? ? ? On E or Gas bikes?!?!?

[Sevenhills1952]

Curious what others think about electric or gas motorized bicycles. Either home brew or store bought, as well as conversion kits.
On YouTube there are insane videos of guys flying on modified (high wattage or high hp) bikes.
About 15 years ago I put a Briggs and Stratton on a bike, a simple design motor mounted on a hinged 1/4" steel plate, a U-groove pulley on motor. Lowering motor onto tire and off it went. I had an ignition kill switch which was like a Jake brake. Top speed was over 60... I could pass cars on the highway.
I disassembled it because it was way too dangerous.

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[vincev]

I wish a good E bike was reasonably priced

 

[Thurman]

Curious what others think about electric or gas motorized bicycles. Either home brew or store bought, as well as conversion kits.
On YouTube there are insane videos of guys flying on modified (high wattage or high hp) bikes.
About 15 years ago I put a Briggs and Stratton on a bike, a simple design motor mounted on a hinged 1/4" steel plate, a U-groove pulley on motor. Lowering motor onto tire and off it went. I had an ignition kill switch which was like a Jake brake. Top speed was over 60... I could pass cars on the highway.
I disassembled it because it was way too dangerous.

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I would love to see photos of your Briggs bike if you have any.

 

[StoneWoods]

I built a cool looking sketchy motorized bike with a 3hp predator.

 

[bricycle]

both nice, but then the government legislates the fun out of them....

 

[Sevenhills1952]

I didn't take pictures of it. A quality real ebike is expensive, but there are 250, 500, and 1kW watt kits on eBay, Amazon, even WalMart.
This 48volt 1,000 watt kit on eBay is only around $100, but you need batteries. Four 12volt LiIon batteries are common, rechargeable, not that expensive. The greater AH rating gives longer ride time.
From what I've read the only drawback is if it goes dead and you're a long way from home you have to pedal a heavy bike.
I was curious what thoughts were.

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[GiovanniLiCalsi]

The best electric bicycle conversions are mid-drive motors. They do not put weight on the wheel and offer brake regeneration. Also, solid state batteries are going to be available in a about 3 years. There are many wrecked Tesla cars available for battery repurposing, now. They have the highest density of power. The newest Tesla batteries are 30% larger than the previous computer sized batteries. Here is the mid-drive Bafang kit.
https://www.amazon.com/Bafang-Lastest-Electric-Bicycle-Conversion/dp/B07FF6HPW9

Here is a video

 

[Duchess]

After I convert my plastic kayak to electric power with a 30 lbs. thrust Minn Kota and a PWM for efficiency (the smaller Minn Kotas don't have PWMs), I plan on building a mid-mount ebike out of an early 90s Giant Innova I picked up. I have another Innova that I turned into my favorite riding bike and, even though it's on the small side of my size range I don't want to mess with it by converting it to electric, so I found this slightly larger frame one to play with.

 

[GiovanniLiCalsi]

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I used a converted electric bike as a 50 mile per week commuter for about 10 years. Just a cheap Wilderness Energy 36v brushless front wheel. I started using lead acid batteries, but they were heavy enough to destroy Blackburn racks and only would last about a year, with some serious loss of range and power in the last three months. A Granite Energy 36 volt smart charger helped stretch the lead acids out for a few months longer. Best investment was a lithium iron phosphate battery pack from bikeberry- these have an enormous number of cycles and was still going strong after 5 years of daily use. It was less than half the weight of lead acid and cheaper(and safer) than lithium polymer. For a commuter, the bike was great. It really eliminated any reason NOT to take the bike except for pouring down rain. I would do it again. The host bikes were various 1980's mountain bikes that could handle the weight with their long wheelbase and slack angles. I'd do it again!