap. And...I think their components are good, in fact top notch. My next manufacturer for research.
mjorg
Member
Talking about smaller, cheaper vehicles, in order for the world to go electric a standard battery must be developed for each type of vehicle. So you can have exchange centers (or vending machines) available when you get low on juice. You won't own your battery you'll use it for a fee (when traveling), and exchange it for a fee. That won't happen for a long time. Right now I think most manufacturers use standard parts (motors, brakes, gear sets, etc.), but they mostly use their own proprietary battery. When I last communicated with Sondors the rep told me that they set up a deal with Bafang for a more powerful 750 watt motor. One with 95 nM of torque. We were talking about their new MadMod model. I don't know if that will apply to other models. That could be a bunch of bull. But if I find out that it's true... That's the kind of company I want to buy from. Lowering the performance of a standard component is a low act in my mind. Thanks to you the Rise X is on my radar too.
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AHicks
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Re: batteries, the sleek looking Reention Dorado used on the Rize bikes is in use by several other manf's as well. It's considered a standard/non proprietary battery, and it's available on the open market.
mjorg
Member
Man, that is good info. You are definitely a Michigander. I was raised in Owosso....
AHicks
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I've been to Owosso before!
I was born and raised within just a few miles of Waterford. Maybe 45 minutes from Owosso? Built a second home in Gaylord to get away from it all.
It wasn't until after retiring that we traveled most of the US with a big motor home. Eventually setting here on the Gulf side of Fl. - in an area that's remarkably like the Gaylord area. Sandy, rolling coastal hills, tons of pine, rural without being too rural, and NO SNOW! Now a snowbird, riding our e-bikes regularly 12 months a year. -Al
I was born and raised within just a few miles of Waterford. Maybe 45 minutes from Owosso? Built a second home in Gaylord to get away from it all.
It wasn't until after retiring that we traveled most of the US with a big motor home. Eventually setting here on the Gulf side of Fl. - in an area that's remarkably like the Gaylord area. Sandy, rolling coastal hills, tons of pine, rural without being too rural, and NO SNOW! Now a snowbird, riding our e-bikes regularly 12 months a year. -Al
mjorg
Member
I used to ski Boyne all the time. I'm in the desert in Phoenix now. Used to love that snow. But not anymore!
kmccune
Well-Known Member
Yep, when you dumb down the standard stuff, you anger customers and lose sales( I try not to participate in this game{ thats the problem I had with Teslas software-related to battery charge percent, you are not going to sell me a vehicle with a 21 gal gas tank and not let me use but 18 gals of capacity unless I pay you a couple of thousand more dollars( e,g
Are you saying the Tesla won’t charge fully or that you can’t run it down fully? Either way is a technique to prevent battery damage and fires.Yep, when you dumb down the standard stuff, you anger customers and lose sales( I try not to participate in this game{ thats the problem I had with Teslas software-related to battery charge percent, you are not going to sell me a vehicle with a 21 gal gas tank and not let me use but 18 gals of capacity unless I pay you a couple of thousand more dollars( e,g
