Mongoose Dolomite cyclone 3000 mid drive build

[Hersbird]

I'm up and running! I didn't get it going until after 9pm but took a 15 min ride. It is awesome. On some dirt hills so steep I could hardly pedal up without getting a good run at them it rolled up with no added peddling if i wanted. It is also almost silent. The tires on the road make more sound than the motor. I now am going to switch the stock controller to a nicer pure sine wave one good for even more amps or 4000 watts. I ended up with a 52 volt battery. On my 15 min ride the voltage started at 52.4 as shipped and finished still reading around 50. My charger does have adjustable pots but I haven't tried lowering it yet. I was waiting for the watt meter and new battery to arrive, now I should be able to dial that in as well.

[Hersbird]

Finally got to take the bike out for a solid shakedown. On the dirt roads it is great, cross country it depends on the country. There were many places I had to get off and cross logs or other obstacles. I also finally broke the factory chain and had to walk it out a mile or so. Overall I put maybe 10 miles on it pretty hard. Also made probably 14 additional short 1/2 mile round trips carrying gear to set up and then take down a camp (we need to pare down some). We also took turns all day going on short rides around camp.

I was able to fix the chain back at camp but will be replacing it with something better. So total of about 15-20 miles of hard use and the battery went from 56 to 51 volts. It's scary fast, I don't know the top speed but on the dirt I don't think I will ever find it. Even just going 15-20MPH is fine with me, just not having to slow to a crawl on the hills and sweat your butt off in 90 degree weather is amazing. You can go for a ride to cool off. I saw more game then I normally do, walking or driving. I don't think deer immediately recognise the sound of a bike compared to footsteps and you are going slower with better visibility than when in a car, not to mention how quiet it is, along with the speed you come up on them.

I have 2 other people now that want me to build them one after riding mine not that I would do this for money. I just think the powers that be need to re-think some rules. We are lucky here but from what I gather in Europe it's like they don't want people to get out of their cars. I even had the custodian of the land we were on approach us just as we were crossing the gate. I had a bolt come lose on the rack and he gave me a piece of bailing wire to fix it so he clearly could see what it was. We talked to him for 5-10 mins about all our plans and he never said a word about e-bikes yes or no. It was a forest service road that passes through 4 miles of The Nature Conservancy land and the guy was with the Conservancy, maybe a forest service ranger would see it differently.

[Grant-53]

Street rules for e-bikes are fairly uniform around the world. Trails are different since there are rules based on use and rates of soil erosion. The original mountain bikes were developed for fire roads in California. You are not going to tear up the ground the way a motorcycle might. Hikers and horseback riders on single tracks may be adverse to being buzzed at 15 mph. I ask permission ahead of time when in doubt.

[jjackstone]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

Street rules for e-bikes are fairly uniform around the world...

Not so much.

The federal Consumer Product Safety Act defines a "low speed electric bicycle" as a two or three wheeled vehicle with fully operable pedals, a top speed when powered solely by the motor under 20 mph (32 km/h) and an electric motor that produces less than 750 W (1.01 hp).

According to the California Bicycle Coalition, Governor Jerry Brown has signed one of the United States' most progressive electric bicycle laws, which allows 28MPH-capable electric bikes in bike lanes and allows low-power, pedal-assist electric bikes to use bike paths except when prohibited by local law.Nov 6, 2015

In most European countries there is no lower age limit so anyone can legally ride a pedelec on public roads or where the public have access. Nearly all electric bicycles sold in the UK have 250W (max continuous rated) motors and conform to both EU regulations and UK EAPC law.

In Australia it is illegal to ride an electric bicycle on road or bike paths with a stated power output of more than 200w without a pedal assist system, or 250w with a pedal assist system. The latter is also required to only have a pedal assist, and limited to do 6km/h via a throttle or cruise control mechanism.

The one good thing about the US so far is that the government hasn't cracked down on e-bike use yet the way they did with mopeds. By that I mean requiring licensing and insurance. IIRC though, New York is still a pain for ebikes. I'm sure the time will come that enough of these high mileage, fun, no gas tax vehicles will be on the road that Big Brother will extend his sticky tax hand into our pockets. JJ

[Hersbird]

Montana gets 1500 watts and 30 mph still classified as a moped and moped is pretty much a bicycle as it doesn't require a license or registration and can be ridden on most bike lanes and paths. There may be a few places where I would be limited to 20 mph to be considered a pure bicycle but that 20 mph would apply even to purely human powered bicycles. What that does mean for what I want to do, ride off road or old log roads, if those roads are on state land, which generally speaking 1/36 of the state is sate owned land, I'm good to go. No way I tear up ground like a motorbike. I went up a steep dirt incline and ran out of power near the top and had to jump off to finish. A dirt bike would have rooster tailed up that whole hill without question. No matter how hard I try my bike cannot spin the tire faster than it is travelling on even the loosest surface. What it does do is make for a nice enjoyable ride on a 90 degree+ day.
If the city ends up not wanting my bike on their roads (which I thought I paid for but whatever) I guess I'll stay in my car or truck. Funny because they picture themselves being one of the most progressive cities in the north west. So a new invention comes along to make cycling attractive to 10 times as many people and they will move to shut it down.

The federal government of the USA doesn't have much ground to stand on for laws regarding any type of personal transportation. They will certainly leave it up to the states as they should.

[skyking]

a little common courtesy and common sense go a long way. If you ride around horses like you care, always be ready to brake and give people some space I think nobody will complain. Flip the coin, act like an ass, tear things up and the response will be different

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by skyking

a little common courtesy and common sense go a long way. If you ride around horses like you care, always be ready to brake and give people some space I think nobody will complain. Flip the coin, act like an ass, tear things up and the response will be different

I also am out in the woods around here a lot walking (now riding) and I have seen a horse and rider once in the last 20 years. I could have avoided it completely as it was off trail as well. I have never seen one riding in town. They have places they go and most people not on horses avoid those spots because you get tired walking in constant horse **** on the narrow trails. Horses tear up and spread weeds 100 times what my bicycle ever will. But millionaires have horses and better lobbyists.

[skyking]

Squeaky wheels screw it up for everyone

[Grant-53]

When doing research for our state legislators for updating NY law I found the 20-30 mph range almost universal, local rules vary on power rating and transmissions. FMVSS uses the 1500w limit and many states use this.

[Hersbird]

I got a chance to try a high speed run, it will do 36mph GPS and pedaling is useless at that speed. I will probably gear it down some as is now I only use 1st -4th out of 7 speeds.