Golf cart based electric motorcycle build.

[Ryland]

Next steps:

Swap electric drive from current frame to one with a title, working lights, pretty paint, shiny chrome and good tires... this could happen this week or next, my neighbor agreed to help, figure 3 hours pulling the engine and an hour swapping electronic drive.

The renewable energy fair went really well! the only nah sayers were people who wanted 100+ mile range and to be able to exceed the speed limit and of course the few people who though $3,500 was a lot of money for a lithium powered motorcycle, most figured I had spent $10,000+ on it.
I was kind of hoping for some constructive criticism or at least someone who saw a huge flaw in my design... but it seemed like everyone who liked motorcycles or electric vehicles really liked it!

I also had a few people who either wanted me to build them one right away or people who wanted me to push forward quickly to mass produce kits and or whole converted motorcycles... I'm sorry but I have a job, garden, house, friends, live music, friends weddings and dinner to attend to... turning this in to a business is going to take time!

[bennelson]

It was fun to ride too.

The only critisism I could possible have was that the current frame wasn't street legal.

I really like the way everything is mounted together as a single large unit. It should be REALLY easy to swap to a shiny new frame.

It was fun riding a shaft-drive. SOOOO rediculously quiet. We should add my iPOD cycle sound effects system. Maybe TIE Fighter sound effects...

[bennelson]

There also did seem to be interest in doing a live "convert a cycle to electric" during the MREA next year!

Since we now have TWO Ecomodders who regularly attend the MREA fair AND have built electric motorcycles, it seems completely within reason.

[kokigami]

well, this has been an entertaining read. I have an EV motorcycle project in the back of my mind, shaft drive, but it does have some unique problems. Wondering what you got for speed now with Lithium batteries.

This thread also clued me into the MREA event which is not too far away, geographically. I hope to attend next year. Wish I had known about it this year..

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by kokigami

well, this has been an entertaining read. I have an EV motorcycle project in the back of my mind, shaft drive, but it does have some unique problems. Wondering what you got for speed now with Lithium batteries.

I have not tested my speed yet because my current frame does not have a speedometer, but 60-65mph is perfectly reasonable to expect at 48v with this set up.
Speed is a product of voltage for most motors, but also torque and gearing if you have a large enough motor, if I wanted it to go faster then a higher voltage would be the way to go, current batteries are 100 amp hours each, 60 amp hour lithium cells would be an option if I wanted to keep the same weight altho a 72v system at 100 amp hours would only weigh 55 pounds more and that is the great part about lithium batteries, the weight, I'm around 40 pounds under stock dry weight and my gas tank is a 5.5 gallon tank, so 40 pounds of fuel as well.

[Ryland]

swapped the electric drive to a different frame that was in much better shape, has a title, good tires, working speedometer, shiny paint and nice chrome.
I still need to get plates on that motorcycle and I don't like front fairings so I removed it, the front fairing had some weird repairs as well from being crashed it looks like, so I removed it and need to fix up a head light and front turn signals (I have them, just need to install them) and I need to hook up the key switch and some other stuff on the wiring harness.

It'd been 3-4 years sense I got the first the frame that I did the mock up on so it wasn't very fresh in my mind, but two of us were able to pull the gas engine out in about 50 minutes and pulling the electric drive took about 20 minutes and 30 more to re-install it in it's new frame, everything lined up perfectly and within about 2 hours from start to finish I was ridding it down the road.

Weight turned out to be closer then I had figured before, 440 pounds give or take 10 pounds for both the gasoline version and electric, the gas was dry weight (12 pounds or so of oil and coolant had already been removed) so even with the same dry weights I'm pretty happy because the fuel tank being full can make it top heavy.

I didn't test the full top speed because I didn't have my helmet along, I did get going up to 50mph on the short stretch of road tho and felt like I had more to go.

[bennelson]

Photos! Photos photos photos.

Don't make me come up there and take them myself!

[Ryland]

Before photo of a $250 Honda CX500 that has the common issue with the water pump seal failing.



2 Hours later that gasoline engine is pulled out and the electronic drive is bolted in and it's ready to ride down the road!

Today I also sold the first of the gasoline engine related parts, Crash Bars and CDI box, $60 for the pair, Carbs are on Ebay with a bid, Coils are going to be next to go up for sale, the gas engines don't appear to sell all that well but I'm going to try to sell it anyway on Craigslist.

[Christ]

Ryland, I told a friend about your parts for sale. He's a member on the forum that lives near you and may be interested in the motor.

[Ryland]

I took my motorcycle to our electric auto club meeting yesterday, I almost held off on taking it because someone else was bringing their friend who owns a Tesla S and I figured my motorcycle wouldn't get noticed, within about 10 minutes of getting there most of the crowd had shifted from the Tesla to my motorcycle.
Paper work for the title is sent in, getting Hobbyist plates for it, I have the cooling fan for the motor 90% done (ok, 50% done) and a pair now of Plexi glass sides for putting it on display and being able to see all the guts.
I still need to get the headlight installed and do some other minor wiring before I can take it on the road, but it's getting there.