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Riding Uphill and Just Barely Pedaling

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Contributed by: David Vinch on 8/19/2007

This will be the first installment on my exploration of electric bikes.
I became interested while searching for a new bike for my wife. I was at first convinced that such a bike would be useless for an area like Meadville. I later learned through extensive reaearch of English sites that electric bikes could and do perform very well on hills given the proper choice of equipment. It seems that electric bikes are in common use in all areas of the world except the United States, I wonder why?
There are many forms the electric bike can take, so for simplicity I am going to focus mainly on add-on kits that may go on just about any common bike. The only prebuilt that I will consider is The I-Zip Urban Cruiser as an in town bike only, i.e. not a real hill climber due to its wattage and voltage configuration.
The advantage to using a kit with a regular bike are twofold. First you can always subtitute bikes when you wish and second, you can revert to regular biking if you decide to. What I am saying is that you have options for change that are just not possible with a single purpose machine.
Let me state at the outset that my purpose in this blog is to stimulate thought and to work towards setting up a Non-Profit Cooperative here in town where members can buy and get work doneon their electric bikes.
Next time I will talk about the kits,performance and cost
PART TWO
Of the kits that are available I have found four on my considered justifiable expense side of the cost spectrum. They are the Go-Hub, the New Hope, the E-4and the Crystalite.
The Go-Hub really is a Crystalite with the important difference and limitations of a one piece system that is goof proof, i.e. only a battery connector for all the wiring. The Go-Hub is a 36 volt system that is capable of pulling any hill in Meadville with moderate effort on the part of the operator who is working through enough gearing.
Well, by moderate effort I mean a reasonably fit man of 60at roughly 200 lbs.should be able to reach the top of the hill without breathing hard or getting off the seat to pump, arriving at the top with normal to slightly elevated heart rate and only slight burn in the leg muscles. This is at full throttle assist and a comfortable cadence. I have tested the Go-Hub on a Sun Retro Cruiser 7 speed(a very heavy bike) in this manner on every hill in town and found this to be true.

The New Hope has many connections to mess up and is less bulletproof than the Go-Hub. I definitely would not recomend this kit for wet weather without some added protection to the circuitry. It is also a 48 volt kit which has a top speed that is not street legal so it is the riders responsibility to keep within the law and Watch Your Speed! The extra voltage does not really seem to aid hill climbing ability so do not buy it for that reason. It just makes it go faster. Motor wattage and windings are the determining factor for extreme hills, more on that later. The New Hope Kit I have been testing blew up the first day, that was not a good omen and the seller was only willing to go 50/50 on the cost of replacement parts. I am still evaluating this kit now that it has been repaired so I cannot rate it as I have rated the Go-Hub as bulletproof. So far I can climb hills comfortably on an old 35 lb 18 speed MTN bike and I must admit it goes like the wind. I call it "The Wild Child".
More to follow.
The Wild Child blew up again a few days later, what a piece of junque. Learn from this all who are reading Do Not Buy Electricals on EBAY!
Update 9/11/07
Well EBAY and I have finally parted ways as the seller of the New Hope kit prevailed in the claim I brought through PayPal. I had heard that the orientation of paypal and ebay had shifted this last year to favor the seller in all matters but I guess that I had to learn it first hand.
Buyer Beware, buy only well reviewed merchandise when shopping for an electric bike or kitand use your credit card for protection not paypal.
Well, enough of all that ,lets move on.
The next step will be to put a more reliable controller under the wild child's motor and see if that will work. If it does not it will all go in the trash unless one of you wants it.
Next on the agenda will be to pump it up another notch and investigate the much more expensive Phoenix Brute which is purported to be able to climb walls while devoring your batteries. I also have been looking at gas power but I just cant put my heart into it for several reasons:
1. noise
2.possible harassment by law enforcement even if it is legal
One must wonder what the overall enviornmental impact of gas vs. electric is .Most experts lean towards the gas because of its huge advantage in energy density and the obsolete recycling system in the world esp. the usa and the impact of the battery manufacturing. But the consumer, me included seems to lean towards the electric because of its supposed lack of "exhaust" Take that you Pious owners!
As I recover financially from this mistake I will keep you posted on progress, in the meantime I continue to ride the Go-Hub every day over hill and dale.
Sept. 29th UPDATE
Today I was able to buy an EZ1 from a very nice couple in Wampum Pa. Where else can you find names like this. The EZ1 is just about the best introductory recumbent bike around and I can't wait to really master the very different driving technique. Once I get used to this bike I will electrify it with a mid chain motor that drives through the gearing for greater hill climbing ability. More to come on this.
May 20th UPDATE. I have now used the E-4 kit on the Sun recumbent as well as my own homebuilt recumbent bike and have found that it can climb any hill in Crawford county easily. The Go-Hub also could do this once I replaced my front chainring to get 14 speeds instead of seven. The Go-Hub is still the leader due to its silent operation and because it gets the job done with three batteries instead of the four that I had to use to get range out of the E-4 kit. The E-4 is better suited for use on recumbents where wheel size is an issue for hubmotors. BTW The New Hope seller has disappeared from EBAY but then again so have I.
Sept.5 update:
Since last writing I have built a P.A.V. trike and custom mounted the E-4 kit to it. It performs unexpectedly well and even without a mega-range rear cluster can also top all of our most famous hills. This I believe is due to the 24" wheels I put on the rear which provide lower gearing. This trike is currently for sale on Craigslist pittsburgh with a reasonable total price. I like triking but fear the laziness it encourages in me is dangerous! I will most likely return to two wheels.To respond to Dave Johnson who questioned the repairability of the junk I bought on EBAY . It has gone to the great beyond and good riddance. I still advise all to be especially aware of the dangers of doing business through PayPal rather thanthrough your reputable credit card company. Mastercard from ATT has gone to bat for me on more than one occasion and got the job done to my satisfaction.
I would like to say that having an electric bike has been a Godsend to me which has made it possible for me to ride all over the place without the debillitating pain that plagues me when I pedal "for real". I suffer greatly with peripheral neuropathy and find it difficult to believe that I cannot get a handicap placard when I am so challenged by getting from point A to B. BTW the Ernst trail people have told me that I could be asked to leave the trail if I were to be caught riding my electric bike without the Handicap placard. Well I don't recreationally ride or ride for exercise, I mostly ride to save $$$ on gas. At least the bike is legal for the street.
With advances in advanced lead acid battery technology we will see l/a batts approaching the power ability of lithium at a fraction of the cost. Then the weight will come down as well and electric bikes will really have a more mainstream place in American transportation. BTW watch for IPO's on this technology stock if you want to ride the green wave.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: Dave Johnson

posted on 7/18/2008 @ 5:37:14 AM

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Do you still have the New Hope(less) kit? If you do and it still is blown-up, don't trash it as I'd like to see if I can revive it. Dave J. dljohns_55@hotmail.com

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Submitted By: David Vinch

posted on 5/20/2008 @ 5:06:53 AM

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May 20th update. I have now used the E-4 kit on the Sun recumbent and have found that it can climb any hill in Crawford county easily. The Go-Hub also could do this once I replaced my front chainring to get 14 speeds instead of seven. The Go-Hub is still the leader because it gets the job done with three batteries instead of the four that I had to use to get range out of the E-4 kit.

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David Vinch

Meadville , PA

David Vinch has posted 1 blog entry and 1 comment since joining on 8/18/2007. David Vinch 's average blog rating is 0.

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