trikebum rides....

The continued adventures of trikebum. Transportation cycling, vehicular cycling, tricycle touring and camping. Go to: http://trikebum.webs.com/

Electric assist trike

This is a 2003 Lightfoot Cycles Courier, my personal transportation. This fall I installed a Heinzman Electric hub motor kit. It's a Mountain drive 500W motor w/36v NiCad battery pak.
The beauty of the NiCad battery pak is it only takes 2 hrs tops to charge it.
This is a heavy bike to begin with. I would guess with tools, cargo box, fenders and fairing, It probably weighs about 80#. My average speed doing errands in town is about 8.5 mph.
With the electric assist my average increases to 10.5mph or there-a-bouts. On the level I can maintain speeds of15 mph easily which makes it very effective for traffic cycling. But it's a lot easier on me, and I don't think that is a good thing. This way I will not get in shape for out-of town touring which is my pleasure.
When touring I usually carry 65# of camping gear plus added water at 2# per litre. My average speed then is about 9.5 mph depending on terrain. The motor is ok used judiciously for about 20 miles, and when it runs out of juice, it's a lot harder to pedal than without. Consider that the weight of motor and battery is another 11 lbs and the electric motor hub does not freewheel as well as a regular bike wheel. There is a lot of resistance. So suffice it to say, it's only good for in town, but in town it's damn good.