Sun EZ1 recumb e-conversion
 

I don't post often, so excuse me if this is a repeat of an old question. Anyone have a Sun EZ-1 recumbent with an electric motor? If so, which motor or conversion kit is best? So much wind and so many hills in southern New Mexico this slow bike wears me out!

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Whoa! Amazing! Thanks for the great reference page, Jethro. Funds are low now, but I'm saving. Can't stand seeing such a fun bike like the EZ-1 just sitting in the garage. Interesting that a 16 inch front wheel accepted a motor. I appreciate your help.

What I would get on there is a Crystalyte 404 direct drive model front hub motor for 16" wheel. Those motors are wound for speed. I have one on a Rebike 20/16 recumbent, and I'm cruising around 25mph at 48V. I also have a Ez-Sport CX with a 405 model on it, which is optimum for 20" wheels. It was a very easy conversion with the front hub motor. The Sun forks are very good for conversion - steel unsuspended, and there are a variety of torque arms which work on them - I'm using the ones from ampedbikes. The 404s are a bit rare these days...ebikes.ca carries them but they are presently out of stock. That's the motor I'd go to, for speed on a 16" wheel. I run a 48V 15Ahr ping with it, and a 35 amp controller. I'd get the 12mosfet controller from bmsbattery.com ("universal" - 48V) and run the motor sensorless, as Crystalyte Hall sensors can fail in wet environments. The bmsbattery controllers are cheap (30U.S) and powerful, and the sensorless capability eliminates the need for Halls, which are a point of failure. The Suns (at least the CX) can run a mid rack which is good for low centre of gravity when placing the batteries. I'd like to find a used EZ-1 around here...I think it would be a snappy and very fun little bike. Go for it!

Thanks for your help, chvid. I am such a newbie to all this, I don't understand all you've written, but appreciate your reply. I will have to do a lot more homework before buying. As for your interest in a used EZ-1, I'd say "go for it", too, but be warned. It's probably the slowest recumbent available, although probably the cheapest. It's reeeeaaallly slow on hills, but very fast downhill. Heavy, at about 35 pounds. Thanks again, GSE

Thanks, 15rms. I'll look into the cyclone. Everyone on this forum is super helpful. I appreciate that. I also envy you for having a Lightfoot. They look so well built. Do you like yours? If so, what's great about it? GSE

gseisele I have a Camino the one in my picture and a gasoline powered Ranger. My son has a World Traveler with the cyclone on it. The Lightfoot bike is very well made and extremely comfortble. Without any conditioning anybody could get on either of my bikes and ride for 8 hours without a hint of discomfort. Not fast but they are designed so well they work great. I will get a Bionx powered Ranger hopefully next summer.

You have the patience of Midas:)

No patience however I just can't afford one at the mement. Also soon to move to Denver where there are bicycle trails everywhere.

I have an Sun EZ recumbent with an Electroportal kit on it. It is the original company that Cyclone copied. It works great. Too bad you don't live nearby or I'd sell you mine for cheap, it's an extra I don't need.

I just purchased a used Sun EZ-1, and I put on a 20" fork from an Ez-Sport-CX on it that I had earlier purchased for my Raleigh 20 (it has a long 9" steerer, and a 1" steerer). Since I couldn't find a Crystalyte 404 for the 16" fork/wheel. Instead I have a Nine-Continent 2805 hub motor in the 20" wheel. There is a wee bit of flop on the wheel, but very rideable. The bike is fast - I can hit around 27mph on it, on a 48Volt Ping battery. Excellent machine. I got the motor from ebikes.ca, and using the bmsbattery 12 mosfet universal controller (in sensorless mode). That fork can be aquired from an LBS, but tell them not to mention to J&B importers that it is for this conversion - you might tell them it is "to put a new fork on a Raleigh 20, which has standard 100mm spacing". I gather J&B may balk if they hear it is for an EZ-1 conversion. Quite a successful project - love the bike in the 20/20 format. Still small, and the bb is a bit higher, so more recumbent than before. I'm using the mid-rack to hold a battery, leaving another pannier for hauling on the other size, and a milk crate zip-tied to the back of the seat - an inflateable thermorest cushion against the back, between the seat straps and the mesh is much nicer on the back. I think it would also be nice with a smaller geared hub motor in the 20" fork, like a Bafang, as long as the speed is good - its nice to hit 25mph with moderate pedalling.

Does anyone have anything to add about adding an electric boost to a Sun recumbent?
I'm looking for help in the San Francisco/Berkeley area, to do that somehow.

I'm just learning to ride the first model Sun recumbent (round curve-bent tubes, not made any longer) as its original user switched to a BART-able bike, and I needed a way to ride without arm/hand pressure after carpal tunnel surgery failed.

I'm finding starting up hills is impossible, and I get stuck on streets too narrow for starting downhill and pulling a U-turn.

A little electric boost would suffice, I can spin fast enough to climb moderate hills -- once I'm moving.

I'm using a 500W Crystaylte front hub in the 16" wheel on my BOB trailer. Used mainly for touring as a hill assist. The battery is mounted to the trailer deck with enough cargo space to carry my tent, sleeping bag and most of my camp paraphernalia. I ride a Catrike Expedition and with the E-BOB, I'm still able to continue touring.

Are electric boosts pretty much entirely homemade? I find quite a few mentions of those, but so far nothing in the 'built to bolt on' range that I would feel confident putting money into, and also no mention of builders who will do this conversion for others.

Hi, I put a bafang BBS02 from Luna Cycle on my EZ-1 and it works great as long as you are religious about shifting down when you stop. I've learned from experience that this motor hates it when you use the throttle to get moving while your in any gear higher than 3rd. Oh, and you lose two of your front gears and derailleur because it's a middrive, but with the motor you probably won't need those. I ordered my kit from www.LunaCycle.com because they are located in California and have plenty of spare parts and good customer service. Don't know if this is the best kit but I really like it.

This post from rwgreen89 caught my attention. I am considering a mid drive for my heavy EZ3 USX. Did you have major interference between the mid drive and the steering link. I am leaning towards the TSDZ2 middrive from PSW Power but I think it will interfere with steering. Any tips appreciated.
Wingryder

I too am considering a BBS02 build onto my wife's Sun EZ-1 Super Cruiser SX.

I've found almost nothing current about conversions of the old EZ-1 anywhere, in most any form, probably because the 20" rear / 16" front wheels are less popular...

We're mid-60s & bike for exercise, see no need to ever go more than 17-19 mph.

I think I'm capable of the build - I built an Ebikeling 36V500W 26" rear geared hub motor kit onto my Sun EZ-Speedster. No big deal.

I took the conventional route for my 1st build. I was a little intimidated about a mid-drive for my 1st outing.

With the same amount of exercise I can go much farther & comfortably 4-5 mph faster (PAS lowest setting) on my powered EZ-Speedster.

We enjoy long 30-40 mile recreational rides on paved or hard-packed trails. We'd likely stay in a lower PAS setting, no real need for speed.

I hope I might leverage your experience with the Luna BBS02 kit here... So I ask these questions, answers greatly appreciated !

Sprocket size options - 44t, 48t (default), 52t: which did you choose (default ?) & do you wish you'd chosen differently ?

Display options - C961 (default), or DCP18 (+ $45 upgrade) or other options: which did you chose ? Wish you chosen differently ?

Throttle options - I think the (default) universal thumb throttle should be fine, your thoughts ? It's rare we'd touch the throttle anyway.

E-brake cutoff options - mechanical, hydraulic, or none (default, though elsewhere the Luna site says "The Bafang kit comes stock with new brake handles that can replace your existing brake handles") - what option did you go with ?

Kit battery options - various: did you select a battery from Luna ? If not, what did you use ? How has that battery option worked out ? Regrets ?

Battery note: I have a 36V 15.6AHr battery (562 WHr, works great on my 36V500W rear geared 26" hub motor) that I might try to use unless incompatible.

Any difficulties ? Surprises ? Special tool requirements ? How long did the build take you ? I'm excited to learn more about your EZ-1 / BBS02 marriage experience !

UPDATE: I bailed on the mid-drive approach for my SUN EZ-1 recumbent, I bought a 20" rear geared 36V500W kit, disc-brake capable, with PAS, throttle, color LCD & brake handles. I decided to stay in my comfort zone, using a kit approach I'm familiar with.

A factor was what I'd read in a BBS02 user forum about how the mid-drive (with torque sensor) applies boost vs how a rear-hub-motor kit with cadence sensing applies boost. The forum post described how, with the mid-drive / torque sensor approach, the faster/harder you pedal, the less boost is provided. That sounds good, & if I'd not had an alternative experience with another eBike drive solution, I'd consider a mid-drive.

But with my hub motor / cadence sensor approach, simply pedaling, whether with minimal or great effort, seems to help produce boost to reach a target speed, based on some programmed LCD parameters + PAS level selected.

When my bike reaches that speed I can continue to pedal along easy - making the motor do maybe half of the work, & drawing down the battery at a normal pace.... or.... I can pedal harder to maintain that speed, lessening the work being done by the motor, reducing the battery draw down, thereby increasing the potential range considerably.

AND... if I THEN PEDAL CONSISTENTLY HARD ENOUGH.... hard enough to maintain that speed on my own effort.... indicated wattage drops to near-ZERO.... sometimes my watt-meter indicates 70-some watts, or 30-some watts, or even ZERO watts. If one contributes sufficient effort in the process, one can achieve some remarkable range.

In effect, what I'm actually doing, is using my drive system, the BOOST, to mainly help me arrive quickly at my intended speed, with minimal effort. Then I choose how much pedal effort to apply. How much exercise I get then is my choice, pedal easy for a nice scenic cruise, or pedal hard for an exercise focus, & the range of my system varies accordingly. I prefer this approach - excellent, predictable performance while pedaling as comfortably as I choose, I'm sticking with it.

I decided the mid drive approach would cause problems with the underseat steering on my EZ3 USX..So I went with a cheap ebay 350 watt kit.. Came with a 20 inch wheel and hub which I installed on the front of the trike.. with no problems. The smaller 20 inch hub gives me a little lower gearing as well. It works very well and I baby it. (no dead stop starts) It will give me about three hours with careful use. It is used for exercise only. I find I use the bike way more than I used to and stay on it longer as well. The entire system came to about 350 including the extra large 20 inch tire for the heavy duty front rim.

I bought an Aliexpress-sourced 20" rear kit for my EZ-1 & am struggling with wheel / freewheel fit. When I insert the hubmotor with spun-on-tight freewheel into the dropouts, even with 2 washers on the axle inside the frame on the freewheel-side, using the provided 7-speed freewheel, the 14T gear rubs the frame. I thought I could address that with a different freewheel with smaller diameter (teeth < 14) gear, or rebuild a DNP 7-speed 11T freewheel to remove the largest gear to be a less wide 6-speed, but haven't figured that out either.

The biggest nuisance & show stopper for me is seeing how poorly the wheel is centered within the frame when I have 2 washers on the axle inside the dropouts each side. The wheel is way over to one side. Just bugs me that I have to maybe do the "dishing" process of loosing / tightening spokes to effectively move the wheel towards the freewheel direction (as the kit manufacturer should have done) to properly center the wheel.

FYI (not that it's critical to your vehicle), the BBS02 has a cadence sensor; the TSDZ2 has a torque sensor.

Update on my EZ-1 20" rear geared build: I'd shared earlier that my rear wheel with freewheel was not well-centered in the frame. I'd hoped to address that by disassembly & reassembly of my DNP 7-speed freewheel, such that leaving out the biggest ring & spacer would result in a thinner but useful 6-speed freewheel. I had it apart & reassembled as a 6-speed but the design wouldn't allow me to fully snug the gears tight using the lockring, due to limited hub thread depth. Plan-B, I used a threaded rod, nuts & washers to stretch the dropout width by 10 mm so that additional washers needed to center the wheel would fit. The wheel is still not perfectly centered, but better. It remains to be seen if I will still need to "dish" the wheel some, or not. More as time permits...

I'd be putting a hub motor in the rear wheel of one of those. Stuff having one in the front, especially on slippery surfaces.