When does an E-bike become economnical

[wolter]

I have an old 26er converted to ebike. This is my daily commute. I have used the Bafang 1000w mid drive kit. Used to have gears but converted to single speed. 1000w = to much power for gears. As far as tyres etc. I get 8000km on the front 2500 on the rear. The chain and chainrings I run till they die. Chainring for back R200 front R600. Should get around 5000km on the chain. Then I flip the chainrings over with a new chain and do another 5000km. Average speed to work is between 35-40km/h. My advice is if you have an old bike and you like to use it again. Get the banfang mid drive kit. It's definitely cheaper than driving and you will probably get to work faster.

 

I run flat pedals in my work clothes. With 1000w you would not break a sweat.

Edited July 10, 2018 by wolter

[Pure Savage]

And just when I thought that the Savages couldnt get any softer, here they are looking at eBikes.... [emoji12]

Damn, he found us.

[Hairy]

I have an old 26er converted to ebike. This is my daily commute. I have used the Bafang 1000w mid drive kit. Used to have gears but converted to single speed. 1000w = to much power for gears. As far as tyres etc. I get 8000km on the front 2500 on the rear. The chain and chainrings I run till they die. Chainring for back R200 front R600. Should get around 5000km on the chain. Then I flip the chainrings over with a new chain and do another 5000km. Average speed to work is between 35-40km/h. My advice is if you have an old bike and you like to use it again. Get the banfang mid drive kit. It's definitely cheaper than driving and you will probably get to work faster.

I run flat pedals in my work clothes. With 1000w you would not break a sweat.

what gear ratio are you running?

[wolter]

Running 42T front 18T back. Top speed is about 55km/h when the motor spins out.  

[Hairy]

Running 42T front 18T back. Top speed is about 55km/h when the motor spins out.

that must be at some serious cadence, my ss commuter is 53x18 and to hit those speeds one head to really spin those cracks

[Jase619]

so... i can't comment on taking kids to school, but i've done the math on a normal MTB (which i would use for commuting rather than a road bike) and the answer is that it's not that cheap in R/km terms...

 

i typically get around 2500 km from a set of tyres so that means 4 x tyres in 5000 km's running.

 

on a MTB, you can budget on a chain and a cassette every 5000 and a fork service every 2500km.

 

In a 5000 km cycle, it would thus mean roughly R5000 for tyres, chains, cassets and fork service.

 

One will also realistically ride 20000 km on a bicycle over its life, so even though the capital is low, the depreciation rate is an order of magnitude higher than for a vehicle.

 

So, if you take a R20k bike, commute with it for 4 years @ 5000km / year, then it will cost you R20k for wear parts and you'll lose 90% of the R20k in capital, so it's R40000 or R2/km.  More expensive bikes replaced more frequently... well that easily goes to R5+/km...

 

If we can trust our friends at AA, the all inclusive cost of running a car is ~R3/km.  The major cost benefit of commuting by bike is that you tend to ride much less total km's...

 

I don't mean to poke holes in this logic, not having a mountain bike myself, I can't argue what the replacement time would be when you are using it solely for commuting, but I am guessing that you would get a bit more longevity from the components if you are only using to get to work and back and the shops?

 

My only issue with your argument, beside the 20 000km lifespan of the bike, is that fact that you would ride around on R20k worth of bike. Why? It's a commuter to get to work and back? You are trying to save costs, so why not go with a nice 2nd hand bike or a cheaper brand new bike. You aren't going to buy a ferrari to go to work and back everyday, so why buy an expensive bike that may or may not be stolen or have something happen to it?

 

And while R1/km cheaper doesn't sound like a lot, but when you do 10 000km in a year, the difference between it costing you R30 000 and R20 000 is tangible

[Shebeen]

I have an old 26er converted to ebike. This is my daily commute. I have used the Bafang 1000w mid drive kit. Used to have gears but converted to single speed. 1000w = to much power for gears. As far as tyres etc. I get 8000km on the front 2500 on the rear. The chain and chainrings I run till they die. Chainring for back R200 front R600. Should get around 5000km on the chain. Then I flip the chainrings over with a new chain and do another 5000km. Average speed to work is between 35-40km/h. My advice is if you have an old bike and you like to use it again. Get the banfang mid drive kit. It's definitely cheaper than driving and you will probably get to work faster.

 

I run flat pedals in my work clothes. With 1000w you would not break a sweat.

beffffork. that will be way faster than car for many people. what distance do you commute?

did you have to selfimport the kit?

[Flowta]

I have an old 26er converted to ebike. This is my daily commute. I have used the Bafang 1000w mid drive kit. Used to have gears but converted to single speed. 1000w = to much power for gears. As far as tyres etc. I get 8000km on the front 2500 on the rear. The chain and chainrings I run till they die. Chainring for back R200 front R600. Should get around 5000km on the chain. Then I flip the chainrings over with a new chain and do another 5000km. Average speed to work is between 35-40km/h. My advice is if you have an old bike and you like to use it again. Get the banfang mid drive kit. It's definitely cheaper than driving and you will probably get to work faster.

 

I run flat pedals in my work clothes. With 1000w you would not break a sweat.

 

 

beffffork. that will be way faster than car for many people. what distance do you commute?

did you have to selfimport the kit?

 

I would also like to know where you got it and for how much. I have seen similar advertised on Gumtree and other websites(Chilled Squirrel are the one lot), but no-one gives the price for them.

[wolter]

My daily commute is 25km. 

 

Yes got the kit from aliexpress with the 17.5ah battery.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bafang-BBSHD-1000w-motor-battery-kit-48v13ah-48v17-5ah-battery-kit-LG-Samsung-cells-BBS-HD/32860769090.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d2MIVsJ

 

Bit expensive round R17k, but worth every penny. (traffic time saver)

 

Kit arrived in 10 days after shipping. The battery took a bit longer.

 

Get an aftermarket chainring, the one the supply is ulgy 

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BAFANG-48V-1000W-BBSHD-or-BBS03-Mid-Drive-Motor-Cycling-Crankset-42T-Chain-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle/32824042807.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d2MIVsJ

 

If you are planning on running gears (a bit overkill) get the gear sensor as well.

 

Also get the programming cable to be able to adjust your top speed.

 

W

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by wolter

[lloydkayak]

My daily commute is 25km. 

 

Yes got the kit from aliexpress with the 17.5ah battery.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bafang-BBSHD-1000w-motor-battery-kit-48v13ah-48v17-5ah-battery-kit-LG-Samsung-cells-BBS-HD/32860769090.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d2MIVsJ

 

Bit expensive round R17k, but worth every penny. (traffic time saver)

 

Kit arrived in 10 days after shipping. The battery took a bit longer.

 

Get an aftermarket chainring, the one the supply is ulgy 

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BAFANG-48V-1000W-BBSHD-or-BBS03-Mid-Drive-Motor-Cycling-Crankset-42T-Chain-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle/32824042807.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d2MIVsJ

 

If you are planning on running gears (a bit overkill) get the gear sensor as well.

 

Also get the programming cable to be able to adjust your top speed.

 

W

 

I have been looking a lot at the bafang mid-drives.

You could order from luna cycles in the states who sell very quality battery packs and sort out some of the programming issues and land the 750W for about R16k and the 1000W for R21k.

 

Checked out the guys at chilled squirrel, great chaps.

Bringing in the kits through them works out a lot more expensive (like R25k installed) but then you at least have a useable warranty.

 

Some of the ebikes they build with the bafang stuff is really great.

 

I reckon this is a huge attraction to those trying to cycles over 40km per day with the wind.

 

I commuted often but the 42km round trip from blouberg to pinelands was too hard for me to do every day. an ebike would solve this issue and make the trip faster and very enjoyable.

[Hairy]

A single speed roadie bike also makes it far easier to manage that distance with the head wind.

 

The skinny wheels roll faster with less resistance than a MTB ... great for daily riding.

 

We do the Table View to CT and back daily, come rain or shine.

 

I have been looking a lot at the bafang mid-drives.

You could order from luna cycles in the states who sell very quality battery packs and sort out some of the programming issues and land the 750W for about R16k and the 1000W for R21k.

 

Checked out the guys at chilled squirrel, great chaps.

Bringing in the kits through them works out a lot more expensive (like R25k installed) but then you at least have a useable warranty.

 

Some of the ebikes they build with the bafang stuff is really great.

 

I reckon this is a huge attraction to those trying to cycles over 40km per day with the wind.

 

I commuted often but the 42km round trip from blouberg to pinelands was too hard for me to do every day. an ebike would solve this issue and make the trip faster and very enjoyable.