In 2016, I finally decided that it was time to try what an electric bike is. I have not a small experience of riding a regular bike, I have been on bike tours in Ukraine and abroad several times, in my city I ride all the time. Googling led me to the websites of Odessa Volta Bikes and Kiev Evel.

As a result, my bike was taken, the Volta Bikes 500 W geared motor-wheel, the 1300 W controller and all sorts of brake, gas and screen handles from Evel, and I found the battery at a discount of 48V 15Ah and turned into what you see on photo.

Who may not be aware of what a geared motor-wheel is and how it differs from the usual one: a geared wheel contains a high-speed motor inside, gears that reduce speed to the values usual for a bicycle wheel and an overrunning clutch, which allows you to pedal and at the same time the motor is turned off won't interfere with pedaling. As a rule, geared motors are lighter than their conventional (direct drive) counterparts and are more prone to breakage (especially gears). And they are more expensive than 1.5-2 times :)

So, the disconnected motor really does not interfere with pedaling, I rode in a group with ordinary bikes, without a motor - everything is ok. But when you turn it on and the controller pumps 1300 W into it - it is sooooo felt :) it makes no sense to pedal while the motor is running, there is more power from it than the legs can give. Just to save battery.

Speaking of the battery. Mine at 48V and 15 Ah has a power of 720 W * h. She is in the photo in the center of the frame, in a rectangular bag. Without the bag, it looks something like this (I don't have a photo left):

Weighs about 4-4.5 kg.

It was enough for about 40-50 km, if you drive at speeds up to 40 km / h

Now the most interesting thing: the power of the motor is determined not by its rated power, but by the power of the controller that supplies energy to the motor. I have a 1300W controller and a 500W wheel motor. Vel started from a place like crazy, but this led to overheating of the motor, especially in summer. In principle, the Volta Bikes website says that this motor can be operated at 1200 watts, so...

The controller with all the personal belongings I had was like this:

It is very convenient that there is a screen, it shows a lot of useful information.

As a result, in this configuration, the bike accelerated to a maximum of 49 km / h, and the bike began to weigh 9 kg more (about 23 kg in total). I skated on it for a couple of months, the initial euphoria passed and I realized that I wanted something faster and more powerful and sold the electrical components, because. nothing can be taken from this for a more powerful configuration. If, say, I was short of money, I would leave it and ride it for a long time. An electric motor is convenient if you often travel around the city on business.