[Ryland]

My neighbor had a Toyota truck that he sold for parts due to extensive structural frame rust and we have the goal of building a better option to haul stuff around town, the hauling needs include hauling lumber, compost, dirt and other stuff common with owning a house and having a garden, for really heavy hauling there are other people around town that have pickup trucks but for the light hauling of lumber and compost we are thinking that a bicycle with a trailer should work great!
To make hauling longer distances easier the bicycle is going to be outfitted with a Crystalite Cruser hub motor, a 36v 40a speed controller, a 20amp hour lithium battery and it will all be mounted on a bicycle with an extra cycle frame extender that makes the bicycle about 2 feet longer with a huge rear rack/deck and canvas saddle bags, add to that what will most likely be a home made trailer altho I do have a burly bicycle trailer that is already used from time to time by a bunch of us in the neighborhood.

I really like the Bikes At Work bike trailers but $700 for a trailer seems like a lot so I came up with an idea that I have yet to build using square tubing that nests so we can make sections that slip together and get pinned keep it allowing for the whole thing to come apart quickly, the trailer to be shortened or have more added on or to even have a long center beam added in to haul long lumber or a canoe.

Other add on idea for the trailer is a set of lead acid batteries for the long hauls, my thought there is to have the batteries built in to a trailer section that they stay strapped down to, set it on a rolling platform when not in use then connect it to the wheels and hitch when you want to use it.

I already have the electric drive train, battery, controller and charger.
My neighbor has the bicycle and extra cycle.
I have a welder, use of a milling machine, lathes, welder, brazing torch.

I'm hoping that as soon as the weather gets warmer we can start on this project, we both bike in the winter and I really like the idea of having a human powered vehicle that replaces a truck.

I know that these motors do ok towing small loads, 100 to 200 pounds, but I'm not sure about 500+ pounds so I'm planing to pull the side plate off the motor and epoxy in a thermocouple so we can track how hot the motor is getting, I already have some nice fine wire thermocouples and a hand held reader, much cheaper then you might think!

Once it's all together I'd also like to see how it does heat wise for long distance riding, I'm thinking a 36v 200 amp hour lead acid battery pack of batteries that I already have will give it a decent range, maybe 150 to 200 miles, but I don't know if the motor can dissipate that much heat.