Below are photos showing the exterior and interior of a well-used PedalEasy hubmotor (as well as several showing how it looked when it was new). Detailed internal inspection showed no sign of significant wear, dirt, or corrosion, and it was still well-lubricated with the original grease – a testimonial to the sealing and durability of these motors! This […]

For several reasons we designed our bikes to be motor-assisted at the front wheel, as opposed to the rear wheel or at the crank. One reason is better weight distribution. With a rear mounted battery (or seat-tube mounted one for that matter), having the motor on the front wheel helps make the bike feel more […]

  This is an update on an earlier post “Our Batteries”, please refer to that article for background on NCR chemistry. Estimates of the service lives of lithium ion batteries, particularly of new chemistries like the Panasonic NCR batteries we use, are of necessity based on what is termed “accelerated aging” tests (because this new variant […]

Virtually all electric bikes now use radial flux brushless DC motors (BLDC). These motors however, vary considerably in audible noise level. Many (particularly geared hub motors) produce quite a noticeable hum, particularly under load, accelerating or when climbing a hill. The hum is gear clash that stems from the high frequency electrical pulsing that all […]

  “Efficiency” is key to engineering an ultra lightweight vehicle of any type. Both motor and drivetrain electrical and mechanical efficiencies have been optimized in our bikes: Motor With a peak hubmotor electrical efficiency (ratio of output power at the road to battery power consumed) of 75%, our motor ranks amongst the most efficient motors […]

Over the past few years my wife and I have travelled to numerous places for extended cycling trips of various types… cycle-path touring in Belgium and the Netherlands, road touring (Italy), and mountain touring (BC). My wife uses a conventional bike and I use my Pedal Easy electric bike. Air travel with our bikes has […]

Our “hybrid” model bikes have characteristics of a road bike (light weight, 700c large diameter wheels for low rolling resistance) and characteristics of a light-duty mountain bike (somewhat wider tires, non-drop handlebars, more upright riding position). A hybrid design allows riders to sit in an upright position that gives them good visibility, good control, and […]

Most people, in North America at least, are familiar with derailleur type gearing on bicycles. Most mountain bikes and road bikes have derailleur gearing, which is characterized by multiple sprockets on the rear wheel and often on the crank, with moveable chain-guides (the derailleurs) which “derail” the chain by moving it sideways to engage with […]

Panasonic NCR lithium ion chemistry Our e-bikes use lithium-ion batteries. However, there are many available types of lithium-ion battery. Performance, cost, and safety characteristics differ depending on lithium-ion type. When evaluating new chemistries we find there is a lot of battery hype, so we rely heavily on in-house resistance-load and dynamometer tests to evaluate & compare candidates under […]

Bench-testing On this website and in our promotional literature we make reference to our use of bench- type testing to supplement field-testing. Although research and development engineers use such testing extensively, its value or even its significance may not be so obvious to everyone. The advantage of bench-scale simulated-service testing (relative to field testing) is […]