My job has been getting in the way of having any interest in working on anything. Well, not any more...
Finally got back to work on the electric bike/motorcycle yesterday. Swapped out the knobbly front tire for a street tire, cleaned up the severely rusty and ineffectual front brakes. That was as far as I got yesterday...
Just clapped a controller and battery in it for testing purposes, and took it for a very early test ride.
It worked much better than I thought it would! The motor appeared to have a wobble or imbalance when spinning freely(without a wheel/tire on it) on my bench. Was expecting it to be a deal breaker on the road...didn't feel it in the slightest. Bullet dodged; phew!
Thrilled. Sooo much more to do on it, though...this was the bare minimum to test it...smooth tires and operational brakes.
Fork angle is very laid back, like a chopper (and certainly resembles one with that 21" front wheel) and came across as alarming how much effort it took to get it to turn compared to what I'm use to, especially for a "bike". How close I was sitting to the handlebars didn't help, as did how low the seat was...very much like the height and position I'm sitting in on my office chair typing -- nothing like the leaning down on the handlebars, able to stand to make maneuvers position I'm use to riding in. Very stable none the less. I see why big old Harley riders look like they're just sitting back doing nothing. Not sure that's what I want, though I like the look.
Welp, time to tear it apart. Have a wider rim, tire and and proper-sized spokes to put on the rear that I didn't have when I first started putting it together. Then I need to decide on the rear suspension...was going to go a bit lower, don't think I want to any more though...'course, I can raise my butt by installing an actual bicycle seat, but that won't do anything for the fork angle. Decisions, decisions...
