Fizzit's RC freeride build log - now with videos

[mdd0127]

Nice sign language! Lol!

I think your next project should be a handlebar mounted EMP gun!

Just so you know it's not just you. People are just idiots and don't generally think of people on bikes as humans on vehicles. They're the same way with old vans, even if the van is hauling ass. Something in their monkey brains assumes, "Slow vehicle. Must pass!...or turn right in front of! " and they can't possibly over ride that instinct with logic! I've had idiots pass me on my e-bike when I was going 35mph in 25mph zones and then stop right in front of me. I don't generally speed but when there's a car coming up behind me and I get the feeling they're about to do something stupid, like passing on the double yellow, around blind corners, or into oncoming traffic, I try and match my speed as closely as possible to theirs to lessen the impact if there is one.

It has even happened on my pedal only downhill bike. Last summer, I was riding down highway 89A from the top of Mingus Mountain into Cottonwood, AZ and was going at least 50mph(in a 35 zone) and a girl in an eclipse HAD to pass me on the only straightaway. She nearly blew the upcoming hairpin turn and I tailgated her, giggling at myself, the whole way down. I don't think she could even comprehend that a guy on a bicycle was keeping up with her little sports car and it was really fun to "push" her down the mountain. I knew I could out brake and out maneuver her POS at any second so I stayed nice and close just so I could see her face in the mirror freaking out as she was going way too fast into all of the turns!

EMP is the answer!

[lostrack]

Why not get a car style horn and beep it predictively?
It may be a bit embarrassing but if you can see it coming, they may think its a car and react differently.

[fizzit]

Thanks for the input! It's true, it's not just me. I have definitely heard stories and seen videos of car drivers being much meaner than than the guys in my video. I was just very angry when I wrote that post because I had told someone about the incident with the red car and they had stated that it was my fault for not riding on the right side of the road

I like that story about the downhill bike, I've seen people take strange looks at me in their rear mirrors when I'm riding behind them at speed. An EMP or a horn is definitely a good idea, although all of my project-work time is caught up right now in the building of a super-bright headlight!

[dequinox]

Hey Fizzit, long time since I've been on and I like the newer look of the bike! The black looks good on there. Remind me what controller are you using with it? It's late and I don't really have the time to reel back thru your thread... Reached past a thousand miles I gather; isn't that a cool milestone? To think you've gone that far on a bike is really cool. Mine's about to hit the 2000 mark, and it's a little worse for wear now. Bent front rim, probably shot bearings, crappy worn out chain tensioner, the loose racks, the works. Still runs though after 2-3 years of sometimes daily and sometimes occasional use.

Keep on riding man, and nice Warp9

[fizzit]

Hey Fizzit, long time since I've been on and I like the newer look of the bike! The black looks good on there. Remind me what controller are you using with it? It's late and I don't really have the time to reel back thru your thread... Reached past a thousand miles I gather; isn't that a cool milestone? To think you've gone that far on a bike is really cool. Mine's about to hit the 2000 mark, and it's a little worse for wear now. Bent front rim, probably shot bearings, crappy worn out chain tensioner, the loose racks, the works. Still runs though after 2-3 years of sometimes daily and sometimes occasional use.

Keep on riding man, and nice Warp9

Yeah I haven't seen you around lately! Thanks, my riding gear matches the bike's color
I'm running the Castle HV160. I've never had any problems with it and it's even survived stalling the motor once or twice. I actually just hit 1200 miles the other day, it is pretty cool to think that I've traveled most of the way across the US on my bike! Yeah I had to replace my jackshaft bearings a couple months ago and my tensioner is getting pretty worn too. But the bike as a whole is definitely getting more reliable with the improvements that I've been making. That's very cool that your bike has been running for that long! I am hopeful that mine will survive for another year or two, at least until college
It's starting to get warm here and fun times are ahead! I can already feel my LiPo perking up
And that Warp 9 will soon be put to use in our honda del sol convertible

[fizzit]

I made a light!

Just in time for the sun to start being up when I leave home in the morning and when I go home in the evening
Oh well, it'll become useful in 6 months or so.





The LED's I used are three Cree XMLAWT LED's. I am running them at 3000ma each and they are rated at 1000 lumens each at this current. Then for the reflector I used this:


In the box is one of the little Synqor 48v-5v DC-DC converters. It feeds the LED's about 27W and draws about 30W so it does not get warm at all. I have a potentiometer to trim the output voltage. As you can see, the box and light are not complete (not waterproofed) but they have survived a couple of rainy rides already

Here's some beamshots. I locked the exposure on my camera so they would be as good as possible for comparison.

old headlight (spiderfire 700 lumen flashlight)


Prius headlights


Bike light

The bike is next to the car so the car casts a shadow in the right side of this photo.

As you can see the bike light is aimed pretty far down so I don't irritate the people in the metal boxes more than I already do! Also I think it's pointing slightly to the left...

[amberwolf]

Nice and bright light! Buuuut...

If you notice how the Prius lights don't light up above the fence to the side, but the bike light does so very brightly? That's going to potentially blind people, or at least make it harder for them to see anything but the glare of the light. It's a really common problem with lights not made specifically to conform to headlight standards (even with aftermarket HID lights on cars!).

I know that I myself can't see past such lights on a truck, for instance, and have almost run over a pair of pedestrians because the lights were so bright I could not see the road or anythign else other than the lights of the truck (not even the truck itself) on an otherwise very poorly lit road. The pedestrians were not wearing light clothing and were crossing the street on one of it's darkest sections, with nothing lit up behnd them to let me see them, but my own headlight would have lit them up sufficiently if it weren't for the blinding truck lights in the opposing traffic lane. I only saw them at the last second and was able to swerve around them. (they weren't watching for traffic either, or they would have seen me and hopefully been rushing to get out of my way when I didn't slow down for them, not knowing they were there).

So, it could be important to mask off the beam before the optics so that it doesn't shine up high like that.

[fizzit]

I am indeed aware of this problem and working to rectify it. Thanks for your concern!

[fizzit]

My town is a mess, there is road construction everywhere this month. Today, I misread a traffic cop's hand signaling and got to ride on a nice freshly paved road that had no other cars on it

I was wondering why all the other cars were turning left, because there was clearly a lane straight ahead. As I went past him he yelled something along the lines of "GET OFF THE ROAD" but it was too late by then

Why do I never have my camera on when interesting things like this happen

Anyways in other news I made an ass-ugly chain guard for the motor chain. I was hoping that it would make it quieter but it seems to have gotten worse. I will keep it simply because it keeps the chain clean. Pictures will be posted once I recover from my shame

[fizzit]

Well here's some terrible cell phone pictures of my new chain guard and the brown gunk that has collected on the inside in the last 50 miles or so of riding. I am not sure if that much dirt has managed to get inside the chain guard, if it is the dirt that was previously in the chain, or if it is some kind of finely ground rust/lube sauce.




Also here is a video from last week where everyone stops for ducks to cross the road. It was pretty cute. Then I also added a video from today where in the process of blowing a stop sign (a very slow-walking old person was about to use the crosswalk and I had to get there first) I saw a dude riding a very strange looking motorcycle with a small child in a sidecar. They both stared at me, probably because I was being a bit of an asshole by riding through the stop sign and because I was riding a vehicle that is almost as strange as theirs.



In other news, I have learned to ride with no hands.

[fizzit]

http://i.imgur.com/dGOQ2.jpg

It's like christmas! I finally got my new fork seals and an excessive amount of fork oil. After 1500 miles (and however many more were put on by the old user) I think it deserves a rebuild.
I also got one of the fancy new ACS crossfire freewheels from Motomel that are machined for eBike usage. I am really excited to put it on and I feel that it will be much better than my old sickbikeparts freewheel, with less rumbling and sprocket wobbling.

Also I am planning on building a unified battery box/controller box/other stuff box that will straddle the top tube. I will hopefully save money on building it by using the .040" aluminum panels that are left over from building our electric car's battery boxes. Here is a picture of what I think I will make it look like on the inside (color coded for what aluminum goes where):


http://i.imgur.com/pqDFu.jpg

Today I rode in probably the worst rain I have ever ridden in and it was not fun but I survived. Summer is a little late around here

[fizzit]

Well, in a burst of hyper-productivity coupled with a complete lack of a social life this weekend, I managed to rebuild my fork last night and swapped my freewheel for the fancy new ACS one today.


The fork, taken apart


The replacement seals for the fork

Rebuilding a fork for the first time was not too hard, and I haven't ridden the bike yet but just pushing it up and down it feels a lot less sticky.





In the process of replacing my freewheel, I discovered that my bottom bracket is unthreading itself on the right side... which makes sense because it is reverse threaded so it unthreads in the direction that you pedal. Who designed this???

[bzhwindtalker]

Actually the botto bracket is made to work this way, and under normal pedaling loads it screws itself up. Maybe too little pedaling modifies the way it should work^^

haha I love your replacement seals

[fizzit]

But... If you're looking from the right, you pedal clockwise and it unscrews clockwise?? Maybe this is one of those things I'll never understand

I'd just like to say that MotoMel's ACS freewheel is working great and has much less slop and is much stronger than my old Dicta. Anyone running a mid-drive should get one of these freewheels.

Today I let my friend use my bike in first gear in my alley. Of course I didn't bring out my camera
He had ridden my RC motor electric scooter before and I warned him that the throttle was sensitive, but somehow he still did a wheelie and fell of backwards right away
Luckily my bike didn't hit the ground. I'll see if I can get him to do it again and I'll take a video this time...

[fizzit]

One year since I hit that car that turned in front of me! No crashes since. Feels good. Although I still don't remember most of that day, I guess that part of my memory will never come back. Ah well, I'm sure it was traumatic and embarrassing anyways.

Also I bought more LiPo from the USA warehouse and started working on the new battery box. 888wh here we come!!!

So I got a full time job in a new building for the company that I worked at last summer. I just mapped it out and it looks like is a 15.2 mile ride. I have to get on I90 (a freeway with a bike path on it) and cross the lake, then cross Mercer Island, then cross the lake again but I still might be able to do it in less time than to take transit. Driving would be faster but the electric car isn't done yet. I might get to bike commute to work this summer it'll be interesting if I'm riding 32 miles a day and mingling with the lycras on the bike path. Helmet cam videos will be more interesting for sure

[fizzit]

I made my new battery box to fit 44v 20ah! It also holds my controller and stuff. Here are some bad pictures that I just took.
It's not a pretty box but I think it should be a heck of a lot better than what I had.

old


new






original plan


what resulted


And it's made of .032" 6061 T6 aluminum sheet cut with a band saw, bent with a vise, slathered with silicone, and riveted together. I ended up not needing the structural cross-braces. The side panels are held on by rivnuts and are sealed (hopefully) with window/door sticky stuff. It's not sealed well now because it's summer, but hopefully I can get it rain-proof soon! Right now there are just wire grommets to keep them from chafing on the rough panels.

The box will be tested in two days, I will ride it to my work 16 miles away, charge it, and ride it back. If all goes well

I was going to test it friday but I discovered that I had a bent .5" steel jackshaft from a chain-derailing event in which I forgot to tighten the nuts on one of the freewheel sprockets and it fell off

[fizzit]

Here's my bike charging for the 16 mile trip tomorrow!






And here's the new Mountain Mirrycle I got. I think it will come in handy.


On another note I switched to a 12t #35 sprocket when I made my new jackshaft. The bike is noticeably quieter! This should keep some people from getting mad if I ride past on the bike path. Hopefully.

[fizzit]

I survived my 34 mile ride today!!! It turned out to be a little longer than expected, the ride to work took 2 hours because of some 'technical difficulties' and getting lost. The way back was only 1 hour but I still got lost

The ride started off well. However, 4 times in bellevue, the set screws on my jackshaft bearings came out of the jackshaft and the chain derailed

I finally got them tight enough with a pair of plyers and set on to I90. It was a beautiful trip there! Here are some pictures that I captured from the long-ass video of the trip that I don't think anyone in their right mind would watch

My mirror helped a huge amount, it made riding a lot easier. I regret going for so long without one.


In the morning I made my entrance to the warehouse in style, riding straight up the ramp outside, through the cargo doors, into a room in which there was apparently a meeting going on oops! they had never seen me riding before so they were probably a little baffled.


In the afternoon I got a little lost, less lost than before but the trip home still took over an hour
I started it off leaving the warehouse and I had to mix it up with traffic in downtown Seattle



Then I headed through some nice parks that lead to the seattle end of the I90 bridge trail.


Slightly ominous entrance to the I90 tunnel


Then onto the I90 bridge!


It was a great view except for this guy halfway across who was either completely and utterly baffled by my bike or was giving my the evilest eye that he could muster. I'm gonna go with the bafflement. Other than him, no one really seemed to care about my bike as I went slow and pretended to pedal when I passed people.


Then through bellevue


and into my hometown kirkland, where I was unfortunately snarled by traffic for a few minutes before I found a detour to my house.


And that concludes my 34 mile commute!
I put in 15ah when I got to work and I haven't charged the battery yet. I'm unsure whether I used more or less capacity on the way back, but I'm pretty pleased overall with how it performed. And I'm happy to say that my new battery box didn't break!

[amberwolf]

A mirror helps so very much that it is baffling to me when people I know refuse to use one for whatever reason.


BTW--the blacked out sections in the warehouse pic have me intensely curious what is so secret it must be covered up. I have been resisting the temptation to try to figure it out from shadows and such.... If I had time, i might try anyway, but I don't.

[fizzit]

A mirror helps so very much that it is baffling to me when people I know refuse to use one for whatever reason.

It's true! I used to live in constant fear of someone passing me. Now I feel like I have eyes in the back of my head. It definitely changes the whole riding experience.

BTW--the blacked out sections in the warehouse pic have me intensely curious what is so secret it must be covered up. I have been resisting the temptation to try to figure it out from shadows and such.... If I had time, i might try anyway, but I don't.

Hmm... well looking at the video, I'm not even sure what it is
It's stuff for a project at work that I'm not a part of, so I don't know if they have any secrecy/privacy concerns and I just want to stay on the safe side.

[fizzit]

This monday, I rode to work again. On the trail I wore a bike helmet, and I realized that my bike is pretty loud and wears on your ears after a while. My experiences on the trail got me considering a switch to a belt drive for stage 1 of the reduction.

I'm not sure about this decision as there have been some people that have switched from belt to chain, and they had to have a reason for that. I think that if I get'r done right I could have a reliable belt setup that is free of the noise, grease, and wear of a 8000rpm #25 chain.

For the reduction, I'm thinking about having a 15t motor sprocket and a 72t larger sprocket. 5mm pitch x 15mm wide HTD belt. This will be comparable to my 13-70 current reduction. As recumpence has kindly advised me, I will need a tensioner to make sure the sprocket has enough wrap, because belt teeth are a lot weaker than chain.

This should be interesting, if anything. Thoughts?

[fizzit]

Belt drive: implemented




I rode the 17 miles to work today and it was quiet and that was the only difference I noticed from the chain drive
I thought I was going to have to take off the motor mounting plate to drill a hole for the tensioner but I discovered that I could use one of the motor mounting bolts to hold it. And it slides with the motor.

I also made a parallel board with a bunch of HobbyKing JST-XH extension wires so all my cells are paralleled and there is quite a rat's nest in the battery box. Oh well!



Thanks to recumpence for the tips on the belt drive!

[Ratking]

Nice work, looks sharp with the belt drive. How much battery do you carry on the bike?
Do you know how many wh\km you use?

[fizzit]

Nice work, looks sharp with the belt drive. How much battery do you carry on the bike?
Do you know how many wh\km you use?

Thanks! I've got 12S at 20AH now. I think I use about 27 wh/km on average. It ranges from 24 to 31 depending on how fast I'm riding.

[fizzit]

My friend decided this year to build an electric bike for his senior project as long as I would help him. He has a little experience with electronics (he knows + and -, and what volts and amps are) and none with bikes, so I helped him figure out what batteries to use, how he wants to drive the bike, and what components to purchase. For his bike, he had the idea to write to Raleigh and ask for a free bike... two weeks later and he texts me with this picture:



I haven't seen it but it looks pretty nice. I am pretty jealous. Perhaps I should have waited a while to build my bike so I could get a free one too

I'm going to help him do a simple mid-drive setup because he originally wanted to build an RC bike like mine, but I convinced him to do a mid-drive instead.