Joe's Ebike Saga Spring 2014. third bike

To keep the weight of the bike down I now looked for a mid frame motor that can use the standard gears of the bike when going up hill, the only time you really need the motor to assist you, and one that could be installed on any standard bike. This way even a small light weight 250 watt motor could give you better torque than a 500 watt non-geared hub motor. That approach gives you a lighter motor needing a lighter battery that could be installed in a lighter bike. A couple of years ago there were only two motors readily available, the American ECO and the German EGO, either one costing at least 3k, until ILIA WOUK of EBIKESSF.COM told me about the Chinese made BAFANG mid frame motor. This motor was not only much cheaper at $700, but also appeared of a superior design. It does not require rocket science to install it by replacing the standard crank on just about any standard bicycle. I decided to take a chance again and ordered it from LECTRICCYCLES.COM in Arizona and having ILIA install it on a 20inch DAHON folding bike that I found collecting dust in my attic. He adapted the battery of my PRODECO STORM 500, so this battery can be used interchangeably on both bikes. This DAHON folder has worked amazingly well. The only limitation going up hill is, when the incline is too steep the small lightweight bike will flip over backwards before it runs out of enough power to climb. The other limitation is the small size of the wheels that are no match for rough roads. The range of this bike is amazing. I can go all day from Ocean Beach to Hunters Point in SF and back. I now discovered parts of SF that I had never seen before in the more than 50 years I lived here. Only once did I run out of battery power, so I installed another battery cradle on the back luggage rack. With two batteries I now do not have to worry about having to push the bike up the very long steep hill to our home at the end of the day.

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