In reply to Rog Wilko:
I fitted the Dillinger 1000w, 48 volt, unrestricted kit to an off the shelf Carrera MTB, disc brakes. Superb performance on my 4 mile each way commute- 99% of which was on a coastal path. It’d do 30 and had thumb control ‘accelerator’ button. Did 2000+ over 2 years and it was faultless. Down sides - a puncture was a pain in the ass (rear wheel) the battery goes down really quickly on self powered, top speed mode. Impossible to ride if motor switched off, the resistance is just too much to cycle by legs alone (as said above) changed over to a 50cc scooter in the end for a couple of reasons. The battery on the ebike was nearly £300 to replace and it had noticeably deteriorated. At first, it needed a charge every 3 days (8 mile a day) but went to charging every 2nd day then every single day. I’d worked the battery too hard over too long a period obviously so it wasn’t a fault with the system, just the reality of batteries. Plus, about the time I changed, e-bikes and escooters were all over the news about power limits etc so thought it was only a matter of time before the police pulled me over.
I also fitted the Dillinger ‘legal’ kit to my wife’s bike. This was a 36v battery, 250w and front wheel motor. Hardly any resistance riding without motor being switched on, no loss of traction (being a front wheel) and great assistance up to the legal limit where the motor cut off.
Things to remember - Arrange cables so they can be undone and redone if you have to fix a puncture. Mount the battery on bottle cage mounts, making new mounts if needed (to keep battery weight off the back wheel) You can do this with ‘riv-nuts’ and there are tricks to fit them without the special tool. Have your tyres rock hard, fair old bit of weight on the back wheel and dropping off kerbs will give you pinch flats.
I’ve seen both extremes of the kits, if I were doing it again, i’d just go legal limit front wheel motor or mid drive.
https://dillengerelectricbikes.co.uk/
Post edited at 13:57