Electric Assist Bicycles

Since you may not want to bust a gut pedaling over hill and dale on every ride, Splendid Cycles is offering two high quality systems that can turn most bicyles into electric bikes. We proudly present the BionX from Canada and the EcoSpeed Electric Mountain Drive from Portland to our customers. Although our expertise and the focus of our business is cargo bikes, both the BionX system and EcoSpeed system that we sell can be installed on other bikes as well.

BionX System from Canada

BionX continues to innovate and refine for 2011. With over 100,000 electric assist systems sold last year, few companies can match their success. What is the secret to their success? From our observation, it all boils down to how their system rides-AMAZING! The BionX systems are pedal assist-meaning they operate without the use of a throttle. Instead of a throttle, the system senses that you are pedaling and gives you some assistance.

When you really want to get going and you begin to pedal harder, the system senses this and increases the power. The rider can control the amount of assistance by choosing one of four assistance levels on the small LCD screen mounted to the handlebars. While most elecric assist systems give a hurky-jerky feel of power-on power-off sensation, the BionX is a smooth operator while providing plenty of horsepower to push a bike or cargo bike up steep hills.

One of the really cool features of all BionX systems is their re-gen feature-and that is the ability of the system to charge the battery on downhills or when braking. There are 2 ways to utilize this feature. Every time you pull the brake levers the system first turns the assist off but then turns the motor into an alternator and starts putting power back into the battery just like you find on a hybrid car. So instead of wasting the kinetic energy of slowing a bike in motion, the BionX systems seek to capture the momemtum and extend the range of the battery. Another way you can utilize the re-gen is to engage the re-gen by swithching it on on longer downhills. This is the preferred way so you don't have to ride the brakes all the way down a hill but instead let the motor slow the speed of the bike while charging the battery. Far from a gimmick, the BionX regen works with reports of one Splendid Cycles customer getting 70+ miles out of one charge on his PL350 installed on a Bullit cargo bike simply by not being in too much of hurry, using the lower levels of assistance on the flats, and attempting to capture as much energy back into the battery on the descents ....AMAZING would'nt you say?

The beautiful thing with this system is that it still feels and rides like a bike. It retains the best parts of riding a bike:the exercise, the feeling of wind through your hair, and the silent beauty (yes, the BionX is very quiet) of moving down the road at a moderate speed. Realize that you still have to pedal (but perhaps not as hard as you have to some times). We find that a bike with a Bionx system installed is a practical idea for many...and imminently appropriate for the heavier duty applications like cargo bikes meant for family hauling or work.

But don't take our word for it, drop by and take a BionX equipped bike for a test ride and see for yourself.

BionX PL350 Facts:

2 versions: One with rear rack battery and the other with a battery mounted to water bottle braze ons.
350 watts drawing from a battery of almost 10 amp hours gives run times depending on terrain, load, and speed from 15 miles to 40 miles on most bikes.
Speed is controlled to 20 mph.
For Bullitt cargo bikes, we like to use the waterbottle battery unit by custom installing water bottle riv-nuts into the beefy bottom tube of the Bullitt bicycle frame.
For most other bikes, the rear rack battery unit is ideal as the the rear rack will have many uses as well as carrying the battery.

Average install for most bikes is $1700 to $1850 depending on the bike for the PL350 and $1200 to $1250 for the PL250. For more information on BionX check out their website.

EcoSpeed from Portland, Oregon

The EcoSpeed mountain drive system is new at Splendid Cycles as of Spring 2011. We now have the ability to install the Ecospeed Mountain Drive system on Bullitt, Winther, and Metrofiets cargo bikes.
After testing the very first EcoSpeed Bullitt cargo bike for most of the 2011 winter and 600 miles of urban riding, all we can say is WOW! The Ecospeed system is a game changer for heavy duty cargo bikes.

The 1000 watt motor can provide unparalleled horsepower for long hill climbs, or heavy loads on flatter terrain, and even enough horsepower to pull a heavilly loaded trailer behind your heavily loaded cargo bike. In an urban setting where distances are shorter, bike lanes and bike boulevards common and traffic and parking an issue, a heavy duty cargo bike like a Metrofiets or Bullitt with an Ecospeed can replace a small pick-up truck or compact car for only pennies per day of energy. Realize that most heavy duty cargo bikes stay in flatter terrain and those that venture into the hills and steep hills are powered by athletes with plenty of horse power to pedal a BIG heavy bike.

So what is someone to do if they have to travel in hilly destinations like say the West Hills of Portland, Capital Hill in Seattle, or on Russian Hill in San Francisco and want to use a cargo bike instead of a car, van or truck AND are not a hardened athlete? Until the EcoSpeed came along your only option was to build legs of steel, blow your knees, or walk the bike. But not any more. The EcoSpeed will easily take a loaded cargo bike up a 1000' vertical hill with the rider pedaling at a moderate pace. Like we said before, a Game Changer!

EcoSpeed Mountain Drive facts:

Operates with 24, 36 or 48 volt batteries, 48 volts are ideal for cargo bikes.
Battery size is customizable. We think a 15 Amp hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery supplied by EcoSpeed is a nice size as you could expect to get 20 to 40 miles in average terrain and speed.
Simple thumb throttle controls the speed.
Motor drives a special front freewheeling crankset. This allows the rider to pedal w/o turning the motor...or the the motor to power the bike w/o turning the pedals. In other words pedal and motor are independent of each other...either can power the rear wheel at any time without effecting the other.
Because of the motor drives the front chainwheel, it is able to use the gear ratios of the drivetrain which is unlike hub motor systems like the above BionX. You simply get more hill climbing torque when in your lower gear ranges and more speed in your higher gear ranges
Optional cycle analyst can supply all of the numbers you need to monitor the battery, provide an odometer, control battery output, and track the history of the battery.
Many battery options with the EcoSpeed system. This is a fantastic feature as you will not be locked into a particular brand of battery and can simply shop around for the best option at the time of replacement years down the road.
The charger will re-charge the battery in a few hours for a little over a nickel.

EcoSpeed Mountain Drive installed onto a Bullitt, Winther, or Metrofiets w/o battery $3195
Cycle Analyst $250
Many battery options - $1295-$1695