First foray into electric bikes, need advice

[puddleglum]

Sounds like a cool idea. I built one similar for my son a few years ago. Sadly he can't ride it anymore. Haven't decided whether to sell it or motorize it.

[MetroMPG]

Last week I put up an ad on Craigslist, offering to build these for others. So far I have three customers with money down.

Cool! (Also, cool trike!)

Sounds & looks like you're having fun.

[Grant-53]

For weather protection on a commuter bike I use a Coroplast fairing. A tailbox is necessary to get the airflow back together behind the rider.



This is cut from a 2' x 4' piece of 4mm Coroplast.


This was an old design that gave modest improvements and was stable in cross winds. A good design will cover from the shoulders to just below the knees. Get the riding position comfortable then build a shell around yourself. Try the HPV Shell software at recumbents.com for either a 3:1 aspect or a 5:1 aspect with a 75% Kamm cut off. Make sure you can get on and off the saddle easily.

[Grant-53]

These are homemade aero bars using aluminum end bars and angle stock. Using a Sunlite handlebar bag it makes a race legal set up.

[Ecky]

Pics aren't working, you can't externally link photobucket anymore. You'll need to move them to another hosting site.

[Grant-53]

Photobucket wants $400 / yr. for 3rd party hosting now. Click on the ad and it will take you to my account. This is a very recent change.

[sendler]

Electric Bike review is a great resource and very complete. Hundreds of bikes reviewed with videos. Looks like the cheapest trail worthy bike with the Bosch mid drive is the IZIP Peak at $3,000.
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https://electricbikereview.com/izip/e3-peak-plus/
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[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

Photobucket wants $400 / yr. for 3rd party hosting now. Click on the ad and it will take you to my account. This is a very recent change.

Although I can see your gallery of thumbnails, whenever I click on a specific image, all I see is this:

[Ecky]

Current faring for the rear:






Has a lid and compartment to hold groceries! Also has a sub-compartment to hold the electronics. Watertight bag ready to go, just need the motor to arrive - should be arriving tomorrow.




This is currently what I'm favoring for a full faring. Seems to strike a nice balance between ease of construction and effectiveness:

[Grant-53]

My e-mail for bike stuff is endlesstailwinds@gmail.com so I can send attachments that way. That style shell is very popular for good reason. See recumbents.com for lots of good projects.

In the upper right quadrant of the photobucket page there is a box marked <PREV, an array, and NEXT>. The array is the View album square to bring up the photos. I will look for another host as well.