This review was kindly posted by Steve – who has put one motor on the front wheel and one on the back (see picture below). I’m sure that in the future many high-end electric bicycles will be two wheel drive and will take their inspiration from custom set ups like shown here…
Controlling system of this bike includes: two 500 watt hub motors, two 36 volt 10 ah Li ion battery packs, two controllers and throttles. This gear has done 1260 kms without a hitch. Speed is 34 km/hr without pedalling, topping out at 43 km/hr pedalling flat out and fairly sure I could get a little more speed with higher gearing. Speed only drops to around 31 klms going uphill in our area and really pulls hard. Range is 55 kms with light pedalling, one battery had shut down at that point but still managed to travel the two kms home on the other battery.
After a return home (minimum of 21 klms off road) which ends the trip at the top of a 600 meter long haul uphill at full power the batteries are just warm to touch, controllers and motors are at ambient temperatures which means it is all running well within design limits.
The frame I’m using now is a second hand REPCO mountain bike with full suspension, it has a steel rear swing arm so can handle the extra battery weight, the battery box has been positioned as low as possible to get the centre of gravity down which made a huge difference in handling, the suspension means I can run the tyres at a higher pressure to maximise speed and distance per charge while giving a soft ride, curbs and bumps are not a problem now and I only have to back off a little to soak up the bumps. The batteries and controllers are also mounted to the main frame so it’s all sprung load and takes the shock loads off the batteries. I constructed the battery box to hold two batteries, plugs and charging ports and is made from 304 stainless steel painted mat black. I fitted Torque arms on the hub motors very early on as the axles were working in their mounts.
All in all the equipment supplied is excellent and has far exceeded what I thought was possible, I still can’t believe the power density available in these batteries, the service and back up provided is also excellent.