Electric Mountain Bike- Africa

j_robi

Hi all

I work in Sub saharan africa on school and community projects, all located in rural and difficult to reach locations. Currently we monitor projects on push bikes, but as we expand, wonder if e mountain bikes should be a consideration for the team

Does anyone on here have experience or advice?

Requirements:
Durable
Serviceable
Enough power to assist with going up hills, without feeling exhausted

Look forward to responses and recommendations

Many thanks

The Rookie

Two options, either a lightweight 'assist' motor and small battery or a beefier motor and battery but you won't want to be pedalling the latter very far if you run out of juice.

What would be the range requirements between charge point availability?

Hub motors are cheap and reliable but heavy, crank drive motors are lighter, run geared and pricier. The electrics are the bit most likely to cause issues, motors are reliable, as are batteries though they do have a finite life depending on quality of battery, quality of charger and usage.

j_robi

Thanks for this. If the hub motors are more reliable, maybe this is best. The range only needs to be 30-40 miles. The terrain is bad, all offroad and mountainous.

Are there any off the shelf bikes that you'd recommend?

The Rookie

Budget?

I'm not an expert on specific models although do know the things to look for or avoid.

FishFish

I had lived in rural West Africa for a few years and can assure you that the electricity supply is totally unreliable to non-existant up country and not so good in the towns either. So even assuming that you charge the bike at the beginning of the day, 40 miles later up in the sticks with a discharged battery you are in for a slog of a journey to get back! I was in Senegal and Gambia and the 'systems' set up are for bush taxi and cars - so an infrastructure for fuel and repair. Cycling is incredibly dangerous on the roads and the paths beside the roads are not easy but I guess you know your own country better than I do. You would of course need to secure the bikes well because of theft too.

cooldad

Probably find some cheap Chinese moped things would be cheaper.

FishFish

Dangerous on the roads though and they don't last. If you buy an import from Europe it can be better quality but much more expensive and probably past its best.