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we succumbed to grin tech's 25% off sale and bought a pair of kits with all-axle motors to convert our commuter bikes (I have an old Kona Dew and she has an ancient Raleigh). between the bikes looking like total poo poo and upgrading to onguard brute u-locks, hopefully we can avoid any theft issues. I like the idea of being able to switch the kit to any fork's axle standard for when we someday get new commuters. I got the slow wind version since I do dumb things like tow small sailboats around, and my partner got the regular wind version. since we aren't speed freaks we are both getting the 48v 19ah batteries instead of going higher voltage. total cost including one very nice satiator charger to share is a bit under $1800 each. I am very curious to see how the 24 pole cadence sensors they have work out. also looking forward to regen braking and electric freewheeling and all the other crazy customizability their controller setup offers!
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Jan 2, 2022 22:55
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 08:11 |
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If you know how to build wheels, a cheap decent full setup incl battery from BMSbattery.com is about $550 shipped. if you want them to build the wheel for you and ship it, more like $650-$700 iirc. actual quality parts and support would be at least double.
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Jan 12, 2022 15:13
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just set up our two grin all-axle kits on our commuter bikes. it was very fiddly and involved setting it all up, but the parts seem very high quality and the customization & control possible is absolutely ridiculous. the motors themselves are more than powerful enough (I limited them to 1000w class 3 speeds for now). the virtual freewheeling + regen is dope, and their charger is similarly able to customize profiles such as charge to 75%, so I feel good about future battery health. the 24 pole PAS sensors needed some filing to get them to fit our BBs, and they aren't as responsive as I was hoping. I'm not sure I can get them to engage any quicker as with the setting below 0.10sec engagement they don't seem to function. there is a little jitter at very low throttle (stalling) that grin says can maybe be tuned out by fiddling with some settings, but other than that the control from the baserunner is very smooth. I installed some permanently attached cheapo front rack panniers to cover the giant shiny hub in an attempt to discourage theft, hopefully that keeps my now much more expensive commuter with me for a long time!
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Jan 19, 2022 05:59
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the regen is modulated by the throttle once the brakes are activated and it is super smooth. I do feel like torque sensing would be much more intuitive and I have been thinking of upgrading already, but using a blip of the throttle to get rolling and then the cadence sensor to keep providing assist works fine. plus, the cycle analyst does nice assist scaling - you can select a custom additional amount of watts/pedal RPM to add over 50 RPM.
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Jan 19, 2022 15:01
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well the front hub motor definitely makes towing a ton of poo poo in the snow much easier! helped both in getting up to speed so I could start pedaling, and once pedaling, the 2wd-ness kept things going quite easily
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Jan 23, 2022 22:43
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CopperHound posted:Hub has seam between spoke flanges, so I will have to unlace half the wheel to get to the bearings. what the what? not sure I am picturing this correctly, but this sounds ridiculous
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Feb 9, 2022 20:00
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I'll be the contrarian and say that I love having a regular ebike with trailers. They are easy to attach and detach and let me haul all sorts of ridiculous things and still move the bike around easily when needed. And they are so much cheaper, which is nice when all my money went to the Grin ebike kit...
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Feb 19, 2022 22:19
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That is a good point - I have not been carrying adults around. I see pedicab trailers every once in a while on craigslist here, maybe I will snag one of those next time if the price is right!
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Feb 22, 2022 18:57
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Is that battery removable/replaceable?
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Mar 31, 2022 18:35
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yeah how does that not go through a 12spd chain like every ride?
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Apr 14, 2022 13:01
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yeah at 6'5" I just went with a motor kit on my commuter.
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May 27, 2022 03:54
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Not mid drive but Grin Tech from Canada is super reputable (and pricey). We have two of their all-axle motor kits and they are great.
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Jun 25, 2022 13:56
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When I did all my research for converting my (non fatbike commuter) I settled on a direct drive hub motor from Grin. It's been great so far, they are expensive but very well supported and high quality, plus as mentioned hilariously customizable.
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Jul 16, 2022 14:51
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evil_bunnY posted:LOL the battery alone is prob worth more if that's the actual capacity. first review i saw said that they had gone through six swagtrons with battery issues so that kinda negates that also 14” tires lol
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Nov 14, 2022 16:04
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Grin will sell you a very nice battery for a lot of money.. I'm hoping they do another 25% off sale this winter.
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Nov 15, 2022 05:43
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Grin's fancy charger is very nice for that. Charge to whatever voltage you want, at any rate!
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Nov 16, 2022 22:33
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charging lithium ion batteries below freezing temps is Bad, i always bring them indoors even when possible making quick stops. if i can't bring them in while making a stop, i at least avoid regenerative braking until they get warmed back up a bit by use. the storage temps of 50+ may just be the most optimal storage for immediate use, as they are less effective discharging at lower temps, but i doubt they would be harmed by storage in the 40s. Nessus posted:Given the weather I am not likely to be using my e-bike until March-ish, at least to commute, and now I am realizing I'm not sure how to store it or keep it from harm. The most I did was tighten a brake cable once and generally lubricate the chain every now and again. for general bike storage, i'd get it cleaned off and dry and then lubricated, chain lube on the chain and then wipe it dry with a clean rag. for the derailleurs and other moving parts (rim brakes, levers, etc), you can use a little spritz of your lubricating/corrosion preventing spray of choice (i like Motorex Intact MX 50, but it's just fancy WD40), wiping away the excess. don't get it on any on braking pads or tracks, though! for the battery, lithium ion cells are apparently happiest at a voltage of 3.85v or thereabouts, so for a 48v nominal battery (13x series) about 50.0v would be ideal, for a 36v nominal battery 38.5v. you can read the voltage with a multimeter at the terminals with the battery switched on, depending on design. they will lose a couple percent of charge per month (or more, depending on the battery management system) so it can't hurt to keep an eye on it and check the voltage now and then. Barry posted:I'm kind of curious what would happen with battery temps if the start inside at 70F, you go outside in like 10F weather, ride to work for 30 minutes, is there any chance they'd ever get below that 23F threshold? I kind of doubt it. discharge keeps the temps of the battery up so i doubt they would dip that low, but some people do put little neoprene insulator sleeves on their batteries to help with that.
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Dec 6, 2022 00:05
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stephenthinkpad posted:I mean you don't NEED it, because you can get a seatpost suspension. But I would count the lack of front suspension as a $100 minus. imho cheap suspension forks basically end up feeling like springs, and they weight like 3-4x as much as rigid forks. they also are an energy suck if they are springing up and down a bit with each pedal stroke. big tires or a decent suspension seatpost have a lower weight/speed penalty
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Apr 25, 2023 16:30
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Huggybear posted:every criticism here is negated by the existence of pedal assist. All efficiency variables on an analog bicycle are negated by the motor. this is a good point re: efficiency and weight, the impact on range is probably fairly negligible vs the increase in effort on an analog bike. I do think the pogo effect from cheap suspension forks can be dangerous, in that it can give you the comfort and confidence going over small bumps to get you riding faster than you would otherwise, and then it makes you lose traction in a less predictable manner when you hit a big bump at speed.
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Apr 26, 2023 14:02
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Mirconium posted:So... yeah, any companies with especially good track record Check out Grin Technologies in Canada (https://www.ebikes.ca) if you really want to DIY - very solid components engineered in-house, high quality parts sourcing, fantastic customer support... quite expensive. We bought a pair of all-axle kits with one (very nice) charger for around $3500 iirc.
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May 3, 2023 13:55
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Huggybear posted:Don't do this. This is needlessly expensive and complicated. Plus the company likely won't exist within a year or two. grin is definitely at the top end of pricing, but again you are paying for very high quality equipment - they design and build their own charger, controllers, and some of the motors and batteries (all-axle and ligo) with top quality parts. yes, it's not for everyone, but for a serious DIYer who loves hub motors and has money to throw around in exchange for the confidence that comes with great customer service, I think it's worth it. I have a similar mindset to the OP regarding reliability, after a lot of research ended up with grin's DD hub motor and it's been fantastic. they have been around for nearly 20 years with a pretty spotless reputation, I really don't think they are going anywhere. Man_of_Teflon fucked around with this message at 14:05 on May 8, 2023 |
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May 8, 2023 14:02
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I definitely agree that there are a LOT of ebike companies that are gonna fail before too long. it will be interesting to see which boxed bike manufacturers make it through. I think Grin will be fine because they have a target market in the DIY hub motor area that they cover extremely well, and they also do a lot of OEM supplying. they were smart to avoid producing complete bikes and having to support them. and yeah the proprietary poo poo drives me insane. that's part of why I went with the all-axle motor from Grin for my kit, it can be easily swapped to any front axle standard with different adapters. similarly, anyone can mess with their controller settings with a USB cord instead of needing a dealer to flash new firmware (and you can call Grin and they will walk you through everything), and the electrical bits all use standard plugs so it's easy to swap around accessories. I live in Chicago so a big DD hub (theirs is actually surprisingly lightweight) is perfect here. I tow a ton of ridiculous poo poo around with the slow-wind version and it's never broken a sweat (24mph as a cap is plenty for me). if I was in an area with a lot of big hills I would have looked a lot harder at mid drives, but I think for most people hubs are much simpler, particularly because the average customer does a terrible job maintaining their chain IMHO and a mid drive will chew right through that. so yeah if the OP is looking for diy and reliable I really think Grin is king.
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May 9, 2023 14:28
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44v (12s, or twelve 3.7v lithium ion battery groups in series) is a weird configuration, most ebikes are 36v, 48v, or 52v nominal (10s, 13s, and 14s respectively). the motor on that bike will probably be fine with the small amount of extra voltage, might get hotter and live a shorter life. some controllers can handle different voltages as well, but that could be a little more risky and it would be better to replace it with a 48v rated one. a lot of the random ebike accessories such as lights are something like 10-60v so they shouldn't be a problem. most bike shops (even ebike friendly ones) wouldn't touch rebuilding a battery as it's pretty specialized. hell most bike shops around here want nothing to do with ebikes in general, between the pain dealing with the weight in the stand, the search for random proprietary bits, and the fact that most low-end ebikes are built with the cheapest parts possible (and then assembled by the customer!). Man_of_Teflon fucked around with this message at 18:11 on May 9, 2023 |
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May 9, 2023 18:08
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kimbo305 posted:Yah, so most people are gonna be ground mailing their batteries for service, then? I think for the vast majority of people out there, when their ebike battery degrades enough they'll just buy a new one from the manufacturer (if they are still in business) and we'll be lucky if they actually recycle the old one. the rare nerds with too much time on their hands might try swapping out the cells and keeping the shell/BMS.
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May 9, 2023 20:29
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kimbo305 posted:I agree with that, but I was trying to understand the framing of your point: don't think that quote was me. I'd say for almost all people paying to repair a battery will not be cost effective, unless you have a good relationship with a large scale refurbisher maybe? I am not aware of any bike shops doing anything like that here in Chicago.
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May 10, 2023 04:36
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I have definitely read a lot of reports about the TSDZ2 crapping out quickly so I would avoid it. I'm not aware of any other mid drive motors with torque sensors in the DIY realm, they all require frames to be built around the motor. But I haven't looked in a while so there might be something new!
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May 15, 2023 18:33
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ouch!! I had a puncture like that on my motorcycle once, the sharp tip of the nail was in the same place almost, and it damaged the bead of the (new, $200) tire bad enough that I had to throw the tire away 
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May 24, 2023 02:12
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stephenthinkpad posted:This $1000 extra solar panel setup is interesting. I have never seen this angle from other ebikes before. I wonder how fast recharge the battery in a summer sunny day. If you want to solar charge your ebike, you can do it for pretty cheap if you can wire up the connectors. Solid controller for $210 Cheaper controller for $60 With a 100w panel ($80 or so for a heavy rigid one, $115 or so for a lighter flexible one that will fail unless you brace it well), you'd be lucky to get 1a of charge at 48v in real conditions. If you can get that, however many AH of your 48v battery you actually use, that's how many hours it would take to charge it back up, best case. You can get more if it's sunny and the angles are perfect but good luck with that. Still, if you can actually charge at that same 1a (or roughly 50w) while riding, and you are using a low assist level of 75w like me, you'll double your range. In regular use I charge my 48v battery up to 51v, and recharge it at 46v or so, so I only end up using 6-8AH out of the battery's total capacity of 19.2AH. I'd charge it higher and discharge it lower for a long trip, though.
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May 26, 2023 15:42
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stephenthinkpad posted:You use these controllers in place of the charger brick? If you have a proprietary battery plug connect to your charging brick, can you add some kind of plug and unplug adopters to the OEM charger cable, so you can plug the last section into the solar controller? It is definitely more of a cargo bike/trailer expedition solution. I just have a flatbed trailer that gets loaded up with cargo and then the panel gets strapped on top. This is what two 50w panels looks like. You are correct that you would need to solder up an appropriate connector to the charger so that the output on it could plug into your battery.
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May 26, 2023 20:58
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Aventon is a (small) step up from Lectric/Rad
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Jun 7, 2023 19:23
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brain go squish
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Jul 15, 2023 13:45
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Jabarto posted:The rear rim on my fiance's Aventon Abound is bent and keeps breaking spokes. We're having a really hard time finding a compatible replacement, can anyone recommend one? if the rim is bent enough, replacing spokes and retensioning it can get it to this weird place where it is true but some spokes are overtensioned and some are undertensioned, in comparison to spokes on a rim that is not bent. this makes for a weaker wheel and is probably why you keep breaking spokes. you’ve got a rear hub motor it looks like, I see they sell replacement complete motor wheels for $190 (out of stock though). to swap the current hub over, you’d need to get the specs on the rim so you can order the same rim, or you could get a different 36h 20” rim of appropriate width and find the measurements on the hub and order spokes of the appropriate lengths. either way, you’d have to swap everything over and build the wheel back up. you can pay someone to do all that, but $190 for an easy wheel swap might not be a bad deal at all, especially if you can sell the old wheel to some motor nerd on craigslist or something.
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Sep 7, 2023 21:22
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hark posted:is there a thread for building ebikes and not just general pre-built ebike discussion? I built up our two commuter bikes with front hub all-axle setups from Grin and they have been great. I tow all sorts of dumb stuff around with mine and it never skips a beat. What are you thinking of going with?
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Sep 18, 2023 20:42
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hark posted:I bought the fork a while ago but I think it was like $250ish? something like that. it's an adjustable air fork. triple tree or double shoulder or whatever the terminology is. are these overkill with a normal frame? I guess to put it another way - do you need a super beefy head tube to go with this?
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Sep 19, 2023 02:32
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in a well actually posted:cabron powered bike
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Oct 6, 2023 16:33
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Speleothing posted:I want an ebike that I can strap a milk carton onto for groceries. Distance about 4 miles round trip with a short but steep hill for any real grocery shopping a milk crate will kinda suck - weight is up too high, making things very tippy. panniers are better but it’s still not very fun to load up all the heavy poo poo on your bike vs. my favorite solution for shopping: a trailer. you can score a used one around me for less than $100, or get a new Aosom cheapo one for a little more. I can carry $300 worth of groceries without feeling unstable at all, and it takes about 10 seconds to attach or detach the trailer. Once you’re riding it’s slow but your bike handles much better. For an ebike a mid drive would handle the hill much better than most hub drives. Main issue with trailers is storage, some fold flat but it can still be a pain without a garage.
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Dec 5, 2023 18:19
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That’s fair! I mostly hated the pain of loading all the groceries onto the bike and having it topple over, a good kickstand would have done a lot to stop that. For me, I barely notice the trailer other than the drag, and I love tossing stuff in the cavernous zip up Amazon bag.
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Dec 5, 2023 20:16
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hark posted:I'm not really familiar with their hardware at all, but is there some reason you can't just buy any controller rated for the battery's voltage and then just re-end all the connectors if need be? that could be a lot of tiny wires, not exactly amateur stuff. and given that they blatantly use weird sizes for other parts (22" tires? seriously?) i wouldn't be surprised to find that the stock connectors are all unique...
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Mar 23, 2024 17:52
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yeah, as a commuter the PAS has never bothered me. torque sensors seem to compel me to put in more work, which is of course all fun and good, but not always great for commuting.
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Apr 27, 2024 16:16
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 08:11 |
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kimbo305 posted:Some big deals on overstock and refurbs at Upway. that seems like a pretty great deal, dang
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May 4, 2024 02:40
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