Cheap ebike kits

[geebee]

I haven't bought from them previously but they have been on Ozbargain previously.
The especially good buy is this 36v/800w for $88, direct drive but for this price who cares
http://www.voilamart.com/26-36v-800w-el ... ersion-kit
You can always swap to a 250w controller, PAS sensor and remove any rating on the motor to keep it legal.
http://www.voilamart.com/electric-bicycle-kit

Battery not included.

[eldavo]

Without batteries, the most expensive component of electric bicycles

IMO Life's too short for cheap crap*, the oceans are filling up with it. Have less useless crap and fewer but more useful quality tools.
(* Borrowing from a fellow motorcycle rider who said life's too short for crap tyres.)

[geebee]

$150 for 36v, 10 ah Hobby King batteries, close to no voltage sag at any ebike load, light weight and long life as long as you know how to handle them safely.

[eldavo]

No voltage sag isn't true just relative, it's a nature of the battery use, not really an issue or strength to mention either way factoring all aspects, e.g. a sagging battery that's packaged and removable for security and charging between trips is more useful in daily life than a vulnerable non-removable less-sagging bag of wires.

Someone new to this stuff comes along, oh $100 electric bike kits. No battery, then has to figure out how to live with a LiPo setup that to be convenient/manageable is triple the motor kit they started with. Skip the junk (or enthusiast tinkerer's preference) and move up in the world I suggest.

Half a dozen ciggie packs cost more than the motor. Money is there, just not valued the same need.

Some people may have $5000 spend on personal electronic devices in their household that get lost stolen and broken regularly... but we're not in a cycling transport society to compare such things.

Annual car registration and insurance exceeding $1000 means I've just earned myself a new bike avoiding that cost selling my car earlier this year... that car cost $5000 in 2 years to operate/maintain and recover original purchase price, covering only 4000km. Funnily it also meant I visited take-away outlets from a previous life prior to car-free, that I never did in the 4yrs while cycling carless, until the 2yr return of a car. I didn't count the takeaway costs, but I probably wear them on my waistline. My bicycle would have done 10,000km used exclusively in the same 2yrs with that car.

It's not for everyone, but adult rite of passage and our valuation of motor vehicles is greatly biased as a need for life, and not judged as an optional expense in the same way as - get this, $2000 for a Bosch mid drive disc brake geared hub groupset I can get right now. Oops... may have sold myself into another bicycle purchase

[geebee]

My pack is quick and easily removable (one connector and two velcro straps) and is also swapped between a couple of bikes, sag is an issue if you live with steep hills and suffer cutouts under heavy loads once the pack is down to 50%.
A lot of the early deaths of batteries appears to come from using packs at or close to there limits, not going to happen with 25C continuous rating.

I agree a complete kit is ideal but if you want to dip your toes into ebikes and are diy savy it is a cheap way to do so and not everyone has the money to spend. I started with a few secondhand bits and had a ball for years at very little cost.
Even easier is a commercial bike, I do have a couple these days but my favourite ride is a recumbent trike with a DIY BBS01 fitted, it's light, fast and an absolute blast to ride.

[find_bruce]

$150 for 36v, 10 ah Hobby King batteries, close to no voltage sag at any ebike load, light weight and long life as long as you know how to handle them safely.

Do you have a link to the battery ? Only one I could find was 4ah at $90

[geebee]

$150 for 36v, 10 ah Hobby King batteries, close to no voltage sag at any ebike load, light weight and long life as long as you know how to handle them safely.

Do you have a link to the battery ? Only one I could find was 4ah at $90

2x each of the below and they sell all the leads to make setting them up in parallel and series a plug and play event, I personally parallel the balance leads as well and going off my last battery packs life thus far it looks like a good idea.
My last set were Zippy cells but these are lighter, smaller and cheaper:)
As my current pack is 4 to 5 years old (still going strong) and HK sent me a voucher for 25% off so I bought a set of the below for back up, they are rated at 10C continuos and with 10ah that is 100amp safe current draw.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ouse_.html
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... duct=65577

[OldBloke]

2x each of the below and they sell all the leads to make setting them up in parallel and series a plug and play event, I personally parallel the balance leads as well and going off my last battery packs life thus far it looks like a good idea.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ouse_.html
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... duct=65577

geebee, resurrecting an old thread, do you have a diagram on how the batteries are wired together? What bms do you use?

I'm looking to do something similar to what you have done with your trike with my wife's recumbent trike; and keep the costs down . Comments or links would be appreciated.

Thanks

OB