Wish we could get the 500w systems or even 300w systems legal in US and NZ respectively. It would mean less battery life but 500w would be kewl. I could also deck myself out in ball-dividing lycra and scare the sheeite outta pedestrians acting like a terrotorial w@nker. LOL.
Actually I shouldn't laugh, a 55 yr old colleague got completely pole-axed by a lycra clad idiot whilst she was walking in East perf the other day. VERY lucky not to have copped serious injuries. Fair bit of skin off elbows and knees, plus deep bruising. 
Lycraphile w@nker said he 'lost control' of his bike, appologised briefly, got back in the saddle and didn't even give her his details. 
Too bad if she needed hospy attention!? Colleague was in a bit of a state of shock and couldn't function so eventually went home. She jumps every time a bike buzzes past now. Just WTF is wrong with lycraphiles sounding a bell - or even having a bell - when approaching behind a walker anyway??
Er.. anyway, I appreciate the advice saying get a better bike and go pedals only etc but for me, part pedal - part elect 5 days a week, will be a good balance of excercise, efficiancy and reality. 
Hopefully it will mean I will be less likely to wake up knackered after work/kids/life.. and maybe kiting the day before leaving the energy reserves in the red.
Either way I won't be in a car and at approx 100th of the energy output per km for an elect bike, compared to a car, it is a step (or pedal) in the right direction. 
The challenge is to keep it up despite rain/hail/knackered/flu/life and not fall back to the car again. That's the plan - we''l see how it goes Stan.
Will post an update after I have installed and have a few kms under the saddle.
Cheers folks.
At my work we have approx 5-10 electric bikes at any one time in the bike shed (with 150+ engineers in the building trends catch on quickly). We have had to get the building sparky to install more power points.
All bikes are custom built and are all well in excess of 200W.... How are they going to measure it? One is well over 1000W and will easily do 60 km/h. It is a hub motor and hauls arse. All you need is the battery capacity and the correct motor driver.
some point:
-LiFe3Po4 batteries are safe. dont use Li polymer.
-you can get different types of motors - low speed high torque, high speed low torque etc... suit motor to your requirements.
-Batteries can come in different shapes, voltages and capacities or can be customised
-If have a hub motor then use a good puncture resistant tyre. pain to repair!
-Aluminum frames - beware. torque can rip off rear end!
You will find plenty here:
endless-sphere.com/forums/
I would seriously have a chat to Matt (the solarbike dude)...
Has lots of experience with these things, seemed quite happy to offer advice without requiring a sale.
He's a kiter as well 
^^ schweet
Hey nebbs, I looked at the Solabike webby but it didn't seem to fit the bill. I'll try to call him and chew the fat tomoz.
The elation def uses LiFo batts and they have no tendancy to explode or catch fire. Whew! 
The batts are more than 50% of the buy in cost.
Had a fang on the 1st gen 200w elation a bloke at work has (it is over 2 yrs old and going strong most days of the week). Was pretty durn good. It will def need pedal oomf as well but make a very noticeable contribution.
Using the gears milked every bit from the measly 200w. Alas there is a wait unti Feb for the 300w version. Would be a pefect fit for juice/battery life/power on tap.
Once at speed on flats it clips along very nicely in 6th or 7th gear. Made a few train walk ramps tooeasy with 30-50% pedal power added.
Hey freddy - ta for the forum link. I'll take a squizz, but need to sign off in the next week or two. Would be keen for a 300-400w model if your mates are interested in knocking out one with a LiFo battery?
How effective is 200w?
Not that I expect they are accurate, but the bikes at the gym give you an indication of the number of watts you are generating and 200w is reasonable and 300w is really putting out a fair bit of energy.
I think someone already mentioned it but a conservative estimate of the equivilent wattage a human is putting into the turning rear wheel is 100w. In theory 200w is like 2 people pushing for you.
Unfortunately the catch is if you go flat strap on the battery (for any wattage system) you will knacker the very expensive batteries pretty quick.
The reality is you can only use 100% power when you really need it and more like 50% most of the time.
As most of the pizz-takers have continually missed, with elect assitance, you are still gonna have to put about 50% effort into the pedals. Some choose to ride super skinny tyred road bikes (that I hate for lack of comfort and versatility) to achieve similar 'human' energy efficiancy. Instead I am choosing to use my older gumby mountain bike, with compromise slicks - and added battery assistance instead.
At comparable speeds I estimate I will be putting about 70% same energy into the pedals as a lycraphile.
I have to say the 200w system I tried yesterday (elation V1 - running off NiMH batts - not LiFo) was enough to fit the bill. Grunty on take off (in low gear) but a tiny bit disapointing on the top end. Mainly because it is great cracked open at 100% power, but that's not the way to use it, so you know there is potential there that you should refrain from tapping.
An elation 300w system is also available (but not until Feb) and is very tempting but the original brief should be covered by the 200watt system. I can also sleep well knowing if -gawd forbid - a bingle occurs there is nothing illegal about my set-up. Plus the battery should achieve more kms between charges and have an extended life.
Gonna take a look at some more systems today but think I have a winner.
If you want some cheap lipo batteries you can get them from Hobby King at a really cheap price they now have a warehouse in Aus so postage is cheap and fast. 2 5000mah batteries will give you 10 amphours.
How much battery capacity are you looking for?
When buying batteries you also need to look at the C rating this is the rate at which the batteries can be discharged discharging them over the recomended c rating will kill the battery. Batteries also have a c rating for charging with lipos it is normaly 1C which means the battery can potentially be charged to full capacity in 1 hr 2c 1/2hr etc. Dont over discharge your batteries, this is what kills them only drop the pack by 80% you will need a watt meter or a charger that logs how much has been put back in to the pack.
There is a lot to consider if you want to get the most out of a E system a 200w system can be very average or it can be unreal with the right advice and the right set up. Getting a Wattmeter and speedo setup will help you tune your system and worth the money. some Wattmeters double as a fuel gauge as it records the mahs used.
Good luck with the build.
When buying a Ebike setup look at the minimum and maximum voltage the system can handle and also the max watts it can run. A high performance system can still be run at 200w but by changing the battery can put out 400w.
A brushless motor in a system like a E bike is efficient at higher RPM so don't make the mistake of going to high a gear thinking that you will save battery power due to the motor running slower, as it is the opposite the slower a electric motor turns under load the closer to stall it is and the more amps it will draw. Also the less efficient the speed controller will operate burning up more amps transferring it to heat as it switches to limit the output.
Had a thought, if your worried about riding into a wind, go for a recumbent trike. Your very low to the ground so dont get the full wind effect,, problem is they cost $1500 or so...
or a velomobile!
crashed the first one I rode, and the second one. I gave up borrowing them from the owners
With you on the recumbant bikes. If they float ya boat go for it but to me they are hazardous due to less visibility/balance etc.
Ta for the tip Waxxy but I erred in the battery labeling. The best batteries are LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) and the LiPo are dodgy for these applications apparently. Alas no LiFePo4 on the Hobby King webby.
Gonna try a fixed gear/front wheel system from Solarbike today and will keep an open mind. Limits my choices a bit if I want to trade up in the bike dept later tho as they recommend NOT fixing to alloy forks and you are restricted to the same size rim bikes as you start with. Currently (no pun intended) I have a 26" bike but would like to go for a 700c size later on.
Upside is Solarbike have 500w systems available but without gears it may mean a small advantage in power, less battery life/hill climbs. Has a 25km conservative estimate range so should be spot on for me in that regard.
I went to the local hobby shop last night and there were 3 ebikes there, well 2 bikes and one scooter. All of them were running Lipo batteries, there is some safety you need to follow with them but it's not that hard to learn. The scooter had a chain drive and vas quite bulky, where as the 2 bikes, one had a gear reduction hub and the other a larger diameter motor allso in the hub, the one with the larger motor was a lot more efficient than the gear reduction setup. They were both running with 10 ah capacity at around 24 volts but they both think that 20 amp hours would be better.
LiFePo4 batteries are very good and almost indestructible, it is a little hard to get the performance out of them that you get from a Lipo but if you are mainly looking for hassle free and can afford the extra few hundred they will be fine. Stay away from the NIMH and NICAD packs they are dinosaurs compared to modern batteries.
Ok - so I tried a 500w front hub system today (from Solarbike).
Pros:
Top speed is impressive!
The new style rack/pannier set-up that will be available in a few months is great.
Quicker and easier to fit to a bike.
Little bit cheaper (tad under $200 than elation)
Realistically - on the flats you can use 100% motor and get along at a good clip (at the expense of battery life)
Cons:
Very heavy system, at extreme front and back of the bike, so feels a bit unbalanced. (In fairness the kit is far better quality than other hub systems and hence the weight)
Hill climbs are definately better than having no assitance but not comparable to a miserely 200w system that uses your gears (elation)
Battery life likely to be shortened by larger wattage and heavy draw on climbs.
Less mileage per charge.
Hub wheels come in 26" or 700c sizes. If i upgrade my bike later - less choice and i have to stay with a 26" set-up (I am keen to move to a flat bar 700c eventually).
More $$ on batteries accross it's lifetime.
500w is fun but it is illegal on the roads/paths.
More tendancy for laziness.
Overall for me I am gonna go for the elation kit, but don't discount the Solarbike if you are looking around for an e-bike kite. Matt the owner/designer is a good bloke (he he - a kiter/surfer/sailboarder also) and a very interesting bloke to talk to.
Check em out before you plunge for a hub system - the Solarbike quality is obvious compared to cheaper (cheap-sh!t) systems.
Oh spose i should compare elation pros/cons also:
Elation pros:
Light (relatively) with weight of battery and motor in central posi - much better for handling.
Uses gears so motor can always be spinning at optimum, so best use of power available.
Longer battery life (if used carefully and with gear shifts)
Better mileage per charge
Legal 200w power rating (hehe - wish they had the 300w in stock tho [}:)])
Battery easily locks/removes for security/charging
Power meter on h/bars - prob a good thing for not drawing too much juice
Needs more pedal power on flats - good for fitness
Cons:
Not super powerful - no legal 200w system is.
Kinda fugly and conspicuous (but V3 is much better looking than V1)
Some minor maintenance of drive chain/sprocket?
Needs more pedal power on flats - for lazy/crook days.
Front wheel drive??? Y not just 1 wheel unicycle , save weight and space,
and real chicky chick puller
group buy???
I know elation has a big mark up... last xmas he was letting them go for 1/2 price.
I want the Lipo + 300w
Hmmm.. half price would be a schweet deal Fly guy.
No chance tho he has back-orders until Feb.
Hopefully getting mine in mid Dec.
Dunno about a big mark up? When you consider the extra gear needed for this kit it makes the out-of-a-box cheapo systems that go for 50-80% the same price seem a bit whack.
Will post some info and pics when I'm on the road.
