litespeed
100 kW
For my second build I was going to use a GT Force bike I bought but I had a few failures with the components so I shipped that bike back. I bought this bike second hand and overall a way better bike. Starting weight is 31 lbs which isn't bad for a long travel bike or at least what I keep telling myself. The other big thing I needed was just that a BIG bike. Being 6' 4" an extra large was a necessity. The Giants seem to run the largest on all bike I was able to try and XL downhill bikes are extremely rare. For now I'm butting my BMC V2 S on 18s3p lipo so it should get around quite fine but in the future I'll go to a Clyte direct drive or mid mount when funds permit because I want to turn this into a dirt bike with some road thrown in for good measure.
My BMC was sent back to Ilia to have a Psycho 26" DH rim installed and a 9 speed cluster to retain all the bikes stock components. I started building the wooden battery box which houses 18s3p and the wiring. At this point it will have wood sides but after the kinks are worked out I'll either fab up a all metal one or use the wood frame and install aluminum side covers. I have a bunch of scrap 1/8 sheet aluminum from a past project. The box made fits perfectly snug in the frame and I've rode it for a few miles to see how it rides. All good even without clamps. I'll use 2 screws in the bottom of the box into the bottle holder and a rubber coated metal strap around the seat post and possible a second around the top bar. At this point I'll mount the controller below the rear rack and see how that works. Only problem I had so far was I had to sand out indents into the back of the box for the upper suspension pivot/link. It was hitting the box at about 4 1/2" of travel. I now have it where I get about 5 1/2" of travel. Might have to re-engineer that area. Box finished out at 4 3/4" wide and comes nowhere close to my legs. I assume I could add another 1/2" easily if needed. Looks like I have about 6 inches between the cranks.
I'll have the wheel back this Wed so I should be able to finalize all the locations and hopefully have it ready to go by next weekend. The BMC V2 S had plenty of get up and go in a 700c rim where it was and I could even get it to wheelie. On my 700C it had a top speed of 34 mph with no peddling. That was with a 20 amp max via the cycle annalist. Going to the 26" rim I should gain some more torque and loose a bit of my top speed. Hopefully not much.
See the pictures.
Tom
My BMC was sent back to Ilia to have a Psycho 26" DH rim installed and a 9 speed cluster to retain all the bikes stock components. I started building the wooden battery box which houses 18s3p and the wiring. At this point it will have wood sides but after the kinks are worked out I'll either fab up a all metal one or use the wood frame and install aluminum side covers. I have a bunch of scrap 1/8 sheet aluminum from a past project. The box made fits perfectly snug in the frame and I've rode it for a few miles to see how it rides. All good even without clamps. I'll use 2 screws in the bottom of the box into the bottle holder and a rubber coated metal strap around the seat post and possible a second around the top bar. At this point I'll mount the controller below the rear rack and see how that works. Only problem I had so far was I had to sand out indents into the back of the box for the upper suspension pivot/link. It was hitting the box at about 4 1/2" of travel. I now have it where I get about 5 1/2" of travel. Might have to re-engineer that area. Box finished out at 4 3/4" wide and comes nowhere close to my legs. I assume I could add another 1/2" easily if needed. Looks like I have about 6 inches between the cranks.
I'll have the wheel back this Wed so I should be able to finalize all the locations and hopefully have it ready to go by next weekend. The BMC V2 S had plenty of get up and go in a 700c rim where it was and I could even get it to wheelie. On my 700C it had a top speed of 34 mph with no peddling. That was with a 20 amp max via the cycle annalist. Going to the 26" rim I should gain some more torque and loose a bit of my top speed. Hopefully not much.
See the pictures.
Tom
