The front pedal crank is a Shlumpf speed drive, which means the front sprocket turns 2.5 times faster than you pedal, which means you can pedal comfortable at 50km/h.

The bike has regenerative breaking, cruise control and 3 power settings, fast, faster, and wooohoo.

Upgrades are in the pipe line for a 12,000 watt (16hp) motor and additional battery to increase range and power.

So I have been frantically converting a Yuba Mundo to electric. With 1kw hour of battery, I can travel 100km on a charge, with a long lunch break to recharge, I could potentially do 200km per day. But I think I am going to take it easy and make a journey out of it. See who I can meet, and what trouble I can get into.

Keep an eye on my facebook page, evlabnz for updates on the way.

Still boxes around, will sort that out later, bikes to build right now!

Call in and say hi if your in the area! We will be at the Kapiti sustainable living show on the weekend of the 24th and 25th.

I will also have my other business, Cargobikes NZ here as well with the Yuba and Christiania Trikes.

I am moving this week, I am about to unplug my computer, so might go silent for a day as I get the internet connection set up in the shop.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us and built great bikes. It is very exciting to make this move, as far as I can tell I am the first dedicated electric bike / conversion shop in NZ.

Mike has gone for the 2808 direct drive motor for extra torque making more of a work horse bike. Mikes bike has regenerative breaking also. Jens has gone for the smaller more elegant free wheeling motor keeping her bike lite and tidy.

We went for a spin – up hills , into downtown etc. Works heaps better – I hardly had to use throttle at all. Only had it half way on the stem going up some big hills. Then used it to help me get going at green light – still pedalling. Excellent.

The silver motor on mine looks so spiffy too!

Happy New Year! Cheers, Jennifer & Mike

full info here

This has to be my favorite conversion of 2011.

A 2005 Giant DH Comp, custom drop out adapters, 2808, 48v LifePo4, front fork rack.

The Giant DH comp is a popular platform for electric offroad conversions, some what strange as it is not a simple conversion. The bikes are a great off road bike that can be purchased from $600 second hand and are generally populated with good components and powerful brakes. The pre 2005 models have a straight top tube providing a large frame triangle for fitting batteries, where the newer models have a bent top bar making the space in the frame to small for batteries.
The first big challenge is to create adapters to fit the rear motor. This bike has a 12mm push through rear axle, typical of motorcycles. This means a normal electric hub motor can not be fitted. Some people chop off the rear drop out area and weld, glue, bolt in place a new vertical drop outs.

Well I was quite sure there was a way we could make a drop out with out cutting and spoiling the original frame.
So I set to work in cad, obtaining and modeling the various parts needed to design the adapters.

Eventually happy with the design I created the cut files and sent them to the laser cutter to be cut from stainless steel.

I hand machined the bosses that fit to the axle holes and tig welded the parts together.
Finally I had the parts acid etched to even the colour after welding and make a tidy appearance.

The adapters worked very well, and have since made sets for people around the world to convert their bikes.

Next was the mounting of the battery and controller. Here I used a front rack I also designed which supports the battery and mounts the controller. The LifePo4 battery is housed in a battery bag and strapped in place.

Full twist throttle, 3 speed switch, regen braking button and cycle analyst computer were installed, cables cut to length and connections water proofed.  Controller current limits are programed, cycle computer callibrated and we are ready to go.

The bike has a top powered speed of around 43km/h. I took the chance to ride the bike through the Akatarawa forest before handing over to the new owner, always a good way to test the system for any irregularities. With some pedal contribution from me we climbed most hills at around 17km/h, and cruised the logging roads at 35-40km/h.

I came back down via a single track which the bike handled well, and its an added thrill to be able to accelerate out of corners and maintain down hill speeds on the uphill sections.

I liked this bike so much, I bought one for my self which I will convert over Christmas trailing the new crystalyte motors and controllers.

Now I have the motor adapters, I can recommend this bike if you are looking for a great off road platform to convert.

We live at the top of Worsleys Rd in CHCH, so a good run down the hill onto the CHCH flat each morning, then about 8kms on the flat to work (where I can charge the battery if required).
Then 8kms on the flat back to the start of the hill. The hill is 200m at about 7 percent, then 500meters at 15 percent, the 1000m at 7 percent.

We chose a rear 2808 motor to provide the greatest amount of torque and have the advantage of regenerative braking.

The bike’s pretty much finished (see photo attached). I am riding it to work every day and it’s great, however we are not yet living up the hill as we don’t have a house up there yet (lost it in the earthquake).

In the meantime, as I say, the bikes great. It rides fast and accurate. I’m loving it!

Alan has done a great job of installing the components. Very tidy layout and discrete installation.