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Good advice is definitely what you get from Matt. I originally ordered the 1000W with 48V 10Ah battery rack conversion kit, thinking to mix commuting with offroad use. Matt called me and asked me heaps of questions on what I actually need (vs wants). Long story cut short, I ended up with a slightly cheaper and different system (500W super tube kit) for my 60km return trip. I can happily report that it doesn’t take much to overtake riders in lycra now – even though I’m one too. Regarding installation of the conversion kit, it’s easier than I thought. The torque bar was the hardest bit for me due to a fat fork on my mountain bike but I did get it on. I also purchased aCycle Analyst to measure all paramaters. These readings may be interesting for the more technically minded people, they were taken with light pedalling (no pedalling only consumes an extra 50-100W). Keep in mind, my mountain bike was already about 20 kg without the kit. The kit added nearly 10kg to the total weight. Monitoring of 500W Solar Bike kit with 11.6Ah Panasonic tube battery: 1. The controller and battery take up to 700W – especially at slow speed, max crank 2. At cruising speed 34-35kph, flat, no wind, light pedaling, it consumes roughly 300W 3. When the voltage drops to 34V (when I’d consumed over 5Ah), the motor alone won’t go any faster than 36kph (maxed out at 360W) on flat ground. Looks like the controller struggles to get more speed once the voltage has dropped a little bit. When the battery is fresh (let say less than 3Ah consumed, where 36V is still available), I have no worries getting to 40kph (around 500W) 4. I’d consumed around 6Ah (of 11.6Ah available) after travelling 28km with considerable pedalling All up, extremely happy with both product, advice and service. Rusdy, Perth |
Monthly Archives: July 2016
Topless Brazilian on electric bike!
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| I came from Brazil to study at the University of Western Australia for a year. Getting around Perth isn’t too hard but it can take long times and it can be difficult to get home at night after 12pm if you’re in the city. I got an electric bicycle and it has made life so much easier and I save lots of time and money. I chose the electric fixie and put a 500W motor on it with a super tube battery. I can travel about 50km if I pedal heaps and about 25km if I don’t pedal much. My ride to university is 9km along Striling highway and it takes me 12 to 16 minutes on my bike depending on how hard I pedal. If I use the bus it takes twice as long and when there is traffic it’s terrible and can sometimes take more than 45 minutes. I love it and am wondering how I can take it back to Brazil.
Bruno, Brazil |
More fun than an electric car!
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| My mountain bike was sitting around hardly getting any use. My friend got a Solar Bike kit put on his mountain bike and said it changed his life so I decided to do the same. I wanted something that gets about 40km/h so I chose the 1000W kit. I didn’t want the rack battery because I like to keep things compact but the 48V tube battery didn’t fit in the frame so I mounted it on the top bar. Works like a charm. It’s so quiet and fast but still very safe. My friend was right – changes your life! It’s simply just faster, cheaper and much more fun that driving a car in traffic. Get one!
Neil, Perth |
Electric Cargo Bike from Cargo Cycles, March 2013
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| We have responded to popular demand and produced a box cargo bike with a Solar Bike conversion kit! This can be fitted to both our Longhaul and Shorthaul cargo bikes. It is a great value for money option for electric box bike enthusiasts who would like some extra power. Available in Melbourne or parts can be shipped Australia wide. |
Tasmanian Electric bike by Simona in Hobart, March 2013
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| My fantastic brother put this electric solar bike kit on my Canondale for me for my Christmas present this year! It’s the greatest present I’ve ever received and I’m loving it. I use it to get from Kingston, through Taroona, into the city and back – about a 25km ride all up. There are many big hills around Hobart and this just flies up them all. I still ride a lot so get a lot of exercise but it makes it so much more comfortable with the electric assistance and is now my first choice of transport for journeys less than around 30km. I generally just ride normally on the flat and only push the throttle from time to time but I hold it full throttle on all the hills and with a bit of pedalling it can get up even the steepest hills around here – and there are a lot of them. It’s a really convenient form of transport and it’s great not to rely on the car so much.
Simona, Tasmania |
Hub motor with disk brakes
| This was a conversion done for a local customer. He was looking for a road bike that could use the higher power kits and that also had disc brakes. It’s sometimes hard to get the kits onto disc bikes, especially if using the larger direct drive motors as there is limited room to get the disc caliper between motor and disc itself. Thankfully, the Apollo Trace (model 2) came together nicely and posed no problems. It’s also great for conversion due to the strong rigid forks. The bicycle itself typically retails for around the $600 mark and kits are between $1050-$1200. This kit used the super tube battery (11.6Ah) and I tested it and found it to still have battery power after 30km with light pedalling (using 500W motor).
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Agricultural E-Bikes
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| This was an electric protobike for the WA Department of Agriculture and Food. They monitor their crops for photosynthetic rate and other parameters using quite heavy machinery and batteries. The poor workers used to have to carry things and walk up and down the rows all day. Now they’ll be doing it on some specialised converted electric bicycles. We were testing this one here with a 500W front motor; it worked well on most fields but bogged down when it got really sandy. Impressively, the 200W geared mini-motor with a 500W controller was a bit better but still struggled in the really soft stuff. The end product will be 200W mini-motor on front and 500W motor on rear. All the monitoring gear will be mounted in the middle of the contraption. Will make taking measurements of their wheat and barley trial crops a lot easier. |
Malvern Star Electric!
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| This is a very good commuter bicycle for the money. It’s the Malvern Star Sprint – a flat bar road bike with the 200W mini-motor and Panasonic tube battery. Range about 35-50km depending on rider input. Great Value for $1750. |
Electric Chopper from Brisbane Bikes, January 2013
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| This was a Chopper that was converted by Matt from Brizzie Bikes (in Brisbane) for a Gold Coast customer who is considering plans to rent them out. The Chopper is an amazingly in-practical form of transport and it takes a bit of getting used to – whether no power, electric or petrol powered – but they are comfortable. Not sure how these plans will pan out but it does look pretty damn cool! This Chopper is using the street legal 200W mini-motor and long range battery (36V 16Ah) so it should have a range of about 60km. Plans are under way to test a high-powered version out. |
Retro Electric Bike, January 2013
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| This conversion was for a customer that brought his bicycle into the shop. It’s a retro style Schwinn road cruiser bike. It came together quite nicely and rides a lot easier for having the kit put on it. The black and yellow colour scheme also worked well. It is using the 200W mini-motor and an 11Ah rack battery that will give it a range of about 40km, cruises on the flat at around 28km/h without pedalling.
PERTH ELECTRIC BICYCLES, 926 Hay st, Perth CBD. |