I've been thinking of hooking up an electric motor to my bike. I wanted to buy this setup, however. My intuition is telling me that this gear ratio is absolute shit. What do you guys think? Would this be a viable option for an electric bike?
You could get a motor that slides into your seat tube, it's a lot less visible and I've heard good things.
I've heard they assist well
>>971230
It's a nice idea, but that seat tube motor is in fact not a motor, just a battery holder. And the has a motor in it.
>>971338
I think it was a vibrator joke.
It doesn't take a genius to hook a motor up to a bike. You can probably scavenge the parts. Any old electric scooters lying around would help.
The motor in OP's pic has what appears to be a reduction gear set of around 20:1 built right in and hiding behind the aluminum end plate. Probably not as terrible as you think.
>>971220
OP it's a dumb idea for more reasons than I care type out here for the 100th time. Just pedal your bike, or go get a small motorcycle scooter or moped instead.
>>971220
>I've been thinking of hooking up an electric motor to my bike. I wanted to buy this setup, however. My intuition is telling me that this gear ratio is absolute shit.
the drive system is shit, IMO....
the cheap gas engine kits use a rag joint like that to drive the rear wheel (bolts that extend through the spokes, near the hub) and those guys see a lot of broken spokes.
The most-reliable and easiest kits to use by far is the front-wheel hub motors. This is because the bike's own rear-wheel pedal gearing is left undisturbed.
>>971338
>It's a nice idea, but that seat tube motor is in fact not a motor, just a battery holder.
I think he's talking about the vivax-assist cheater motor... it is a very small setup that has no advantage in regular use. It's only good for cheating in races.
I think there's two companies making these things now. Both cost like $2000+, and only give like 200w *max*, for a relatively short amount of time (because tiny batteries).
you don't need a huge amount of power to help get around on a bicycle, even just 100 watts will help a lot.
if you want to zip around town keeping up with cars, it costs a lot of money to do that.
people on endless-sphere spend $500 for a hub motor, and then another $1500-$2000 for batteries and electronics. these bikes are impressive, but very expensive.
>>971567
>OP it's a dumb idea for more reasons than I care type out here for the 100th time. Just pedal your bike, or go get a small motorcycle scooter or moped instead.
but anon,,,,, motorcycles came from motorized bicycles? is this not DIY?.......
>>971572
>people on endless-sphere spend $500 for a hub motor, and then another $1500-$2000 for batteries and electronics.
Eugh this is so true it's painful.
I have two ebikes sitting in my shed. They both work. I haven't used them in a really long time because I don't want to blow $500 on a decent battery (and there's no way I'm going the cheap route because I'm so done with SLA).
>>971577
I live where the gas bike kits where outlawd. I still ride but I also run from cops. I considered electric till I saw the price.
>>971577
http://www.szbaf.com/en/components/component/motor/mm-g33250cb.html
bafang makes some quality shit. I used the old bbs-02 which they've massively improved upon since. if you want a hub drive just be aware that when you kill you wheel it'll be cheaper to buy a new one built than to ask a bike shop to replace the spokes
>>971587
>outlawd
Just get a motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license and register it as a motorcycle; plates, inspection, stickers, whatever you need in your area. You'll need a motorcycle training course too in most places.
>>971616
Too many dui's
>>971577
>Eugh this is so true it's painful.
I noticed a long time ago that a lot of people with "good" e-bikes don't really know how expensive they are. They love to brag on the fact that the electricity "costs almost nothing!!!" but they ignore the expensive batteries that have limited lifetimes.
You can figure the cost of a 'decent-but-not-great' battery, and how many miles you can expect to go on one charge, and then figure how many recharge cycles you will get before the battery dies (because they DO die).
And then go figure out what a gas engine kit costs, and how much miles per gallon they typically get, and then figure out how much gas money it would cost to equal the distance that the above e-bike battery would take you.
If you compare these two figures, the gas engine setup probably turns out to be way cheaper.
The last time I did this the gas engine was around one-fifth the cost that the electric motor setup was, per-mile.
The gas setup cost so much less that I could even replace the $300 Robin/Subaru gas engine EVERY YEAR and still be half the cost of the electric setup, per mile.
Gasoline was $4 a gallon at that point, and it would have needed to rise to around $14 a gallon before the gas engine would have about the same total cost as the electric setup.
If you just want an e-bike setup, go and get one. It might be easier to maintain, or easier to use where bike motors are prohibited. Or you just want one! No prob.
But don't think you're saving money with it, because you probably aren't. A gas-burning setup would probably be way cheaper overall.
>>971587
I'm not gonna lie, that bike looks pretty cool
>>971616
And pay for insurance? Nah brah.
>>971821
Yes, full coverage. A few people do that here. It saves them tons of money since it is way cheaper than commuting with a car in an area that has 0 public transportation and no car pooling. Because they have full coverage, the helmet law doesn't apply and they are allowed to run their shit on the freeway. Not that they don't get stopped all the time by rookies and have to prove they are fully covered and licensed.
>>971562
Oh thank you, that actually makes a lot more sense, I should have realized this
>>971826
Damn nigger that's a decent idea.
Doubt it would work in my country since our road laws are draconian.
