Monzilla - BURNED IN LIPO FIRE AUGUST 11

Upgraded from 30s2p to 35s2p Turnigy Lipo yesterday. Now I'm running it at about 146VDC maximum. Speed and torque increased, of course.

FA
 
What you are looking for in a fork is stantion diameter, and general beefyness, esp. around the wheel and crowns. And if you can find a triple crown. cant go wrong with fox, or any of the mid to high-end rockshox, marzocchi, manitau, etc...
 
Speaking of rivers, a good use for a Walgoose bike is as an anchor for a small boat.
 
Chalo said:
Speaking of rivers, a good use for a Walgoose bike is as an anchor for a small boat.
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Why such vitriol, Chalo? I am proud of my creation.
To put this thread back on a positive track, what full suspension frame would you use?
 
You should be proud of what you've done. Everything you put together reflects a commitment to doing the job right, which is what Pacific/Dorel don't do with their department store bikes. Ever. They only try to make something that looks like a better product than it is, so that people will buy it. That's where their interest in the product ends-- at the point of sale. So in order to believe that they've done their job right, you have to see their job as trapping people into buying something that is not what it appears to be.

Almost every day, I have to try to solve problems people encounter with their bicycle-shaped objects because they thought they bought real bicycles, and they tried to use them as real bicycles. So I have a lot more experience than most folks with the downside of the traps Dorel, Kent and others lay for people.

I don't have a well-informed opinion on full suspension bikes, because I don't like them. I know Kona makes some good ones, and that it's not an overpriced brand. What you should know about your Walgoose is that there is no single fixable problem with it, that swapping out the frame won't cure the bike. Every part is its own problem; every part has been carefully contrived to look like a decent part but cost like a crappy part. Because the styling costs money, the parts wind up even crappier than if they had just used regular cheap ugly junk.

Even if you buy your bike from an online discounter, you should buy a bike that a bike shop would carry. If a bike shop would not sell it, it's probably because a bike shop can't afford to support it after the sale, or can't afford to destroy its reputation by selling goods that are unsuitable for their intended use.

And you should have the initial setup of any bike performed by a capable professional bike shop.
 
Thank you, Chalo, for an informative and positive post. I appreciate it, especially from someone with as good of a reputation as yourself. :)

The Mongoose Blackcomb frame hardly has any original equipment on it any longer (as of yesterday) except for the decal that says what it is. I have noticed, since I run tight clearances with the oversize tires and brakes, that the lower rear swingarm is ever so slightly out of square with the frame, which forces me to put a small shim in the rear dropout to keep the rear tire from rubbing against the frame ever so slightly. Good quality control from a good frame would not have had this problem, so you are correct.

All that said, I am still keeping the "Walgoose" frame (as you call it), until the inevitable stress cracks appear. At that point, I will swap out to a new frame. As a licensed Professional Engineer, it is uncommon (although not unheard of) to have catastrophic failure happen prior to material distress occurring first. That is another one of the myriad of reasons why I inspect my ebike prior to each use.

Once again, thank you for the educational positive post. Next frame will be a Kona and my next shocks will be Fox Shocks.

FA
 

Here's my Bicycle Shaped Object that I use around my cattle ranch:

Bicycle_Shaped_Object-20130315-1555_zps3cf99795.jpg


It's a piece of crap, but so are the things I run over in the pasture. :wink:

FA
 
There is a certain perverse beauty in the Roadmaster Mt. Fury, because it's an utterly pure expression of Bicycle-Shaped Objectivity. It could be bought for $48 at Walmart (but it's not offered anymore the last time I checked). You can't ship a shoebox to the Far East for less than that kind of money, let alone a 40ish pound bicycloid. Yet they could acquire all the materials and components, weld it up, paint it, partially assemble it, ship it from China to a US port, truck it to a distribution center, dispatch it to a retail store, finish assembling it and then presumably sell it for a profit, for about the same retail price as ten pounds of bacon. Even the damned souls who work at Walmart could just about buy one with a single day's take-home pay. It's beyond remarkable. It's crossed over into plain weird.

The thing is so cheap that it can't afford to imitate a respectable bike, so it just tries to pass for some kind of bike. And unlike a $199 double boinger, it almost succeeds in being some kind of bike (albeit a really terrible one). The Mt. Fury transcends class and geography, having been taken in by comfortable suburbanites, privileged children, rural peckerwoods, hardbitten inner-city slave commuters, and homeless bums alike. Anybody who simply doesn't understand that a bicycle can't be bought for $50 brand new is almost equally likely to wind up with one. (Or they were, before it went out of production.)

Carl Fogel over at Usenet's rec.bicycles.tech bought one and rode the hell out of it, even though he already owned a real bike. I think he was entranced by the economic magic trick the Mt. Fury represents. But he wrote a series of reports on it.
 
Chalo said:
...Carl Fogel over at Usenet's rec.bicycles.tech bought one and rode the hell out of it, even though he already owned a real bike. I think he was entranced by the economic magic trick the Mt. Fury represents. But he wrote a series of reports on it.
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What an amusing thread on the Usenet group! Thanks for the link. :D

BTW, I bought that BSO from a homeless man for $12. He told me that someone gave it to him.
 
I am Icarus.

I flew too close to the Sun.

I got too close to 150VDC and blew my throttle, my cruise-control, and worst of all, my hall effect sensors in my x5404.

Fortunately, I had a spare x5304 already laced to an Alex rim and already had a Schwalbe Crazy Bob tire on it. So... after swapping out the motors, I now have a lowly x5304, which oddly enough goes 20% faster than the the x5404. So, I'm pleased overall.

i don't know my top speed at this time since I have a broken torque arm on the left side. Once that is replaced, I'll go for a speed-run.

FA
 

My faithful x5404 has failed. I replaced it with my "test" x5304 and surprisingly it is peppier than the x5404. I think I'll keep it!
 
The 5304 wil be faster since it has less stator width and the same turn count. The halls are easy to replace. I'm surprised your throttle and the rest blew but the controller is ok.
 
RIP Monzilla...

The battery charger caught fire and burned the bike beyond recognition. It also burned my whole house down including my car and my truck.

I will never go back to ebiking again.

FA
 
Floont said:
RIP Monzilla...

The battery charger caught fire and burned the bike beyond recognition. It also burned my whole house down including my car and my truck.

I will never go back to ebiking again.
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Please tell me you're kidding.

If true, this is the true downside of RC Lipo that everyone hopes will not happen.

Chargers don't usually have enough combustible material to set your house on fire-- they'll only stink the place up at worst.

EDIT:

My folks have suffered through four house fires that disrupted their lives; two of those ate up a lot of things that I aimed to keep. It's a terrible experience that has guided my attachment to material things ever since. I hope you and yours are well and can re-acclimate to a new way of life after this. House fires are bullshit all the way around.
 
I would think Floont is trying to reassess his life. It would seem that some time would go by before he would probably respond to the forum. Hope the best for him.
 
i wonder how a charger can do that? maybe he meant the charger overcharged his pack and it caught on fire and caught his garage on fire?

i remember he talked about using a meanwell power supply to charge with and i don't think he has been around since agnius found those guys at bestechpower with the lipo BMS so i don't think he would had one on the pack.

he never asked me about them, just about my meanwell back then.
 
I hope this isn't true. I'm surprised that he mentioned his bike was gone, and by the way, the home, car and truck too. But rc lipo, meanwell, and no bms+ unattended charging in a garage sounds believable. I hope that if this is true that you can recover quickly.
 
That post came out of nowhere and hit hard! :shock:

I wish the best for him if it is true. More details would be nice for our comprehensive battery fire thread.
 
The fire is an absolute fact, not a sick joke.

My thought is that the charger overcharged my pack and it caught them on fire and then caught my garage on fire.

Beware of LiPo and cheap Chinese chargers. They'll ruin your life.

Goodbye to my ebike brethren. I shall not be returning to the hobby. The total cost is just too great.

FA

PS My cat just got out of the animal hospital with tongue and throat burns and injuries due to smoke inhalation. This hobby is not just worth it.
 
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