Clown Bike Climbs Mountains in CR - UPGRADE w/pics & video

Hello everyone! I am Jay, son of John in CR.

This is my first OP, and my first ebike video. Here's a big THANK YOU to my Dad, for sharing his experience, time, tools, and toys!
I would also like to thank all of you, for freely giving your time and knowledge...especially Justin for keeping us alive!

Most of the info is in the video and youtube description. I have re-posted the bike specs here, below the video.
The first climb has a 13% average grade, and a section of 30% maximum! Average speed on the first climb was 32 mph, top speed on the downhill was 53mph!
I recommend you either mute the video, or turn the volume down, because of wind noise.

[youtube]Tku4jS5guZo[/youtube]

Clown Bike specs:
-Steel, full-suspension BMX frame, with custom clamping rear dropouts.
-Konion V Cell battery pack, 20s12p configuration, 18 Ah, 1332 Wh.
-18fet 4130 Controller, shunt modded to 60A, ventilated with a centrifugal PC fan.
-Scooter hub motor from China, stator dimensions 200mm D x 40mm W. Drum brake. Custom ventilation capitalizes on centifugal effect, and works like a charm - motor is always cool. It creates some noticeable drag, though.
-Motocycle 14" rear rim, spokes, tubeless tire. Front 20" bike wheel.
-Cycle Analyst from ebikes.ca (it rocks.)
-Front hydraulic disc brake, rear drum brake.
-Half-twist throttle, motorcycle kickstand, wide gel seat, custom tail rack.

-Top Speed, flat ground: 50mph... tied for the slowest ebike at our house.
-Max Power Drawn on this trip: 4403 W.
-Bike Weight: 75 lbs, my weight: 175 lbs.
-Range: 20 miles at 40 mph

The GPS elevation profile for this route is here: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36153&p=525312#p525311


Clown bike is getting a controller and battery upgrade soon, so the next video should be more exciting!

Welcome to E-S.

I must add that you have an interesting dad. 8)

Wow, all that wattage constant & still cool.. puts what i am building for the pike's peak race to shame!

CR is beautiful, i get the appeal.. 8)

Welcome! You have entered through the big door, 53mph wow

I love your countryside so pretty.. and yea impressive bike those motors sound like they really rock.
Id say your a lucky guy to have a dad with such passion , but he's lucky also to see that you also share it.
Welcome to the board and look forward to more videos.

Thanks everyone! More vids coming soon. Maybe I'll get one on Super V with new 36fet

Nice video. I see the people in your area don't pay attention any better than over here. That's the biggest concern, when I get my E-bike running. Someone will just step out in front or back out in front of us.

They are used to hearing motos and cars, so, quiet stuff just does not register.

How you liking living in Paradise ?? 8) :lol:

Harold, that is so true. People here don't even look to cross the street. I guess they think just listening is good enough, which drives me nuts. I always give a warning shout when it looks like they are going to cross.

For the record, I don't normally ride this fast on that road, because of the number of houses, children, and animals. Had to hot-dog it for the camera a little bit...

CR is fantastic! It truly is paradise, especially for an e-biker who craves speed.

Very impressive. Nearly 9 miniutes of sustained steep climing at good speed.

Liking your country side! I'm jealous!
Maybe an upgrade in aesthetics will come with your new controller? :lol:
I'm sorry if I missed it but how long did it take you to get everything together?

Aesthetics will be changed, but I'm not sure about upgraded.
I need to change the entire battery pack out with a new one, so the look will change. But duct tape is sooo easy. 8) Maybe I can somehow saddlebag 23s8p of A123 M1's, like is on Blue, just half as tall: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=36158#p524808
The new controller is 24fet 4110s rated at 100A on the box. With the short wheelbase and twitchy throttle, it's going to wheelie.

If we are trying to guess man hours into this bicycle, I can't be accurate, but I'd say around 80hrs. If you are wondering how long it would take someone to duplicate, I would say someone quick could do it in 24hrs, with the right tools, and maybe a helper doing batteries.
If we are talking clock time on this bike, from first part shipped, to complete video shape, it's about 3 YEARS

There are lots of custom bits on this bike:
-Ventillated motor side covers- drilled holes to promote even airflow IN by the axle on one side, and OUT the very perimeter on both sides. Simplest way to get airflow across the windings and airgap.
-Freewheel- mounted to motor cover on the wire side.
-Clamping dropouts- welded onto the flats of the swingarm. A MUST.
-Drum brake brackets- 2 shaped pieces of angle iron welded on the swingarm, one for the brake cover mount, and one for the cable.
-Kickstand mount- Cut a piece of plate steel, drilled 2 holes, and welded to the swingarm, for motorcycle kickstand mount.
-Battery pack is DIY konions, first in 20s strings, then paralleled to fit the bike space. Then duct taped right to the frame.
-Controller mods- shunt, traces, centrifugal pc fan.
-Seat rack for controller. 3 square tubes bolted to 2 spots on the seatpost.
-And all the usual ebike stuff- switches, wires, etc.

how do I arrange a move to Costa Rica ? Special visa, work permit requirements ?

What little I know about working in CR: I was told by an American here, he can own a business but is not allowed to work. Does that mean physical manual labor, I'm not sure. He does run the business selling plantation trees and markets the lumber once the trees are big enough.

He had a Computer oriented business, doing mods-add-ons to computer programs, of some sort. This was all done for outside CR. Computer programming, re-design ??

I married a CR woman. Gave me the right to work. I qualify for all the social programs, except voting. Not being married to a CR makes the rules apply differently.

When I first got here, I had to leave for 3 days, every 3 months, and have the Passport stamped to prove it. Took me a little over 1 year to get permanent residency. I only leave when I want to, now.

John has a different slant on working. He might have more-better info than I do. I just look out for what I needed to do.

Lebowski,

You apply for residency through the CR embassy in your home country, and residency gives you the ability to work. Business owners don't need residency to work at their business. Without residency the visit time varies depending on your nationality, and like Harold said, US citizens get 90 day tourist visas and then have to exit the country for a least 3 days to get another 90 visa. At your skill level everything should just be pretty much a rubber stamp for you as long as you can demonstrate some basic economic means. It's more poor Nicaraguans who CR tries to crack down on getting into CR and staying, but they represent a quite plentiful domestic and manual labor force, though typically they get themselves legal to get full protection under CR's liberal labor laws and take advantage of the social services systems. I stayed under tourists visas for years, and then one of my sons was born here, which gave me almost automatic residency after doing the long lines.

There's also 2 different residency systems, with one maybe geared more toward someone like yourself. Investing in CR through buying a house, property, etc can also give you pretty much a rubber stamp.

John

Good info to know, CR is very appealing, although after getting through the red tape to become a citizen you still have to factor in the culture shock of getting used to a new way of life because I read that it is different. Yes I did read on the subject. I noticed they have buses, hey! I am a bus driver :lol: Back to the subject, that e-bike is impressive, that long climb with sustained speed is awesome. And the motor stays cool you say? Really impressive. Now being a father I can help myself but to say this, that downhill ride was exhilarating but man be careful, it was also very dangerous. But really cool.... but dangerous. Man that was awesome but.... just be careful

The culture change isn't such a shock. If you can speak basic spanish, then you would have no problem.

I agree that the ride was quite dangerous. I DON'T want to encourage riding like this with so many people in the road!!! Don't try this at home, kids.

I'll be using new routes, very early in the morning, for future videos (which will have more speed ).

I didn't know more than 10 words in Spanish, when I moved here. It's been a challenge for an old bastard. I have found different parts of the country use different words in the same conversation. That part confuses me. When they get too smartass with me, I just speak english. THAT gets their attention.

Biggest problem I have is telephone. I have severe Tinnitus, and, so many people just run the words together, talking real fast, or, they mumble. More and more, I ask my wife what someone is saying, and, she can't tell me, exactly. THIS, after she does speak French, Italian, Castillian Spanish, San Jose-CR dialect Spanish, and reads and understands English as well as anyone. She just refuses to speak it.

I picked up what Spanish I know, in bits and pieces. There is NO Spanish speaking classes for me to attend, way out here, in the jungle.

Anyone can always live in the GRINGO sections, if they choose

So learning Spanish before going will help but you still have to ''relearn'' what you did because of the dialects. So this would be 7 languages for me, French, English, Spanish, CR Spanish, Sarcasm, Profanity and Boozaneese.

How's the meat down there? I read that good quality meat is not something that can be found in CR. I read that the diet consists mostly of fruits, vegetables and fish with some chicken. That is mostly what we eat right now up here in Canada so this wouldn't be a problem. I think I'm hijaking this thread sorry.

Looking forward to the vids with higher speeds :wink:

I learned more Spanish in 3 days here than in 3 months of classes. But Harold is right, sometimes they speak way too fast and mumbled, or use local slang. Of course, this is true all over the world. Heck, someone from the UK could speak fast English with slang, and I wouldn't understand.
What bothers me the most with Spanish in CR, is that they don't slow down and annunciate, when I obviously don't understand their rambling. I tell them, in Spanish, that I don't understand, and please slow down with easy words. That usually does the trick, although they will sometimes give attitude, and go too slow and loud as if I was deaf or retarded. That's when I should follow Harold's lead, and go with English.

We eat good meat all the time here. Pork, beef, sausage, chicken, fish. All can be found with good quality in the local supermarket. Some meats here are better than I have had anywhere else ("chuletas"- smoked pork chops).
The diet of the locals is somewhat strange, though. They eat rice and beans for breakfast, chicken and rice for dinner, and they love to put salt on unripe mangos. :?
The fruit selection here is probably bigger than most of the world, due to the local climate. Bananas are around 8 cents a piece.

As long as the OP is joining in the food section, . I get Salchicon-Picante', hot sausage, from the local pulperia, small general grocery store. Slice it longways, fry it in Soya oil, and burn the Tortilla on both sides. Slather on the Mustard, and, some fried onions, I can eat that several times a week.

Yes, Pork, chicken, LEAN beef, grass fed, Mutton, Fresh fish, fresh Shrimp, usually markets are full of Veggies, and fruits. We grow a lot of stuff, mostly as volunteer plantings. Dig the roots, put the cutoff branches or chunks of root back in the hole. Add a little fertilizer from the chicken coop, and water it in. We have several fruit varieties.

There is NEVER a reason to go hungry. Mostly a person can just graze on the fruit and plants that grow along the roadway, as long as you don't live IN the city.

I just brought in the last of the most recently ripe Bananas, about 60, from the stalk hanging in my shop. Right now, there are 4 more stalks of bananas ripening on the trees, as I write this.

My favorite is Pineapple. Out here, I can buy from the farmer for 50cents, each. Last time I was in Florida, they were $5.00 each.

Thanks for answering you two, I appreciate it. Now I'll stop hounding you with my questions and let this thread get back on track.

I would say, the "culture-shock" of being in Costa Rica for me was being floored by how kind and loving and happy everyone is everywhere you look, the amazing beauty everywhere you look, and the amazing abundance of delicious fresh foods. After a week, I had no problem communicating with anyone. I wouldn't say I was ready for deep philosophical conversations, but I was very comfortable being able to communicate on the level I wished to communicate.

It's like living in the Garden of Eden.

I agree 100% with Luke on that. ^

So I finally got around to upgrading Clown Bike:
- I started with tightening up the front hydro brake, which now stops like a champ. Along with the drum brake, Im no longer worried at all... and I will be adding regen braking this afternoon.
- Next, I replaced the stock 11G phase wires with 8G, but only down to the axle... I was too lazy to open the motor and stuff wires through the axle. The stator gets decent airflow anyhow.
- Then, I added another 12p of more fresh konions on top of the existing pack. Again, this was the easiest way to increase capacity and current capability. I had thought about LiPo addition or A123 replacement, but settled on more konions, because they were already in 20s strings, and I found a way to fit them. Clown has a new, more interesting look 8) And 24p20s!
- Lastly, I installed the stock Leo 36fet controller with 4110s, and calibrated the CA accordingly.

The result is HOLY COW
I came back from the first test ride with the biggest shit-eating-grin on my face. I had pulled 2 power wheelies at the red lights in front of everyone waiting for the bus (rather smooth ones in fact), even with leaning forward in preparation. I have since learned to barely ease into the twitchy throttle, because with the short swingarm, it will wheelie from a dead stop with only quarter throttle or so.

Today I took it for the first true test ride. I cruised down the highway for 5 miles or so, then came back to town, and went up the waterfall route from the video. I stopped periodically to check temperatures of the controller, motor, and phase wires.
I am pleased to say with this 27km test, that the controller was always cool to the touch. The motor and phases were pretty warm at the very top of the waterfall climb, but I could keep my fingers on the spoke flange, side covers, and phases wires forever. So, not hot enough to make me worry.

And what everyone is waiting for... the numbers!
Top speed measured by GPS on the highway, 58.4 mph. I did not bomb down the mountain like in the video, for safety's sake, or that top speed would have been much higher. Also, there were a lot of cars and motos on the highway this morning, so I couldn't achieve a true top speed. My pack was also sagging to 75v on the highway, so with a LiPo extender (anti-sag) pack, I am confident Clown would break 60mph on flat ground in full tuck. Keep in mind this motor is in a 18.75" OD wheel.
Max Battery Current on the ride: 134A. This controller is a beast.
Min Voltage was 70V, so a very conservative Max Power of 9.38kW. It was likely somewhere around 10kW.
Average climb speed up the waterfall hill was 35mph, but that's only because I was riding much more conservatively. The next video will do better than that. Clown OWNED the 30% grade at speed, like it was nothing.

I attached the GPS Altitude Profile from the test run here.
Video and pics coming very soon, possibly tomorrow.

Oh, and excluding the stops, the 27.3km test ride took 29 minutes. That includes traffic, red lights, leisurely downhill riding, and a couple bits of very conservative riding in front of the transit police entering and exiting the highway (since I was wearing a baseball cap as my helmet)

Nice report, Jay. I'm patiently waiting for one of those 2 speed motors and modded controller, when your Dad gets them in.