Fizzit's RC freeride build log - now with videos

[bzhwindtalker]

Wow thats a nice frame! how much did you pay for it?

[fizzit]

Thanks It was $200 (usd) with the shock.

Also thanks to metallover for suggesting pinkbike, which is where I found this frame! The seller was located only a couple miles away.

[fizzit]

pro tip for the day: unprotected chain + pants = noms

I got a pretty cool summer job and I get a computer for work! My work computer has solidworks on it so I'm learning solidworks! And I'm making a model for a new reduction to go on my new frame
I'll post pics in hopes that you guys will criticize and tell me what I need to fix before I actually make it.
I'll probably still make it with my dull hacksaw but I'll at least have a precise template to base my drill-holes on.

I'm really just designing two new plates, with the same bearings etc. Still even for two 1/4 inch aluminum plates, one sided cuts, no tapping or fancy stuff needed, the cost to CNC it could run up into the $100's I'm told

That's why I'm not too optimistic about being able to have someone else tell a robot to make it for me

In other news, my bent and f'd up frame has survived 70 miles with minimal ominous creaking

[Metallover]

hahaha sounds like some true free-spirited hacked together west-coast style poor-mans ebiking. love it!

[fizzit]

yup we don't frock around over here

Awkward moments on the ebike # 127... almost hitting a car that is turning in front of you in the parking lot at your school, while the school principal that was in the ambulance the last time you crashed watches... (wasn't my fault!)

[fizzit]

After him being on vacation for 3 weeks, a friend at work (who uses solidworks for a living) sent the CAD parts I designed to a CNC place for quotes! It's basically two 9" x 6" x 3/16" plates with a bunch of 1/4 inch holes and slots in them. They quoted $170. I don't know sh*t about CNC pricing or anything, so if there's anyone out there reading this, could you let me know if that's a good deal? It's pretty exciting that I might finally get to start building up my new frame

here's pichers, so people will actually look at this post

[Thud]

I get $120 an hour for cnc time at the shop Colin. & way out of my price range for hobby bike stuff.
Aluminum cuts easy enough with simple woodworking tools & you have the cad work that can be printed at 100% scale. a little rubber cement & glue the paper to your stock..cut to the lines, punch & drill the holes.

badaboom badabing your done in an 1-1/2 hours & havent spent the poker bank roll on bike parts!
JMHO.

[fizzit]

Thud I'm sure at your machine shop you're the "customer of the month" for the last 17 months and you have one of those little cards so you get 1 minute of CNC time for every gallon of gas you pump at Shell or something like that

But yeah that makes sense. My last reduction didn't turn out all that terrible... a few more hours with a file and I think I could make this one look nice. Thanks for the advice!

[fizzit]

I'm now searching around for aluminum sheet to complete the reduction! Looks like I'll have to order some online today and then drive over to seattle on monday to pick it up.
At least I just got a bunch of stuff like a new rear wheel to take the 160mm disc rotor, 203mm disc rotor for the front, brake adapters, and a portable tire pump (for a couple of days I had this annoying problem where one of my tires would deflate to a dangerous level during school, even though there wasn't a flat... I have an idea how that happened ). I basically have everything I need to build up my new frame, except the aluminum for the reduction

On another note. I hate my bike computer. The two buttons to control it are one red bar on the bottom that you press either side of. To clear the *trip* odometer you hold the left one.To clear the computer's memory, you hold both by pressing down the middle of the bar. This is realllly easy to accidentally do while trying to just clear the trip odometer, so I have lost my total mileage twice. Luckily I roughly keep track of my mileage, and I'm pretty sure it's around 550 miles right now. Here's a tip, don't buy your speedometer from Fred Meyer

[AussieJester]

makes you respect the prices of some of the custom cnc stuff sold by certain members
When you get prices to get stuff done yourself don't it

KiM

[Whiplash]

Yeah, machining is NOT cheap, CNC or otherwise. Get a quote if you don't believe us! Our members selling here all give good fair prices for the short run stuff we sell/will sell. The only way to get it cheaper per part is to order hundreds at a time!

[fizzit]

It's true! The prices here look really great now, I don't understand how you do it. Maybe $170 to machine a couple of plates for a prototype of something makes sense for the company that I worked at, because they charge $200/hr to their clients It sure doesn't make as much sense for a hobbyist.

[Gordo]

I'm now searching around for aluminum sheet to complete the reduction! Looks like I'll have to order some online today and then drive over to seattle on monday to pick it up.

fizzit;
Find an aluminum boat building shop. The material you are looking for is much smaller than the scrap they end up with. At worst, you might pay 50 cents a pound for what you need. There are many shops in the seattle area. If you were closer, I would give you the material from the free scraps I have collected.
You can no longer buy from Boeing Surplus, but the junk yard that gets all their scrap, has a sales outlet. I don't remember the name of it. Maybe someone on ES knows?

Your crash and the helmet you wore is a very good lesson, many need to look at. I had the identical crash on a Goldwing in 2004 and did not come out near as well as you. Medical is relatively cheap in Canukistan, but it was still $28K.

ps. 0.250 is 1/4" not 3/16" Check your dimensions in case you run into an old f**t who still thinks in imperial measurements.

[fizzit]

Sadly you posted that a little too late, I had already picked up the metal Thanks for the tip though, I'll check those places next time!

I'm sorry to hear about your crash. That really sucks that it was so expensive!

Anyways, it's been a week that i've been riding it so I figured I'd post some pictures of my bike with new reduction built, new hydraulic disc brakes, and new frame.







It handles and brakes great! The new ride is really low, with the new seat. Personally, I think it looks a lot better. There a couple of mechanical bugs that I need to get sorted out. One, it's really loud! I think the reduction may be vibrating from the chain and transmitting it into the frame. The noise really picks up around 20mph and it gets nice and quiet at 28+ mph.

For the batteries, I just took the old boxes and painted them black. It works okay, except for by the time I get home from school the batteries are falling out of the boxes and hitting the suspension linkage. In addition I just got three 4s 5000mah hardcase packs from hobbyking so I can run 12s 15ah, and get 15mi range! I'll probably make a new battery box to fit these in and keep the batteries from falling out. And I want it to be pretty and keep the styling of the bike.

The hardcase packs do cause a problem, in that I charge the two 6s-10ah units in parrallel. The harcases are 4s so I need to figure out how to split one of them up without it exploding... lame that they're heat-welded shut

[Whiplash]

That thing looks straight robotic! Its the T1 bike! Lol!

[fizzit]

Thanks! (I'm gonna take that as a compliment... )

[MakeTheNoise]

How do you find driving it through the derailier?
Do you feel like the power is going to tear it off?

[Whiplash]

Thanks! (I'm gonna take that as a compliment... )

Yes! The bike looks good!

[fizzit]

Well it's been a while! And I've continued to ride and work on my bike.

As for the question about driving through the derailleur, it's a bitch. I never shift because my derailleur never worked right after I crashed my bike. It squeaks a lot and sometimes shifts on it's own. I'll fix it soon, I keep telling myself. I have no front derailleur, so no, it doesn't feel like the power will tear it off, because the rear derailleur does not transfer any power.

This picture pretty much says it all for what I've done to the bike. I've added 5 more ah of batteries to bring it up to 15AH/15 mile range. I also recently painted my rims and spoke nipples black with spray paint. I added a generous amount of clear coat, so hopefully it will stay on.

In addition, as you can see I recently purchased a new motor, which I am currently figuring out how to mount to the bike

[amberwolf]

In addition, as you can see I recently purchased a new motor, which I am currently figuring out how to mount to the bike

I think the hard part will be not twisting the entire frame into a little spiral wrapped around the shaft the first time you power it on.

[motomoto]

You need to have a derailleur that is in great shape to run anything above 3k watts, but it is amazing what kind of power you can run
through the lower four derailleur gears. I mean the larger sprockets on the rear. The system is made for a 250 lb. guy to hammer
on the pedals transmitting a great amount of torque in spurts. If that torque is applied 360 degrees that adds up to some serious
horsepower capability. I haven't run the numbers, but I bet you could run 10 horsepower through it.

[fizzit]

Do you mean the cassette? I don't see how the derailleur is affected by the power level. Your advice is especially relevant now, as I am doing a power-train replacement on my bike. After 1 year and nearly 1000 miles, my bearings on the jackshaft are shot, and all of my sprockets are very worn down. Especially the largest sprocket on the rear, because that is all I use The jackshaft itself is destroyed on the end after a chain-failure caused the middle chain to get stuck between the two sporockets on the crank, the chain locked up, and the motor spun the sprocket on the shaft

I'm going to replace the middle chain with #35 because I have been having a lot of problems with the BMX chain that I've been using. This will increase the drive ratio, and I will be shifting a lot now, with my first gear top speed being ~20mph

[fizzit]

So, I completed the power train replacement. After the standard breaking-in period, it's been great and really fun to shift gears and get up to 37mph or so on the flat.

However, earlier this week, I had a problem! When I was riding home on Friday, my chain randomly shifted to 6th gear - I'm assuming that this was caused by a mis-adjusted derailleur. (they seem to de-adjust over time)

It derailed the rear chain and pulled off the smallest chain that's on the motor. I replaced the chains and slowly rode home, thinking nothing of it. Then on Monday, I headed out in the morning and my middle chain derailed! No big deal, I fixed it.

Then, Tuesday, everything goes to shit. I'm good for about 15 seconds, then the chain makes a very loud noise and binds up. Here are the results.


You can see that one of the 10-32 bolts is sheared off completely


Destroyed chain


Deep gouges in frame


another angle

I just went to the bike store and got a new chain and sprocket. I'm guessing that the old chain or sprocket got bent when it randomly shifted under load, and caused a catastrophic failure after a couple miles.

Here's a picture of the bike as it is this very moment (I'll get around to replacing the sprocket and chain tomorrow)



Here's the new sports-action cam that I got for my birthday today! I'll finally be able to post some quality videos of me riding around, all DC-in-GC style



Here's a short video I took with it in my garage. It's pretty dark in there, but it is HD!

[fizzit]

Here's a video that I posted in another thread



Here's a new video that I took from my recordings this week, which was my first week of riding with the camera. It shows a couple of the routes that I used to get out of school at the end of the day when the parking lot is crazy and I have to get to work. Lots of dodging people and cars



I recently discovered that my camera wasn't even using the highest resolution! Plus, there is a mode that takes a high-quality still every couple of seconds so that should open up some interesting possibilites. Either way, as time goes on and I ride more places, I should be able to make even more interesting videos!

[fizzit]

Here's a short video of a couple of nice drivers I encountered this week. These little events both occurred on the same road, on which the speed limit is 25 mph. I was traveling at 25mph in the video but apparently this is not good enough for these drivers. My favorite parts are when the guy in the white car rolls through the stop sign while looking directly at me, and when the guy in the red car crosses into the opposing traffic lane to run the stop sign. The one with the red car occurred a couple of hours ago