Mongoose Rockadile ALX Ebike

[zooz]

Hi People,

Finally I finished my second e-bike project. I am pretty new to this, but I am fascinated with e-biking, so that lead me to build another e-bike for myself.

Spec

Bike: Mongoose Rockadile ALX 2010 with hydraulic disc brakes
Tires: 26" City Jet slicks
Hub motor: Crystalyte HS3540 (sensorless) laced in Exal rim with 12g Sapim spokes
Controller: Crystalyte 48V 40A (sensorless)
Bike computer: Cycle Analyst DP with speedo cable
Battery pack: 6x 6s 5Ah Zippy Lipos connected in parallel and in series which makes 15Ah at 44.4V (50V fully charged)
Battery bag: home made out of a waterproof rip resistant strong nylon and some thin foam inside the bag walls for extra softness and protection (If anyone is interested, I can send some sketches of the different layers etc)

I will be using it mostly for commute to work and for fun. I am planning on increasing voltage to 66V or more later on, but first I need to learn how to safely ride an ebike!

If you have any questions - please ask. Otherwise enjoy the pictures below.

[binlagin]

Yumm.. very clean build!

What kind of distance are you getting doing 30-40km/h? and how many watts you pulling?

[zooz]

Yumm.. very clean build!

What kind of distance are you getting doing 30-40km/h? and how many watts you pulling?

I cannot tell you right now as I only finished it last night and took it for a 20km ride today. So for about 21km distance it used about 8Ah. I am pretty heavy also, we've got a huge wind at the moment in London.

I will let you know more after a few longer rides next week.

- zooz

[Ykick]

Rain much at your location? Fenders (mudguards) are often a finishing step for non-desert dwellers. But, that's a seriously nice commuter eBike and I can see putting a lot of miles on it!

Do you have a ballpark estimate for what it all cost? Many a noob would do well to look here...

[SamTexas]

Battery bag: home made out of a waterproof rip resistant strong nylon and some thin foam inside the bag walls for extra softness and protection (If anyone is interested, I can send some sketches of the different layers etc)

I'm interested. I just sent you a PM.

[zooz]

Battery bag: home made out of a waterproof rip resistant strong nylon and some thin foam inside the bag walls for extra softness and protection (If anyone is interested, I can send some sketches of the different layers etc)

I'm interested. I just sent you a PM.

Email sent. Feel free to share it if you see it useful.

[Drunkskunk]

#1 thing the Ebike industry needs is Frame Bags!

Very nice, and the rest of the bike is great too.

[zooz]

Rain much at your location? Fenders (mudguards) are often a finishing step for non-desert dwellers. But, that's a seriously nice commuter eBike and I can see putting a lot of miles on it!

Do you have a ballpark estimate for what it all cost? Many a noob would do well to look here...

It does seem to rain quite often, well, at least people seem to think that way that it always rain here in the UK

Overall price excluding the actual work, tools I had to buy to do the work and the bike itself is roughly $2k USD including a 30A power supply and 6s 20A lipo charger. UK does not seem to impose huge taxes on e-bike parts, for most of them I just paid the VAT, which is 20% I believe.

Obviously I could have saved some on a hub motor if I went for something else, but I am planning to increase my voltage. Money was not a constrain this time for me.

- zooz

[motomech]

Really like the tires, not available over here

[fiddyschmitt]

I bumped into zooz yesterday. What a small world - I'm from Australia and saw this cool electric bike and thought I'd chat to the owner. Great looking bike and good choice of components

It was good to meet you yesterday zooz

Cheers,
Fidel

[zooz]

I bumped into zooz yesterday. What a small world - I'm from Australia and saw this cool electric bike and thought I'd chat to the owner. Great looking bike and good choice of components

It was good to meet you yesterday zooz

Cheers,
Fidel

Hi Fidel,

Nice talking and meeting you totally by accident . Thanks!

[knoxie]

very tidy ride and some nice Bokeh on the photos too DSLR methinks.

Yes more volts will really pep that up too esp if you are a big fella really nice looking bike though, thanks for sharing and yes I cant wait for summer to arrive yesterday it was like dodgeball out on my ebike, had to shelter in a copse under a tree for 15 mins else I would have drowned I am sure !!

[zooz]

very tidy ride and some nice Bokeh on the photos too DSLR methinks.

Yes more volts will really pep that up too esp if you are a big fella really nice looking bike though, thanks for sharing and yes I cant wait for summer to arrive yesterday it was like dodgeball out on my ebike, had to shelter in a copse under a tree for 15 mins else I would have drowned I am sure !!

Knoxie,

Yep, totally more Volts and more Wh! Currently I have only got 15Ah, which gets me around London, that is to work and back, about 45km in total with some minor pedalling.

I constantly think about more volts, but then I will need more amp hours, so that would double the size and weight of my current Lipos.. That's my biggest concern.

[knoxie]

Yes for sure, you would also be limited to what you can pack in the frame already, you could always sling a rack on there for days when you want more speed, thats what I do, I have a smaller pack for commuting and then sling another pack on the rack for long range. The motor will really come alive with more volts and will get you up hills much better.

[zooz]

As many suggested I did an upgrade - purchased Lyen 12 FET Mark2 controller, reconfigured my battery pack to increase voltage to 75V (fully charged). And all I have to say, HS3540 feels like a rocket

I am really happy I did that, HS3540 really loves volts. The bike feels a lot more responsive unlike when it was running on 50V with Crystalyte controller. My sensorless motor now with Lyen controller starts smoothly from a dead stop without any shuttering.

I just need to be still able to do my 25 miles commute a day on my 18s2p pack, going full speed that's impossible, but I do not mind to pedal a bit just, so I hope 10Ah should be enough. I also bought 3 more 6s 5Ah RC LiPo, was going to increase capacity to 15Ah, but now I think I will just use those packs for some longer commutes if I need to.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, that I also enabled regen and installed a push-to-make button next to my left brake lever. Regen works very nicely, I am a heavy bloke, what I noticed is that regen cuts off if battery is over 75V (that's expected) and it does not really do much regen braking when there is not much speed. But overall regen braking has been great experience.

[Bronko]

Smashing first build. Would you mind showing a few pics of your battery set-up? I went with a ping 48v 10ah and I'm very pleased but all this talk about RC lipos has got me intreged. Once again Zooz awesome build Cheers

[Bronko]

Guess not then

[zooz]

Guess not then

Sorry mate. Here is my other post, which has some info on my battery setup viewtopic.php?f=6&t=41227

[agniusm]

Hi, whats the top speed you get with this setup? I also have the HS3540 and will be running it on 24S (87,6v hot) LiFe batt. Does it has wrooom factor?

[zooz]

Hi, whats the top speed you get with this setup? I also have the HS3540 and will be running it on 24S (87,6v hot) LiFe batt. Does it has wrooom factor?

I am a pretty heavy rider (but getting in to shape slowly ), so on a flat I get 55km/h max with 18s RC Lipo.

I guess torque depends on your weight. From a dead stop it does not have much torque for me, but much lighter riders tried my bike and the initial torque is substantially higher. Once I get moving it definitely has noticeable torque if I hit the throttle. I am running my motor on 35A (maybe 40A peak) current.

I can find the controller settings I have currently setup if you're interested.

[agniusm]

Cheers mate, no need for settings, i currently have 50A controller and is not programmable. I am putting it on my cargo bike and was just looking for a glimpse of how it might be. I am 64kg thou, so might go a little faster without load:)
Cheers, Agnius