1200 watt cyclone

[tony67]

Been meaning to get a few images and details of my cyclone build up for ages now. I started it in nov last and had it on the road pretty quickly, too quickly as it turned out. However I failed to waterproof it properly and burnt out a motor and controller within a month. I got replacement parts and had her back on the road in jan, this time properly water proofed and fused.

I decided to do away with the half twist throttle as it aggravated an old scaphoid injury in favour of a full twist from lyen. I also relocated the battery and controller from my original position of the rear rack which wasnt really up to the weight of 16 headways and was exposed to a lot of spray.

I had an old pine shelf I never used lying around so I decided to mount the battery and controller inside the triangle with the bottle holder mounts and bolts through the frame. This transformed the feel of the bike, no longer does it feel like there's a big tail out the back wagging me about and I have plenty of room in there to double my capacity and possibly more when funds allow. It also had the benefit of shortening my cable runs. I can get away with stock wire lengths. I have opted for andersons on everything except battery connections which have xt60's.I also ditched the rear rack, with the battery in the frame it was surplus to requirements.

My waterproofing solution was to seal the motor and controller with liquid gasket and run all my wires through bike inner tube siliconed and cable tied at top to seal and open at the bottom to drain (just in case) This has proved very effective and to date not a drop of water has gotten into my connectors and I've been through some downpours.

Original bike


Kit


First test fit


New location for battery and controller


Inner tube solution


Battery Pre fuse


I am delighted with this bike now, I have over 2000kms since nov and it was off the road for 6 weeks in that time. I use it every day and have taken my car and motorbike off the road in favour of the ebike. I done the gearbox oil bath mod mentioned by some on this board I used a gearbox oil I had lying around mixed with a small amount of the original grease to add a bit of weight to it. I have noticed a significant power saving on my regular 12km trip to my gf's house, approx 15-20% reduction in power usage when done at WOT.

Oil bath mod (not all the oil is in at this stage but you can get the idea)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBaSl3_X ... e=youtu.be

[schwibsi]

Hey, this is very interesting.

I am also planning on using the 1200W kit. A few questions, if I may.

What size, wheels do you have? (I'm guessing 26")
What gearing to you have in front and back?
How many teeth do your freewheels and chainwheels have?
How many AH does your battery have?
How much range do you get?
What's your topspeed? (with, without pedaling)
Why did you mount the motor below the crank and not between the bottom tube and the saddle tube?
Did you ever consider mounting the battery to the top tube of the bike?
Do you use the stock controller? Know of any better options?
Have you ever thought about implementing a torque sensor?
How's the acceleration and the climbing ability?
Is it noisier than other motors?

I'm wondering a lot about the efficiency at lower rpm and power levels.
For the most part I will not need more than a continuous 250W and I'm wondering if I'm going to be using a lot of range as opposed to a 500W or 650W kit. I'm not interested in using it as a motor bike, but I will always add to the power. In stead of 28-30kph on the straight I want to be able to do 40kph with the same effort and not slow down on slight slopes.... Oh and also, there are some short but pretty steep hills hat I have to climb with the bike.

[pchen92]

Hi,
Do your chain and freewheel handle good the power ? Or do you have transmission problem ?

[tony67]

Hey, this is very interesting.

I am also planning on using the 1200W kit. A few questions, if I may.

What size, wheels do you have? (I'm guessing 26")
What gearing to you have in front and back?
How many teeth do your freewheels and chainwheels have?
How many AH does your battery have?
How much range do you get?
What's your topspeed? (with, without pedaling)
Why did you mount the motor below the crank and not between the bottom tube and the saddle tube?
Did you ever consider mounting the battery to the top tube of the bike?
Do you use the stock controller? Know of any better options?
Have you ever thought about implementing a torque sensor?
How's the acceleration and the climbing ability?
Is it noisier than other motors?

I'm wondering a lot about the efficiency at lower rpm and power levels.
For the most part I will not need more than a continuous 250W and I'm wondering if I'm going to be using a lot of range as opposed to a 500W or 650W kit. I'm not interested in using it as a motor bike, but I will always add to the power. In stead of 28-30kph on the straight I want to be able to do 40kph with the same effort and not slow down on slight slopes.... Oh and also, there are some short but pretty steep hills hat I have to climb with the bike.

Hey to answer your questions

Wheel size is 26 inch yeah
Front chain ring is 48t rear cassette is 28t-13t motor freewheel is 13t
Battery is 10 ah headway lifepo4
Without pedalling I'll see about 15 miles at 20-25mph
Highest speed I've seen with pedalling and a slight gradient was 66kph without pedalling and on flat terrain it'll do 55kph
The mount position is simply because that's what I was supplied with. The downtube mounts are for multi chainring kits.
The battery is located centrally due to its weight. A higher mounting position would cause handling issues. I had the battery mounted on a rear rack but found it had too much influence on the handling.
I am currently using the stock controller. It's working fine. I have a Lyon 12 fet but haven't fitted it yet.
Torque sensors don't interest me as I rarely pedal. Due to the high speed needs of the motor and my gearing I cannot keep up with it.
Acceleration is great. I use 1st and 2nd gear most of the time. In 2nd it'll go from a standstill to 40 kph in 7/8 seconds.
Hill climbing is superb. Pretty much any on-road hill your ever likely to encounter would be easy meat for this kit.
The planetary gearbox is noisy. Not crazy loud but passers by will know your electric. I have some gear oil mixed in with the grease and that quietened it down a bit.

For the speeds you mention 250w wont get you anywhere near where you want to be. To climb a slight hill at 40kph your gonna want 900-1200w kit.

[tony67]

Hi,
Do your chain and freewheel handle good the power ? Or do you have transmission problem ?

I have 2800km on this kit now. I have just recently changed my drive components. It must be said I was less than rigorous with my lubrication schedule. I've replaced the chainring, rear freewheel, motor freewheel and drive chain. I am using motorcycle spray-on chain lube this time so we'll see how long I get out of this set. I also changed to a steel chainring as the standard alloy one was worn to shite and was by far the component in the worst condition.

[saiyan]

drop the cyclone and get the blt800 from golden motor......
if you are willing to mod things urself and fabricate things.....i suggest to get the gm motor.

i am currently running 20s lipos (74v nominal), 3kw kelly controller (programmed to 90% amp output).
the motor itself can take whole lot more in my perspective. after 20-30 min runs its just warm.......
and with this setup im popin wheelies in 1st gear. top speed is 60kph on the flat.

check it out

cheerios

ohhh this was an old pick of it. controller is 3 times bigger now....llol

[saiyan]

quick photo taken...

[tony67]

Looks savage. I'm finding the drive train the weak point in the "through the gears" setup. I've just replaced another set of drive components after approx 2000 km. I'm being fairly conservative with the throttle and keeping the speed below 40kph but the chains don't seem up to the task and that's at occasional peaks of 1900W usually below 1000W. I'm considering going the DD hub route. I use the bike as a commuter so the constant maintenance and expense is becoming a pain.

As a last experiment I have gotten 3 chains with this last set and I intend to try a wax/ptfe bath lube setup. The idea is new sprockets all round and 3 new chains. First degrease the chains and relube them in the hot wax bath fit the first chain and run for a "to-be-determined" amount of time, maybe a week or two. Then fit the second waxed chain and rewax the first. Then remove the second chain fit the third and rewax the second and so on. The theory is that sprocket wear is due to chain stretch. If I can spread the wear over 3 chain worth of stretch I can get a set of sprockets to last the 3 chains which is about 6000km.

Now as I said this is an experiment I'm not sure how this is going to pan out but it's worth a try. I can change a chain almost as quick as the time it takes to lube a chain so there is not much extra work in it.

Tony

[boostjuice]

As a last experiment I have gotten 3 chains with this last set and I intend to try a wax/ptfe bath lube setup. The idea is new sprockets all round and 3 new chains. First degrease the chains and relube them in the hot wax bath fit the first chain and run for a "to-be-determined" amount of time, maybe a week or two. Then fit the second waxed chain and rewax the first. Then remove the second chain fit the third and rewax the second and so on. The theory is that sprocket wear is due to chain stretch. If I can spread the wear over 3 chain worth of stretch I can get a set of sprockets to last the 3 chains which is about 6000km.

Now as I said this is an experiment I'm not sure how this is going to pan out but it's worth a try. I can change a chain almost as quick as the time it takes to lube a chain so there is not much extra work in it.

Tony

I can vouch for this theory in real-world practice. I've adopted this very strategy with my mid-drive for the last 3000km, and it certainly extends the life of the cassette cluster and chainring significantly. Also, decent multispeed chain can be had for $10-$15 a pop, so it doesnt bother me if i remove them from the 'revolving group' of three chains earlier than their recommended 1% stretch limit in order to extend the life of the sprockets (much more expensive).

BTW, for lube i use 'Boeshield' (Developed by Boeing). Its basically a mix of solvents and dissolved waxes that penetrate easily into the nooks and crannies whereby the solvents evaporate leaving the light wax where its needed most. You can just spray it on, wait a few hours, and rub off the excess rather than stuff around with heating up wax baths. 'Touch ups' are more convienient too (you can leave it installed on the bike).

[saiyan]

the drive train is driving me crazy atm....... because i dont have a chain guide and tensioner on both motor to crank and crank to casette, the chain has come off quite often. the last time resulting in the chain almost ripping straight off from the bolts getting caught on it.
if i was to redo everything, i would def go with a hub motor for my daily riding. since i am going from home to work and back most of the time with pretty much minimal hills, i should have went with the hub in the 1st place.

im just guna stick it out atm with what i have, after all the mods im going to do with it. if all that still fails, i will scrap it and go hub. :/

atm ive got good power. its poping wheelies in 1st, but mang......too much maintenence.........
oohhhhh and top speed is in 6th gear going bout 67kph...... i still have 3 more gears since its a 9 speed and motor hasnt got the amps to go that far.

cheerios