(Mr. Speed tries out Mike's Bike.)
A while back, I gave some advice to Mike, on how to rig up his electric motorcycle project.
He decided to build an electric motorcycle after seeing what I had done.
(The Sparkster, (foreground) and the inspiration for it, my EV KZ440. (background))
Today, I was rounding up EVs to show off at a local energy fair, and E-Bike Mike showed up with his converted Harley Sportster, the "Sparkster".
The cycle is running at 60V with an Alltrax AXE controller (72V max), and off-board charging. Mike has a motorcycle buddy who is good with the welder and paint sprayer, so the finish on the bike it top notch!
The chain noise is a little louder than on my cycle, but the chain is about twice as big as well!
I had never ridden a hard-tail before (ouch!), but other than that, it rides really well, with a real low center of gravity and good acceleration.
(Mike, far right, green cap, shows off his cycle.)
See all the photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4203459...7622565028224/
PS - I also just realized why the cycle is a hard-tail. Look where the motor is mounted. It's directly under the seat. As the real swing arm would move, it would change the chain length. One way to solve the problem is to hard-mount the rear wheel. By having the motor right under the seat, it frees up space for more batteries in the original engine area of the cycle. This means more batteries and a lower center of gravity.