Electric bikes 15.5mph powered top speed?

Jimibeee

Just read the posts regarding users as
"Originally Posted by Pew Pew Pew Lasers!
Stupid pointless invention designed for lazy people."

Do you guys drive a car? so sitting on a padded seat with next to no need to do anything now that is an invention for lazy people, these bikes require a peddaling, so take a hard look at your car before you tell people who use their bodys and the assistance of a motor they are lazy

SD-253

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

I can do those speeds without a motor. Why would I want one on a bike? My 7.5mile college commute used to take me 30 minutes back in the day. These days I use a mountain bike but still average 12mph.

Stupid pointless invention designed for lazy people.

Important to remember that people like Pew Pew Pew Lasers are some of the biggest hypocrites you will ever come across. They would never say to a car driver (which they invariable are) that they are lazy or cheating. If like me you have no other means of transport a power assisted bike would in fact result in more exercise not less. My nearest shop is 6 miles away the pub I drink at is 11 miles away (and the return journey can be considerably further if I get lost on these completely unlit roads..........beer consumption is nothing do with it........honest). If I bought one I would use it for the following

1st I would put my largest bike trailer on it for my fire wood collecting forays which I have given up at the moment not only because its so hard but It simply does not result in a huge increase in my wood pile compared to sharing my wood with someone else and using there car/trailer also the direction I can go in is limited to which way the hills are when the trailer is full.

2nd I could go to Rugby training, at 54years of age I am not up to 18 miles cycle ride there, 1 hours rugby training and 18 mile cycle ride home, just not upto that now....if I ever was!

3rd I would go further afield for my shopping oh and my apple collecting forays, again trailer needed, instead of making a miserable 13 gallons of cider I would have.......more. I could go on but, the most important thing to remember is that Pew Pew Pew Lasers is just one more hypocrite bone idol car driver who rides a bike occasionally probably very occasionally. Power assisted cycles never ever lead to people doing less exercise but always more exercise. My advice BUY ONE I have 3 ordinary bikes (no car) and am always thinking about buying one when I do I will end up doing far more exercise......maybe I won't buy one! JB

SD-253

Sailor_Sam wrote: »

I have been looking into the possibility of getting one of these bikes, i asked a few weeks ago on here and was given 50 cycles and pedelec websites, the forums on there have been a great help.
The main reason why i'm looking is, i'm worried that i may lose my license at some time (health problem) but i'm not sure about this, so just a case of planning, you know, what if ????
The dvla say you do not need a license, i asked about insurance, it is not necessary but on a £1500 bike would be £130. This seems a bit high, i pointed out i had just renewed my car insurance, ford; 3yrs old; fully comp; full no claims £150.
If in the future the hospital ask for my license, i may go for one.

Of course you do not need a license or insurance along as you follow the rules: the motor must switch of once you exceed 15mph IE it is classed as a bicycle apart from the rule that you must be over 14 years of age. Now if you are thinking of insurance your house insurance SHOULD cover you for your bike being stolen away from home (my house insurance covers me for any losses away from the home up to £2500 with maximum of £800 per individual item about an extra £10 for £1500 bike). Next I assume all house insurance covers you for personal liability quite often to very high amounts, like hundreds of thousands of pounds. Although I am not sure which part IE contents or the bricks and mortars part?
Anyway go for it but you should buy a power assist as this will mean you have to cycle but the effort will reduced considerably. JB ps Have you looked at A to B an excellent site although a little out of date as it seems to be slow to update.

SD-253

Jimibeee wrote: »

I have tried my friends and definalty now looking into getting one, i think a nice mid range one as I dont want a rubbish battery. I have been looking at the electric bikes at halfords.com and amazon.co.uk they both seems to be supplied by urban mover, the tesco ones are cheap but want a good battery. Anyone know of the best type/make?

Go to the site A to B this is the best site although touch slow in updating. They will tell you all you need to know about batteries, probably the most important constraint on distance.
A simple rule to remember about batteries is that the watts stated on the battery is relative to batteries of the same type? Or put another way a 250 watt NiCad battery has twice the power of a 250 watt lead acid battery??? Confusing? Illogical?? The reason is that the quicker you discharge a battery the less power you get out of it. A lead acid battery power out put is based on a 20 hour discharge (because they were originally used/invented for use in home radios) while NiCad’s are based on a 1 hour discharge (I think that’s right) IE if you run the Lead acid over 1 hour you will only get 125 watts out of it and if you run NiCad over 20 hours you will get 500 watts out of it. Now Nic metal hydrides are different again as are Lithium (the bee’s knees of batteries). Weight/volume of the battery is also important and it goes without saying that Lithium is by far the lightest/smallest.
Next the motor front wheel back wheel or drives the chain i.e. next to the pedals. The latter is the best location and they are supplied by Panasonic and are highly highly rated. Now for gears you are really looking for something nice and simple IE hub gears difficult to break and minimal maintenance.

Now if you know anything about Pedelec bikes I have basically said buy a Kalkoff (spelling probably wrong). Replacements batteries are ridicules £395 a rip off but might get them cheaper by shopping round JB

One_Day_Rodney

The current ultimate electric bicycle is one of these................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmwd1aup68Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zT3eI3dptE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gutoUXcQ7WQ

Main website (in german) http://www.erockit.net/Default.aspx

50mph just by pedalling !

The price has recently dropped by 50% to a mere €12.5K !

So cool :cool:

SD-253

One_Day_Rodney wrote: »

The current ultimate electric bicycle is one of these................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmwd1aup68Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zT3eI3dptE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gutoUXcQ7WQ

Main website (in german) http://www.erockit.net/Default.aspx

50mph just by pedalling !

The price has recently dropped by 50% to a mere €12.5K !

So cool :cool:

I assume One_Day_Rodney that you are not being serious when you suggest that you can do 50mph just by cycling? Do you mean it is power assisted and you can go a little faster by pedaling?
1st the extra power added by cycling would be minimal this is an electric bike it is not a pedelec (pedelec means assited power you must pedal for it to work).
2nd Most people on this forum (although not all) want something that is classed as a bicycle IE no license and no Insurance needed and therefore must not exceed 15mph with the motor running. You would need a Motor bike license to drive this in the UK and I assume the rest of the world. JB

neilmcl

solarbikeau wrote: »

Using an electric bike instead of a car is the best way you can reduce
your fuel usage and increase your fitness. They're ideal for commutes
of up to 50km a day and ideal for people from 15 year old to 80 years
old and from 40kg to 120kg. Finding a really good electric bike
conversion kit for your bike can be difficult. We've done a lot of
research and testing and have a great simple systems at very fair
prices that we can send anywhere in the world - though we specialise
in Australia. We're also making some progress towards getting them all
solar-powered and appreciate any help and ideas on this. Please see
our website for lots of information on electric bikes and making them
solar powered - and eventually algae/hydrogen powered.
Matt - Solarbike.com.au

Please read the rules regarding advertising.

SailorSam

I joined the Pedelec forum a while back and there's lots of good information and reviews on there,
Pedelec Forums - Electric Bike Forum - Powered by vBulletin
The reason i was looking at these bikes is a have a problem with my eyesight and if i were to lose my driving licence at any time in the future, something like this would be ideal. The bike i thought was the best buy was the 'Oxygen' but they only do the one size frame and at 5.2" i don't think i'm tall enough. I think you'll find that some of the electric scooters mentioned earlier in this thread come into a different class than electric bikes, and you will need a current licence.

I wrote this post and then went back to read the whole thread, i thought some of it sounded familiar then i realised i've been here before when i came across a post i made nearly two years ago saying the same thing.
Oopps must be an age thing.

Pincher

Once in motion, I'm perfectly happy pedallling away.
It's uphill and pushing off that I would like some assist for.
It's quite annoying that when braking, you lose all the lovely kinetic energy you put in by the sweat of your brow.
What I want is a small battery in combination with regenerative braking. Surely it can't be that hard to have a hub that is a motor AND a dynamo?

For safety reasons, you still need brake pads, but it must be possible to arrange things so the pads only engage when you pull the levers hard.

In terms of user interface, I am a fan of the twist handle.
So I would like:

I also like the pedal backwards to brake mechanism.

Right handle bar
Twist forward to engage motor, back to regenerate brake.

Left handle bar
Twist forward to change gear up, back to change down.

The brake levers do what they normally do, for emergency braking.
Normally, you slow down by twisting the right handle bar, charging the battery. If you manage it well, you never need to put it on a charger.

I think the motor/dynamo should be mounted in the front wheel.
If we have to separate them, then the dynamo in the front wheel, and motor in the back.

Anything like this on the market?


I also quite like the pedal backwards to brake mechanism.

warehouse

A guy here at my office has one. He siad it was simple to remove the link that keeps the bike mimited to 15mph, and under battery alone has got to almost 30mph on straights!

He says that the most dangerous thing about the electric bike is the fact that many cars have a lot of trouble overtaking a bike doing 20mph rather than 8mph, and that the battery dies very quickly when you don't put any effort in yourself.

He's had it a couple of years now and needs a new battery, apparently these are VERY expensive.

I've had a go on the bike and it's great fun, so easy to use and get used to, but very heavy and very scary at speed!