Monday 7 July 2014

1st EBike - Daily Commuter

My first Ebike that helped me get out and about while exercising was a cute little folding ebike I got from another town that a friend of mine works at.  Gave me a great deal on it as it was his demo model.  It had about 500km on it buy the time I got it.  All I had to pay for was the battery.


  • The ebike had a 36V 8AH Lithium-ion battery and not leadacid, nor NiMH battery.
  • The motor was 250w (400w peak) motor comes from Bafang (fun8) a world famous Chinese motor manufacture.
  • The controller is hidden under the battery rest. It frame was pretty strong, had front suspensions, dual disc brakes. It is 22kg with battery.  
  • I have no clue what the fastest speed I achieved on this, but I'm sure it was near 20km-25km
  • The distance I was doing was about 20km from home to work.


From Phat Tire Bike Guy


Lessons Learned:
  1. Don't ever buy the demo bike.  No one knows what anyone has done to it..  Pay the extra and get it new.  So you have no surprises!  It's worth the extra dollars.
  2. Small tires don't handle pot holes with my kind of weight.  I know this seems like a given but at the time of purchase, this was the last thing on my mind.  I changed the rear tube almost monthly and the local bike shop had a deal for $20 cash, they would put a new tube in and include the install.
  3. The handle bars on this bike didn't fold, so folding was only partial space saver.  But once folded, the bike was a pain to move and place into a car.
  4. The battery connector wasn't a very firm connection and the cable had a tendency to simply fall out while driving.  I had to rig a simple elastic band to keep the cable from falling out. 
  5. The PAS (Power Assist) is not for exercise.  It makes the motor move faster then the pedals and it can't be changed.
  6. The pedals were a little to long for the size of the tire and I've hit the ground a few times while going around a corner.. Making the bike jump and almost causing me to flip.

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