Recumbents

[infinityrec]

Hello all, first post on your forum. This seems to be the place to have questions answered. I have an Infinity recumbent that I used to ride a lot until the onset of diabetes. Now that my blood is under control and I feel much better I would like to get back on the road despite my advanced years (67). I have read about the Golden motor and it seems ideal to give me the assist I might need when I get back to biking. One question, ( I am no mechanic) my bike has a 700mm rear wheel, will the 26inch wheel from golden (although smaller) fit?  Does anyone have any experiance with Golden motors on recumbents, or more specifically, Infinity long wheelbase bikes? Would getting a fairing be advantageous? I have to admit to being a little leary about buying equipment from China, has their service and quality control, been satisfactory? Should I buy my battery pack from them as well? I have a lot of work to do to get my bike in good condition but Im working on it. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give an old duffer.

[OneEye]

The 700 and 26" wheel sizes should be close enough.  Just need to make sure your brake pads can be adjusted to land on the rim.  If you are using disc brakes it doesn't matter.  A bigger issue will be whether you have enough width at the dropouts to fit the motor. If that measurement checks out it should be just fine.

Except for Heinzman, which I think is produced in Germany, all the hub motor vendors are sourcing their parts from the Far East.  As for the Goldenmotor experience: service has been nearly non-existant, quality control has been spotty.  If those are more important to you than initial price tag then you may want to look at other manufacturers.  These motors have been for those only interested in the lowest price possible with a willingness to suck it up and figure out how to get it running if there are problems.

I don't recall anyone who has installed a golden motor on a recumbent, however there are a few LWB recumbent riders on the Endless Sphere forums running similar hub-motor setups from other vendors, so it is clearly possible.

I don't know enough about user experience with the battery setup, so I can't comment on that.

Good luck whichever way you run with the project.

[infinityrec]

Thank you for your response. Perhaps I would be better off paying a little more, it is not a problem. I would rather not have any hassles. I am also looking at ecospeed, at considerably more money, but also more power.

Thanks again

[biohazardman]

The rim shipped with the motor is a very inexpensive single walled rim and there are many reports of trouble with it. You might want to check these links out to see how things are. I am still happy with my kit despite the trouble I had getting it and the bad rim.

http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=280.msg2829#msg2829

http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=279.msg2825#msg2825