R Martin: R10

[MadRhino]

Just found this older thread, and I like the system. I could use it with combination of Nuvinci and wide range 9cassette. I have questions, if one had a good look at it:

Is the crank system built so it could be easily fitted with another motor, more powerfull one?

Did someone try feeding this one with more juice?

Is it brushless with external controller?

Is this crank system available separately, or more likely: can it be removed and fitted fairly on another frame?

[rms401]

MadRhino,

This is Randall from R Martin. I can answer most of your questions.

The R10 with the bracket mount motor has a standard rear wheel. You can use whatever cassette, freewheel, or Nuvinci hub that you like. That is one of the really nice things about this design - both the front and rear wheels are standard.

The motor is actually really powerful even though it is rated at 200w continuous. In lower gears, you can climb hills without pedaling. We don't recommend this because of the power consumption and stress on the components. We have never found a hill we couldn't climb with this setup.

We haven't ramped up the voltage on this but it should work fine. We use a 36v controller and this is a brushless motor with hall sensors. The controller is in a compartment next to the battery.

The current bracket mount motor requires a special mounting bracket on the frame. There is no normal bottom bracket with this setup. So, you can't just mount it on another bike. We may have something that will mount to regular frames in the future.

Thanks,

Randall

http://www.electricbikedistributor.com
randall@rmartinbikes.com

[MadRhino]

Thanks for your answer Randall,

I have other questions, if you have spare time:

What is the distance between pedal levers?

Could the motor be replaced with another one, or is it specifically designed for it?

You mention ' power consumption and stress on the components'... Well, I do not mind about power consumption as I can easily feed it as required. My concern is about the crank transmission, because this is the only part that I could not find or repair quickly; and maybe the motor, only if I can not easily fit another one.

I consider buying your bike, but would not use it very long as is. The idea is to eventually modify my DH frame to fit your crank system, if I can first achieve mods to attain the desired performance out of it (40mph top speed and 90nm torque at 20mph would be satisfying my needs). It looks neat, I would appreciate a few pictures, views from under and from the left. I would like to know also, if all spare parts are available, as I would buy at the same time all the parts that are most likely to fail under stress, cause I plan to stress it a lot. Never mind the garantee, mind the availability.

Thanks for your time.

[Greg5865]

My adult daughter bought an R10 with the larger battery in September 2010 to replace a Tres Terra Europa http://www.electricvehiclesnw.com/main/tresterra.htm that was purchased in May 2006.
She uses it daily as her only mode of transportation. She is very happy with the bike. It is comfortable and the suspension and disk brakes work well. The Europa seems to accelerate a little faster than the R10 with just the throttle and no pedaling but if you pedal (strongly recommended for performance and battery life) they are about the same. The R10 seems to have a slightly higher top speed. We have not tried to measure the speed. The R10 is 15 pounds lighter than the Europa so it much easier to handle. Because the motor is at the crank and takes advantage of the gears it handles hills much better that the hub motor. Her ride is over hilly terrain and the bike does not slow much on the up hills so her 15 minute commute is now about 12 minutes and she feels she is not pedaling as hard.

In late October it started to have a problem with the crank. If you stop pedaling, the crank should free wheel and the motor can still power the bike. It started to intermittently stop free wheeling so the motor was causing the pedals to turn. Sometimes when she would pedal, the mechanism would release and the pedals would just spin without powering the bike. At the end of October it became a total failure. I contacted R.Martin and they knew right away what the problem was and said they would send me the part and a crank puller so that I could replace it. The did not FedEx it so I had to wait about 8 days for the part.

November 13th, 2010
When I started to dissemble the crank assembly I found the Philips slots striped in 2 of the 4 screws. Then in the next step I had to remove 4 Allan cap screws. 2 of these were hard to remove and it turns out that they were cross threaded when assembled. All parts are aluminum and it appears that very little care was taken in the assembly.

I did replace the part they sent me and the bike has been working well as of today 1/2/2011.
I contacted R.Martin on Nov 15th about the stripped screws and they agreed to send me a whole new crank assembly. I told them it was not a rush because the bike was working. By no rush I was thinking I could wait w couple of weeks. I am still waiting. A follow up email on 12/8 has gone unanswered. I will follow up with a phone call tomorrow to see whats up.

They seemed helpful and responsive up to this point so I hope they have a good explanation for the delays. I will post an update.

Spacing between pedals is 9"
Attached are some pictures of the motor and crank assembly and the defective part next to the new one.

DSC_0004.jpg

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DSC_0005.jpg

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[deVries]

I did replace the part they sent me and the bike has been working well as of today 1/2/2011.
I contacted R.Martin on Nov 15th about the stripped screws and they agreed to send me a whole new crank assembly.

If you have a chance please take photos of the old crank assembly, when you disassemble it to put on the new one. I guess there is no reason to have to open the motor can? That would sure be interesting to see what's inside there.

I am told there is a patent on the motor can or maybe the whole unit, so it would be interesting if someone on ES could find that patent. Usually, there are drawings in the patent that will show how the darn thing works, and a good explanation too.

Please see if you can find any patent numbers stamped on the motor or crank areas, and, if you don't mind, please check the instruction manual too. Usually, the patent numbers will be in the reference manual somewhere. Thanks!!!

[whudgens]

I just bought an R10 new this week. Can someone take a crankshaft pictures (pointing down). It looks like my right crank sticks out 3 1/2 inches. And the left one is sticks out only 2 inches. It seems to be causing the front crank to keep derailing.

thanks,
William in Texas

[miro13car]

Greag,
I would never abandon TestraEuropa with Heinzman motor for Rmartin, no way, 6kg differnce in weight is not so much,
ability to climb? Is Heizman not hub geared motor already?
And at least it lasts for long time, no shoddy assembly.

[whudgens]

I went to RMartin HQ this afternoon. They helped me with my new bike issue. They were fast and friendly. We are going to buy a 2nd bike in the near future!

[Greg5865]

Here is an update on my daughters R10. The free wheel mechanism failed again one year after the last time. They replaced it for no charge even though the warranty had expired. They told me the last time that the part was being redesigned and they they would give me the new one when I needed it.
This time I sent them the whole gearbox because of the stripped screw problem. They were going to fix that somehow.
They received the gearbox on January 16 and we did not get back the repaired unit until March 7. (7 1/2 weeks) They never communicated to me about the delay. Emails and phone messages went unanswered. I did get someone on the phone that told me the part was back ordered. I am not happy with this at all.
I see by their web site that the R10 is now the R10-H with a hub motor. I guess the old design didn't work out to well. I hope that if this part fails again I will be able to get the part and it won't cost an arm and a leg.
whudgens, does yours have the hub motor?

[Greg5865]

Here is an update on my update.
I got the part back and the bike still did not work. It turns out the freewheel mechanism was fine but they replaced it anyway. (Thank you). The problem is that the gear on the end of the motor shaft is held on by a roll pin, and it had sheared off (like they are designed to do). I was able to fix it an about 15 minutes once I determined the problem. The symptoms for the broken pin were similar the the broken freewheel.
The bottom line is the freewheel mechanism appears to not be a weak spot as I thought but it does need to be lubricated periodically which I had not been told before.

[SunCoaster]

Looks like they are no longer selling ebikes with the motor mounted at the crank assembly, just hub motors:

http://www.rmartinltd.com/Electric-Bikes-c10/

[DJSTRIP]

I have had my R 10 for over two years and it is still looking and working excellent, but then again I do take very good care of it! Too bad they stopped making the crank motor and went back to the chinese hub motor.

[docnjoj]

This is too bad as I had been considering trying to fit this type of geared motor to my trike at the end of the boom. Is it just not reliable enough for a kit?
otherDoc

[Greg5865]

I just went to test ride some bikes because I am thinking of replacing me daughters R-10. The bikes I tried had 350W hub motors and they were much better on a very steep hill than the R-10. The bikes I tried did have 21 speeds which helped. So If I were you I would have second thoughts about using this particular crank motor. The same bike can be purchased in the US as an igohttp://www.igoelectric.com/ or an Evelo.
Evelo will sell you parts. Go here.http://www.evelo.com/shop/spare-parts/