Bought an e-bike 2 months back and found it is fun! And recently i see a lot fo expats are using these cool looking rides on the roads...



At the same time, I found that i'm kind of stuck on maintaining and upgrading my e-bike. The shop which i brought the e-bike seems more interested in selling vehicles than servicing them, even there are charges for everything. And other shops will try to sell me "new" or "better" parts disregarding if I already have a good one and it is still functionable, or else they will advice me to go back to where i bought my e-bike.

Anyway I've learn quite a lot from those experience and now I am looking to form a hobby group where we could share our knowledge and experience in e-bike and organize activities & trips. I'm thinking to start a regular meeting for the initial stage.

Please do reply if anyone interested

Saw quite some thread selling E-bikes... please feel free to post a link here.

jesslsk wrote:Bought an e-bike 2 months back and found it is fun! And recently i see a lot fo expats are using these cool looking rides on the roads...



At the same time, I found that i'm kind of stuck on maintaining and upgrading my e-bike. The shop which i brought the e-bike seems more interested in selling vehicles than servicing them, even there are charges for everything. And other shops will try to sell me "new" or "better" parts disregarding if I already have a good one and it is still functionable, or else they will advice me to go back to where i bought my e-bike.

Anyway I've learn quite a lot from those experience and now I am looking to form a hobby group where we could share our knowledge and experience in e-bike and organize activities & trips. I'm thinking to start a regular meeting for the initial stage.

Please do reply if anyone interested

Sorry to be negative but this is China not Germany. You live in the worlds biggest consumer dependent economy in one of the most over populated cities.

EVERYTHING you buy here is junk, breaks immediately and the replacement parts are worse then the original. And no one knows how to fix anything only how to sell a new one.

I'm stuck fixing all our cars and trucks my self because even the dealer cant fix a 6 year old Chinese vehicle. They say "just buy a new one"....

Your idea is a decent one but realize you are completely on your own trying to maintain something that was never intended to last 6 months. If you are mechanically inclined like me you can try to fix stuff yourself but the parts are almost always worse then the original.

My advice. Forget it and just ride the thing into the ground and try not to get killed when the front wheel falls off. This is not sarcasm but a real warning.

Good luck and dont go crazy...

Have to agree on your opnion towards quality...that thing definitely not build to last, and i think that's why it needs constant maintainance. I'll keep this hobby group idea as it is a fun thing to play with, and calling for everyone who shares a same liking. But I'll take your advice to be extra cautious on safety.

I think maybe I should provide some information on E-bike for start:

- Cost of vehicle: RMB3000 +/- 200 depending on seller, some shops might have lower price from their source. There are quite a number of factory producing this, so the cost is not exact the same.

- Spec.: 800W electrical powered engine, front disk-brake, rear drum-brake as standard spec, high spec available at higher price

- Cost of battery: RMB600 to RMB800 per unit- Lead Acid battery 48V20Ah as standard spec, cost depends on battery brand/quality. Additional unit can be added for greater power or longer battery duration/distance.

- Speed (at standard spec): Maximum 35-40KM/H (GPS tested), but the speed meter on the vehicle will show up to 55KM/H

- Battery duration/Distance (at standard spec): Maximum 50-60KM, depend on how is your driving habit. Lesser max. speed and dash will last for longer duration/distance. Battery performance will decline in cold weather.

- Legallity: Unable to register under SH number plate, but able to register under othe
r provinces number plate. Myself had been waved down twice by police, and passed their inspection. No driving license required for E-bike and not compulsory for putting on helmet, anyway you could be fined for carrying a passenger.

- Normal upgrades: Lights, Alarms, Add. Battery, Brakes, Tyres and other decorative parts
- Major upgrades: Engine, Power controller, Li-Ion Battery

Queries or Discussions are more than welcome...

Went cruising around JingAn area last week end, weather was nice and traffic was loose...

Found a local shop which looks like specialize in E-bike, but it is quite far away from where i live, will check it out next week.

^

You are crazy. I mean that in a good way -
Maybe you can start an Ebike gang? Get some gang leather jackets and terrorize Najing lu? Seriously, how about racing trough SH during rush hour? Ever watch the NY bike messenger race on you tube? If you do that PM me and we will handle the filming!

Anyways I like your thinking. Maybe a little miss guided but cooler that the average expat or Chinese person here.

Keep the rubber side down!

Think i'm quite obsessed to E-bike for the moment as you said...just like a child found a cool toy and wanted to share the joy with others who have the same interest, hehe...

Your idea of forming an "E-bike Gang" is quite close to my intention of this hobby group, but I prefer keep this off public sight. The vehicle type is currently at a grey area where I do not wish to get too much attention, especially from local authority.

My idea is more towards -- Some leisure trips within the range of the battery capability, hanging out at a workshop learning to maintain/upgrading the vehicle, introduce cool parts/gadgets and maybe make a group purchase, etc. Most of all, making friends!!

For you information, I'm a foreign born chinese, thus i'm Expat and same time a Chinese. I can communicate in chinese fluently, it's the english part which worrying me... So I can contribute by checking out information for E-bike for the hobby group, negotiate on purchase, organizing trips etc.

I'm thanking you for replying this thread so that I could throw-in more details and emphasizing the idea, not to mention keeping this thread at front page, cheers!

If there is any chance you're exploring this "hobby", please do let me know, I'm more than happy to share.

My comments where all meant to be positive

If you do get something together where its a large group or some type of racing we would be interested in filming it. PM me.

BTW: Your English is great. Dont worry!

Cheers!

If I managed to get a group that big I'll sure keep you informed, you're the first and only reponse i have so far...

Thanks!

see lots of expats riding these now.. and there's heaps of store selling them so now if your a foreigner and walking by they always try to sell you one.. laowai xihuan zhe ge che!


a friend had one of these bikes and on the second day had the battery stolen and it was parked in the carpark of our building.. thieves!..

leoluce wrote:see lots of expats riding these now.. and there's heaps of store selling them so now if your a foreigner and walking by they always try to sell you one.. laowai xihuan zhe ge che!


a friend had one of these bikes and on the second day had the battery stolen and it was parked in the carpark of our building.. thieves!..

Sorry to hear that...but this is a risk we have to face if we own a two wheeler. The vehicle itself is close to 100KGS, thus it is not easy to steal comparing with others, so it is quite safe if you have a good quality wheel lock and if possible, a disk lock. But the seat (which is also the cover of storage space) on the other hand, is just a piece of plastic which merely "covering" the battery, so it is very easy to has the battery set stolen.

My advise:
- Always park at places where there is people watching (it may cost RMB1 or 2 but it is much safer)
- If there is no need to mobilized the battery set during re-charge, fix the batteries on the E-bike. The bike has a connection plug for charging battery.
- Try to upgrade the seat to stronger structure, I'm still trying to figure this out...
- Adding and internal battery lock is also an option, you can custom make a iron/steel structure to lock the battery to the bike. Down side is you have to carry more weight and another pair of lock.

If anyone has better ideas please share.

Washed and polished my E-bike few days back, found some scratches here and there, mainly caused by other vehicles parked too close to each other. Looking for paint patch to repair the areas...

Also found some bolts and screws at the handlebar went rusted, as I park at open air parking most of the time. Replace those with stainless steel part could be a good idea...

^Hard to find real stainless steel that will survive the harsh Shanghai pollution and humidity. When ever I disassemble anything mechanical in Shanghai I spray it down with WD-40 and that helps keep the rust away for a few weeks. Also helps for electrical connectors.
But please be careful buying WD-40 in SH! I discovered most small stores are selling fake cans of WD-40 that are full of some sort of solvent not oil! The only place I found real WD-40 was at the B&Q. The fake stuff will ruin equipment and cause rust.

News_by_KKO wrote:^Hard to find real stainless steel that will survive the harsh Shanghai pollution and humidity. When ever I disassemble anything mechanical in Shanghai I spray it down with WD-40 and that helps keep the rust away for a few weeks. Also helps for electrical connectors.
But please be careful buying WD-40 in SH! I discovered most small stores are selling fake cans of WD-40 that are full of some sort of solvent not oil! The only place I found real WD-40 was at the B&Q. The fake stuff will ruin equipment and cause rust.

Oh my... I've just bought one WD-40 last week end at RMB38, cause that's the only brand name i know , guess there is slim chance of it is a "real" one. Should learn this from you earlier...by the way how to differentiate a fake one? want to avoid this again in future.

jesslsk wrote:

News_by_KKO wrote:^Hard to find real stainless steel that will survive the harsh Shanghai pollution and humidity. When ever I disassemble anything mechanical in Shanghai I spray it down with WD-40 and that helps keep the rust away for a few weeks. Also helps for electrical connectors.
But please be careful buying WD-40 in SH! I discovered most small stores are selling fake cans of WD-40 that are full of some sort of solvent not oil! The only place I found real WD-40 was at the B&Q. The fake stuff will ruin equipment and cause rust.

Oh my... I've just bought one WD-40 last week end at RMB38, cause that's the only brand name i know , guess there is slim chance of it is a "real" one. Should learn this from you earlier...by the way how to differentiate a fake one? want to avoid this again in future.

Spray a little on your finger. If its fake it will have a slightly different smell, but the real test is as follows:
Spray your finger and If you rub your fingers together it should feel very slick/slippery even if you wipe off your fingers with a paper towel and wait several minutes. If after several seconds it evaporates and your finger feels normal its fake.

The stuff they tried selling me evaporated after 3 seconds leaving my finger dry and it also had a different smell to it. The real stuff should stay really slippery for a long time even if you wash your hand. A decent size can should be about 50-58 RMB.

Sorry if this sounds weird but this is the only way I can describe the difference.

In my opinion its best to buy from B&Q since its guaranteed to be real.

Thanks for sharing...I'll keep that in mind when i buy that in future, or i'll just get it from B&Q as you said.

I have bought the 1800yuan ebike and have lasted for 14 months now with 0 maintenance. Suddenly the rear tire pop while I was going quite fast. Luckily nothing bad happen just a little drifting. Now how do I go about fixing this? Do I have to bring the whole bike to the shop?

By the way this bike is a hell lot of fun.

Hi fsttrp, are you using the same E-bike as mine?

It's glad to know you're not hurt for that incident, guess you should be quite a good rider.

Unless you have all the tools and parts needed, and some skill on mechanical like our friend here New_by_KKO, i think sending it back to the shop is the only option. But i do have some advice:

- Send it back to the place you bought it, this should be the first option as they more willing to take care of stuff they sold. They will do it more seriously, and get them to check other parts of the bike as well.
- If you bought a 2nd hand bike, then you just sent it to the nearest workshop around your place. If you can't find one, there is a shop at JingAn area where I bought mine, they are specialize with it.
- Just fix the rear tire which you sure it's damage, don't be easily convinced to changing parts by the shop, especially if that's the first time you try that shop. You can always go back in future if you need anything.

I'm happy to know you're having fun with E-bike, let's keep in touch through this thread. I hope there will be more people and we can share the joy...

Cheers!

Went on a trip checking out for upgrades, passed by some kind of "market" selling biker equipments along a road under highway bridge...cool. Of course none of those are good quality stuff, but I always like such place, just like flee market.

The shop which I visited is quite far away from my house, it's located at PuTuo area. Anyway the boss seems a nice and friendly guy, will consider to make some major upgrade at his place soon...

Below are the parts i'm going to upgrade:
Cuurent meter board, will change this to back-lit digital display...the black metal is my GPS rack.

With GPS gadget on it

Front look...the "Autobot" decoration is a gift from the shop I've bought the E-bike

Battery pack, I've made it removable so i can take it home for recharge. it is VERY heavy, almost 30KGS


I'll post photos once I've done those upgrades.

Decided to make some upgrades to my E-bike:

- Li-Ion Battery, 60V/30A. This will provide more power and travel a longer distance, same time it is less than 15KGS weight.
- Output Control, to fit the 60V power (existing is 48V)
- Digital Odormeter (also due to power upgrade)
- Rear disk-brake, since the bike will go a bit faster
- GPS tracking system, since it cost me a lot on above upgrades

These should be done within this week.

Amazing mod bro,

You do seemed to be quite caught up in modding.

Would you happen to be from Singapore or Malaysia by any chance?

I had 2 e- bikes stolen before, so kinda bad experience there

Good guess...i'm Malaysian!

Sorry for your bad experience, but there always a risk of theft here...anything can be stolen,d**n

jesslsk wrote:Decided to make some upgrades to my E-bike:

- Li-Ion Battery, 60V/30A. This will provide more power and travel a longer distance, same time it is less than 15KGS weight.
- Output Control, to fit the 60V power (existing is 48V)
- Digital Odormeter (also due to power upgrade)
- Rear disk-brake, since the bike will go a bit faster
- GPS tracking system, since it cost me a lot on above upgrades

These should be done within this week.

Mind sharing the cost breakdown and address of the place that does the mods?

If you have used the real stuff back home, you probably can tell the fake. The outside looks simiiliar but the weight is much lighter, and when you shake it, the liquid doesnt settle like the real stuff, the nozzle looks different, the smell is totally different. The fake stuff evaporates fast. Mine leaked about a month after i got it. I bought it cheap.

The shop located at PuTuo area...along QiLianShan Rd (not far away from TongChuan Rd). I'm not sure about break down but the total around RMB6K.

Thanks for the advice on WD-40, took me a while to figure out you talking about it...hehe...btw our friend here News_by_KKO told that B&Q selling real WD-40, so you might try to get one from them. But B&Q closed some of their outlets since last year...

6 K just for the upgrades? I now use sewing machine oil. Its pretty high quality and cheap.

Yes...just for the upgrades, mainly caused by the Li-Ion battery (RMB4k+), and the GPS Tracking System (RMB680). Are you using the same E-bike?

Sewing Machine oil huh...will it be too greasy?

I am not using the same ebike but I have changed the rear disc and front brake as well as digital display too.

What do you use the oil for? I use it for slightly rusting screws. For places that needs oil to stay, i use the thicker viscosity mineral oil.

I use WD-40 at all rusty part of my E-bike and squeeking furniture joints at home...

What you mean you are not using your E-bike?

jesslsk wrote:I think maybe I should provide some information on E-bike for start:

- Cost of vehicle: RMB3000 +/- 200 depending on seller, some shops might have lower price from their source. There are quite a number of factory producing this, so the cost is not exact the same.

- Spec.: 800W electrical powered engine, front disk-brake, rear drum-brake as standard spec, high spec available at higher price

- Cost of battery: RMB600 to RMB800 per unit- Lead Acid battery 48V20Ah as standard spec, cost depends on battery brand/quality. Additional unit can be added for greater power or longer battery duration/distance.

- Speed (at standard spec): Maximum 35-40KM/H (GPS tested), but the speed meter on the vehicle will show up to 55KM/H

- Battery duration/Distance (at standard spec): Maximum 50-60KM, depend on how is your driving habit. Lesser max. speed and dash will last for longer duration/distance. Battery performance will decline in cold weather.

Am I correct to say that most of the Ebike on the street has a 800W engine? Are there other variants?
Other than a 48V battery, I can also fix a 72V on them right?
If a 48V battery can last for 50km. How far can I go with a 72V?

P.S. I've tried baidu for the info I wana know about Ebike. But as you know. Information in china is not as easily available and friendly. Glad I found this thread. I hope you dont mind answering my queries.