Maintenance bull

[two]

two what is BMS and what whopper of a battery gives you a120 mile range?

BMS (Battery Management System) looks after the battery. Some are crude, others have had more investment in their development. The poorer ones may be good enough - I don't know - but batteries can be fussy and get upset if mis-managed. A good BMS will make sure that the batteries are not charged too fast or too much and balance the charge on all the little cells within the pack. If the designer has taken short cuts, I doubt the battery will last as long but that may not matter for low use. Maybe others have experienced short battery life? My Kalkhoff battery was still sound after 7 years (serviceable).
Kalkhoff batteries give 125 miles at the lowest level of assistance, on the flat. Those batteries are (or were) £750. Battery capacity is measured in Wh. Kalkhoff were 540Wh. the distance you can go will be roughly in proportion to the Wh of the battery (some systems are more efficient than others). You can supplement a smaller battery by buying a second one, of course. Battery capacity reduces with use (and time) so a 540Wh will become 500Wh after time. I believe that the rate of degradation flattens out after the first couple of years, though.

 

[ToBoldlyGo]

I see there's tons and tons of different kits on ebay. I also found a company dedicated to kits called swytch and I guess there are other sources. How did you choose your kit?

There is an lcd display on the handlebars that tells me power level, temp, distance, speed etc. The up/on/down button is to the side of the lcd.
My bike is a Cube CLS LTD with an eBay electric kit fitted to it.

BMS is Battery Management System.

 

[Neil Bedwin]

I see there's tons and tons of different kits on ebay. I also found a company dedicated to kits called swytch and I guess there are other sources. How did you choose your kit?

I chose my kit because it had all the features I wanted..... a rear hub, lcd display, no twist throttle and both brake levers with cut-off switches.
If you are going to convert your bike it's worth considering that the hub has to be 250watt max, no twist throttle on a bike made after 2014 and limited to 25kph.

Like this one but 250watt..... http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=222817723972

 

[OwnedbyCollies]

Last year we started to look at ebikes and fancied the Brompton electric. Our local (ish) dealer had a demo model and sent us out for a ride - one of us on the Brompton and the other on a Raleigh Stow-E-way - a folding ebike.

We both preferred the Raleigh - rear hub drive and chunky wheels - whereas the Brompton was front hub drive and twitchier.

The Raleigh was just over 1k and well worth a look.

 

[two]

If you are looking at conversions, I'd research Bafang and Tongsheng. These are hub-based motors and require no rebuild of the rear wheel. Also means you can use this in conjunction with a hub gear rather than derailieur.

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[Peppadog]

...BMS is Battery Management System.

One of the reasons I chose the Nano kit for our two Brompton’s was because they use Bosch batteries and chargers. Bosch have a much bigger budget to get the charging electronics right.
The reason I chose Brompton years ago, despite their price, was because they fold better, have no gear tackle hanging out to catch, are lighter than most (all back then I think) and are made in the UK with mostly British parts.

 

[HugoBNB]

As promised a couple of weeks ago. Picture of the rbike I was referring to. www.asbikes.co.uk