Pro's and Cons of Converting to an eBike

[ndwgolf]

I'm THINKING of converting my Santa Cruz Highball CC to an eBike using a Bafang 1000 cc Mid frame motor. I am 63 years old and overweight (120kg). I live in Phuket Thailand where there are lots of fantastic rides away from the crazy Thai drivers but it involves quite a lot of hills that I really struggle on........... so that is the reason I am thinking of converting my bike to an eBike (to take car of the hills so that I can keep up with my mates who are younger and a lot fitter).
Cost wise the 1000cc kit comes in at about £1100 here in Thailand for everything.

Anyway what do the gang think..........good idea or bad?
Thanks
Neil

[stodd]

I guess you mean 1000 watts when you say 1000 cc? That's quite powerful (totally illegal on UK roads without special insurance etc ***). Make sure you have a controller that gives you good control of the power; it could be quite dangerous if it kicked in too quickly. Also a large capacity good quality battery; that motor will use power quite fast. It must be large in total capacity (watt hours) and in current delivery capability (amps). For £1100 total you should be able to get both of those.

I don't know if there will be specific issues converting that particular bike. Hemo on here might know, and you'll get lots more information from people at https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums ... ussion.42/

(***) People get up some quite sharp UK hills on much lower powered motors than that; though many our legal 'nominally' 250w continuous power motors can kick out well over 700w peak.

[al_yrpal]

That Bafang is for tough offroad MTBing. Suggest you look at a 250w setup which will give you plenty of real exercise like you get on an Ebike here in the uk.

AL

[simonineaston]

As an owner of a 'leccy Brompton, here in hilly Bristol, I'm kind-of with Al on this one, in that the less oomph you have at your disposal, the more effort is required by the old leggies, which in the long run, could well be better for you, from the pov of exercise.

[ndwgolf]

Thanks for the feed back guys.........I was all messed up thinking that 1000w would last longer but I guess the truth of the matter is it actually burns more power so I think I will go for the 250 w motor and the 48v 15ah battery (that is the biggest battery they have here in Thailand that can be mounted on the frame)
Thanks for the feedback............is there anything else that I should know before diving in to the ebike seen ??
Thanks

Neil

[al_yrpal]

Not really. My bike is from Germany with a Bosch mid drive. Its very good but I expect whats available in Thailand is different. I would go for a well known make, thats all.

Al