Electric folding fat bike

[Squatch]

A while back I was thinking about an E bike and posted this thread.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13751-e-bikes/

I built my bike from a kit and love it. Totally sold on the concept.

Now a while later I'm thinking of going a different route for Mama Squatch's E bike. She only has one mountain bike and not sure we want to convert it. Her use will mainly be beach trips ect and while we are camping. So I've been thinking of getting one of the Folding (or not) mini fat bikes.

Mama is only 5' tall so fit can be a problem for her. One of the reasons for not converting her existing bike.

it seems a couple of these mini fat bikes have enough adjustabilty in them to fit her and sometimes me as well if I decide to play with it.

Here are 3 examples. The 1st one really got me thinking ebike for the camper in the 1st place.
https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radmini-electric-folding-fat-bike?variant=5032656863263

I've seen a cool vid of this one on the beach.
http://www.voltbike.ca/voltbike-mariner-49.html

This one seems to have a good range of size variation and they make a non folding version that 750 watts,
https://www.ridescoozy.com/products/veego-fat-tire?variant=50744125269

Does anyone have one of these? Have you ridden or played with one? I'd love to hear some personal experience.

 

[hoyden]

Hey Squatch!

I've also considered getting an e-bike for on my camper, but with my motorcycles, I have difficulty rationalizing the extra...
I do wonder though - is there a way to charge those with solar? Cuz if you are out boondocking, getting somewhere to plug it in wouldn't be handy.

Oh! I found some info: https://radpowerbikes.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002677294-Can-I-charge-my-bike-with-solar-power-

Yah, I'm also curious as to people's experiences who have them!

 

[Squatch]

I intend to try that soon. I have an additional 120 watt suitcase I can add to my camper. On a sunny day with that and the roof panel I have lot's of juice. My charger can be set to charge at about 3 amps. I have a tiny inverter that should cover that.
So on a sunny day here soon I intend to try charging my battery that way.

A friend who rides motorcycles suggested one of the cheap $100 2 stroke generators that harbor freight sells. They are small and should make enough juice. They use them to run timing devices and such at motorcycle races. They go on sale for around 80 bucks. I haven't looked at those yet.

The good thing is on my bike. If I just use pedal assist and do most of the work my battery lasts a surprisingly long time. I have an over volted (52v on 48v motor battery) and it decent sized. 14 amp hours.

 

[hoyden]

I read on the e-bike site that it takes 3-5 hrs to charge. Even if it's only a partial fill, at 1.5 hrs.
A 2-stroke generator is gonna be noisy, and for a long time!

 

[ETAV8R]

Been eyeing that smaller Radpower folding bike for a while. They look super cool. Still heavy for a Tacoma but much lighter than my TW200.

 

[BobM]

Sondors also came out with a new folding ebike last year https://sondors.com/collections/north-america-pre-sale

 

[huskyrunnr]

I can charge a 48V ebike battery with the charger set to 2A through an inverter hooked to house battery and 100 Watt panel. It works well.

Genasun makes an appropriate boost controller to go directly from panel to ebike battery. I plan to try that this summer. I've been off the ebikes for six months because I must have shredded the tendons in one elbow from riding so much. Death grip on the handlebars or something? Still hurts.

 

[klahanie]

Squatch, I have you to blame for this ...

Just got 'em, the second one listed in your OP. Only gone for two rips so far so can't say much yet but wanted to touch on the size issue. I took some measurements which came out a bit different from what I had read online. Note these are after cutting off 1" from the seat tube to lower the seat. And seat post has no suspension.

fwiw...
min seat height (pedal at bottom stroke to saddle top, measured along seat tube axis) 26.5"
min seat height to ground (tip toe height) 32.5"
"my" stand over height (where I would stand, just in front of the pedals) 27.75"

Of course different diff make and model could be different but, you know, these bikes are bigger than you'd think. Cut down, the seat tube length is still 17". Compared to say a small hybrid bike with 26" tires and a 14" seat tube. A min length is needed for the battery I guess.

Also, OAL 69",WB 46" so tire OD (20X4") is 23"

Anyhoo, best part is, folded, they fit in our super cab (seats removed) with out too much agony. So hopefully we'll carry them and get some use out of them on our road trips !!

Oh yeah, charging over night while on the road might be an issue. Have to see how that goes...