Thanks sendler - I do hope to take it to some events, "Green Festivals or fuel economy challenges" don't seem to be terribly popular up here in the sticks, then again I am designing this thing w/long range comfort in mind so who knows lol... One of the possibilities that's recently occurred to me (suggested actually) is running it as a chase/cam/support vehicle (w/trailer) for some of the longer bicycle road races, which I think would be fun and interesting.
I did notice the at least superficial resemblance to the Crystalyte hubs, it makes me wonder if it's not partially cloned, but I'm not familiar enough with the Crystalyte hubs to say how similar they actually are beyond ascetics. For example the wires don't actually exit beside the axle, rather the commonplace through it via a keyway - there's just a spacer allowing the wires to exit the axle on the inside of the dropout instead of all the way through to the end. I do not as of yet have torque arms installed & may not, depending on the results of testing. While I respect their needful use on higher power ebikes, I've not needed them at all on my 48v 1000w (aluminum) ebike despite the pounding & high mileage it's accumulated, this hybrid tadpole got "downgraded" to a 36v but still 1000w setup so at most the rotational stresses on the (steel) dropouts would be about the same. If it develops signs of torque damage I'll defo attend to it & thanks for the "heads up" in any case (can't be too safe lol), I suspect I'll prolly weld hardened side plates to the steel dropouts (doubling their thickness) instead of aftermarket torque arms as changing a flat rear tire can be an annoyance even w/o any additional parts...
I did get a small chuckle from your "40 mph average speed for 40 miles" goal for a "medium range commuter" - funny how it's all comparative, were it not a electric recumbent there's nothing "medium" about those goals lol, I hope you exceed all expectations
I should swing by endless... I've not much in the way of questions left & TBH their goals aren't generally compatible w/mine (high powered electrics vs low power hybrid), but I'm in no way an "expert" when it comes to electric drive systems & this one is slightly different then my other - there's
three main power supply wires from the controller to the hub & I need to figure them out, to reverse polarity & thus, be able to back the taddy up w/o "wheelchairing" it, with fenders - that's not really an option... and ofc I've no idea whatsoever what effect if any this might have w/the hall sensors etc... ahh, just another thing on the "to do" list lol & speaking of;
Still hammerin' away at the seemingly endless list of finishing details, there's a bunch more things finished that aren't pic worthy, or impossible to take a pic of... lil but important things like header wrap ties, assorted fastener replacement, more wiring ofc, fiddling about with the upper seat mount again, but the two things that took most of this weekend's free time are relatively minor, the first being nothing more than just trying to find the stupid crush washer/exhaust manifold gasket - I'd somewhat belatedly remembered I'd never installed it, there was nothing between the header & the exhaust manifold but I'd not seen it in at least a year and worse yet, it's not something I could just cob out of a pie tin. Fortunately, just before I gave up all hope and ordered another (but not before I thrashed my shop, office & room), I found the lil thing & threw it up in there, completing another system for good this time lol
Of slightly more interest perhaps then fasteners, cable ties & gaskets is the air filter & remote intake - I'd some vague plans to either find an air filter small enough to fit in the space directly behind the carb, or the somewhat more grandiose thought of running it back & up through the tank halves, for easier general access & maintenance... the catch with both being ofc fitment, a filter to fit the carby let alone a hose to fit both...
Poking around at my local MC shop there was just not much to choose from, they seemed to come in three sizes, too big, huge & what the heck man, but the guy workin' there knows my project & went out of his way to find what he thought might work, diggin' through piles of new parts he came up with a 'Uni' clamp-on "Pod" filter I thought too big, but he pointed out the obvious, that it's squishy lol
So figurin' it'd do for test runs, it'd keep the fung out at least until I could find something better, I started trying to cram it into the lack of space that makes up this project. After much frustration & pinched fingers I got it mounted directly to the carb, but it was squashed & fugly & a nightmare to get to... which will not do as I need no maintenance nightmares, certainly not with something I designed myself as then it's all my fault.
So I dug around lookin' for a flexible hose, I've this "big" empty space between the tank halves, one of the only open & unused spaces on the project I figured better use it & the Uni filter plugged in there like it was made for it (minus the outer sock naturally). Gutting a dead four wheeler (generous name, it's a pile of half chopped up scrap lol) I pulled a hose that'd work & finagled it all together, making a new front tank mount while I was at it, the result far better than if I'd planned it that way heh
...& yea, the fuel tank tilts back for easy access just as the seat flips forward, again - too much stuff in too little space;
