Hacked Giant Revive Semi-Recumbent/Unknown Geared Brushed

So, in a semi-logical continuation of DeeJay's Giant Revive project found here..

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3035 into the split level continuum....

Here is a normal Revive DX with a Cyclone on it, to compare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzxXR6Ev8dI&feature=related

I picked up a Giant Revive DX 20 inch wheelsized semi-recumbent bike with Seven Speed Shimano Nexus Internal Rear Hub for 300 bucks. Not a fast bike, with the rear suspension and the heavy hub, lots of pedalling energy is absorbed, and the bike is heavy, but lots of possibilities for electrification.

I picked up three brand new POS ebikes from a guy that got married and went out of business, with front brushed hubs, geared with all nylon planetaries inside, and tore them apart. One of the forks from that went into a fork replacement for the DX, and I affixed a used Zoom stem with Apehangers to the front of the bike. Here is the bike:



Notice the enclosed drivetrain to keep my clothes clean, and the rear rack with Axiom shopper bags and an Arkel tailpack with a Ping 48V 15Ahr pack on it. The rack can't be attached to the rear hubnuts due the rear suspension, so I had to fabricate a bracket to keep the saddlebags away from the fenders. The Ping battery sits nicely in the Arkel bag, with self-adhering Velcro straps - that stuff is great.

I used torque nuts in the lawyer lips, and dual torque arms, one from ebikes.ca and one from ampedbikes.com

The bike cruises at around 23 mph with TONS of torque - originally I stripped one of the motors as I didn't know they were geared inside.

What motor is this?...can anyone identify it? Lettering is DZ2411507007 24 volts nominal? I actually like this motor a lot - start immediate with no Halls, and freewheeling. It was originally on a 24 volt PAS bike, which really sucked.

Using Ecrazyman 48Volt 800 watt controller with the Ping. It was easy to wire up, after the lockout wires were shorted.






View attachment 3




This is a really fun and comfortable runabout for short range townie type cruising. Not the most efficient perhaps, but brushed motor is surprisingly torquey and should be reliable if I don't "peanut-butter" it like the Bafangs. I have another motor the same as this for spare, and yet another that you see in the picture, that I can steel some brushes from in a year or two. The Revive has a pretty good suspension which is nice with all of that battery on the back.

I put the controller in a plastic bag inside a Walmat neoprene thingy to minimize vibration.

I wouldn't recommend the Revive DX as a normal bike, it absorbs too much energy and is too heavy, but as an ebike it ROCKS HARD.

I'd love to know where to get these motors!

I forgot to mention, it is really worth using Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on internal Nexus hubs. They are a real pain to change flats on.

I have concluded that this motor is probably the same as the "Brett White P2A" geared hub motor, which freewheels like a Bafang and is close to as efficient as a Bafang.
Those are no longer available from that supplier.

I really liked my P2A and drove it for about 1500 miles till the steel gear bearings died. The 2 nylon gears were fine. I can't tell from the photos if one of those gears is steel. Very powerful motor with fairly low noise level and I still like brushed motors for their low cost and simplicity. Nice job on the bike. I wish Giant still made 'em, cause I want to get a suspension recumbent for my wife. She refuses to ride a trike!
otherDoc

Thanks for the feedback. At first I found the geometry on the bike a bit "funny", kind of like a recumbent wannabe. I had to tweak the seat a bit to make the seat "well" a bit less deep, by taping some 1/4 inch foam onto the top of it, and I changed the slope a bit as the front edge of the seat was conflicting with my thighs, with some nuts under the seat to change the incline. I also put some additional padding on the seatback. I've recently developed a neck creak, so the upright position on the bike is excellent. The flatfoot stance is good around town, and the steering geometry works very well with the apehangers. With the brushed/geared on it, both quiet and torquey as you mentioned, this is my favourite bike. The swingarm suspension makes it ride like a cadillac, and the big shopper bags are very good for hauling up to 50 pounds of groceries. And I do like the maintenance free Nexus with the enclosed drive train in the wet dirty conditions prevalent here in Victoria in the winter. No halls to worry about moisture either.

:wink:

EDIT:
Plenty of room for a meter panel, lights, and stuff like GPS on that ape hanger. A Dell Mini Hackintosh laptop, even... 8)
EDIT2:
A Dell-Intosh :lol:
J