Newb quest. (9 speed rear in 135mm dropout)

[bachmaninoff]

Wow, I figured a mid-drive system would be complicated to setup.

[Chalo]

Wow, I figured a mid-drive system would be complicated to setup.

He's not talking about a mid-drive. Normal (well, you know, "normal") low-slung tadpole trikes don't have any place to put one.

Chalo

[bachmaninoff]

Just got an email from BMS battery with tracking info, according to FEDEX should be here by cob June 11th. Seems pretty optimistic!

And I'll still need to lace the motor into the wheel...

The wife expressed interest in getting a hub motor, so maybe I could outfit her's with this one... Perhaps I should go with the BMC/MAC after all?

[Chalo]

Just got an email from BMS battery with tracking info, according to FEDEX should be here by cob June 11th. Seems pretty optimistic!

And I'll still need to lace the motor into the wheel...

The wife expressed interest in getting a hub motor, so maybe I could outfit her's with this one... Perhaps I should go with the BMC/MAC after all?

It's worth considering that cassette bodies for big-axle hubs are on average a lot more failure-prone than regular ones for 10mm axles. A cassette body is only about 32mm on the minor diameter of its outer spline, and that doesn't leave a lot of space for pawls and bearings. The bigger the axle passing through, the smaller those highly stressed parts must be to fit in there.

I don't think mixing cassettes and 14mm axles is a good idea at all.

Chalo

[bachmaninoff]

I won't be using a cassette, it's a freewheel - which just came in today from ComCycle USA! It's a DNP Epoch 9 speed freewheel. Matches the spacing of my existing cassette. Appears to be 43mm wide, and since I won't be running disc brakes on the rear, I should have some room to play with. If not, I'll just cold set the frame to accommodate it.

So I have the Bafang BPM enroute which is supposed to arrive on Monday, which may need to be installed into the wheel, then trued. Gonna find out best place to acquire a BMC/MAC. Looking at possibly ElectroRide LLC or ?

[motomech]

Cyclecom does not lube the DNP free wheel and you will have to before installing. There is a pricey little tool to inject grease that your local bike shop may have, or you can soak it in gear oil and deal with the mess. It's only oil
The 9-speed DNP is 40 mm wide, about 3 or 4 mm too wide for the 135 mm drop-out.

[bachmaninoff]

Oh, ok I was measuring from side to side. Good to know about the lube...

http://sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html <-- what a great site!

I really appreciate all the input on this thread!

[Chalo]

I won't be using a cassette, it's a freewheel - which just came in today from ComCycle USA! It's a DNP Epoch 9 speed freewheel. Matches the spacing of my existing cassette. Appears to be 43mm wide, and since I won't be running disc brakes on the rear, I should have some room to play with. If not, I'll just cold set the frame to accommodate it.

DNP freewheels are iffy quality, but should be OK for this application.

You'll probably need a spacing washer or two to allow the wider freewheel to clear the frame. That will significantly increase rear wheel flange offset, so you should strongly consider adding the same amount of spacing on the opposite side so that the integrity of the wheel is not undermined. Adding spacing on both sides will most likely require widening your frame.

Trikes strongly side-load their wheels, and hub motor wheels have narrow flange spacing that causes spoke tensions to fall disproportionately out of balance with small changes in flange offset. These two factors together suggest that it would be better to widen the axle or let the rear rim run off center (bad for a two-wheeler, but insignificant for a three-wheeler) rather than increase wheel dish (flange offset).

The rear brake may be difficult to adjust properly if the rim is much off center, which is why I suggest adding spacing to both sides.

Chalo

[motomech]

Yup, A whole lot of work to save that shifter.
Bachmaninoff, you really should consider trying out a 7-speed before going though all that.
The fact is, with the big geared Bafang, you are going to end up using three, maybe four of the lowest[numerical] gears anyhow.

[bachmaninoff]

Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying about going with the 7 speed. I won't always be using the motor though, guess I should have said that before. Well it's not installed on anything yet, hasn't even arrived. Not too late to do something different! I do just want to see how it is prior to going another route though...

[motomech]

Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying about going with the 7 speed. I won't always be using the motor though, guess I should have said that before. Well it's not installed on anything yet, hasn't even arrived. Not too late to do something different! I do just want to see how it is prior to going another route though...

I won't always be using the motor though, guess I should have said that before.

Yeah, we've heard that before too. That attitude will last...maybe a week

There will be plenty of opportunities to add your touches and fab stuff down the road. You don't want to spend your time on mod.s that add nothing in the way of benifit.

[bachmaninoff]

A little late posting the info, plus been busy... Why does that happen when I'm trying to do fun stuff?

So the motor came in... Pretty fast shipping from BMSBATTERY! The motor connector is different than I thought it would be. Not a huge deal... The wheel was not prebuilt, which I was not expecting, so again, no big deal. The motor cable comes out of the freewheel side, which I figured was not ideal. The motor has a quick disconnect as illustrated in the photos; however, the plug is too wide to accept my freewheel removal tool. Nor can I remove or add spacers or washers with this plug. Boo.

This essentially leaves me no choice but to splice a new connector (like the one on the e-bikekit) onto this cable. Kind of a pain. Oh well, I'm determined not to buy a BionX, so I will continue trucking forward. Not that there's anything wrong with BionX, so no offense to the BionX folks!

That being said, I'm in immediate need of comfy transportation, so I'm considering buying a BikeE and pairing that with a e-bikekit rear geared 20" (and I'll be using a 7 speed freewheel on that one). I may even need to move up to 48V for that. The Bafang/Trike combo will be my weekend project.

Yeah, we've heard that before too. That attitude will last...maybe a week

Yeah. I'm feeling my power requirements inching upward...

[amberwolf]

The wheel was not prebuilt, which I was not expecting, so again, no big deal.

That's the first time I think I have ever seen a vendor just send a rim, spokes, and motor when a hubmotor wheel was ordered. Kinda useless to most folks that way (unless they pay extra to someone to build the wheel, since most have no idea how to put one together). I'm not terribly surprised that they've gotten so cheap they don't even *try* to build the wheel, though, since at least half the time they're laced wrong anyway.

(I almost shiskebab'd my eye out relacing my Fusin motor the other day...it still hurts a lot...if it had come laced right, well...).

[bachmaninoff]

I'm not terribly surprised that they've gotten so cheap they don't even *try* to build the wheel, though, since at least half the time they're laced wrong anyway.

Yeah, before it arrived I asked them if it would be prebuilt and they said, "Sorry, we forgot." If they're going to do it wrong, I'd just prefer to do it myself.

[bachmaninoff]

Acquired the BikeE. Sadly will have to let the E-Mongoose go. Details here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=235&p=597781#p597781

[Chalo]

Acquired the BikeE. Sadly will have to let the E-Mongoose go. Details here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=235&p=597781#p597781

Yikes. Have you tried a real bike yet? Like, not a department store abomination and not an ill-handling recumbent accident-in-happening? You might be surprised at how much better the experience can be.

Chalo

[bachmaninoff]

Yikes. Have you tried a real bike yet? Like, not a department store abomination and not an ill-handling recumbent accident-in-happening? You might be surprised at how much better the experience can be.

Haha, yeah... I had a KHS "Club 900" Japanese model and a MASI Alure road bike and they were definitely better bikes, but my nether regions would still get numb (like totally without feeling, then tingly) after 30 minutes of riding. Since it'd take me just over an hour for a one-way commute, I decided that work was not worth my tingly parts becoming degraded. I'd love to have a non-recument bike that felt good for riding that long, 'cause I know I'm gonna feel goofy coming into work on that E-BikeE. In fact, I prolly won't hear then end of it.

[Chalo]

Yikes. Have you tried a real bike yet? Like, not a department store abomination and not an ill-handling recumbent accident-in-happening? You might be surprised at how much better the experience can be.

Haha, yeah... I had a KHS "Club 900" Japanese model and a MASI Alure road bike and they were definitely better bikes, but my nether regions would still get numb (like totally without feeling, then tingly) after 30 minutes of riding. Since it'd take me just over an hour for a one-way commute, I decided that work was not worth my tingly parts becoming degraded.

Regular folks ride regular bikes all day long, day in and day out, without such side effects. Racers, cycle tourists, cycle messengers, pedicab drivers, deliverymen. Switching to a 'bent instead of trying fit adjustments or different saddles is like having aching feet and switching to swim fins, without first trying to loosen the laces on your shoes to be more comfortable, or trying a bigger size.

I say this as someone who thoroughly numbed his crotch once, after taking off on a 700 mile ride on a bike that had a 20-minute saddle. 30 miles out, I was suffering. 200 miles out, I was bleeding. I finally found a bike shop that had a better saddle for me, and the problem was cured.

Chalo

[bachmaninoff]

Hilarious!