Mobylette - Mxus3000, 120v

veloman

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Sep 13, 2009
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Austin TX
I wanted to do a minimalist lightweight road legal build. So I picked up this Moby frame with forks, wheel and swingarm from Austin Mopeds. I would have liked to give it two or three speeds, but I want the quietness and simplicity of a hub, at least to start off with.

Here is what I am planning:
17" wheels front and rear. Shinko SR704 17x2.25"
Crystalyte x5304 rear hub (thanks Dogman) (currently shown in pic with 24" bicycle rim/tire)
18fet 4115 cellman 120v controller (Thanks Neptronix/iovaykind)
Battery will start with my 23s ebike lifepo4 pack (cellman a123 / 8ah Headway) which I have many miles on. Will add more voltage with other batteries I have.
Suspension is stock Moby forks and shocks. They are not good, but will do until I upgrade.
Will probably install a front fairing.
Either bicycle pedal cranks or other linear drive for human propulsion purposes. A few reasons why: if it's cold, to improve neighborhood road efficiency, and to get some exercise.

The frame, forks, front wheel, swingarm - weighs 44lbs. Add rear wheel (30lbs), seat, controller, base battery (30), and other small parts (10), looking at 114lbs. More battery = more power.

Goals:
50mph cruise ability (not for long periods, but if I have to)
<120lbs
30wh/mile at 35mph
Respectable acceleration to solidly get ahead of traffic.
 

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That should be a cool build! Did you shelve the little Kawasaki? [Never mind - I just saw the other post.]
 
Lol, yeah I typically have at least 3 projects going at once. Tonight I was working on my other ebike, building the custom seat/rear cargo support (more crutches!)

I do really want to get the KE on the road, so I can sell the Emoto scooter which I use to ride with my fiance. It is not fast / powerful enough for two riders and handles bad with those 10" wheels.

I put some bike handlebars on the Moby today. I am looking for a moped sized 17" rim with 36 holes for the x5.
 
I have a pair of 17" moped rims at the shop. I will do a spoke count this weekend when I am down there. Did Lester not have any? How many spokes do moped rims typically have?
 
Yeah i asked Lester/the other guys working, and they didn't seem to have one. I thought about getting a rim from a YZ80 but they use much larger spokes/nipples. I can't use more than 12g spokes with this clyte hub, unless I drill the holes bigger.

I can say for sure that the spokes are going to VERY short. I'm afraid I may have to get them custom from JRH and that's not cheap. He does have a moped rim that would work, $40.

The front wheel on this moped is 36h.
 
Nice build! I'm thinking of going the same direction, I just swapped from a x5404 to a x5304 and man! it is the perfect commuter motor in a 24" rim with 20s. Its got a perfect cruise at 24mph or 29mph with tons of torque and if I WOT it will get 42mph which seems very fast with bicycle components. Moped is the next step, but I will never get rid of the pedals!

will be watching this
also using a 17" moped front/back gives you low clearance and reduce your tops speed quite a bit. I went this route and now want to go 19"
I'm happier with the 24" bicycle rear now and it seems closer in diameter to 19" moto. x5304 torque is never a problem
 
My 5304 cogs a lot, more than my HT3525, which makes sense due to the wider magnets. It is SUPER quiet though! So smooth and quiet. It is a heavy beast of a motor though. For a bicycle, I would definitely choose the HT/HS first. My ebike with HT on 74v ideal.

19" DOT tires in moped width are in short supply, not many to choose from. Very unlikely to find a smooth tread.

So far, i hate the moped suspension. I am certain bicycle suspension would be better than this old moped stuff. And the front wheel doesn't line up straight with my bars (which are u-clamped, so not adjustable). I'm sure I can get better moped suspension though, this is old low end stuff on the moby.
 
after using the 5404 for over a year on a bike going to the x5304 its like going on a diet and gaining speed all at the same time. I really enjoy how quiet it is, I will have to re lace it soon. Not sure how much life is left on the stock Crystalyte rim.
 
Finally started working on this again.

I decided to go with the 5T Mxus3000. Laced it into a 17" old steel moped rim. The clyte has just so much cogging drag. Dogman said it might have a trickle short in the windings. And, it was nicely built into the 24" bike rim, so I didn't want to tear that apart.

I had to extend the swingarm with some steel plate to widen the dropouts to fit 135mm. They are still a bit too narrow for the mxus. I was very happy to see that my hand-cut dropouts came out aligned and the axle slid right in. It helps to use calipers to measure your progress as you slowly file away to 10.3mm. There is room on the 3/16" steel plate for adding clamping torque arms down the line. My welder can't really handle welding these two plates together, but I think it's okay.

I test rode it the other night with a 52v 4ah lipo pack around the neighborhood. Motor is very torquey. I'm not sure what the controller settings are, but I think it pulls about 2500w at 50v. Seemed to top out around 25mph, which is more than I expected on only 52v. I will be running 75v or more.

I HATE old moped suspension. Right now I am ripping off the Moby forks. The shop gave me bent forks when I bought this frame, and they are trash. I might get 1" of travel. The rear shocks are maybe 3/4" travel - absolute trash. I will be putting mtb forks on this. I may have to get a 1" steerer fork, but I did find one with suspension and disc mounts: http://www.amazon.com/SR-Suntour-2013-Coil-Suspension/dp/B00ACTMSB8
I will likely end up relacing the front wheel with a bike disc hub to fit in the bike forks, but to keep the 17" moped rim/tire. Or lace in a 20" bmx rim and try to get through inspection with a non-DOT rated front tire. Not sure yet.

But the Shinkos seem to smooth out the roads pretty well. They are definitely squishy compared to bike tires. But they also seemed to roll okay. I was holding my speed better than on my KE100. The Perm132 on that has about the same low cogging as the mxus hub. The KE is also about 180lbs heavier (but shouldn't that extend coast down distances?) I understand the heavier weight increases rolling resistance. I am anxious to see how my power draw compares on this to my ebike with 26x2" bike tires. The Shinkos grip should be a good thing too.
 

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veloman said:
The clyte has just so much cogging drag. Dogman said it might have a trickle short in the windings.
I'd guess there is soemthing going on with it, cuz I ahve an X5304 on the front of the SB Cruiser in a 26" wheel, and I don't really feel any cogging with it even when turned by hand off ground. (taht's part of the point of the slanted stator lams--to reduce cogging).

I wonder if your lams are shorted together, and/or as suggested a winding is partly shorted somewhere? Or even something in the wiring inside the cable going to it? Or even the cotnroller (if anothe rwas not tried with it).


Is it rusty inside? (mine is nearly pristine inside, despite a bent axle and other stuff).
 
You can get some Peugeot 16in racey rims from treatland or 1977 moped and some actual dot rated tires from either of them as well, treats has faster shipping. Ebr hydraulic forks are actually pretty good, your steerer is actually 26mm so watch out for that.
 
This project is long gone. I gave up on it shortly after my last post. Too much deal with on mixing moped and bike parts. I'm back to just using the ebike. Can't stand being stuck in traffic and enjoy using bike only infrastructure to get away from the stinkies.
 
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