Totem Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Hello All, this thread is on building an ebike, the costs and advantages. In prior years I used electric scooters and in some states was actually chased by police on them (LA on bourbon street) as they may be required to have a license like a moped. But a little known law with peddled bicycles makes the idea of the electric "peddle assisted" bicycle to be a much better choice for a toyhomes go getter than the scooters. So in my first build I decided to use my old suspension bike that's been getting layers of dust on it as I bought it thinking it would be fun and learned its horrible as a road bike because the shocks take your peddling and put it into the shock instead of torque... however they ride downhill like the bees knees. Enter the ebike kit from china. Standard 26 inch wheel with a front hub (brushless using hall effect or not) was what I decided on rather than the rear planetary gear; because I didn't trust that the splines would line up with my bikes chain and because front wheel drive is usually superior. So what do you get ? you get a wheel , wiring , thumb throttle, battery box (no battery) brake disabling sensors etc. basically the thing will propel your bike for you and stop if it senses brakes. add a nice battery and you're off. add a HUGE battery and you have a personal transporter that in this case has excellent suspension and is easy on the bones, can fetch groceries or anything else or just go places. If you want to peddle you still can; the motor is brushless. These have been around a while but for $170 (not including battery) they are excellent choice for a go getter on a toy. They can be charged in the RV while driving and require no gas etc. Get the corresponding inverter and an ebikes lifepo4 battery bank can double duty as camp generator for pretty decent loads as they have great C rates. I saw kits for Fat tire bike ones too! 4inch rims!; I'd love to build a cruiser bike one but decided to reuse my old suspension bike because I think its gonna be awesome. wife and I have a bike hitch kid hauler; it clamps onto the bicycle and you stick the brats in it or groceries or whatever you like. Certainly a great way to fetch things without leaving a campsite. I will post pics soon when it arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 (edited) bike and battery arrived; so the build starts tonight. I'll also see how the battery runs the old scooters. If its a good one I'll get another Linda and Payaso have me second guessing my choice of hub on the kit at 500 watt; but the highest supported one for 36volt that I could find was a 750.. so it cant be that much faster; we will see. A buddy at work has a 1000w and it was freaking dangerous...too much torque and speed. Edited April 20, 2016 by Totem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
payaso del mar Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 since 1 KW = 1.34 horsepower, that could be scary on a bicycle. they make gas motors with more hp but they don't have the massive torque right from idle. i'm looking forward to seeing your build......I agree with you, these could be a nice Toyhome replacement for usual RV "tow'd".......I see a lot of big RVs towing things bigger than the Bandit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 yeah coupled with it being front wheel drive it skidded into turns, I am used to mopeds and motorcycles ; I fell hard on it in the parking lot; hence why I chose to go the scooter route initially. I could have had a gear driven rear wheel one but after thinking about that I decided it would be more of a pain and my bike already has a removable front wheel on quick release. - that lets me also move the kit to another bike more easy. I figure if wife likes it and its sluggish hauling my 225 arse around I will upgrade to the 750. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
payaso del mar Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 I fell hard on it in the parking lot; ahh, you know Mr Road Rash too......old friend of mine, but i dunno why i hang out with him, he treat me so bad..... i understand your logic on why the front wheel, but aren't your rears QR too? hope your wife has less of a learning curve there are some folks experimenting with this technology in the front hub to make on-demand-2WD dirt bikes....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 the rear wheel is static on my suspension bike; its like a 30 speed or something and has way too many gears; hence why i didnt trust the rear hub with gears onboard to work. i know i could have put the motor into a peddle assist hub but yikes those are pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 ***update*** This is going painfully slowly due to a bad battery i recieved that i had to return via ebay. I have ordered another and am still waiting. Thankfully the bike is built and awaiting its fuel source. Unfortunately without a battery its basically useless. One thing of note that I couldn't resist testing... was to cattle prod the battery terminals from the controller to the battery while spinning the wheel by hand without having a battery connected.. to my surprise it DID generate power... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
payaso del mar Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 I see regenerative braking in your future.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 I'd have to be going down a steep hill/mountain or peddling like a demon to hit 43 volts (which would kick in the BMS for charging its assumed) - the outputs i was seeing were closer to 9-12 range my guess is the BMS just ignores it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 My best friend/companion Don showed up 14 years ago for our first date riding an E-bike! Since he had to take a ferry boat across Puget Sound it was an easy and economical choice. First on and first off the boat with no waiting in long lines of cars. Only had to pay for a walk on ticket. Besides what better way is there to make a memorable first impression Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 New battery showed up and WOW. Runs scooter like a beast. Havent tried it on the bike yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
payaso del mar Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 My best friend/companion Don showed up 14 years ago for our first date riding an E-bike! Since he had to take a ferry boat across Puget Sound it was an easy and economical choice. First on and first off the boat with no waiting in long lines of cars. Only had to pay for a walk on ticket. Besides what better way is there to make a memorable first impression OK, great, now I have HAL9000 singing "Bicycle built for two" in my mind.......... but I like his plan, learn early on whether the person is interested in you in all yer dubious glory rather than What You Drive.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 (edited) agree, if she sees you cruise in on an ebike and doesnt run you know basically that the date is going somewhere - where you're going. Edited May 24, 2016 by Totem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted May 31, 2016 Author Share Posted May 31, 2016 So I had some spare time this weekend to further trial test the scooter under the new battery. i road it several miles unimpeded and have yet to even charge it. Tonight I will wire up the charger. This build I put a 30 am fuse on either side of the battery to protect both the battery, charger and scooter controller. Once I get the scooter bugs worked out I will try the bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) On 5/23/2016 at 4:09 PM, payaso del mar said: My best friend/companion Don showed up 14 years ago for our first date riding an E-bike! Since he had to take a ferry boat across Puget Sound it was an easy and economical choice. First on and first off the boat with no waiting in long lines of cars. Only had to pay for a walk on ticket. Besides what better way is there to make a memorable first impression OK, great, now I have HAL9000 singing "Bicycle built for two" in my mind.......... but I like his plan, learn early on whether the person is interested in you in all yer dubious glory rather than What You Drive.... No he just wanted to not have to wait in the ferry line and have fun getting there. If he had wanted to really test me to see how I would react to what he drives he could have used his not at all attractive Volvo station wagon. It's a Seattle "classic" you see lots of old rusting Volvo station wagons in this area. Edited June 1, 2016 by snail powered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 well with a volvo we know he is safe. safest vehicles on the planet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted July 18, 2016 Author Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) Update: This past weekend was my first toy trip with both functional scooters on their new batteries. What an incredible difference the new batteries have made. The dang things just will not run out of power. It was my daughters birthday weekend and she wanted a camping trip in rocket for her party; was a blast. I had an army of kids wanting scooter rides. We gave scooter rides all day long as well as using them as go getters to move food n gifts to pavilions, fetching forgotten items etc. Later i used them to explore the campgrounds and in the evening we strapped high output LED flashlights to them and rode at night. Oddly enough all the adults after a few beers simply had to ride them. The course around the lake at the campground was easily a couple miles. I lost track of how many people rode. when i check the power meter the next morning they were still full, 98%. I was amazed. to make sure it was true i gave the kids more rides and did the course again several times before I was kicked out of the campground for violating rule # 86 of the 98 campground rules (* no having fun riding electric scooters). This was funny to me as they allowed electric and gas golf carts that routinely cause far worse injuries but hey, its OK I just wont go to that Marxist campground anymore. Lately anymore you just cannot do anything fun. there is always some safety clown honking their red nose at you and telling you its against the rules, no matter what you are doing. they tend to be the "this is my only power in life and I WILL lord it over you personality type... but I digress... The batteries weigh in at less than half of the old lead acid wheelchair battery packs. I have added rear seat post bike racks to the scoots to go along with Giant Panda bags in the front and they can move gear impressively. I fit a 12 pack of beer in each one of the panda bags and had several gifts strapped to the racks with bungees. Alas, I had intended to finish my ebike but i just couldn't get past bringing the scooters back to life... hopefully I get the ebike finished soon. Edited July 18, 2016 by Totem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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