I have been an avid cyclist since the early eighties. My first cycling shoes had wood soles...
I broke my back about five years ago and cycling is a lot harder than it used to be. I still ride, but am very injury prone due to physiological reasons. So, I've been doing the e-bike research. Bike fit is CRITICAL for me. I need to use one of my current bikes. I have a Gunnar Crosshairs I would like to convert to an e-bike. The great info Johnny provides has lead me to believe the CYC Photon will do what I want. I do not need a throttle (I like the torque sensing and not needing the brake interface so I can keep drop bars and a clean install).
I will use this for rail trails, road riding and running errands. I think 30-50 mile rides will be the norm. I hope to use this for trips to the grocery store too. I want to mount the battery on my rear rack so it looks the least like an e-bike as possible! I live in the hilly/mountainous area of northern NJ, a typical 30 mile ride on the road will have 3,000 feet of climbing.
Should I buy the B-52 battery from CYC to keep it all in the family? Are batteries universal? Should I get a small one for running errands and a big one for longer rides? Feedback from experienced riders would be great.
ok ill give you my 2 cents as an experienced custom emtber. lot of things to reconsider. bike frame and quality is paramount to safety and performance. googling your bike I had a feeling it was a cheap vintage style with no suspension... going to forewarn you now, I would NOT even think about putting an ebike kit on a bike like that. huge safety concern due to the lack of modern components and the added weight from motor and battery kit will put the system way out of proper specs. one large bump and your front tire supports would likely snap sending you face first into the ground. and this is the issue in the custom ebike scene, folks doing things way out of spec like putting a 1000$ heavy motor kit on a cheap 50$ bike. really i dont get why people feel the need to do that, other than lack of experience and knowledge of bikes and general common sense safety precautions. but im gonna strongly recommend DONT do that. get a proper bike frame for the job. again it depends on what youre doing, sounds like youre mostly commuting without any rough terrain that would be tackled by a full suspension? generally I recommend folks skip the hard tail, skip the alloy frames, go straight for the best carbon full suspension that fits you so you dont end up a bike collector with buyers remorse. but again if youre not riding in the mtns where a full susp is suitable then no point getting a full susp. a good hardtail may be suitable then if you plan on hauling anything like a rear rack w groceries foe example. the CYC photon kit is the current best mid drive kit out there, all inclusive, but, please avoid putting a 900$ kit on a $100 old bike. generally mid drive kits are only suitable on alloy frames due to added weight which the frame can handle. only light ebike kits can go on a carbon frame, safely. next batteries. tell you right now, youre not getting 30-50 miles on a charge, and folks exaggerate the distance a battery can get. if you somehow achieved that range youd likely have a whopping 20Ah pack, weighing about 20 lbs. Add the motor 10lbs and youve now added 30 lbs to the bike. if the bike isnt solid with proper suspension and alloy frame then thats a major accident waiting to happen. i use a 52v 9Ah pack, it gets me about 15-20 miles on a charge riding relatively efficient. about 1/3 climbing, descending, and X country / roads. Nice thing is the CYC system is more efficient than a bafang so youre range is going to be higher than bafang. but I would look into a custom battery pack, from bicyclemotorworks for example, which can fit in the frame - i dont recommend rear racks for batteries. perhaps w a 52v 13.5 Ah pack you could get 30 miles ish. Anything higher is going to be very heavy, and take longer to charge. for my uses - hardcore mtb, less is more, lighter bike, smaller battery which charges faster, and a photon motor. you can search my victory posts here to see my builds. hope that helps give you some insights