# Copenhagen Wheel?



## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

Howd e-y'all,

Longtime mountain biker here (since '85) but I don't have an e-bike yet. I've got a converted 29er mountain bike with 2" road tires, rack, saddlebags, lights, etc. that I occasionally pedal to/from work on. My commute is 30 miles round-trip and includes 2700' elevation gain.

Inasmuch as I'll be 65 on my next birthday, I admit to driving my car to work more often than I'd like (understatement). A few months ago I demo'd a pedal-assist e-bike and found it fun beyond description.

I'm thinking of converting my commuter to e-bike. A friend bought a conversion kit (I think it's called Luna or something like that) that he says works pretty good. Another friend suggested the Copenhagen Wheel.
https://content.superpedestrian.com/the-copenhagen-wheel
I really know nothing about either of these.

The thing is at some point in the future I'll almost certainly want to put knobby tires back on my converted 29er/commuter and take it to the trails to see what e-biking off-road is like. The construction of the Copenhagen Wheel (spoke attachment in particular) appears perhaps a bit delicate for off-road abuse, even light duty(?). And I haven't dug deep enough to find out if it's offered with wide enough rims.

Can anyone comment on these systems &/or recommend another good system I might consider for an e-conversion? Preference for mid-mounted motor vs wheel-motor systems?

I'm so new to this that I really don't even know what questions to ask. Thanks in advance for any/all help.
=sParty

P.S. I did a search for "Copenhagen" to see if there was a thread on the Copenhagen Wheel which didn't turn up anything. Forgive me if this ground has already been covered. If so, I'd appreciate a link to that/those threads.


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## fos'l (May 27, 2009)

Read a few threads at endless sphere and the tutorials at ebikesca.
Rule of thumb; hub drives for road riding, mid-drives for off road and/or extremely hilly riding. Look at Luna Cycle for mid-drives and em3ev & ebikesca for hub systems, although there are other fine vendors. The Copenhagen Wheel and similar systems are easier to implement, but I haven't had any experience with them.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

Skip the Copenhagen wheel idea. All in one type units look easy but in reality they are not suitable for your needs and more for city type stuff. Especially in regards to your elevation gain requirements. 

As mentioned a hub motor works well for road riding but I would say for Oakridge type terrain you will be better off with a mid drive especially if you have designs on doing some trail riding, which once you do you will. 

The kit that I use on my 13 yr. old 29"er is the 52v TSDZ2. It differs from the Luna, Bafang actually, mid drives in that it has a torque sensing PAS rather than a cadence sensing one. I find the torque version provides a more realistic pedaling experience personally. 750w is plenty btw. 15 miles one way is totally doable with a 500wh battery as long as you can recharge at work. Otherwise I find I can go for 3+ hrs. riding the lower speed/cadence one uses mtb'ing.

There is a guy in Portland that has them as well as batteries and can set you up easily. Might be worth a trip to the big city?


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

Thanks, fellas.
=sParty


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