electric bike kits

[edocaster]

I get the impression that drop bar builds are hard - I see you've mounted the throttle on an additional bar. What about the brake cutoff sensors? Most of the kits seem to have these built into flat bar brake levers. Did you find a way to get this working with drop bar levers?

[hercule]

You can get inline brake sensors so you don’t need to change the levers... I am guessing that they detect cable movement or compression of the cable housing and cut the motor.

[willcee]

Ok, I note your observations, my cycling doesn't really involve traffic scenarios, and if it does its a village environ, so my thoughts are stop pedalling / switch off before encountering said traffic, no lights, a roundabout in the square..I am when I get my battery connected fitting a cutout button from the wires taken off the brake levers supplied with the kit, so I don't see it as an issue.. But if I find it develops into something to be concerned about I will source an inline brake interrupter..

[edocaster]

I'll be interested in how it goes. My understanding is that by stopping pedalling you will stop the motor. But, it's nice to have another method (even if you had the brake cutoffs), just in case the throttle gets stuck wide open. This is just theorising, as I have no experience of e-bikes.

[willcee]

Had a very interesting chat with my Battery man in London this morning, he called me, has been building good quality batts for years, sells the welders used to build your own, knows his stuff and is reasonable to pay, mine is to be approx 10 inches long by 3 by 2.5, with a 12'' battery connection and a 6'' charger connection.. he will charge and discharge with a machine he has, 3 times to check the BMS is working and there are no duff cells.. the cells are 18650 they are bigger capacity and rated at 3.7 and are Samsung. when i get it early next week it seems, i will post a pic.. After i have had a few rides and discover what the performance and range is like, i would have no problem giving any interested party his contact details, nice guy.. will

[squeaker]

My understanding is that by stopping pedalling you will stop the motor.

Only if you have a crank rotation sensor fitted? (It's feasible to run some kits just from a hand 'throttle', so if that jams 'open'...)

[willcee]

RE last, this Bafang motor has no pedal pressure sensing, it is driven by moving the pedals movement angle sensing and as comes it from China its sensitive in the extreme or so my research leads me to think.. stop pedaling stops the motor assist... the throttle over rides any pedalling, a knowledgeable and experienced few have developed a cable programming link and CD to enable more subtle pedal progress and alters throttle from a very sensitive switch to more progressive mode .. this has just been delivered.. I will try it as delivered and have just given a nerdy computer mate the CD and link cable and links to others who have successfully reset the Chinese mapping of the controller.. progress will be posted.. will

[willcee]

Battery here and charged and progress halted until i realised i had to hold the switch on for a couple of secs , display came alive, but no go, emailed the seller & he rang me back, and said it had been checked by himself.. he has built 15 so far, and was perfect before dismantling off a machine of his, which had only 60 miles covered, the wiring was the issue, at the end of the loom there are 4 wires, green one for display, 2 for brake lever interrupters, yellow female, and the last one is an amber yellow male for the throttle, so i says, my throttle is also male.. you plugged the throttle into a brake wire and i must have sent you the wrong throttle, it should be female, so its in the post, however this morning i had another crack at getting it going, disconnected the throttle, switched on ,pushed lightly with a toe on the left crank, standing from the left side holding the bars and a stallion reared, rear wheel spun and it almost mounted my bench.. me hanging on for dear life.. when i got disentangled i took it outside and mounted again and it worked impeccably, took a 1/2 mile ride and tried on each level up to 5 on a small climb nearby, my stallion was very strong and tamer now.. got a link to the manual and have it printed off, hopeful of a few miles friday am weather permitting, and further progress here, ..weight ready to ride 39lbs.. will

[willcee]

31 Miles today accompanied by my cycle bud [ recovering from a new hip after a fall 8 weeks ago ] astride his new Orbea Gain. road bike, no issues apart from him running out of assist at 16.5 mph, hills ?? what hills we floated up.. and still had a decent work out, the power or torque from mine is amazing, however its highlighted a few issues in the chinese programming of the controller.. used very few gears, on my 8 speed cassette just the last 4.. maxed out at 27.. but speed wasn't that important, rideability is.. so when i have a few more runs i'll hopefully dial it in with the assistance of a mate who is very adept on his laptop, and a few tips from guys who have done theirs and the supplied CD and programming link. the.battery was at 30% remaining.. will

[willcee]

the range is proving to be way over 40.. couple of recent runs over mountainous country and a stiff 25K s/westerly wind proved that i still had loads of power well enough to do 20ish for last 5 miles..seems my BMS will cut at 39 ish volts according to the maker, that run it was at 41, he says try to get it to that cut out level and pedal home off power.. we are in the process of putting together a guage which will be accurate and let me have some peace of mind as the bafang guage is totally pants..will

[willcee]

My latest build, weighs approx 36lbs, rides good, Ebrake on left lever, pics with Vitt rando 28 tyres, now fitted Clements strada 32 and it made a huge improvement..will