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In previous articles, I pointed out that hydraulic brakes on an ebike should not be optional – particularly if the cycler has aims to use the ebike at (or near) maximum speeds. Where I live, that's 32 kmh (20 mph). I want to stop properly. V brakes, those rubber pads that grip the sides of the rim, are designed for the slower speeds of pedalling, not the speeds you can attain with an electric motor. Hydraulic brakes as compared with regular disc brakes are known to respond with more force and stop the bike faster.
The bike I am using is brand new. Despite this, I removed the brake calipers and upgraded to new "wire-pull" hydraulic brakes. The first two pictures at the right are pictures of those new hydraulic brakes installed and fully functional. The first one is the front brake. The second is the rear brake (also shows the electric motor installed).
What is a "wire-pull" and why am I referring to this as hybrid? Hydraulic brakes for a bicycle have a hydraulic oil reservoir built into the hand pull. Since this is an ebike, we need a special hand pull mechanism with a built in sensor so that when you apply the brakes (either front or rear, or both) the electric motor gets cut off – it's a needed safety measure. I wanted the ebike designed hand grip rather than a modified regular hand grip with a sensor attached by zip tie or a dab of adhesive.
The electric motor, by the way, is a beast. This bike with its carbon steel frame is designed to handle the torque. I still wanted some extra torque protection and added a torque bar on the rear axle. You can see that at the left, just below.
Before I go much further, I did change the torque bar to the other side of the bike.
I've also run into a bit of an obstacle.
The original battery I purchased for this build was spec'd out to fit into the triangle formed by the top bar, diagonal bar, and seat bar. A tight fit. The battery manufacturer contacted me and advised that battery was out of stock – but he offered a slightly higher amp hour battery for just $20 more. The extra power was worth it to me, so I went ahead. What I forgot to check was the dimensions. The new battery is about 1/2 inch too high for the bike geometry.
I'm trying to figure out whether to order a smaller battery or mount the high capacity battery I already have on the top bar instead of the diagonal bar. If you have suggestions, type it in as a comment to this article. (and ... thanks).
Here's the final look at the project so far. It's a great looking bike, it's solid – but I did find a few flaws:
- The disc (for the brakes) mounting holes are not standard.
- This is spartan ... no screws for the bottle holder, for example
- All of the cables are not terminated, nothing to prevent the cable from unravelling
I bought my bike in a box with assembly required. There is an option to buy it from the seller with the bike assembled. I strongly suggest you get yours assembled. That way the seller takes the risk of missing parts and is responsible for tightening everything and filling the tires with the correct amount of air pressure.
In addition to the hydraulic brakes, I did make a few other modifications to the bike. I want to emphasize these changes were not required at all, it's just a preference. I replaced the tires with Kenda brand and the exact same size. The Kenda is just a slightly more aggressive thread.