Fizzit's RC freeride build log - now with videos

[fizzit]

Thanks! (I'm gonna take that as a compliment... )

[MakeTheNoise]

How do you find driving it through the derailier?
Do you feel like the power is going to tear it off?

[Whiplash]

Thanks! (I'm gonna take that as a compliment... )

Yes! The bike looks good!

[fizzit]

Well it's been a while! And I've continued to ride and work on my bike.

As for the question about driving through the derailleur, it's a bitch. I never shift because my derailleur never worked right after I crashed my bike. It squeaks a lot and sometimes shifts on it's own. I'll fix it soon, I keep telling myself. I have no front derailleur, so no, it doesn't feel like the power will tear it off, because the rear derailleur does not transfer any power.

This picture pretty much says it all for what I've done to the bike. I've added 5 more ah of batteries to bring it up to 15AH/15 mile range. I also recently painted my rims and spoke nipples black with spray paint. I added a generous amount of clear coat, so hopefully it will stay on.

In addition, as you can see I recently purchased a new motor, which I am currently figuring out how to mount to the bike

[amberwolf]

In addition, as you can see I recently purchased a new motor, which I am currently figuring out how to mount to the bike

I think the hard part will be not twisting the entire frame into a little spiral wrapped around the shaft the first time you power it on.

[motomoto]

You need to have a derailleur that is in great shape to run anything above 3k watts, but it is amazing what kind of power you can run
through the lower four derailleur gears. I mean the larger sprockets on the rear. The system is made for a 250 lb. guy to hammer
on the pedals transmitting a great amount of torque in spurts. If that torque is applied 360 degrees that adds up to some serious
horsepower capability. I haven't run the numbers, but I bet you could run 10 horsepower through it.

[fizzit]

Do you mean the cassette? I don't see how the derailleur is affected by the power level. Your advice is especially relevant now, as I am doing a power-train replacement on my bike. After 1 year and nearly 1000 miles, my bearings on the jackshaft are shot, and all of my sprockets are very worn down. Especially the largest sprocket on the rear, because that is all I use The jackshaft itself is destroyed on the end after a chain-failure caused the middle chain to get stuck between the two sporockets on the crank, the chain locked up, and the motor spun the sprocket on the shaft

I'm going to replace the middle chain with #35 because I have been having a lot of problems with the BMX chain that I've been using. This will increase the drive ratio, and I will be shifting a lot now, with my first gear top speed being ~20mph

[fizzit]

So, I completed the power train replacement. After the standard breaking-in period, it's been great and really fun to shift gears and get up to 37mph or so on the flat.

However, earlier this week, I had a problem! When I was riding home on Friday, my chain randomly shifted to 6th gear - I'm assuming that this was caused by a mis-adjusted derailleur. (they seem to de-adjust over time)

It derailed the rear chain and pulled off the smallest chain that's on the motor. I replaced the chains and slowly rode home, thinking nothing of it. Then on Monday, I headed out in the morning and my middle chain derailed! No big deal, I fixed it.

Then, Tuesday, everything goes to shit. I'm good for about 15 seconds, then the chain makes a very loud noise and binds up. Here are the results.


You can see that one of the 10-32 bolts is sheared off completely


Destroyed chain


Deep gouges in frame


another angle

I just went to the bike store and got a new chain and sprocket. I'm guessing that the old chain or sprocket got bent when it randomly shifted under load, and caused a catastrophic failure after a couple miles.

Here's a picture of the bike as it is this very moment (I'll get around to replacing the sprocket and chain tomorrow)



Here's the new sports-action cam that I got for my birthday today! I'll finally be able to post some quality videos of me riding around, all DC-in-GC style



Here's a short video I took with it in my garage. It's pretty dark in there, but it is HD!

[fizzit]

Here's a video that I posted in another thread



Here's a new video that I took from my recordings this week, which was my first week of riding with the camera. It shows a couple of the routes that I used to get out of school at the end of the day when the parking lot is crazy and I have to get to work. Lots of dodging people and cars



I recently discovered that my camera wasn't even using the highest resolution! Plus, there is a mode that takes a high-quality still every couple of seconds so that should open up some interesting possibilites. Either way, as time goes on and I ride more places, I should be able to make even more interesting videos!

[fizzit]

Here's a short video of a couple of nice drivers I encountered this week. These little events both occurred on the same road, on which the speed limit is 25 mph. I was traveling at 25mph in the video but apparently this is not good enough for these drivers. My favorite parts are when the guy in the white car rolls through the stop sign while looking directly at me, and when the guy in the red car crosses into the opposing traffic lane to run the stop sign. The one with the red car occurred a couple of hours ago

[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