It's time for the e bike discussion

[Centurion]

That blue hornet is sweet, I did a schwinn cruiser for my wife, a little 250W front hub motor, it's quiet and light. She just basically uses it for steep grades on the paths. I like the idea of vintage e bike conversions.

 

[soundbox]

Here's my e-bike...........working on a new one (w/Elgin curved bar long tank and either Springer or Chopper fork). This one here is modeled/designed after the Board Track Racer motorcycles from the 1910's thru early 30's.

Specifications
• Speed - 16 mph
• Range - 12+ miles
• Power - 250 Watts
• Motor - 36 Volt Front Wheel Drive
• Battery - 36 Volt 5.4 Ah Lithium-Ion
• Throttle - Variable Speed

 

[RPower]

That is just cool!

 

[spinnanz]

this is my converted electric using a 250w 36v rated rear hub.

I can run it on any voltage 48-72v. Normally it runs on 48v, which gives me a top speed of about 40kph (25mph). I have on occasion overvolted it to 72v and have gotten just over 60kph which is just shy of 40mph.

In 48v format, at +35kph I have a range of around 35km (21mi)

 

[colonel386]

I'm looking for a small hub motor to put on an old '49-'54 Fleetwing. I hate to do it but I'm getting too old to pedal that heavy, old thing around, but I don't want to stop riding it. It's such a classic. Seems like every thing today has pedal assist attachments, brake lever switches, etc. About 20 yrs ago I put a kit on an adult trike and it was just a battery, controller board, hub motor and throttle lever...that's what I'm looking for. Any ideas?

 

[1817cent]

I instead of turning into an e-bike have you considered just adding a Nexus 7 speed internal hub? I have a 50 Hiawatha that i did that to and can go anywhere on it and i am in my 70's.

 

[RPower]

There are many options for hub motors and many price ranges beginning under $100, it all depends on how much power you want. Many are complete wheels, while others are just a hub. They all have a basic "CPU" and you can add things or keep them simple. These two have a basic on/off/throttle switch and the first one has a complete wheel (about $130), while the other one was just a hub ($250 total build) I built into a wheel. In both cases I used modern forks so I could add front brakes but I've seen them adapted to the original forks. I didn't use the brake feature or the pedal assist on the hub motor builds and tried to keep it simple. I agree with @1817cent on using a 7 speed or other internal geared hub if you want to keep the bike as close to original as possible.

 

[Hukah]

May I suggest you investigate bottom bracket 750watt by Bafang if you haven’t?
Much easier to accomplish and it basically leaves everything “as is”.

 

[RPower]

May I suggest you investigate bottom bracket 750watt by Bafang if you haven’t?
Much easier to accomplish and it basically leaves everything “as is”.

I use Bafang 750w on my builds (the pics are early experiments) and you can’t use a coaster brake because the crank is free (turns backward). Tongshen builds a 350w mid drive that has a fixed crank you can use with a coaster brake but I haven’t tried it.

 

[SirMike1983]

this is my converted electric using a 250w 36v rated rear hub.

I can run it on any voltage 48-72v. Normally it runs on 48v, which gives me a top speed of about 40kph (25mph). I have on occasion overvolted it to 72v and have gotten just over 60kph which is just shy of 40mph.

In 48v format, at +35kph I have a range of around 35km (21mi)

View attachment 1610121

That's pretty potent. At the 52 second point of your video is an example of a dog that should not be walked on a trail. You must have pretty good brakes to be on a trail with that sort of thing. The woman in the video should not have brought a dog on the trail that is going to set after people like he did to that jogger. Behavior like hers is what causes accidents and dog bite incidents on the trail.