I think i will build a bike

[silverfox]

Originally Posted by Greenblazer

Chains and sprockets are expensive, and wear out frequently, shaft drive would be preferred if you want to save money.

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

However chains and sprockets are a lot easier to use - shaft drive on a motorcycle is not like on a car and would involve a lot of machine work - i would like to get the system worked out first- it can always be converted to shaft drive after i get the bugs out of it.

There are basically two ways to get power to the ground - Slow turning motor with gobs of torque and gear it up for speed - OR - very high rpm motor and gear it down to get torque - i am looking into the latter - searching for a motor that will turn some outrageous rpm that i can gear down - not having much luck so far but i am still looking

[bennelson]

I have heard a lot about electric motorcycles using a driveshaft, but have only ever heard of one person who ever actually did one.

Reverend Gadget's shaft-drive electric cycle.


In terms of gearing, electric motors have lots of torque, but if you spin a motor slow and gear it for speed, you pull much higher amps, which will shorten the life of your brushes and batteries, and limit range.

It is much preferable to spin a motor faster and gear it down. This uses less amerage and extends range. This trait is also one reason why electric vehicles have typically been designed as slower-speed, reliable vehicles, such as golf carts and personal mobility vehicles.

A higher voltage system also limits amperage draw because you need to use less amps to produce the same amount of work (moving you down the road).

Less amp draw will help increase range. If you have two battery packs of the same total amp-hours, one with more small batteries, run in series for a higher voltage, will have better range.

That may also help you fit more batteries into the cycle frame because the smaller size is more flexible.

Notice on Rev. Gadgets bike how MANY batteries there are.

Hope that helps!

-Ben

[landscaper52]

There's a couple of electric bike conversions on Instructables.com you might check them out...but the old 350 might be a good platform also...check out
evalbum.com for a look at mark thomassons electric 350 conversion. I thought about doing it myself, but I have enough trouble keeping a gas engine bike running...my electrical skills are pretty bad! I think I'm going to build a woodgas powered bike someday though!

[oldtech1]

out of all the electric bikes ive seen modded why has noone copied the harley davidson idea of going belt drive.it cut down on vibration and cuts a lot of time down trying to find a front sproket down to mount on the yolk of the electric motor and a few beads of weld will mount the rear.

[bennelson]

I think nobody is using belts on electric cycles because chains are so straight-forward easy to use.

Sprockets for the motor are cheap, and easy to use. Get one for ten bucks in any tractor repair isle or machine store.

If my cycle had a belt to start, or if I knew anything about them, I would have used a belt. My had a chain, so I used a chain.

The chain is really the only thing noisy on my cycle.

A belt-driven electric motorcycle would be sneaky quiet.

[bryn]

the belts drives are quiet, but are not as efficient as a chain, they don't handle torque as well either.

[oldtech1]

my 91 1200 HD sportster is belt drive and will come up on 1 wheel ok
with no slippage not that i make a habbit of doing that.
belt drives deal with torque decently and are easy road side to fix.
i refer to the design that HD uses not just fabricating a pulley system from
a riding lawn mower deck.from my experience with HD belt drives you never have to change sprockets or lube anything as having owned more than 12 chian drive bikes in my time and have spent $$ on sprocket replacements i like the idea on not having to replace parts on a 50-60k milage schedual
but i do agree that driveshaft bike would have the least of any for maint.

[diver]

I built a etec powered 48 volt trike. I started out with a bicycle frame and went from there. I also left the pedals and chain drive so i could pedal it. (for the law ) this thing is crazy. globs of power , will run 50 mph but i run an average of 35 to 40. the motor is controlled by an altrax 400 amp programmable controller and the battery's are 75 amp hour. weight with me is about 450 lbs. I use the worksman wheels and maxis tires. no issues except has lots of torque steer but that is very manageable once use to it. Range is above 44 miles as that is as far as Ive gone so far, not from dead battery's , just as far as Ive gone on my daily commutes

[bennelson]

Hey Diver,

That trike sounds great. Do you have more specs you can list (batteries used, etc.) or photos to show to help other people get a better idea of what goes into EV design?

[diver]

heres a couple in the building stage. I will post a couple of it done maybe later today if the weather cooperates.
The battery's are from walmart. 75 amp hour marine grade. I used go kart rear disk brakes . The rear shaft is 3/4 in cold rolled keyed the whole length..




here is one of my front wheel drive setups. it is 60 volts, range 75 + miles and top speed of 38 mph. This is what i use on the green way. I have one more exactly like it for my wife also