Yeah I guess you could say it runs about as good as it looks.
And, well it holds on well enoufgh for me I guess. Kinda got the twist after a few tries.
I go real easy over bumps and stuff cause I'm scared to break the quick release skewer.
It's slow, so I'm always helping it out a lot. It gives me < 10 wh/km...
Amps are definitely < 20-ish, but torque is ample by me. Speed is the issue.
Figured out the charger's LED's, too. One of 'em eventually turns green.
Anyways, today I went to get a 200K pot to reproduce grandmaster Fechter's throttle sensibility hack.
First try I soldered the thing in the middle wire cause I think I remembered that was where the GM had put it. Shoulda checked though cause augmenting resistance made it go slower! Yeah, that was teh signal wire, dumbass! Well, the second try was good. However, I'm at the end of the 200ohm range and that's just about right for this kit, had I known I woulda gotten an 100 ohm resistor too, so I'd have had more play with the pot's range. Or maybe a bigger pot.
Well whatever, here you see the work in progress on the second attempt.
And for your pleasure, here's another porn shot of the buisness end:
Edit:
Yesterday the 26th of november, I went for a ride and the front wheel slipped out going down the second part of the first curve on cote de la fabrique, going around 50km/h or so. I'm pissed because the crash wore a hole through my combat parka near the shoulder and two tourists saw me take the dive. I blame this mostly on the cheap chineese rubber material the tire is made out of, since I'm confident this would have been prevented by using an actual tire like on the back wheel that has a wonderfull Schwalbe Big Apple.
EditII:
Souped up the controller and now this thing rawckz.
See: http://tinyurl.com/ygqyvt
Also I broke the throttle and want a better rim laced on,
the one that came with this kit is rubbish.
EditIII:
First "real" icebikeing with this thing, put a studded tire on the front, couldn't be arsed to install the back tire. but the brakes really are hopelessly inadequate for this 42kg POS, especially with the steel rim in front. Have to install V brakes w/salmon pads ASAP.
Edit IV:
Installed Freddy Fenders & studded tires on both wheels.
Did quick work of ripping off the back fender with speed + jolts.
The metal holder things get caught in the knobs.
The front one bent over on it's self and, amazingly, didn't break.
With snow and winter tires, it'l get about 30wh/km and an average ride speed of 25 kph. So the batteries should be just right to get me to work. When the roads are scraped it'll get about <20wh/km. Keep in mind this is with good pedalling most of the way, with my clothes it's too cold for a person to do to a non-pedalling run for any lenght of time.
Front wheel spends a lot of time skidding, a throttle would be nice.
Also the speedo is is mounted on the rear wheel for accuracy.
Edit V:
Inside the headlamp
Switch seems to directly take the power...
A big ass relay would be prefferable.
PCB
Bulb, 40v 5w
Edit VI:
Inside the charger
A diode and a cap are absent, yet printed on the silkscreen
Flipside:
Edit VII:
The batteries are now at 15 cycles and get charged on the bike in the unheated shed, temperature is around freezing. Just for fun I took the bike path home today, so the trip took me twice longer then usual and I spent a good amount of time bogging the motor in thick snow, the last km home saw me sucking the batteries 'till cutoff a couple of time. They gave me just over 11Ah, although of course the last 1/3 - 1/4 or so of capacity yeilded anemic performance.
With the controller mod + studded tires + snow, it gives me around 30wh/km of assistance. Average speed around 25km/h per the DB.