rim brakes on conversion kits

Electrically assisted bikes, trikes, etc. that are legal in the UK
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brucelee
Posts: 289
Joined: 19 Feb 2009, 10:39am

rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by brucelee »

Anyone know if kits like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3293830 ... 1c9esrid7R use disc specific rims ? Or are people just concerned that rim brakes will be insufficient for the predicted speeds ?
stodd
Posts: 705
Joined: 6 Jun 2018, 10:24am

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by stodd »

I doubt the rims are disc specific, they should work fine with rim brakes. Obviously the more powerful the motor the more important it is to have good brakes ... but the fastest you'll go is downhill without motor assist so your existing rim brakes should be OK.

You might look for a nominal 250 kit, the 500w kit will be illegal to ride on the road without tax, insurance etc; and illegal to ride on bridleways or bike paths. You will almost certainly get away with it if you want to take the risk.

Also note: Poland maintenance point for EU countires and US maintenance point. No support for UK.

DDP Service:For below countires, the DDP service is included (tax or duty is paied by us).. That list does not include UK, you may end up paying quite a bit on VAT and customs (or again, you might get lucky)
brucelee
Posts: 289
Joined: 19 Feb 2009, 10:39am

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by brucelee »

stodd wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:31pm DDP Service:For below countires, the DDP service is included (tax or duty is paied by us).. That list does not include UK, you may end up paying quite a bit on VAT and customs (or again, you might get lucky)
I noticed that but is says dispatched from the UK so this should be OK right ? AliExpress didn't try to chuck VAT on top, don't quite know how this works.
Do you know of any reputable retailers that actually have stock ? They all seem to have long waiting lists.
stodd
Posts: 705
Joined: 6 Jun 2018, 10:24am

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by stodd »

I guess that ships from the UK should be OK for VAT/Customs (I noticed it had that as well after posting). I'd ask them before ordering to clarify.

Just did the next step towards ordering because I was interested to see what made the difference in the price range £224.91 - 304.33
(the page is very uninformative as you click the different options), and got
subtotal £289.49
Shipping £0.00
tax £57.90
Total £347.39

Woosh (https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits) are good UK suppliers with excellent customer service. Probably will be a bit pricier than that though (maybe not, allowing for tax as above). They have had shortages; they seem to be getting slowly over them for bikes; not sure what their availability is like for kits.
They've got a legal (Nominal power: 250W Maximum instantaneous power: about 750W) 48v Bafang with decent battery for £599.
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[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by [XAP]Bob »

stodd wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:31pm You might look for a nominal 250 kit, the 500w kit will be illegal to ride on the road without tax, insurance etc; and illegal to ride on bridleways or bike paths. You will almost certainly get away with it if you want to take the risk.
Until you are involved in a collision...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
stodd
Posts: 705
Joined: 6 Jun 2018, 10:24am

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by stodd »

[XAP]Bob wrote: 10 Jun 2021, 6:06pm
stodd wrote: 9 Jun 2021, 7:31pm You might look for a nominal 250 kit, the 500w kit will be illegal to ride on the road without tax, insurance etc; and illegal to ride on bridleways or bike paths. You will almost certainly get away with it if you want to take the risk.
Until you are involved in a collision...
I don't condone it, but from what I've seen people get away with it even if involved in a (fatal) collision. I haven't heard of any case where people have been convicted of even a minor offence; let alone the major offences which are technically committed, such as driving a motor vehicle without insurance.
the snail
Posts: 333
Joined: 5 Aug 2011, 3:11pm

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by the snail »

Rim brakes are fine for e bikes, even with a 500w motor, you won't be going significantly faster than a lot of people on non electric bikes. The rim on the linked kit doesn't look like it has a braking surface on it, in which case it won't be safe to use with a rim brake.
hemo
Posts: 1438
Joined: 16 Nov 2017, 5:40pm
Location: West Sussex

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by hemo »

It's not all about speed but it does come in to play, more added weight X speed means the braking effort is increased. All depends on the speed attained, just be wary of going fast down hill.
Oldjohnw
Posts: 7764
Joined: 16 Oct 2018, 4:23am
Location: South Warwickshire

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by Oldjohnw »

I have rim brakes. I don't go any faster than any other bike because my bike operates legally and the motor cuts out at 25kph. I don't get through noticeably more pads than I used to. The rims aren't wearing to any noticeable degree.
John
francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by francovendee »

Oldjohnw wrote: 31 Jul 2021, 6:36am I have rim brakes. I don't go any faster than any other bike because my bike operates legally and the motor cuts out at 25kph. I don't get through noticeably more pads than I used to. The rims aren't wearing to any noticeable degree.
That's interesting.
I'm doing the research on motorising my bike which has V brakes and it was something of a concern.
I'd noticed ebikes are almost exclusively supplied with discs and this raised doubts about the safety of V brakes on an ebike.
Oldjohnw
Posts: 7764
Joined: 16 Oct 2018, 4:23am
Location: South Warwickshire

Re: rim brakes on conversion kits

Post by Oldjohnw »

francovendee wrote: 31 Jul 2021, 8:30am
Oldjohnw wrote: 31 Jul 2021, 6:36am I have rim brakes. I don't go any faster than any other bike because my bike operates legally and the motor cuts out at 25kph. I don't get through noticeably more pads than I used to. The rims aren't wearing to any noticeable degree.
That's interesting.
I'm doing the research on motorising my bike which has V brakes and it was something of a concern.
I'd noticed ebikes are almost exclusively supplied with discs and this raised doubts about the safety of V brakes on an ebike.
My frame is steel and I am quite heavy, too. It was a concern of mine and I wrote to the supplier before purchase who reassured me. Of course, they would wouldn’t they!

I assume that there are good disc brakes and bad disc brakes, as there are good rim brakes and bad ones.

Regularly going down very steep hills in wet weather might have a different consequence. Something I avoid anyway.
John
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