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What Is an Ebike
An e-bike is just a regular bicycle with an electric motor to provide additional assistance.
You can pedal normally and just use the motor to help out on hills and
headwinds, or use the motor all the time just to make riding easier. The
experience is entirely different from riding a gas scooter or motorbike.
Here the electric assistance is perfectly smooth and silent, and it
complements rather than supplants human power. They
provide all the advantages of a regular bicycle: fun exercise, free
parking, zero emissions, and freedom from gridlock, while eliminating one
of the bicycle's more serious drawbacks, lack of power.
How
can I determine if the hub will fit bicycle. |
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Which motor suits best Road conditions and riding preference some hills and some flat road or flat roads. Some riders are quite happy to go up to 20 mph and don't need a high top speed. If I have some hills to tackle then the basic or intermediate motor will give very good assist on hills even at slow speeds. If your bike requires rear wheel drive motor then the intermediate or Phoenix is the choice. Other crystalye hub motor wheel sizes available 16", 20", 24" and 26" |
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How fast will my bike go
Using the hub motor on a 26" wheel, your bike will reach a top speed of 20 mph plus. On a 24" wheel - 18 mph, and 20" wheel = 16 mph. Riders weight 170 lbs. Your weight has a lot to do with your top speed. In city traffic you will see your electric bike speed is approximate to car traffic going 35-40 MPH cars accelerating fast from one stop light to the next stop light and just sitting stopped waiting at stop light for it change. |
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How far can my bike
go With the Standard conversion kit, use the formula: 20/20, which means your bike will go 20 mph for 20 miles -- test done with the following conditions 26" wheel with thin slick street tires, 150 lb. rider flat riding terrain, and no stops or starts. In the real world, you will probably get 15 miles per battery pack charge with the standard battery pack, and about 10 miles more (25 miles +) with the extended range battery pack. The battery pack: standard pack = about 11 miles; extended range pack = about 19 miles, after which recharge required. |
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How much drag does
the motor create when I am not using it and pedaling instead The motor has magnets inside it, which do create a slight amount of drag. You probably will not notice the resistance when you are pedaling on a flat surface. On a hill you will notice the slight drag, but this would be a good time to hit the throttle and let the motor assist you! |
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Is there any way to increase
the range Yes The first thing you can do is pedal with your motor, especially when accelerating from a dead stop, since this is where the most power is used. Also, using high pressure tubes (65 psi or above) and street slick tires can increase your range by 30% or more. Decreasing your "rolling resistance" will always increase your range. |
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Can I use my aluminum or composite frame If you have an aluminum or composite frame, choose Standard or Intermediate Sparrow. The Phoenix motor is too powerful. |
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What is the warranty Motor: 1 year Controller: 90 days Crystalyte charger: 30 days Soneil charger: 1 year Batteries: 6 months Throttles: 1 year |
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How much does the kit weight Phoenix motor 23.5 lbs 48 volt 12AH batteries about 40 lbs Intermediate 15 lbs. Are there advantages to Front or Rear wheel drive ![]() Each has advantages and disadvantages. The rider is more aware of what the front wheel is doing. If it starts to spin, the rider has an additional plane of control. That is, you can turn the front wheel to maintain balance and correct for the spinout. The front wheel has less weight on it, though, so will spin more easily. Steep hills on non-paved surfaces can be a problem for this reason. Rear wheel drive has the advantage of better traction, but if you apply too much throttle on a turn and the wheel starts to spin, you will probably hit the ground as the bike goes out from under you can't turn the wheel as you can a front to try to correct for the slip. Rear drive puts the entire weight of the system on the rear of the bike rather than battery weight in back, motor weight in front. Rear dropouts on bikes are heavier than front, and can take more torque. If you use a rear drive, you can still have front suspension. Note that Phoenix is the only system with special frame requirements. Standard and intermediate Sparrow do not produce nearly as much torque and can go on just about any mountain bike frame. |
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motor order information
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Are there any other
accessories that I might want to purchase with my conversion kit Yes. There is a lot of power consumed by the capacitors in your hub motor controller the moment you plug the battery pack into it, which causes a small spark to occur during plug-in. As the battery pack is plugged in, the hub motor controller's capacitors refill themselves quickly, drawing a current and causing the spark. This spark cannot hurt you. However, if you find that you cannot live with the tiny spark, it bothers some people more than others, you can purchase a circuit breaker switch with new battery wiring for $15.00 and re-wire your battery pack with this switch in the battery circuit. Then, when you want to plug your battery pack into the hub motor controller, you can turn off the breaker switch first, then plug the battery pack into the controller unit - and this will eliminate the spark. After you've plugged the battery pack to the controller, and everything else is plugged in throttle & motor, turn the breaker switch back "on". The spark will occur inside the breaker switch now, where you cannot see it. |
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Batteries Most battery's discharge capabilities are determined using a C-20 rate. This means the specifications given for a battery's performance are determined when the battery is discharged over a 20 hour period. SLA batteries boast between 300-500 charge cycles, but this is when they are discharged at a C-20 rate. Using them in an electric bike kit discharges them 10 times (or more) faster than the C-20 rate. So this means you will not get anywhere near 300-500 charge cycles out of your batteries. With normal use, never running your batteries completely dead, and being very vigilant in charging your batteries back up IMMEDIATELY after each use, you can realistically expect between 100-200 charge cycles out of them. photo battery wiring The amount, or depth of discharge also has a lot to do with the life-expectancy of your batteries also. Sealed Lead - SLA batteries should never be run completely dead; since this will damage them and reduce their life expectancy. Automobiles use SLA batteries to start the car's gasoline engine. So why do car batteries last five years then. Because when the car battery is used to power the engine's starter motor, it is only used for a few seconds and is discharged only 10 % of it's total capacity; then it is IMMEDIATELY recharged when the gasoline engine starts. This is why a car battery can last five or more years. |
| Electrical maintenance - none required |
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Motors -
Electric cars are driven by large electric motors usually rated between 18
to 28 horsepower. For those accustomed to gas engines, this may not seem
like much power, but the rating systems used for gas engines and electric
motors are so different that the numbering system is almost meaningless.
Gas engines are rated at their peak hp, electric motors are rated at their
continuous hp. The peak hp of an electric motor is usually 8 to 10 times
its continuous rating. Hub motors there are no belts, chains, sprockets or pulleys. The spokes of the wheel are directly connected to the electric motor. Direct coupling eliminates losses in the transmission of power to the wheel. |
| The controller on an electric vehicle is the device or method by which the speed and power output of the drive motor is controlled, much in the way the throttle plates in a carburetor or throttle body control the power output of a gas engine. The controller is usually interfaced to the accelerator or "gas pedal". In the past control systems usually consisted of switches, relays, and contacts wired to rearrange the drive battery connections to supply different voltages. These were often assisted by very large resistors. Such systems, while capable, were often very jerky and sometimes inefficient and unreliable. These are usually refereed to as series-parallel or contactor controllers. |
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Ease of
Installation Electric hub motor systems come complete with everything you need to convert a pedal bike to an economical and fun way to get around. Our home installation guide takes you step-by-step through the conversion process supplied in order packaging. links |
enjoy
the ride
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