Today, a bicycle with an electric wheel is gradually becoming the object of interest for a huge number of avid cyclists around the world. This is due not only to the environmental friendliness of this type of transport, but also to the presence of an impressive number of obvious advantages compared to the whole mass of other widely accessible vehicles.
What is an electric bike?
Electric bicycles are equipped with a special battery motor, which is capable of partially or fully driving a two-wheeled vehicle. The main driving force here is an electric wheel for a bicycle.
Engine power for electric bicycles, depending on the configuration and model, ranges from 100 to 1000 watts. At the same time, electric bicycles can reach speeds of up to 50 km / h.
Benefits of Electric Bicycles
When installing an electric wheel for a bicycle, the owner of a two-wheeled vehicle receives the following advantages:
- overcoming serious distances without special physical preparation, expenditure of strength and energy;
- the ability to set the bike in motion with the help of pedals and thanks to the operation of the electric motor;
- the availability of convenient, compact vehicles, the maintenance of which requires minimal costs compared to a motorcycle or car;
- convenience of movement in a city with heavy traffic;
- lack of need for obtaining the rights and registration of transport in GAI.
Disadvantages of Electric Bikes
Among the obvious disadvantages of electric bicycles, it is worth noting:
- impressive weight, which affects the ease of movement when moving to the pedal mode of movement;
- a sufficiently long battery charge and a short charge;
- the high cost of finished factory electric bicycles;
- relatively low speed of movement.
Features of installing electric wheels
When an electric motor is available, it is necessary to determine which axis of the bicycle it will be installed on. Experts strongly recommend that you put the rear wheel for a bicycle, since when installing a front-wheel drive, you have to regularly move to the movement by scrolling the pedals.
The rear-wheel bicycle allows you to easily overcome the most difficult sections of the track. As for the installation of electric wheels on the front axle, this solution contributes to giving the vehicle a more attractive appearance. In addition, the front electric wheel for a bicycle is not so polluted as compared with the rear.
In general, if it is necessary to regularly overcome significant off-road distances, it is better to install two electric wheels at the same time: front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive.
DIY bike wheel
What is required to build a do-it-yourself electric bike? Almost any bike model can be taken as the basis for creating a two-wheeled motorized vehicle. In this case, the most important element of the future mechanism becomes, in fact, an electric wheel for a bicycle, which, in fact, is a brushless DC electric motor built into the rim.
As noted above, the electric motor can be installed on both the rear and front-wheel drive of the bicycle, or both at the same time, which allows you to create four-wheel drive vehicles.
The second most important element after the motor, the design of an electrically driven bicycle, is the battery. This component of the design performs the function of powering the electric motor with current. The presence of a powerful battery does not mean an increase in speed. Therefore, for assembling an electric bike with your own hands, it is recommended to select a battery based on its compliance with the voltage of the electric motor.
An obligatory part of the design of the electric bike are also special handles for adjusting the speed of two-wheeled vehicles. Here, one can not do without mounting the controller in the form of a unit with an electronic board, which is responsible for the coordinated operation of the entire mechanism. It is most convenient to place the controller in a case well protected from external influences, placing it in the area of the flask fastener.
What is more profitable - factory or homemade electric bike?
This issue is quite controversial. However, it’s worthwhile to make a few arguments in favor of making an electric bike with your own hands.
If there is a ready rear or front electric wheel for a bicycle, its installation on the frame of a standard two-wheeled vehicle model will take no more than a few hours. At the same time, the cost of this solution will be several times lower compared with the purchase of a ready-made, factory-made model of an electric bike in full assembly and configuration with all kinds of accessories.
Factory models usually turn out to be significantly heavier compared to homemade ones. When assembling an electric bike with your own hands, the weight of the vehicle can easily be reduced through the use of the simplest, lightest parts and accessories.
A finished vehicle with an electric wheel will have standard power, have a limited top speed. In the case of self-assembly of a bicycle with an electric drive, the technical indicators of two-wheeled vehicles will be limited only by imagination, skills and the breadth of the master’s budget.
Eventually
All of the above are just a few basic arguments in favor of assembling an electric bike with your own hands. Naturally, to translate such an idea into reality requires the acquisition of a wide range of components, as well as the presence of basic skills in the design and handling of electronics.