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Long Range E-Bike (2021)

jacquesmattheij.com

131–140 of 345 posts

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#131
post #91

I know a guy who tried doing something like this and burnt his house down. One of the batteries exploded and took the others with it.

That's why you don't touch Lithium Ion packs unless you know what you are doing. I've repaired many Bosch packs before I tried building my own and seeing the guts of professionally designed and robotically assembled packs after they're a few years old is a very sobering exercise in what to do and what definitely not to do. There are a bunch of youtubers that go out of their way to give massively dangerous advice to p…

While you are Not My Engineer and .. are there any bloggers / vloggers that are or at least seem to be giving good advice that you are comfortable passing on?

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#132

I think that size of battery would move it into requiring a motorcycle license here in Switzerland, just based on the size alone. And if it goes faster than 45km/h then definitely. I have my motorcycle license and have been considering getting something that I can ride all day. Only problem is that if it's classified as a motorcycle license I don't think I can take it in the train like a bike if I run out of juice fa…

While I don’t think anyone should be allowed to take a 2150Wh home made battery on a train, I’m not sure why battery capacity should affect classification. Limiting power delivery makes much more sense.

Quite common for Bosch powered cargo bikes to allow fitting two 800Wh batteries and you can always carry spares. They’re just horribly expensive.

I’m very glad my US spec e-bike is 28mph/45kmph rather than 15mph/25kmph limited as I feel much more comfortable taking the lane closer to car speeds on residential roads even if I rarely go above 20mph.

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#133

It does feel like this is such an untapped market. Think commuters, credit cart tourers, tourism around a spread out city. Something that is safer than a motorcycle and faster than a bike.

It's not safer than a motorcycle. Motorcycles have lights and signals and can accelerate away from danger. Plus the riders are generally covered head to toe in safety equipment, whereas nobody is ever going to wear leathers on a push bike.

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#134
post #29

eBikes are such a game changer. I do most of our family of four's grocery shopping with ours. Because of the assist, I find myself more comfortable in a wider range of weather conditions: * If it's hot, I use more assist and there's an instant cooling effect. Much better than climbing into a hot car. * If it's cold, I dress up to be warm outside and if I start to warm up on the ride, I use more assist. I don't have t…

I think we have different grocery habits.

Food, beer, and cat litter would be too heavy for a bike.

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motorcycle cops can ride faster than any e-bike, and go anywhere a bicycle can.

As someone who has spent a lot of time riding both bicycles and motorized things, this is not true at all. I could hop my bicycle over curbs that would bring a police motorcycle to a halt, or even toss a bike over a fence and then pick it up on the other side if I wanted. Or I could dip into the trees near the bike path where a police motorcycle has no chance of maneuvering.

Buy that time there cop is also on foot to chase you down.

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motorcycle cops can ride faster than any e-bike, and go anywhere a bicycle can.

A car too, but you might kill the suspect [1]. Chasing kids on e-bikes down with motorcycles is asking for deathly accidents to happen. [1] https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/06/03/12-year-old-boy-dies...

That is not to be blamed on the cops. Let's try to be truthful.

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#138
post #29

eBikes are such a game changer. I do most of our family of four's grocery shopping with ours. Because of the assist, I find myself more comfortable in a wider range of weather conditions: * If it's hot, I use more assist and there's an instant cooling effect. Much better than climbing into a hot car. * If it's cold, I dress up to be warm outside and if I start to warm up on the ride, I use more assist. I don't have t…

I think we have different grocery habits. Food, beer, and cat litter would be too heavy for a bike.

Are you sure? https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/load5-75/

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#139

That’s a fantastic build, I only wish e-bike manufacturers would offer similarly spec’s bikes, a days ride is very rarely 30 km, so 200 min or more like 200 km range would be a bike worth investing in. I feel similarly about electric cars too, charging mud route or at destinations is rarely possible so 300 miles or greater are the only vehicle ranges I see as remotely practical. ( yes, I cycle in km and drive in mile…

You can get off-the-shelf ebike batteries at least half as big as the author's.

Speed restrictions are somewhat better in the US -- class 1 is allowed to assist up to 20 mph, and class 3 is allowed to assist up to 28 mph. Both are higher than 25 kph (15.5 mph).

Re: Long Range E-Bike (2021)

#140
post #7

In my city, travel habits and condition, I find I wish for more torque and lower speed. Every place I want to go has significant hills that the motor can't handle, and easing climbing hills is the main reason I want an ebike. My ebike's minimum speed for the motor is 15kph, which is ok by myself, but my family likes to go slower, so I have to go fully manual with them. When I look at ebike ads it feels like nobody el…

This is what gearing is for. Get an ebike with a mid-drive motor and some form of gearing -- a conventional derailleur, or an internally geared hub (Shimano makes a decent one, Rohloff makes a great one).
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