Electric bicycle build ("black & red")
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1434127451

I just did an 8 mile test ride to meet some friends (see photo) on my new electric bike, and I'm pretty pleased. I did not get a kit, I selected parts individually and converted a used road bike I was gifted 9 years ago but have too-rarely if ever ridden.

The purpose of the bike was to replace sitting-time burning gasoline with exercise-time avoiding gym fees. I also wanted the opportunity to begin getting direct hands-on experience with electric drive systems (via baby steps). So the bike has a 23 mile range (very optimistically), but all I need it 12 max on each leg of my commute. I expect to pedal much/most, except the toughest of the heart breaker hills around here.

At 44lbs it is lighter than the $7,000 #10 bike on this list of top ten lightest ebikes: https://www.electricbike.com/10-light-electric-bikes/

I spent about $1300 for the highest quality parts, and got only the features I wanted for my specific purposes:

500+ watt, 250 rpm, eZee geared hub motor on the front.
14 Ahr LiFePO4 battery mounted in back
CycleAnalyst dash
Half grip throttle on right side
26" wheel (front) with 1.5 inch tire (back wheel is the original 700c
Aluminum road bike frame and steel mountain bike forks

I made mistakes along the way, ruining the red OEM forks you see in the picture with poor filing of the dropouts. And I didn't know at first about the importance of torque arms. I could have badly injured myself if my first test ride had been too exuberant. Be careful, friends!

BTW, I'm calling it black & red ...

How do I set up a bike log signature on EM again?

Nice. I eased into EVs via electric bike too, but not quite like yours. I have a Songi; it came complete. In some ways it is low-tech, with SLA batteries and a very pedal-unfriendly, more of a scooter-style frame and ergos. But the price was right and I like it.

Just like any other vehicle bikes benefit from reducing air drag. Strangely enough the best gains seem to come from starting at the back and working forward. A wheel cover and tail box are inexpensive to make and effective in reducing drag.

Okay. I have fine tuning to do, but I love it. I bought the Cycle Analyst monitor for the motor control, which allows me to edit the motor controller parameters somewhat. I have to learn some. That is good. I have ridden approx 27 miles in the last few days, mostly pedalling, but climbing the bigger hills with the motor assisting, or doing all the work. It's great for that. I just rode 9 miles and used 1.6 amp hours, the Cycle Analyst says. This can really replace a car for most around town trips and for my commute on days where I am not the school bus, and when it does not rain. I have myself a hybrid (human/electric). Sweet.

Very nice. I'm glad to see something like that come together.

I have started a project where I'll be putting a 1000W/48V kit on my wife's bike and building the 48V/24Ah LiPo battery pack myself out of new and used 18650 cells (I have about 180).

So far I've only obtained the kit and tested the capacity of all the 18650 cells (that took a couple weeks).

How much time do you have into it?

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...encher/004.jpg

Put a basket on it for grocery, shopping, and other errand runs and the car will nearly be obsolete.

Yeah. And if it could be a basket helping to form backing structure for a fairing, then it would be a double benefit. Maybe a bit like this:

http://www.rebike.co.kr/good_image/4596629339_b_4.jpg

Wow. Your project is amazing. My time into this one reflects more my novice standing with this stuff than difficulty. A couple dozen hours I bet, with research included.

"Amazing" will only apply if I pull it off. :)

and it's on a girl's bike... :P

I've got at least a couple dozen hours in LiPo cell testing alone... tearing apart laptop batteries, trickle charging depleted cells and discharge testing... Many hours researching as well...

Your post inspired me a wee bit... discovered that a canal with associated walk/rideways goes almost directly to my work saving about 2 miles of auto surface street running... 11 miles is a very do-able distance.

If those are factory-built wheels, be sure to give all the spokes a half-turn (or more, if it's loose) before you start riding! I just pulled apart some old Varsity wheels this past week and the nipples were literally finger tight. Very scary. I laced in a front drum hub...

12 miles is quite a distance. I hope you have a grocery store closer to home! If you're looking to carry things, head to a bike shop and try out some rear panniers for that rack. You might be able to find a pair that doesn't hit your heels, and most will fold up and out of the air when not in use. I prefer putting things on a front rack/panniers, but your front end is probably pretty heavy already with that motor.

Thanks. I got the motor pre-laced into the wheel. I figured it was safer that way because I had never done it. If I ever build another, I'll learn to lace it myself. There actualy is a panier in the photo in post #1... it is hard to see because it is on the far side of the rack... "black and red" is its color. I have had it a few years. And it bumps my heel sometimes! But it's an easy adjustment... my 12 mile commute is to work... fortunately the supermarkets and autoparts stores and such are Ll just a mile or two. But this bike is meant to make it easy to replace my car on lots of commute days. That's partly in case of a car breakdown too.

Make my first trip to work today on the bike.... !

If you can find someone to look over your shoulder the first few times, it helps greatly! :thumbup:

Oh, I see the pannier now! Sweet. Glad to hear there's stuff close; that always makes life easier. What speed did you average on this? I'm usually between 6-10mph on my fatbike in the summer, depending on a few factors.

...and you know where to go when you start wanting to use a trailer! ;)

Instead of tons of lighting, I am considering reflective paint, using fine glass beads of the sandblasting variety and acrylic clear coat. I'd paint a couple reflective panels to face backward, paint my battery box, and the rear rack & supports.

Using this instructible, I would be imitating this bike design partly:

https://www.missionbicycle.com/sites...?itok=eL1Q5Suz

I am going to try some Krylon Glowz paint on the crank and seat stays for visibility.

The man who wrote the instructible I linked above commented that he tried that spray paint and that it had so little glass in it that it did nothing. I haven't tried it. If you do and get different results let me know!

This stuff is supposed to glow for a while after exposed to light. The glass beads are highly reflective. Since I ride in town where there are street lights, hopefully the coating will absorb enough light to glow continuously. Out side of town the glass beads would reflect light at long distance which is why it is used on road signs. I also use automotive marker lights with LED bulbs on the fairing.

Honestly, why bother with reflective paint? Just get a good tail light and headlight and call it a day. It'll probably cost less while being more effective.

For taillights, Planet Bike's SuperFlash and Bontrager's Flare are pretty good, and I use a Serfas 250 headlight. They work well, and blinky lights grab people's attention way better than reflective stuff (and I've tried a few methods).

The main reason I'm so biased toward lights is that if you're using only reflective material, you are depending on the motorist to provide the light, and therefore your safety. When I'm on or near a road, I don't depend on other people do do anything, including turn on their lights. Sometimes reflectors don't light up for the driver until they're too close to do anything about it. That's why I take lighting into my own hands.

I admire that people are trying to develop this reflective paint, but still can't help but think it's a lost cause until we can get cheap, bright, luminescent paint. *shrugs shoulders*

PS- I don't mean to belabor the point, but this is something I ran into time and again until I got lights on all four sides:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-sv...headlights.jpg

Lots of good reflective sticker material out there too. Done, proven, cheap.

Well, paint can't be stolen unless they get the whole bike! :) ... I bought glass beads for $24 and will have lots left over to play with. Next I buy the spray acrylic clear coat. So for like $30 I hope to get unstealable reflectance on front, back, and sides without attaching more stuff to attract thieves. I'll have one 5000 lumen cree headlight that I can quick release detach and take with me. It'll be so bright that no car at my sides is likely to miss me coming because of the lighted patch on the ground well in front of me. If I end up still wanting taillights and such, I can buy them. All the reflectance will then jjst be an added coolness. :)

I did look into that. It would be cheaper, but this has a cool factor I can't resist. Hope it is not good money after bad in the end!

Sven7 have you noticed that people with the newer cars don't turn on their lights until it is really dark now? They have the back-lit gauges in the dash so I guess they can see how fast they are going and don't care that it is dark out. I would not depend on reflectors either.

I run 2 SuperFlashes, one on the back of each support for my rear rack. Makes the bike look like a car from a distance and helps people gauge where I'm at better. I put those on solid then have a flashing light on the back of my helmet. My older Light and Motion Seca 750 is plenty bright for side and front visibility. I actually dim it when cars are coming up on me from the opposite direction.

Please have some rear facing light. Sven7 is right.

Update
 

I shaved 3.5" off the ends of my handlebars, which was about all there was room for while still mounting the grips, brakes, and hand throttle for the electric motor.

I'm also building a headlight and a taillight by adapting LED flashlights I already own and never use. It's cheaper, but also I will be able to use standard AA and AAA batteries, which is good for a lot of reasons, but also because I have a supply of free (used) batteries. All the mounting hardware is reused stuff.

After 16 days without the bike, stumped on how to repair a flat because of a problem with tire fit and selection and thorn resistance, I'm back on the road. I have a hybrid rear wheel in a road bike. Clearance for a tire that also is wide enough for the bead to match the rim well without extra tools... bit of a challenge. But also, 3 flats in 700 miles gave me the feeling I'd better get thorn resistance too... now selction and fit became a major PITA. I tested different sizes. The magic is a 28mm width 700c tire with a thorn resistant tread. It replaces the 23mm tire that was always a horror tk fit back on the wheel.

Side benefit: the bigger tire absorbs shocks better and has eliminated a worrying electric cutoff problem I had been unable to resolve by other means... did 8 miles today... about to go do 6 more...

:)

Did you see Mr. Money Mustache's latest post?
2000 Miles of Justice: My Year of Riding Electric Bikes

Cool stuff. I've never gotten a flat with my 29" mountain bike tires, but I had flats all the time with 26" tires.

I hadn't seen that. His story is a lot like mine... I was a skeptic and came along, realizing how much it could enhance my riding range, replace a car, and prevent the "need" for an infernal gym membership... Like he says: "But for another large group, they [ebikes] could be just the thing. The lawyer who lives in a hot, humid climate and is currently afraid to bike the 4 miles to the office for fear of arriving sweaty." I am not a lawyer and I face 12 hilly miles, not 4, but the point is the same: I cannot arrive sweaty.

Love this thing! And I am learning about electric motors, controllers, and batteries, which is very cool too.

james

There are tire liners and foam filled tubes to resist punctures. Air flow and humidity are key to perspiration. In your locality a spray mist from the inside of a fairing could help. A damp towel and a change of shirt might be needed at the work site.

Crossed the one thousand mile mark on my bike this morning (since June 10th). It s dark when I leave now. I have spray on reflecting surfaces on one side and on the back, a reflector on the saddlebag, reflectors on the pedals, and two lights. One in the back is a mag light I already owned an almost never used. I cut a red filter for the lens from broken auto taillight plastic I found along the road. My headlight is adapted from a camping light for the forehead my daughter bought a couple years ago and used only once.

It rained today so I got to test my rain fenders, which I cut from wheel-well auto plastics I found on the street.

:)

james

Congrats! Sounds like you're still enjoying it too.

Yeah. It's awesome. I get a lot of questions about the bike. And I have become significantly more fit.

We want pictures.

I may have mentioned it before, but have you considered going tubeless? If you get proper rims with flat bead seats, the tire isn't going anywhere, and when you run with sealant perpetually in the tire, it both seals the tire bead, and seals up thorn holes. As a bonus, you'll get better rolling resistance and therefore better range. And no pinch flats.

I'd look at these if I were you:
ZTR Alpha

Rim brake compatible, tubeless ready and not terribly expensive for $108 a pop (Plus like $30/wheel for spokes/nipples and $16 for a pair of Stan's valves). Since they're double wall, all you have to do is wrap the rim bed in a single thickness of rim tape, add a few ounces of sealant and go.

Building the wheel would be the hard part, but you could probably get a local bike mechanic to oversee your build in exchange for a 12 pack. It's more about process than skill. :)

Since I weigh a dainty 260 lbs I use 700c x 38 mm at 75 psi. Back to work on the aerobody.

A good friend of mine with a lot of biking experience does his own "red neck" tubeless with tire flat fixer spray or something. I have thought of it. But I have too little time these days.

And you shall have pictures... here they are...

Head lamp was "free" because I reused my daughter's rarely used "head lamp" for camping. It is LED, uses ordinary AAA batteries, and can be set to flash. Nice.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1444521242

Here you see the fender I made from an automotive lining found in the street, the clear-coat and glass-bead reflectance on the battery pack, and the freeway road marker reflector I found on the 91 freeway while performing some emergency aeromod repairs to my civic! :) You can also see my mag light tail light, for which I made a red filament using busted car taillight fragments in the road.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1444521245

Thanks for more pictures. I'm enjoying this thread and I'm gonna go back and read from the beginning now to see what details I've missed. I think I will copy your headlamp idea.


(btw I recently bought a road-leaning hybrid bike for my commute but decided against electric for now)

I can easily believe that. When I was rowing, we would cover the cage of the spinning wheel on the rowing machine and the drag would drop to almost nil.

Update: today marks 6 months since completing the bike. 1578 miles as of today. 1578 miles I would have driven. 1578 miles @ 1,000-3,000 mpge instead of 60 mpg. And lots of exercise. I love this bike. It is cold before shnrise, but not bitter. I have a great jacket.

Also, added some nifty reflectance from one of those roadway lane marker reflectors that had broken loose and was in the gutter. It was still in good shape cleaned it up and mounted it with double-sided trim tape

One year update
 

"Black and Red" is 1 year old today. It has 2097 miles on it... all of it "replacement" miles, meaning miles I would have driven: to the store, to work, to social gatherings...

That means that I did 1578 in the first 6 months and 519 in the second 6 months. The reason is my wife got a new job last October and I took on all school drop-off driving... so no more biking to work.

Picture as it looks today:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1465607669

Battery is still great. It works perfectly. I have had some trouble with loose wire connections due to all the shaking over bumps. i just find and tighten and it goes away for a few weeks again.

Some blue Loctite or some internal tooth lockwashers may help the connections. Now some aero mods may be in order.

I heart nyloc nuts.

I actually did mildly aeromod the build recently. I got rid of the big bulky red panier hanging from the side and replaced it with a triangle bag, a saddle bag, and a handlebar bag. The handlebar bag on the front is meant to help aero a little like a fairing ... a VERY small fairing.

There is a section of bike path that is long atraight and flat where I informally test how many watts I need to keep max speed often. In full tuck I used to need something in the area of the low to middle 300s in watts. Now it dipps into the high 200s, so maybe 350watts reduced to 290.

One simple safety detail I noticed is your quick-release for the rear wheel. In the last two pictures you had it pointing down in one and along the chainstay in the other. both of those positions are likely to catch on obstacles. Align it in the closed position with the seatstay. (the bar from the back axle to the seat post)