If there are any questions that we have not answered here don't hesitate to email us and we will answer promptly.

 

 

• Well, What the heck are they?
  The electric hub kit came about in China to utilize existing aging bicycles as people needed to commute further and further for work.

• Regenerative Braking?False. There is no such thing. "It is simply a sales gimmick"

  At best regenerative braking restores 3% (that's 3 miles for every 100) in mild hilly areas and 5-6% in very hilly mountain areas. But the problem is that it will ruin most batteries by forcing too much amperage into them, also weakens the dropouts on the bikes by twisting the axle back and forth. So at this time regen braking is basically a gimmick and in my personal opinion it is not worth it because it can harm a $700 Lifepo4 battery pack and work the dropouts loose.

  I thought hard on this, crunched the numbers, asked every vendor, talked to many people with regen systems and we decided against it until a new generation of regen with a soft engage and a better system for returning the amperage to the batteries.

• 48V 1,000W eBay kits?I often get questions from customers asking if we carry a 1,000W kit. The simple answer is there is no such thing. It is just a selling tactic. A true 1,000W wheel/motor weighs on the order of 50 lbs. What they are doing is simply overvolting a 500W motor. so that it is pulling the same amount of amps as a 1,000W motor. Our motors can run up to 750W without generating any heat due to over amperage. Keep in mind if you over volt our kits you will be voiding your warranty as our product liability only allows the federal law speed, not to mention that overvolting for higher speeds is incredibly dangerous.

• Range??
  I often get asked what kind of range I get. The large companies and some E-Bayer's will tell you that you will get 20 miles from 12AH SLA batteries without pedaling at all. This is just a flat out lie, unless you weigh 60 lbs and happen to live in a vacuum. I weigh 240lbs and I get between 14-16 miles on a 12ah SLA pack and approximately 23-25 miles with our Lithium battery Tubes every hub kit out there if with wide open throttle and no pedaling.

  But ,if you use the kits as they are supposed to be used "pedal assist" is the key word here there is really no limit on the mileage you can get out of a pack (within reason). The other weekend my wife and I headed out to the Santa Ana river trail and did a round trip of  35 miles and had juice to spare. But this is going to vary with all conditions. I have customers using out battery tubes that commute 40 miles each way. They show up sweat free and recharge at work for the ride home.

• Our Geared VS Direct Drive Brushless motors.
• The differences. 1. The Geared motor: It weighs only 9 lbs. When not under battery power the wheel 100% free wheels (zero resistance. It is internally geared with a 4.7 to 1 gear ratio so we are able to use a smaller wattage motor and get the same amount of torque. Because it uses a smaller motor it will give you about 12-15% more range. 2. The Direct Drive motors are an excellent motor for the price and the best bang for your buck. They are pretty much bullet proof as there are no moving parts. They weigh just over 14 lbs but when not under battery power they have a slight magnetic resistance. (equal to about a 4-5 mph headwind.) These motors are the best value, they will last much longer than the Geared motors as there are no internal moving parts. All of our motors have the ability to accept standard disk brake. Simply swap over your existing brake. We manufacture the highest quality motors on the market. We use heavier gauge wiring to insure very little heat loss and they are the most efficient motors available in the USA.
• Aluminum or Magnesium suspension forks (dont do it!)
• Aluminum or Magnesium suspension forks. There are very few Magnesium so lets stick with the Aluminum as they have the same properties. These are "cast" or mold poured and do not have any tensile strength unlike the aluminum bicycle frames for rear kits. Due to the way that the "cast" aluminum is manufactured it is not made to handle the twist force generated at the axle. These will break. It may not be today or tomorrow but they will break. One minute you will be riding along then the next minute your front wheel will be going one way and you will be on your head. So it is very dangerous and just not worth it. I personally (against my own advice) decided to install one of our 500W kits on an extremely expensive and extremely heavy duty set of downhill forks. I got off lucky. I took the bike for a ride around our shop and as soon as I rode it into the back of the shop it broke and I went over the handlebars. I was not hurt but I could have easily been hurt if it had been just a few minutes earlier at 20 mph. The easiest way to test if they are aluminum or Mag is to simply see if a magnet sticks to the dropouts (where the axle sits). If a magnet sticks you are good, if not you will either need to install a rear kit or change your forks.

• Front VS Rear?

  Front wheel kits= easy to install, easy to maintain. This is the best for balance if you are using SLA batteries on a rear mounted rack because of the weight.

  Rear wheel kits= harder to install, Installation only for the very mechanically inclined or professional. Only enough space for 7 rear speeds max (we ship with 5 speed). Bad balance if you are using heavy SLA batteries... Good for wheelie's lol but bad and unsafe balance with SLA. Good points are that they are a slightly more natural feeling ride when using lightweight Lifepo4 batteries.

  Will it fit on my bike?

  Read the writing on your bicycle tire, it will say the size (26 X 1.5-, 20X 1.12 etc). Tire size determines rim size. For rear kits you will need minimum of 5 3/8" (front and rear are all standard sized) between the dropouts. (side note rear kits come with a 6 speed cluster, they are capable of accepting a 7 speed but it is a tight squeeze.) For rear kits you will simply need to adjust the stops on the derailleur. 90% of my customers only use 3-4 gears after they install a kit.

• Why do we use a Double Walled rim and heavy duty 12Gauge spokes??

  In the beginning we tried various kits and many of the brushless motors were very good motors. The problem with most of the conversion kits available are that they are spoked incorrectly, use a single walled weak rim., have spokes that are the wrong length causing the spokes to be bent in an "s" shape. Simply put bicycle wheels were not made for this type of torque on them and on occasion you will need to tighten your spokes until they finally "seat" themselves.

• Speed

  All of our E-Bike hub kits use the same 9x7 windings (our design). The 26" runs right at 23mph, but the 700c runs 2-3 mph faster and the 20" runs about 2-3 mph slower.

• Brushed VS Brushless??????????

  What's the big difference? The main differences are that a brushless motor is close to 30% more efficient than a brushed motor. This means 30% more range/distance. The main reasons that brushless motors are more efficient is that they are microprocessor controlled in the same way that the magnetic levitated trains are, the microprocessor reads where the motor is and tells the next electro magnet to push it along. Also brushed motors lose much of their power due to heat loss at the brushes that rub on the shaft.

  Now with us in a gas crunch and to be honest I'm not a tree hugger or anything but I see pollution in many many forms all day long and I am really tired of it. The hub kits added on to your bike will drive you about 1,000 miles for the same price as a gallon of gas and not produce the gasses your car or truck puts off.

  I am 38 a little out of shape and about two years ago I went to the bike shop and bought a good mountain bike to ride around on and get more exercise, I got it home and ride it for a week or two, then rode it again a month later then 6 months later it was in the garage, tires flat and dusty.

  I realized that the ups and downs of hills, wind and stuff that didn't bother me as a kid DO now. But I dearly missed riding down the street on my bike , going on long rides, smelling the different trees, seeing different type of terrain that you cant see from your car. So I set out to find a solution.

  I tried many different types of electric bike kits and to be honest they were all very similar but the price from one to the next was insane!

  All of the designer brand name brushless hub motors are all basically the same with the exception of the windings and bearings. The windings inside the motor simply determine torque or speed, much in the same way gears do and the only other thing was the bearings, but the kits vary in price from $400 all the way up to $1300.

  I tried them all and settled on the kits I am selling now. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

• This is the list of my personal favorite batteries:
• 1. Phylion, Phylions are Lithium Manganese and are 5-6 year old proven technology. They deliver more amperage than Lifepo4, have proven BMS and cell balancing and are lighter weight. The technology is a bit old but proven and I have dent out over 400 of them with zero failures.
  2. Lifepo4, (lithium iron phosphate) are in fact the best technology out there. In the beginning (4-5 years ago) they were a bit unstable ,but that has all been worked out. They have about 2,000 dod lifrcycles. Fully charged to fuly empty.
  3. SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) These are heavy and old technology but inexpensive and a very god way to get your feet wet. It is tried and true and will get you through your first year or two of your E-bike
  4. NiMH, (nickel metal hydride) These are good lightweight batteries but also costly the technology is a bit old bit they are still 3x as good as Lead Acid if you can get a deal on them. Again you want a pack with charger at 36V 10AH-20AH. The cost on these will run from $250-$350 and again search EBay for the best deals.
  6. Lipo, Lithium Polymer. Ex celt, light, high discharge but a bit to unstable for electric vehicles.

  For a wealth of information on e-bikes/ scooters, where they come from how they help us in our daily lives and how they are doing an incredible job reducing Co2 emissions please checkout this website.

  http://ebikesdaily.com/