I need a quality electric bike, anyone know anything about Pietzo?

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Peter

I found this company and their bikes sound like what I am looking for. They have some good customer reviews but I thought I would ask if anyone else had experience with them before I made the purchase.

http://electric-bicycle-store.pietzo.com/

Answer
The only experience I have with electric bikes is watching the riders run out of their electrical charge way too fast. Then they are stuck pedaling an extremely heavy bicycle home.

I've met only one person (a lady) who owned one & was happy with it. But, she also stated she was never any more than 1/2 to maybe 1 mile from home on it.

What's wrong with a real bicycle? You'll get a work-out & be healthier.

Question about electric scooters/bikes with peddles?

Monica

Okay, I do not know that much about electric scooters/bikes. However, with the raising cost of fuel I am looking into purchasing one. The ones that I have been looking at say they are electric but have peddles. How do these bikes work? Do you have the option to peddle or do you have to peddle? If anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it!!

Answer
There are loads of different types.

There are electric bicycles, which are basically a combination of an electric scooter and a bicycle. You can both pedal and use the electric motor at the same time or one at a a time. Some examples:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/category/electric-bicycles

I owned this one for a while, and reviewed it on this page:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/e-zip-mountan-trailz-elec-bike

Then there are the ones that are basically electric scooters which also have pedals. Like this one:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=200325603&R=200325603

On those the pedals aren't very helpful, but basically by pedalling you can make the battery last a little bit longer. Most of the time I don't think you pedal them.

The good thing about those is that at least in California, for a moped with a top speed of no more than 20 mph with pedals, you don't need a motorcycle (M class) license. If you have a moped without pedals, you need the license. Which is stupid, but that's the California law.

Moped laws by state: http://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/Moped_laws

And then there are electric mopeds and motorcycles without pedals:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/category/scooters

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how do I build an electric motor for my bike?

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Cookie

I want to make my bike electric, how can I do that? Sites would be great, pictures would also be awesome. Anything helps! Thanks!

Answer
I would suggest the excellent engineering text on the subject:
Electric Bicycles, A Guide to Design and Use - Morchin & Oman 2006

It covers the trade-offs between brush and brushless motors and has good graphs for determining the torque-speed characteristic based on the output of the motor.

Best conversion is probably to just buy a good hub motor from a place like ebikes and then consider how you will power it and if you want only an assist when pedaling or an all-electric option. If you have access to a simulation program like PSIM Simulation for power electronics and motor control that can take a lot of guess work out of the various non-linearities involved with the contol of motors especially if you are going to design your own electronics and do your own boards.

What is the most reliable, cost effective, electric bike on the market today?

Peace69

I really like the Schwinn electric bikes (Continental etc), but I was wondering if someone knew of a cheaper alternative. I don't think I want the SLA battery packs. I would like a smaller and lighter alternative and have a decent range (20 miles or more). I would even consider doing a bike conversion if I could have newer lighter equipment

Answer
Try just a regular bike. Electric bikes are harder to transport, maintain, and still cost money to operate. If you get into shape they aren't much faster than a regular bicycle.

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