morph999 

Hi. I'm very new to electric bikes. I want to get one that goes about 30 mph max speed. I know that if I buy a bike that is slow or isn't up to my standards that I'll be dissatisfied so I'm aiming for the best that I can get for the best price.

I'm thinking about the Crystatlyte Phoenix Racer or the BMC thunderbolt. The guys who make BMC claim that they are faster but it's also a little more expensive.

I also saw this one. It looks like it might be a crystalyte hub motor but I'm not sure.
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...odID=4556&HS=1

It only goes 25 mph but for the price and everything included, it looks to be a pretty good buy.

What do you guys think? Even if I bought a race or thunderbolt, what kind of controller and what kind of battery would I need to reach top speed of 30 mph ? Thanks. Someone said that I'd need a 54 v controller. HOw does that work? Thanks.

morph999 

if anyone has a bike that goes 30 mph, what kind of hub motor is it and where did you buy it? I'm looking for testimonials I guess because I don't know the good vendors from the bad. Thanks.

unime

The BMC is geared, which should give it lower weight along with better torque and overall efficiency. Crystalyte 5xxx motors can be pushed (using dangerously high voltages) to motorcycle like power levels which would destroy the thunderbolt. This video show a thunderbolt pulling away from a Crystalyte X5304 on bikes with identical batteries and controllers.

The no load top speed of a motor is proportional to the battery's voltage. It sounds like 36 volts is not enough to push those motors to 30mph, so you'll want a higher voltage battery. The controller also needs to supply enough current (amperage) to power the motor. If you choose the BMC, you might also want a current limiting controller (assuming you choose high voltages) to prevent excessive power from destroying the motor.

leamcorp

First, don't believe everything you read from a vendor's site. Nearly all are inflated claims. Most seem to trust ebike.ca though.

there's no such thing as Pheonix or Thunderbolt. Those names are created by two different vendors. Simply, its either 5xxx Crystalyte series or BMC 600 watt motor and bunch of different vendors sell them.

The Crystalyte 5xxx series are a beast and needs at least 72v. This motor is designed to be abused and there's a lot of review of this motor in Endless. Oh yeah, this is lot faster since it could be driven up to 144v.

The BMC 600 watt motor also can do high speed but isn't as durable or is in same class as 5xxx series. It could do 72 volt but lifespan will be shorter than 5xxx series. The main weakness of this motor is the gears. The previous model had a plastic gears and now they are using composite gears which is an improvement. Still, these break or get burned out if you abuse the motor... so be prepared to work on your motor if you tend to abuse your ride. Also, if you are looking to run it at 72v, make sure they will honor the warrantee at that level.

If all you are going to do is ride at level ground for 5-10 miles, then both will do 30mph. Heck, I even got the new Wilderness kit from Ebay to go 29mph at 48v (and that only cost $300). Faster than that will start to get scary and dangerous without beefing up your bike.

The motor from Battery space looks like wilderness kit. Check out the nine continent kit from Ebike.ca - I believe someone reached 30mph with that kit and it cost about $400.

Read detail discussion of these two motor at endless-sphere