<$1k DIY Neighborhood Electric Motorcycle

[captainslug]

I've been having enough difficulty with the V-Belt pulleys that I'm just going to switch to using chain for the first gear reduction.

[ShadeTreeMech]

Instead of using a chain drive, you might consider using timing belt pulleys. V-belts need a bit of tension and rely only on friction, while the timing belt has the teeth to help with grip. Just thinking a gear reduction using a cam pulley on the motor and the crank pulley on the output would give you a good, reliable, quiet and maintenance free gear reduction and would weigh a bit less. Lots of cruisers use a timing belt arrangement as their main drive.

How much drive capacity you expect to lose without the regen braking?

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech

Instead of using a chain drive, you might consider using timing belt pulleys. V-belts need a bit of tension and rely only on friction, while the timing belt has the teeth to help with grip. Just thinking a gear reduction using a cam pulley on the motor and the crank pulley on the output would give you a good, reliable, quiet and maintenance free gear reduction and would weigh a bit less. Lots of cruisers use a timing belt arrangement as their main drive.

How much drive capacity you expect to lose without the regen braking?

The problem with using a belt is that the drive shaft of the motor is too hard to center anything onto. It's too short and double d-bore. Even after drilling out the center of the pulley I have I couldn't get it to align properly.

Regen at this power level would only net a 10% improvement in range.

[nerd racing]

under high torque you will have chain issues when they are misaligned as well. A vehicle I built had double strand number 60 high tensile roller chain and it still jumped teeth in the mud. We were putting down about 427 ft lbs at the wheels at top speed in low gear though, with 31" diameter Ag tires.

A cogged belt like he suggested would be a pretty decent idea if you could get it to align properly.

[captainslug]

This motor isn't going to be outputting high torque where the changeover from belt to chain is. So it shouldn't be an issue. The first reduction from the motor to chain axle is 5:1 and I will be adding a tensioner to it. The initial form of this build definitely won't be high performance since it's built on a budget.
I'll have the funds and time to upgrade to a 16HP electric motor next year.

Freewheel adapter is done.

Preparing to drill and cut the rear sprocket, which is a really small 35t since I don't need much of a reduction from the chain axle to rear wheel.

[captainslug]

Measuring first stage for chain length.

Getting ready to cut the center out of the rear sprocket so it can be bolted to the rear hub.


Cut the center of the sprocket out using the lathe.

And now I need to make axle spacers.

[captainslug]

Finished making the axle spacers for the rear wheel.

Also made final revisions to the motor mount and chain transmission. All that's left to add is chain and tensioners.

[captainslug]

Big day! The chain drive is together, but I do still need to make a tensioner for the underside of the rear chain.


And the replacement front wheel arrived. Switching out the tire was easy. I also finished the handlebars.


There are a few tabs I need to add to the battery rack.

[MazdaMatt]

Finish it and post a video already!!!

[MetroMPG]

This is quite the piece of work. When it's finished, cleaned & painted, are you going to actually drive it, or put it in the living room?