Electric bikes are the greatest thing ever invented. If you have the little skills that it takes to build an ebike yourself and can ride a bike I highly recommend it. The battery is the most expensive part if you want an ebike that is light weight and that can go decent distances. If you know how rebuild used laptop or power tool battery packs you will save 10 times the cost or more on your ebike battery pack. All my ebikes can go 40 to 70 miles (depending on speed) on an 18 pound 48v 35ah lithium ion battery pack. If you can’t build the packs you can get a 48v 20ah lipo pack for around 450 dollars brand new. You should get around 25 to 30 miles per charge on the 20ah lipo pack. That still adds up to a bunch of fun for a nickel in electric. I would not use SLA batteries unless you want a very heavy bike that goes short distances. I like the rear hub brushless motors over the front hub brushless motors. Hub motors run about 200 dollars and up. If the law in your area allows 1 hp or 746 watts I would recommend going to the limit for road safety reasons that I won’t get into now. I would choose a bike with a strong frame with good disc brakes for the ebike conversion. You are going to pay 2 times as much for an ebike verses a gas moped or gas bike but losing the noise is well worth it. Most people won’t know it’s an ebike if you fake or really pedal. If you want to cruise around slow at 15 miles per hour or less you can hear everything going on around you. I can’t begin to count how many people have stopped me to ask questions about the ebike or being friendly because of no noise to talk over. If you want to stay healthy on you ride you can pedal on the uphills and starts or all the time adding miles. If you have bike trails or parks around it’s a great way to enjoy nature. You may also save money not buying a bike rack because you can ride the ebike to your destination. The other day I rode past 10 or so deer driving about 2 mph in a campground, they all looked at me like we didn’t hear you coming. It’s hard to explain how much enjoyment ebikes are for me, I have had the fastest road motorcycles and motocross machines but a well built ebike is in a class of its own for fun. It’s all about the quiet with or without pedaling that puts you exploring nature without the huff and puff of a regular bike. If your ebike can go 30 miles from your house you can do a lot of exploring going to places you didn’t know existed. I said it’s about the quite but it’s also about the slow speed and not being confined like in a car. When you travel at 10 MPH in a car it doesn’t feel right but if you travel 10 MPH on an ebike you feel like a part of nature. It is also a good time to plan a take trips with friends on ebikes. Life was only half as fun until I built my first ebike. I may build an electric motorcycle for speed but I know when the wind starts blowing in your ears with added speed you lose the natural sounds around that a well built ebike possess. I feel like an excited 16 year old making an excuse for driving somewhere. Come to think of it I could ride my ebike to the drive thru and get a burger, if I pedal a little I could get two burgers.
Tags: Ebike Electric Bike
