Canadian
Clown Bike Death Trap That May or May Not Be The End of Me
Vancouver Canada
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28
Published: 2024-12-01
The origins of this bike is an ebike called Jackrabbit OG, that comes in at 11kg/24lbs from factory with a 300w motor and about 10-12km range from a 40wh battery. Its sold and marketed as a super-light weight fun bike, but can definitely serve a a last-mile commuter. I indeed did a 5km commute on this regularly, with charging at destination and home. It's very light, nimble, fun, but also commands some diligence and caution given the extremely high centre-of-mass, short wheel base (73cm) and twitchy steering. At 9kg it's very easy to sling around.
300 watts was fine for flat areas around the streets, but the slightest gradient really brought out the limitations. There was one particular hill though that made me think "this is unacceptable" and I immediately started looking for more power and range. That brought me to Grin products.
With the rear dropouts being 110mm, I used a Grin AA Front motor with some custom spacers and axle. This is driven by the Phaserunner and powered by a custom made 13s3p Molicel P45 battery, made by a Canadian business on the East coast. The rear-only brakes immediately became inadequate and I had a custom front fork with disc made - 20" disc forks are non-existent except for some BMX specific stuff that doesn't fit the look. I swapped in a Magura caliper with a 203mm rotor. The final weight is 18kg which has doubled the weight, but my bicep curls finally have a use-case and I don't find this heavy per se.
With a range of about 60km (according to the Grin simulator), it's got a great ratio of weight to range/power. Playing around with the Phaserunner software, 1000watts is fast but sensible, 1500watts requires much more caution on the throttle, and 2000watts feels angry and twitchy. Obviously, hills aren't a problem anymore.
The Grin products are extremely high quality, and I struggle to find anything to even nit-pick at. I'm really impressed with all parts of the products, information, documentation, fit and finish, performance. All 10/10. Before I considered Grin I considered the usual suspects - the Aliexpress imports, Goldenmotor, Amazon stuff, and they could only offer lower prices. All other aspects weren't comparable.
I've become a huge fan of Grin products, their business model, how they treat their staff, their investment in product development. Their methodical and cautious approach to their work shows in all aspects. I will definitely be considering another motor to go on my next idea - a 29" BMX with a Grin at the back again.
