recumpence said:
Hey Guys,
With the Raptor sold, I was looking at possibly building another twin motor dirt bike similar to the Raptor, but a touch lighter, and a touch smaller, with twin 3215 motors instead of twin 3220s. After some thought I realized that this 20 inch bike in this thread would be a very good platform to convert. So, I wanted your input. What I am looking to do is go back to twin motors, install 24 inch wheels (I prefer 24s on off-road bikes), and fabricated a motor cover. This would be 1/10 the amount of work versus building a new bike (not to mention the cost savings). Besides, I never ride this bike anymore now that I have my Mountaincycle.
What are your thoughts?
Matt
The first thing that comes to mind would be the frame geometry based on the changes you made. That being said you would be the guy to ask about it since you designed and built it. Is there going to be adequate ground clearance for your intended use? Didn't you reduce the total suspension travel for on-road use? Sometimes working with what you have seems cheaper until you end up changing every single part. I have fallen into that trap before. That bike is a bit of an exception to the normal rule because of the bolt on head tube and seat bracket. I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to set it up any way you needed.
I love 24" wheels. I'm 6' tall so I like the room that large frames have but prefer small wheels. The 26" and larger just feel clumsy like I'm on stilts. Add in the monster torque your bikes put out and an the shorter spoke length of smaller wheels has to really tighten the feel of everything. I am always frustrated by the lack of tire, rim, and tube choices in 24" though. I just bent my Alex DX32 24" 36 hole rim and apparently its the last one on earth so now I have to buy new spokes if I want to keep the hub motor.
I am surprised that you would go dual 3215. It seems like there would be some overlap where a single 3220 with a fan would be more efficient in terms of weight cost and packaging at about the same power as dual 3215s. What would lead you to the dual 3215s? I'm asking out of curiosity not as a suggestion.
Before you take it apart you should bring it down to Saint Louis for our 1/5th mile oval track ebike race on May 27th. Sprocket for 55-60mph and it would be about perfect.