Canadian
Commute Crusher
Richmond, CA
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161
Published: 2023-07-31
I have a nice multi-use trail that I can take to work, but there's very often strong winds that make for a miserable commute after a long day of work. Enter the commute crusher. While sitting upright, wearing jeans, and carrying a heavy pannier, I can now easily fly by hard working spandex-clad road cyclists.
The bike started as a stock commuter bike. I changed the stem to make the riding position more upright and added the GRIN conversion kit with an amazon 48V battery. I used the SX2 Rear Helical Geared Hub Motor, Standard Wind with a 700C wheel build and the Z9 baserunner. I had hoped to install the baserunner in my battery base, but the amazon battery base wasn't the right shape so it didn't fit. Not everything mounted perfectly, but I was able to make it work.
Despite the fairly small motor size, this bike now crushes my commute. I can easily cruise over 22mph while wearing jeans and not working very hard. Top speed on flat ground with light pedaling is somewhere around 28mph. I don't think the motor (or my battery) could sustain the higher power levels I sometimes use for a long ride, but my commute is only ~6 miles each way so it's no problem. Next step is probably to upgrade the brakes, or at the very least replace the pads and make sure they're well adjusted.
