E-bikes are just motorcycles with vestigial pedals and different geometry.
I’ve been researching e conversion kit options for the lorry. I intend to compile useful findings here but I keep running into ridiculous shit I just have to share.
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mobile bike rack
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Ring ring ring banana bike
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Okay I’ll stop ignoring this thread.
Leaning now about going big on a Grin Tech direct drive front hub, controller, etc, on the Lorry. Cool that they have a hub motor that’s not much heavier than an eZee gear hub, and lots of axle options, makes it easier to potentially move to another bike in the future.
Probably overkill for me since this will be mainly for commutes and trips to the store within a few mile radius, but I’d rather have a nice system than something half as cheap and not nearly as good.
I’m also leaning direct drive front hub. I was initially looking at mid drive options and they are cool but they just don’t seem price competitive with hub options; especially considering long-term maintenance and reliability.
From reading diy build reports it seems like prices and availability aren’t exactly great atm on motors or batteries. Not surprising given anyone previously reliant on public transit in the entire world might be seriously considering an ebike as an alternative for the first time. That or I just haven’t found the sw8 deals and optimum search terms yet.
Front > rear seems better for the lorry; don’t have to meddle with drive train alignment and most motors should be more efficient with smaller diam wheel / higher RPMs. I’d prob mount the battery in the crate for extra weight on the wheel even unloaded. I did read a few reports of people collarbonin’ or worse from front hub mishaps - PAS applies power unexpectedly and front tire slips in a turn or something like that. Prob similar risk profile as front v rear loading in that both are fine w proper equipment/maintenance/usage but a front loading failure is more likely to be catastrophic.
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I’ve never ridden a front drive bike that doesn’t handle like the front tire is full of water. Been thinking about e-assist for the Bullitt for a while and will most likely go mid drive. The torque sensor without special bb’s or fake cadence based assist is what does it for me.
Seems like I asked this already, but which mid drives do torque sensing? The Bafang BBS02 and BBSHD kits all seem to use cadence only.
Wondering if there’s enough room under the front rack to mount a battery there…
This is what I was familiar with but looks like its discontinued
That’s kind of cool that it mounts to the chainstays as a torque arm, might cause interference with a kickstand tho.
Electric hub go brrrrr
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Lol, reminded me that a bus driver with a mask on pulled up to me while I was on my e-Cargo yesterday at Jackson & Rainier and proceeded to yell out the window a bunch of questions asking for ebike shopping advice during length of an intersection red light cycle. Not nearly enough time for me to respond since I’m not really, categorically, very interested in the current state of COTS ebikes. Made me realize I don’t even have a reputable suggestion for quality off the shelf waiting in my back pocket.
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Yeah interestingly lots of Seattle bus drivers are either A. Into bikes B. Musicians. Maybe there’s a C I don’t know. Anyway you can get health care benefits with much less than full time hours. So definitely makes sense for B not sure how the A overlap happens
How waterproof/waterproofable is your average Bafang-esque kit/DT mounted battery, etc? I’d love to get a rear hub drive on my cargo in the near future, but I ride that thing in all weather and leave it locked outside of my job for 8hrs once a week.
I’m not sure but it’s a real concern and I think you can run into trouble on the other end too when the black motor casing starts baking your magnets under prolonged direct sunlight.
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Oh good point. Might be able to build a little lean to out back of my job. As long as riding in heavy rain is fine the extended outdoor time can be mitigated.
@Andrew_Squirrel Is it weird at all having the Sempu BB only read torque on the left side or did you just get used to it?
I guess that all depends on how the pedal assist is setup.
I just verified in the PAS settings which outputs torque voltage on the screen. Doesn’t matter if I step down on right or left pedal, I still get a increase in voltage from the Sempu BB.
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Oh, cool. I swear I read somewhere that’s a single sided sensor, but 
Thanks for checking.