That actually brings up another question. What does the charger look like? Is it a J1772? or like that? does it plug into a conventional outlet?
I Imagine each bike has their own flavor of charger. I just pulled mine out and I may have misled you; it is not as huge as I had recalled. I was probably thinking of a UPS I bought at about the same time; now that’s huge & heavy.
Anyhow, the bike charger box is ~2x3.5x6.5" and weighs ~2 lbs. It has a standard EIC13 recessed male input connector and is supplied with a ~6’ long cord with a US standard monkey-face 15A male plug to mate to the wall outlet. So same as most desktop computer power supplies & cords.
The other end has a permanently attached ~4’ long cord ending in one of those 2-conductor coaxial / concentric barrel-shaped connectors about 1/4" OD, 3/32" ID, and 3/8" long.
The info on the charger says it puts out 54.6 volts pulsed DC at up to 2A. The graphics on the charger label suggest the same product is made with three different small multi-pin connectors in addition to my simple concentric one.
Most of the ones I’ve seen, including mine, basically look like a modestly scaled up laptop power brick.
Comment and two questions while I’m here. Feel free to go to the questions.
My comment about literal throttle had to do with electric cars not having throttles, and therefore, no “open throttle” position, albeit, an ebike can be ridden with the accelerator at its most extreme position. It just doesn’t work by controlling a butterfly valve, aka throttle plate. It just means that the engine is permitted to draw the maximum amount of power it can handle, and therefore travel at the fastest speed possible.
→ 1) Up until the pandemic, when I no longer had access to a shop, I did most of my own work on my cars.
I also work on my bikes myself. Once in a while something happens and I want to have a professional do it, but 90-95% of the time, it’s me.
Does that experience qualify me to work on an ebike? if I’m willing to buy manuals, schematics, and tools I need? I’ve got a pretty good array of car tools, and a few specialty bike tools as well.
–>2) Is there such a thimg as an ebike with ram’s horn handlebars?
I used that style of handlebar from the time I was 8, and all through my peak biking years in my 20s and 30s. The first time I had a bike without them, I couldn’t get used to it, and had to change over, which was a bitch, because the shifters were integrated into these twisters on the ends of the handlebars. I had to buy pull-back sticks salvaged from a different brandandmake them work.
Which they did, after lots of tinkering. But it sucked.
For sure, “throttle” is a mostly misnomer for EVs of any sort. And is for turbine engines as well. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t describe the operation of a modern computer controlled fuel injected ICE either.
Before the invention of machines, “throttle” meant “strangle” as in constricting the throat of an animal or human. It was a metaphor when it was applied first to steam engines then ICEs.
It is still a fully valid metaphor today for “controlling the power output” via whatever detailed means are appropriate.
I would much rather tilt against the windmill of “dialing” a post-1960s telephone than I would using the “throttle(s)” to control a jet or an EV. The former isn’t now, and never was, a metaphor for providing the routing information needed to initiate a phone call.
As to your questions…
(1). IANA bike expert, E or otherwise. My take is the power train, like all modern electronics, works perfectly until something fails deep in the bowels and the whole subsystem needs to be thrown away. No maintenance there.
What needs maintenance are the same systems a non-E bike has: tires, tubes, chains, brakes, control cables. Those parts of an E-bike tend to be a little heavier duty, but otherwise identical to a human-powered bike of the same mission (road, mountain, trail, etc.).
My advice: you wanna save a few shekels & get greasy: go for it!
(2). I’ve never seen a ram’s-horn e-bike. I don’t hang out in e-bike clubbing circles, but I do see a lot of random e-bikes around here; my area is well suited to them year round.
I too had the archetypical Schwinn 10-speed as a kid. With ram’s horns. I probably rode that bike about 80% holding the inboard upper horizontal part of the bars, 15% no-hands, and maaaaybe 5% down on the proper ram’s horn curved area. The whole point of ram’s horns is to adopt an extra uncomfortable, but also extra aerodynamic riding position. When the throttle makes up for any un-aerodynamicity, they seem pointless at best. Which suggests to me the market doesn’t really exist for that product.
Looking at the controls attached to my own mountain-bike style e-bike with fairly straight bars, it would be trivial to move everything except the twist-grip throttle onto the inboard horizontal area of ram’s horn bars. It would get very crowded there and finding enough space for hands and controls would be difficult. The throttle would be substantially impossible to use if threaded onto the end of a ram’s horn.
My bottom line: IMO a ram’s horn e-bike could be done, but it would have to be the sort that doesn’t have a twist throttle and responds only to pedal force for the e-control.
I was a somewhat early adopter, and I got my first e-bike from Tern Bicycles, based in CA. I opted for them because I wanted a folding electric for commuting, which I could then store in my office. That was 7 years ago and I’m still commuting on it. The build quality is excellent, the Bosch motor is excellent, the battery still has a lot of life in it. It cost about $3k back then, and it was money very well spent IMO, given the quality and how long it has lasted. No throttle on my model, just pedal assist, which is how I like it. Give them a look - they are an excellent little company.
Regarding doing the work on an e-bike, sure. I do most of the maintenance on mine, mostly consisting of the regular drivetrain maintenance to the chain, derailleurs and etc. When the time comes, I can replace the integrated battery. The motor and integrated computer is a black box though, little to nothing I can do there. Only a dealer has access to the proprietary diagnostic tools, although from talking to them, 90% of what that program tells them is when to replace the guts of the bike with new guts. They do no electronics repairs.
For drop bars or ram’s horns, yes there are bikes that have those. The ones I am aware of tend to be more expensive in that they are aimed at performance road riders. Thinking of my non-throttle bike, I could make the swap from straight bars to drops myself, but the expense wouldn’t be all that small. Cost of the bars, a new stem/steerer tube, new shifter, new brake levers, some electrical work to potentially extend the wiring for the bar mounted controls.
My bike has a thumb throttle, and I’m pretty sure it could be moved to a different style of handlebars without too much difficulty. It’s basically just a ring mounted around the shaft of the handlebars, like the click shifter is. I think the only hard part would being finding a position where you could use the throttle easily while riding.
Some other drop-bar ebike options courtesy of our friends at REI.