Converting a carbon fiber THYS 209 Rowing Bike to Electric

[johnrobholmes]

Funny enough, I converted an original Rowbike into electric for the owner. Many years ago. I had totally forgotten about it until reading this thread. Built up a custom front wheel, xie chang controller, and CA for him.

https://www.rowbike.com/

 

[rowbiker]

Funny enough, I converted an original Rowbike into electric for the owner. Many years ago. I had totally forgotten about it until reading this thread. Built up a custom front wheel, xie chang controller, and CA for him.

https://www.rowbike.com/

John -- Do you by any chance have links available to any of your work on adding e-assist to the 'original' Rowbike? I've been working for several years doing the same thing, with approaches ranging from DD hub motor in rear wheel with CA3 and Phaserunner, to an 'off-the-shelf' BionX installation, to implementing a Shimano Steps mid-drive system. My highest hopes are stil with the eRowbike1 using the mostly Grin technology. Last fall Justin was kind enough to make his unicycle firmware available for the CA3 I'm using, and it actually went a long way to make the switch from an RPM/pedaling power input to the pulsing rowing power input work smoothly. So far, the experience I've picked up from Grin-aware folks on ES has literally been a lifeline.

I just encountered this thread a few minutes ago and have not yet managed to read all of it, but I did notice that CA3.1 firmware now includes a "Rowbike" PAS setting! This was the first I'd heard of that even though I *thought* I was following CAv3 developments carefully. Problem with Justin is that his brain never sleeps, and it's more than a full time job just to keep up with his ventures.

While we're on the theme of riding weird bikes, I'll try to figure out how to submit a video of myself riding as stoker while Derk is the captain on his *tandem* Rowingbike (taken several years ago in Derk's hometown in the Netherlands while I was visiting his 'factory'). Justin may get a kick out of this since he'll recognize that the rowing stoker sits facing the rear -- much the same as his new solar project prototype.

 

[johnrobholmes]

I don't have any documentation of the build at this time. I'm pretty sure I built a small geared Bafang into the rear wheel. Nothing too crazy. If your row bike uses a standard freewheel or freehub for the rope pulley, it is straightforwards enough to use a hubmotor.

 

[justin_le]

While we're on the theme of riding weird bikes, I'll try to figure out how to submit a video of myself riding as stoker while Derk is the captain on his *tandem* Rowingbike (taken several years ago in Derk's hometown in the Netherlands while I was visiting his 'factory').

Please do! And if you have any "factory" tour shots that would be fun to see as well. It's actually pictures of Derk's one-of-a-kind tandem rowbike that formed part of the inspiration for our Suntrip trike design which we called out here:
https://youtu.be/WWE4XqAO0BM?t=1m15s

Apparently this tandem rower is now a discontinued product, which is a shame since it's probably the most clean looking and elegant tandem HPV I've ever seen.

but I did notice that CA3.1 firmware now includes a "Rowbike" PAS setting! This was the first I'd heard of that even though I *thought* I was following CAv3 developments carefully.

Sorry about that, I have a tendency to release things and forget about the fanfare. But our previous discussions were part of the motivation for me to get this feature into the main primary CA3 firmware and not just an orphaned branch, so you can take some credit for it being there on your stock CA3.1