All electric mountain bikes etc.

[john-e89]

Hey chaps,

Long shot but does anybody have any experience of off road electric mountain bikes or similar? The ones I have seen seem to be electrically assisted pedal bikes, what I need is a non pedal bike, so electric powered only. I don't need, or want, a disabled bike, no problem with balance etc, I just can't pedal. Can you convert a normal mountain bike to accept a motor? Battery life doesn't need to be huge, a couple of hours, say 2-4 max would be fine.

Any info much appreciated.

 

[AlfaScozzesi]

I have a pal who uses one to get to and from work. His has pedals but I am sure he doesn't need to use them but it just helps the life of the battery. He had it chipped so it can go at 35mph!

I will confirm with him on Tuesday about whether he needs to pedal at all which will be his next day at work and find out what battery life he gets, recharging time etc.

 

[john-e89]

I have a pal who uses one to get to and from work. His has pedals but I am sure he doesn't need to use them but it just helps the life of the battery. He had it chipped so it can go at 35mph!

I will confirm with him on Tuesday about whether he needs to pedal at all which will be his next day at work and find out what battery life he gets, recharging time etc.

That would be great, thank you.

 

[ronk]

Keep me in the loop as well please

 

[d3matt]

I might be wrong, but from what I understand that electric bikes do use the pedals to start off and the motor assists, otherwise if it was 100% electric driven it wouldn't be road legal as it would be a moped. However, there are electric bikes for sale that do have a hand lever to activate the motor and are therefore 100% electric, which you require. And while these are not legal, they are sold in the UK.
There's a very nice, but expensive one at the end of this video https://youtu.be/fNStBtc1l-M

 

[john-e89]

Cheers for the vid link d3matt. I could pedal to start off as long as it's not for very long, probably 30seconds on the flat at a guess so these bikes might be suitable.

Thanks again.

 

[Chris_D]

good that you're thinking about being active john
I'm pretty au fait with what's going on in the bike world these days, being a keen cyclist etc, but i havent come accross many fully lekky powered mountain bikes i'm afraid.
there are ofc plenty of elec-assist pedalled mountain bikes and i'd proffer that you would need a pretty powerful, and hence hefty battery in order to deliver the torque needed when offroading.
I was toying with the idea of buying some kits from china to convert some old mtb's to elec-assisted and then selling them as they command a huge premium over here in holland but when researching decided against it due to the limitations of battery technology.
there's an amaerican company who specialise in superfast electric mtb's and i lambasted one of his videos as he was zipping around public streets at twilight with no lights or helmet. he looks like an established seller with shop/website etc. i unsubscribed from his channel after the torrent of abuse i received after stepping down of my HSE soapbox in the comments. :lol:
I'll see if i can dig it up again....
one consideration tho: where are you going to stash that oxygen bottle? you'll need scuba gear won't you?

 

[Chris_D]

ffound it! Hi-Trek cycles out of the good old US of A yeee haaawwww! lol
So, it looks like he's been on a mission to build em faster and better since i unsubscribed, lol
they aint cheap john, maybe ur next hosi visit u could trade in a kidney for a downpayment :lol:
if you look back through the vids, not this one, but u might come accross my comments somewhere and the resulting abuse. much lolz.
[youtube]mZQL9YVSQi8[/youtube]

 

[85genius]

here are quite a few bike rental places that have electric bikes, I'd have a look around where you live as you can probably have a proper try to see if its suitable

 

[john-e89]

good that you're thinking about being active john
I'm pretty au fait with what's going on in the bike world these days, being a keen cyclist etc, but i havent come accross many fully lekky powered mountain bikes i'm afraid.
there are ofc plenty of elec-assist pedalled mountain bikes and i'd proffer that you would need a pretty powerful, and hence hefty battery in order to deliver the torque needed when offroading.
I was toying with the idea of buying some kits from china to convert some old mtb's to elec-assisted and then selling them as they command a huge premium over here in holland but when researching decided against it due to the limitations of battery technology.
there's an amaerican company who specialise in superfast electric mtb's and i lambasted one of his videos as he was zipping around public streets at twilight with no lights or helmet. he looks like an established seller with shop/website etc. i unsubscribed from his channel after the torrent of abuse i received after stepping down of my HSE soapbox in the comments. :lol:
I'll see if i can dig it up again....
one consideration tho: where are you going to stash that oxygen bottle? you'll need scuba gear won't you?

Hey Chris,

I really want one so I can take my 10 yr old son out on his bike, I'd promised him all last year that when I'd had my heart op I'd be fit again to cycle but it's obviously not worked out that way... :roll: Anyway I don't need a really powerful one, just something that I can go out for an hour or so on cycle tracks and some converted train track routes that have chippings down on them. I've got a mobile oxygen pump that lasts approx 2 1/2 hrs on one battery.

 

[john-e89]

here are quite a few bike rental places that have electric bikes, I'd have a look around where you live as you can probably have a proper try to see if its suitable

Yes I had thought of renting one as a trial, would make sense rather than shelling out first.

 

[Chris_D]

good that you're thinking about being active john
I'm pretty au fait with what's going on in the bike world these days, being a keen cyclist etc, but i havent come accross many fully lekky powered mountain bikes i'm afraid.
there are ofc plenty of elec-assist pedalled mountain bikes and i'd proffer that you would need a pretty powerful, and hence hefty battery in order to deliver the torque needed when offroading.
I was toying with the idea of buying some kits from china to convert some old mtb's to elec-assisted and then selling them as they command a huge premium over here in holland but when researching decided against it due to the limitations of battery technology.
there's an amaerican company who specialise in superfast electric mtb's and i lambasted one of his videos as he was zipping around public streets at twilight with no lights or helmet. he looks like an established seller with shop/website etc. i unsubscribed from his channel after the torrent of abuse i received after stepping down of my HSE soapbox in the comments. :lol:
I'll see if i can dig it up again....
one consideration tho: where are you going to stash that oxygen bottle? you'll need scuba gear won't you?

Hey Chris,

I really want one so I can take my 10 yr old son out on his bike, I'd promised him all last year that when I'd had my heart op I'd be fit again to cycle but it's obviously not worked out that way... :roll: Anyway I don't need a really powerful one, just something that I can go out for an hour or so on cycle tracks and some converted train track routes that have chippings down on them. I've got a mobile oxygen pump that lasts approx 2 1/2 hrs on one battery.

i see. but you'll still need a decent battery and hub motor to get you up any sort of incline. that battery will drain fast on the hills. so where you dont really need speed you'll def need torque - and hence a decent battery/hub.
if you have limited pedalling capacity i would certainly not discount a pedal assist bike as you can still ride without pedalling but maybe you could use that limited capacity to pedal up inclines with help from the hub...? it will feel like nothing with a decent motor....

 

[ronk]

I would like to use my existing Kona AA if i could - I would like to adapt it if possible?
I can't put any great pressure on the pedals so electrification would help me.

 

[john-e89]

good that you're thinking about being active john
I'm pretty au fait with what's going on in the bike world these days, being a keen cyclist etc, but i havent come accross many fully lekky powered mountain bikes i'm afraid.
there are ofc plenty of elec-assist pedalled mountain bikes and i'd proffer that you would need a pretty powerful, and hence hefty battery in order to deliver the torque needed when offroading.
I was toying with the idea of buying some kits from china to convert some old mtb's to elec-assisted and then selling them as they command a huge premium over here in holland but when researching decided against it due to the limitations of battery technology.
there's an amaerican company who specialise in superfast electric mtb's and i lambasted one of his videos as he was zipping around public streets at twilight with no lights or helmet. he looks like an established seller with shop/website etc. i unsubscribed from his channel after the torrent of abuse i received after stepping down of my HSE soapbox in the comments. :lol:
I'll see if i can dig it up again....
one consideration tho: where are you going to stash that oxygen bottle? you'll need scuba gear won't you?

Hey Chris,

I really want one so I can take my 10 yr old son out on his bike, I'd promised him all last year that when I'd had my heart op I'd be fit again to cycle but it's obviously not worked out that way... :roll: Anyway I don't need a really powerful one, just something that I can go out for an hour or so on cycle tracks and some converted train track routes that have chippings down on them. I've got a mobile oxygen pump that lasts approx 2 1/2 hrs on one battery.

i see. but you'll still need a decent battery and hub motor to get you up any sort of incline. that battery will drain fast on the hills. so where you dont really need speed you'll def need torque - and hence a decent battery/hub.
if you have limited pedalling capacity i would certainly not discount a pedal assist bike as you can still ride without pedalling but maybe you could use that limited capacity to pedal up inclines with help from the hub...? it will feel like nothing with a decent motor....

I can turn the pedals Chris but ANY sort of excursion is out, if you have to add ANY power to the pedals it's of no use mate, I can't assist them whatsoever, I get too breathless. As a guide walking on a flat pavement is ok at a steady to slow pace for short distances, any incline that is noticible to the eye causes problems.

 

[AlfaScozzesi]

Hi just seen all the other info you have got. I spoke to my pal today and he confirmed that only pedal assisted bikes are legal to be ridden on the road in the UK and EU (at least at the moment) and these are limited to 15mph. You can buy a chip however which fulls the sensor and doubles this speed by halving the speedo readout so you when do 30mph it reads 15mph.

If you want no pedalling at all you need one where there is a drum motor at one of the hubs. These are generally more powerful.

He didn't know the cost of these but his one was £2500 and he says he doesn't have to pedal very hard at all. He gets 50 miles per charge on "sport" mode and it takes the removable battery an hour to charge.

 

[john-e89]

Hi just seen all the other info you have got. I spoke to my pal today and he confirmed that only pedal assisted bikes are legal to be ridden on the road in the UK and EU (at least at the moment) and these are limited to 15mph. You can buy a chip however which fulls the sensor and doubles this speed by halving the speedo readout so you when do 30mph it reads 15mph.

If you want no pedalling at all you need one where there is a drum motor at one of the hubs. These are generally more powerful.

He didn't know the cost of these but his one was £2500 and he says he doesn't have to pedal very hard at all. He gets 50 miles per charge on "sport" mode and it takes the removable battery an hour to charge.

Many thanks for asking AlfaScozzesi, I called in at a bike shop yesterday and your mate is quite correct regarding speed and a chip. A guy there mentioned a chip but quickly drew me away from it as it renders a warranty useless, I couldn't give a chuff about a warranty, I just need to get out on a bike so this is something I'll take further interest in. Cheers for your effort.