e-bike information
 

Hello, Does anyone know how I can get in touch with The Villages e-bike club? Does anyone know where I can get an e-bike battery rebuilt locally?
thank-you in advance

ps I'll leave you with a joke.

"I've really had it with my dog," says a guy to his neighbor. "He'll chase anyone on a bicycle."

"Hmmm, that is a problem," said the neighbor. "What are you thinking of doing about it?"

"Guess the only answer is to take away his bike!"

I have spoke to the former ebike club president within the past week.

He said for liability reasons they disestablished in favor of the Sumter Landing bike club, slbikeclub.org. Ebikes are welcome there. They allow all classes of ebikes 1, 2 or 3. If you have a class 2 or 3 they ask that you only use pedal assist.

As far as rebuilding the battery pack there are places that do that. Personally, I would just add a rear rack and buy a penguin battery and use that over a proprietary battery pack. For that matter you probably have a penguin or bottle battery already. You can just remove and replace (no rebuild). If you splice in a pannier/ rack mounted battery you can just tap into the bikes Anderson powerpole or xt60 connectors.

In the future, use a cyclestator charger to charge your batter to 80% charge. Doing this will increase your charge cycles to over 1,600. This 'nearly full' charging is what electric cars use to get their batteries to last so long. Bike companies are not worried about that so they include a cheap 100% charger.

All that said if you want some help I'll see what I can do.

Thank you very much for your advice.

1] I want to visit the bike club with my friend or send an email to the group and see what other e-bikes they are riding or recommend. My friend wants a new $1,000 to $1,500 e-bike but understandably reluctant to buy one sight unseen.

2] My ebike is made by Sun Bicycles in Miami, purchased locally in Wildwood and 5 or 6 years old. It does have a back rack cage above the rear tire and the 16"x6"x3" proprietary battery slides into the rack connecting the contacts to the rest of the bike.

The Bike pdf manual is http://ashlandelectricbikes.com/wp-c...ers-Manual.pdf

SUN ELECTROLITE BATTERY SPECIFICATIONS:
 Lithium-Polymer Battery, 36VDC, 10Ah rating
 Custom Alloy Casing with Keyed Battery Lock
 Dual Fuse Protection, 20A main and 5A controller fuses
 5HR Full Recharge Time

I see now it's lithium-polymer and not lithium-ion.

ps
This support is what makes The Villages special to me. Before leasing a Smart Car the Smart Car Club was very helpful and much appreciated. Years ago I gave chromebook, computer and recipes on TOTV.

If you want a quality ebike at that price point your friend will have to buy a bike online, no question.

There are several choices depending what type of bike s/he wants. Radrover is #1 ebike brand however they cheap out at the 999 or 1199 level. There main offense is stating the 350 watt motor is 500, the 500 is 750.


At 1500.00 there are plenty of great choices.

On the lower budget I would get a lectric brand for 899 and see how s/he likes it. At 1500 I would buy a Juiced scorpion. Ideally spend 2299 for a Juiced cross current. Easily this is a 4200 at a bike shop.

Your battery is proprietary. It looks like a first generation lithium designed to mimic the shape of one of the later 36 volt lead acids. As you have probably found out the replacement cost from Sun is outrageous.

It is 10 amp hours and 36 volts, small by modern standards. Fairly cheap as these go, in a different battery shape.

I would remove the battery cells from the casing (to save weight) reinstall (so the bike looks good) and put one of these in on the rear rack: (amazon) Brand: Unit Pack Power
4.7 out of 5 stars 181Reviews
UPP Factory Direct(US Warehouse) Ebike Battery - 52V 48V 36V 13 Ah/17.5Ah Electric Bike Battery for 1000W to 200W Bafang Voilamart AW Ancheer and Other Motor Bicycle - Lithium ion Batteries Pack $239.00

If you want to feel what a higher end ebike is like I can meet up and you can try mine out (no gain for me). I have had five Ebikes and built one.

I have 2 ebikes currently and another on preorder from Sonders. I built the one with a cheap 1000w direct drive rear wheel kit from Amazon and a generic battery from ebay installing the kit on a standard hardtail mountain bike. It works great.

Then I have a 1000w Bafang mid-drive kit on another standard hardtail MTB with a battery that has Samsung cells. It is one powerful and wicked fast machine.

I have a Sondors MadMods moped style ebike on preorder.

Read the articles on Electrek for their opinions. They love Rad Power Bikes but I think a lot of Rad bikes look like they just took a DIY kit and installed it for you. Rad was the first company to market affordable bikes direct to the consumer so they got the jump on all the others.

I think bikes from Ride1Up, Sondors and Lectric are better built with hidden integrated components & are way better looking bikes for about the same money. My neighbors have 3 Lectric bikes and they are really nice & well built.


https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...GBSzHB00uHx0E7

I might as well add this since this thread may turn into a clearing house for ebike information.

People tend to look for three things in Ebikes:

Size of motor
Range on a charge
And price

Most motors accurately state the wattage (except Rad power Bikes)

Range is based upon an athletic petite woman going fairly slow. The real range is closer to half the stated range.

To achieve the price they skimp on what you don't value.

Almost every bike under 1,500 has smaller mechanical brakes. Hydraulic is far better. You are going faster, great brakes are needed.

Every ebike needs a way to determine if you are pedaling. Almost all bikes under 2100 use cadence sensors on the crank. This tells the computer that the crank is turning. This means you can 'ghost pedal' this gives a somewhat unnatural electric boost to the pedaling that you aren't actually doing. You usually see this at higher speeds or downhill. Frankly it feels weird. Sonders and Rad Power use this system as well as Lectric.

Nicer bikes use torque sensors to mimic how hard you are really pedaling. Straining to go uphill? The bike helps more.

Michael
BMS Bike Services
(352) 492-2864

Great thread. I am an active road biker, ride about it 20-40 miles/day, 3-4x/week, at about 12-14 mph. Female, 5 feet tall. I am looking to purchase my first ebike mainly because I have a hard time with hills here in Pa. What brand and bike would be a good value for the money, be reliable and last a long time? Would like to stay under $3000.

CrossCurrent X | Best Electric Commuter Bike | Juiced Bikes

Why?

It comes in different frame sizes. That is not common in cheaper Ebikes.

Torque (not cadence) sensor

Better components, not the cheapest cassette, hydraulic brakes. Better tires.

Massive one kilowatt battery.

This will exceed your requirements for speed and range. It is a common choice for NYC food delivery bikers.

Designed by a Princton grad in Aerospace engineering who speaks Mandrin, in his own factory. It is not a contract bike like most Ebikes.

Price 2299, less 50 coupon, shipped.

I have two Juiced Crosscurrent S2 bikes, one for here and one for up north. I got them both on periodic sales for $1699. They are fantastic bikes. If I go for a 15 MPH average speed, I get 90 miles with plenty of battery reserve. They have the best bike computer I have seen. Owners can set a governor speed, battery reserve level, different ways of engaging assist, cruise control, six different assist levels, plus a throttle. I don't tend to ride fast, but I have had the bike over 30 MPH - but that just sucks the battery dry.

Both of my bikes are highly modified with different handgrips allowing for a handlebar end mirror, shock seatpost, new seat, different handlebar post that allows for upright riding, etc.

I appreciated your comments on battery management.

P.S. I ride the eBikes about 10% of the time (when I just want fun). The rest of the time, I'm on a hybrid averaging around 10,000 miles per year.

The programmable charger is Grin technologies Cycle Satiator. 305.00 on Amazon. Or almost as good Luna Charger 48V Advanced 300W Ebike Charger - Luna Cycle for 99.95 from Luna.

These will charge to less than 100% and extend (double) battery life. Some batteries cost over 1,000 so for those it is worth it

Re: battery rebuild
Applies to all with rechargeable equipment. Your battery is a series of cells, batteries, to get up to the required voltage. The cells are strapped together and the straps are tack welded to the cells. What happens is one cell is always weaker than the rest. The stronger cells will reverse the -polarity in the weaker cell and destroy it. You can connect the battery to a higher voltage charger and sometimes get it working. At best it is very temporary. You need to replace all the cells. Doing one is like changing one bulb in a multi bulb light fixture. You pull out your ladder climb up and replace one bulb and next week another will blow.
Replacing the cells is easy, if the case is designed to be opened. It might be glued shut as opposed to having screws that are removable. In any case, it is usually less costly to buy a new battery with a new case. The case is just a box and of little value. Knock off batteries? They are made to be cheaper. The cells there are different quality and priced cells. Is it worth it?
A problem for all rechargeable equipment in Florida. If, you leave it in your garage the temperature regularly gets over 100 degrees. That is tough on all batteries. Your stand by losses goes way up. You forget to charge it and find that you have killed the battery.
Lithium Ion batteries. You will get far more recharge cycles if you do not run them way down before recharging.

Give Jerry a call (352) 406-2577 He rebuilt my 36 volt bike battery. He is local and very reasonable and very good at what he does.

Do you have to assemble it yourself and does it come with a good charger?