Friday, January 31, 2014

What is the best electric bicycle out there?




Tim


Looking for an electric bicycle for commuting...range isn't too crucial as long as it's greater than 10 miles. Affordability is important.


Answer
There are now many electric assist bicycles out there. Some come complete and some kits you adapt to your own bicycle. A great place to start might be here: http://www.electricbikesreviews.com/

There are two general types of electric assist bicycles. They are hub motors and friction motors. For either one the motor and batteries will add weight to the bicycle.

Features you will want to look for should include:

Light with a good power to weight ratio.
The added weight of the batteries should be well placed for the design of the bike and not simply put anywhere.
Ability to remove the battery for charging inside the home.

Regenerative braking captures inertial energy and tries to convert that back into electricity to charge the battery. Bicycles are much lighter than a car and so have less inertial energy to capture. Batteries can't accept a massive influx of energy at once. As a result batteries are not so good to capture inertial energy. The good news is that while this may not be an extremely useful feature it virtually comes free with an electric motor

A fairing of some sort will extend range probably more than regenerative braking. Because of its lower wind resistance an electric recumbant makes some sense: http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/e-bent/default.htm

ELECTRIC BIKE QUESTION!!! ?




mike


Ok so I wanna convert my bike to a electric bike..I want to be able to travel like 30 or so miles on it at about 25mph is this possible under 300-350 dollars? I would even consider a used one on eBay
Oh ya and my bike just a regular comfort bike with 26 inch tires
Would it be better to buy one or use a electric bike conversion kit? Thanks!



Answer
I would take that $350 & look into a lighter hybrid or performance hybrid bicycle. Bikes with electric motors, either home built or store bought, always seem to drain the charge quickly and in the wrong place. Then what? You are stuck pedaling that behemoth home on leg power. The lighter the bicycle, the easier it usually is to pedal. Especially with the 700C tires found on hybrids & performance hybrids. They're taller & thinner than those found on your comfort bike.




Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Title Post: What is the best electric bicycle out there?
Rating: 83% based on 9498 ratings. 4 user reviews.
Author: Unknown

Thanks For Coming T0 My Blog

No comments:

Post a Comment