Electric Assist makes trikes even better

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ffinklow	Electric Assist makes trikes even better	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1308 (11/05/09 07:08:22) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None After a bit of time riding with my electric assist unit, I am more enthusiastic than ever. I'm doing rides in a reasonable amount of time that required a full day before electrification of my trike. I'm having a ton of fun, getting better exercise, and feeling more motivated to go out riding. I'd be interested to read the impressions of other riders who have electric trike experience.
bikeboy999	Ha ha, that is what my friend has always said.	#1	[-]
Posts: 56 (11/05/09 08:29:44) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	ffinklow wrote: After a bit of time riding with my electric assist unit, I am more enthusiastic than ever. I'm doing rides in a reasonable amount of time that required a full day before electrification of my trike. I'm having a ton of fun, getting better exercise, and feeling more motivated to go out riding. I'd be interested to read the impressions of other riders who have electric trike experience. My friend who put his money where his mouth is, www.ridemore.ca, has been involved with electrifying many bicycles has always said that folk would ridemore if they had an electric system. That is why he came up with his business name, Ridemore. He wants to be an alternative transportation store, so much so he is going to try and be a Catrike dealer. He has put a motor/system on my friends trike. She has real bad back problems and can not pedal to the end of the block. As an experiment her SO purchased a sun trike and she has put nearly 10k in two years. Now for the technical stuff, which system did you put on it, how much battery power and where have you put the batteries. As we HPVOoO'ers in Ottawa always say, "it did not happen if there are no pictures". :-) B PS here is photo. Last Edited By: bikeboy999 11/05/09 08:33:00. Edited 1 times.
BCtriker	E-Assist	#2	[-]
Posts: 17 (11/05/09 16:43:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Just last year, I had researched for many months and among many other sites had found the itselectric.ca site that fit my needs and is much closer to home. I was all set to order, was going to use a rear Cystalyte hub motor with the lighter 48V lithium polymer battery on my Rotator trike. The Rotator has 48gears but I still could have used the added uphill assist. Then as always I checked out the web site of the recumbent bike store I know and they had the Catrike Trail in stock . I had wanted to check it out anyways so I took it out for a test ride. Well that was it I bought it that week, the e-assist is now on hold. I've had to get used to the 27gears and do still want help for hills, so next year I'll look into the internal hub options, cheaper too.
ffinklow	eassist photo Ffinklow's Speed	#3	[-]
Posts: 1309 (11/06/09 01:13:13) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hub motor and controller is 400w Velectris. Battery is 48v/15ah. Charger is 6ah. A Cycle Analyst monitors energy consumption and regeneration. Typically, my range is extended by 20-25% via regeneration. In my habitual mountainous terrain, I presently do routes up to about 70 km. If I can descend at over 35 kph, I can regenerate energy at full throttle, so this is an ideal situation. If I let off the throttle while descending, speed decreases but regeneration increases dramatically. Below is a photo link. I have (as usual) been unable to get the photos to show in my post. If someone could tell me how to take a Picasa album uploaded photo and get it onto a forum post, I'd be mightily grateful. I copied the link from the album page into the "insert photo" icon format .....no bananas. You can see my Mueller XT "flattop" fairing, a prototype made by Mueller to optimize line of sight. They now do a tilt mechanism to get similar effect using full-bubble XT's. http://picasaweb.google.c...z2gE#5400911695266055234 Last Edited By: ffinklow 11/06/09 01:23:33. Edited 2 times.
rzexpedition		#4	[-]
Posts: 1420 (11/06/09 03:47:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts
rzexpedition		#5	[-]
Posts: 1421 (11/06/09 03:50:28) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Lowell, Your ride looks nice, man! You'd almost never know it was electric either.
Richard B Clarke		#6	[-]
Posts: 457 (11/06/09 05:00:46) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I agree with RZ this is one nice ride very tastefully done !!!!!!!!
Hamachi	electric assist	#7	[-]
Posts: 744 (11/06/09 08:23:25) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I researched one of the best electric motors systems on the market it's called Eco speed. 100 mile range crusing speed of 20 to 25 mph. Legal on most bike trails. Check your trail for being legal. The system includes a motor, battery, freewheel crank. I compared the Eco to a hub motor it has better range and higher speeds and is lighter. http://www.ecospeed.com/ Last Edited By: Hamachi 11/15/09 20:30:58. Edited 4 times.
ffinklow	Eco Speed v. Hub motors, batteries, etc.	#8	[-]
Posts: 1311 (11/07/09 12:09:40) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I had a look at the Eco Speed site even though I chose a hub drive rather than chain drive for clean looks and easy conversion back to unassisted configuration. Apparently, the Eco Speed is configured only for 38V batteries, but they do say they will work with a user if he prefers to provide his own battery. The site correctly states that many Eassist units are inadequately wired imported units. Ability to tolerate heavy loads is essential to reliability. Whether one chooses a chain or hub drive, it is important to deal with a truly expert supplier/installer unless one has those skills. I don't know how a boom-mounted motor drive would work, but it's worth having a look at all possibilities before choosing an eassist \ unit.......
alkllimike	assist	#9	[-]
Posts: 18 (11/07/09 19:09:23) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	My wife is not a avid rider. She does like to ride with friends and me on occasions but she does not like to holds us up or be the last person in the group. A few years back I bought her a Wiz WheelZ Cruiser with Bionx assist. A very good investment. She can easily keep up she gets the exercise she wants without over doing it and enjoying the experience. Well last year she found a Catirke Trail that appealed to her so I had to change the Bionx to the Trail. Not a bad job and well worth the effort. I highly recommend the Bionx system but I am sure there are other great systems out there, There are times when I really dislike the assist, when she passes me on a hill.
dario ciani		#10	[-]
Posts: 44 (11/19/09 03:43:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	For hilly roads, direct drive hub motors are a must. Geared hub motors or chain drive motors can't regen, but still add weight to the system. During downhill you end up with more speed and less braking power, not very good. Hub motors are heavier but allows an almost silent ride, less chain wear (compared to more chain wear for chain drives) and better efficiency if you can stay in a defined speed zone. Say 50 to 80 % of max speed, to have a general idea. Chain drive run as alomst constant speed, linked to pedal RPM, with almost constant efficiency, but slightly lower than peak hub motor efficiency. Noisier, no regen, lighter, more transmission wear, but ability to extend speed range according to transmission of the trike. Ideal for a heavy hauler in cities where you might need to go from 5 to 35 km/h, 3 to 22 mph. My experience is, with a single seater trike, speed is in a much narrower band and this allows a good hub motor to give the best results, the best compromise. Regenerative braking is a real pleasure, energy flowing back in is not a joke, 15 to 40 % in hilly conditions, but the main advantage is to always have cold brakes during downhill, just in case.

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