Experience with converting Burley to ebike?

I've ridden my Burley Limbo thousands of happy miles over the past 18 years. I turned 65 last year and the hills seem to be getting steeper with every passing year.

I've been thinking about converting my Burley to an ebike to help on those hills.

Anyone converted a Burley Limbo or similar Burley model to electric?

I've researched wheel hub motors versus mid-drives and the latter seems a better option.

I was very interested in a 750W Bafang mid-drive, but as I look looked at it closely, I am concerned that the motor won't fit in the space between the headset and the small frame member that points backward for "6 inches and mounts the derailleur hardware. I could cut that frame tube off, but geez! There'd be no going back.

This bike already has most of the weight on the rear tire, so I don't think a rear hub motor wheel would be a good idea. Not to mention the additional hassle with rear tire flats.

So maybe a front hub motor? Anyone with experience with this? I'm concerned about how this might affect the handling. The bike is already wobbly at low speeds and has a considerable "tiller effect." Will a front hub motor make the bike unstable?

Thanks!

 

This thread is a bit old but I thought that I would chime in anyway.
I have converted three different recumbents to e-bikes. All with the same conversion kit. My first conversion was a Bacchetta Giro. With the extra speed from the electric boost I found the ride to be a bit harsh. So I bought a Vision R50 which had full suspension and swapped the e-bike kit over. The Vision was a big improvement in comfort however I found the OSS that my bike had to be a cramped riding position. So then I bought a Streetmachine GTe with USS and swapped the e-bike kit over again. I am very happy with this setup.

My e-bike kit is a rear wheel hub drive. I did not find any detriment to having the extra weight of the rear hub. Offsetting the weight of the hub drive is the weight of the battery. I bought a battery mount kit from TerraCycle and hung the battery from the main frame under the seat.

Installing an e-bike kit is not a trivial task. You would need to be fairly comfortable with bike mechanical maintenance and modification. There are a lot of wires to run, and sensors to install for the crank and brake levers. I was happy to buy a complete kit from a local shop who could help me with any issues.

I am very happy with my e-bike conversion and now I can ride any route I like without having to worry about hills. It looks like the Limbo would be a great bike to convert as you have the rear suspension. If you are thinking of changing bikes, you might consider one with USS - it's a pretty comfy way to go!

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you've had good experience converting bents to ebikes.

I bought a 500W Ebikeling conversion kit for my front wheel. Spend most of the past weekend working on it. As you say, not a trivial exercise. My biggest problem so far was how to mount the battery. My first approach didn't work, so I had to go to Plan B. I have it mounted now under the main frame tube just forward of the seat. I wanted to keep the weight as low and forward as I could. There simply weren't any simple options.

The front wheel was easy to replace and I've gotten all the equipment installed on the handlebars. I've at least temporarily mounted the controller box, although I don't like having to give up a bottle cage mount where I have it now. I may move it if I can. Problem is getting all the cables to fit.

Next big Challenge is installing the pedal assist sensor. Gotta remove a crank to do that. Bought a crank puller and hope it comes off easily. It's an 18-year-old bike, so it may take some doing to get it off.

I'll post again once I get it finished and will send pics.

 

Glad to hear that you have been forging ahead.
The front wheel drive is an excellent solution.
You shouldn't have any trouble getting that crank off if you have a puller.
Cable management is challenge - lots of zip-ties are the solution.
Good luck finishing off the project. Let us know how the bike rides when you are done!

 

I completed my Burley ebike conversion and am pleased with the result. It works really well and does not affect the handling to any great extent. The bike does feel heavier, not surprising since I added ~12 pounds of hub motor, battery, etc.

I have it set for 5 levels of pedal assist, plus zero. It starts up after a revolution or two of the crank riding down the driveway. I also have a thumb throttle that comes in handy to get a quick start across a busy street or from a traffic light. Level 2 gives me plenty of exercise; I still pedal hard up hills and have to downshift. But I no longer have to struggle to pedal up long, steep hills. The motor insures I don't slow down nearly as much as before. Sometimes I use Level 3 on steep hills.

My biggest issue in the conversion was that the motor hub rubbed against the fork once it was tightened down. The axle fit fine in the fork, and seemed fine before I tightened down the axel nuts. But once tightened down, the wheel didn't turn. I have a 1" belt grinder that is a bench-based unit, but I used it as a hand-held to grind quite a bit of metal off the fork so the hub wouldn't rub. I hope I haven't weakened the fork too much!

The next problem was finding a good place for the ~8 lb. battery. I positioned it under the main frame just forward of the seat so that the center of gravity would be low and that it was as far forward as I could get it to balance the weight distribution between the wheels. The battery mounting bracket is made to fit a standard bottle cage mount and so I drilled and tapped two holes under the frame. But, when I tried to mount it, it interfered with chain by just a smidgen. So I got two L-shaped brackets and offset the battery to the left a bit. Seems to work fine now.

The ebike conversion came with a plastic bag that I used to house the controller box and to gather up excess cables. I mounted it on the tiller that holds the handle bars. I had been concerned that, being a recumbent, some cables would be too short. But I had no problem with the standard cables in the conversion kit. As hrifraf said, it took a lot of zip ties to manage the cables.

So far I've gotten about 25 miles on a single charge of the 36V 13AH LG Dolphin battery and it still shows about 65% battery remaining. Pretty decent.

The only glitch was that initially, the LCD display showed 100% charge remaining, even after a couple of 5-8 mile rides. So I called ebikeling and they sent me a new one. It worked just fine and I just mailed the first one back.

The instructions that came with the bike and the ones on ebikeling's website were almost entirely useless. But, between the instructions, years of bike work, and YouTubes, I got it done.

Now looking forward to many great rides without fearing steep hills!

 

Here are some before, during, and after photos of my Burley ebike conversion.

 

Nice job! Congratulations on your e-bike conversion. I'm sure you will enjoy the boost.

 

I am a copy cat. I just did the same conversion on my Burley Limbo. I didn't have to grind the front fork like you though. Thanks for being the pioneer. My display shows 100% but won't register anything else, no speed, distance, etc. PAS is also not working but throttle is. I must have a bad computer. Btw, my bike is in the short wheel base setup and rides fine. On an unrelated note, do you know where to get new mounts for the seat? The two front ones broke so I have it held together with wire. No super stable but works.

 

About 7 years ago I was riding and the chain jammed up. I stopped and found that the dropout mounting the derailleur had completely bent around. I couldn't find anyone locally to fix it, but somehow I found that a fellow in Tennessee had apparently bought a lot of the old Burley recumbent stuff after the new owners decided to cease production of bents. I sent the frame part to him and he cut off the damaged part and welded on a new one. It's worked great every since. Maybe he has the part you need. His info in 2015 was:

Bill Gillette
1026 Jim Norton Loop
Seymour, TN 37865
bgillette*edgeengineering.net

 

Hi, Willie G has been out of touch 'cause he's working himself in the ground. I lurk here still and post when I can... It's a little harder to do with design work being to "good" these days. We still have a lot of the inventory and some of the new stuff we made back in the day. What do you need? Seat sliders? I'll have to check, but it will be next week sometime before I can get back to you. I'm going camping tomorrow through the weekend. So have a nice weekend and I'll reach out after I get back. Thanks.

 

I'm looking for the aluminum seat sliders. On your website they show as being sold out but is i spoke to someone on the phone and he said there are several sets in stock.

 

I'm going to check my storage building. I am out of town on business. You may have spoken to my husband...I'll let you know what I find when I get back.

 

Thank you. He also said you may have a set of forks that will work with disc brakes. If you do, I would be interested in that depending on the cost.

Thank you,

Brian