Wow, it's been almost two years since I updated this! The bike has continued to constantly evolve and continue to fulfill my daily transportation requirements.
This is what it looks like now:
Changes since this thread was last updated include:
- 17" moped rims
QS 205 v3 'Extra' hub motor, 3.5T wind (approximately 13 KV)
17 x 2.75" Heidenau K56 Tires front and rear
Ferro Fluid + Hubsinks
Mobipus 72200 controller - Configured with an 60amp slow/140a 'normal'/180a 'Turbo' mode - That's battery current not phase! In Turbo mode I have seen 14kw of power on the CA
All wiring replaced with 6ga silicon and hydraulic crimped connectors
Cycle Analyst with an external 200a Shunt
New battery - 20s12p of Samsung 30Q cells - a little over 2.5kwh. Terminated with multiple spot welded layers of 0.3mm and 0.2mm nickel. Pack IR is ~30mOhm
Pack mounted in a frame made from riveted 40mm aluminium angle, bolted through and clamped to the frame for ideal weight distribution close to centre of mass.
Front and rear Mudhugger guards
45w Multi LED DOT approved headlight - low and high beam wired to Domino throttle switches
Brooks C17 saddle in black
Moped left level master cylinder, drilled and tapped for a 300psi Hydraulic pressure transducer which is used as the analogue regen input on the Mobipus controller. Feels like having a gigantic super powerful rear brake, very intuitive to use. No physical brakes on rear anymore.
The bike is now wicked fast, very tune-able in every respect with a LOT of settings on the controller. 'Normal' mode is set up to avoid power wheelies but still provide lots of punch for daily riding. Turbo mode is ~600cc sport bike performance up to about 80km/h, but is stressful as it will lift the front frequently. Top speed I have seen is about 114km/h, still accelerating (I just chickened out) however I don't ride at that sort of speed regularly. Generally speed will spike to 75km/h in commuting duties while passing people. Economy is totally acceptable and surprisingly good considering the weight (now 52kg) delivering a long term average 28wh/km. In total I now have over 20,000km on this bike.
Things that still need work:
Wiring tidy up. I have replaced pretty much all the connectors with JST-SM connectors which has improved it a lot, but there are a few untidy looking wires on the top of the bike and the controller connections are very busy with the feeds for the low volt circuits (lights etc), phase connections, main power, charge connector and controller power all connected here.
Controller mounting. The controller is bolted to a large heatsink, this is just attached with velcro (just like the batteries currently). I would like to cut down the heatsink slightly narrower to fit on the battery frame and bolt this down as far forward as is possible.
Re-make headlight mounting bracket. I made this in a hurry from junk I had lying around, as such the headlight is mounted too high and too far forward for ideal looks/functionality. Relatively easy but time consuming to make.
New front fork. The Marzocchi bomber 888 I am running has their two chamber air spring design, over time the seals bypass small amounts of air between chambers, effectively increasing the fork rate over time. You can either *constantly* adjust air pressure or you can just put up with a super stiff fork. I would like to get either a later model Marzocchi with conventional springs and oil damping or a Fox 40 for the ultimate in strength as well as improving comfort considerably
Re-lace wheels. The 17" moped wheels were supplied by QS and although the lace job isn't too bad, the balance on the rear in particular is pretty terrifying as the motor will spin at 120km/h unloaded and just about shake the bike off the stand. I would also like to re-lace the front with skinnier spokes using two cross as the spoke angles aren't brilliant and there's still more runout than I would like despite considerable tweaking.
Fix the motor axle! Just in the last week, the aggressive regen and significant torque accelerating appears to have caused some play between the stator and the Axle. The Axle itself is rock solid in the dropouts, but there's an appreciable amount of movement required to take up 'slack' as you transition between forward and reverse torque. This appears to be getting worse which is concerning. Hopefully this is repairable otherwise I will likely need a new motor or at least stator.
New Circuit breaker. The current breaker is still only a single 63a unit without a DC rating. I've been using this for over 2 years and use it as the 'off' for the bike power, so it's had a serious workout. I'm now regularly pulling 140a+ through this and while it's only ever popped once (when my Adaptto mini-e number 3 let go) I don't really trust it doing 2.5x its rating! I'll be replacing it with a MidNite Solar MNEDC100 100A breaker, that should be able to deliver the full range of the Mobipus while still being safe.
Replace chain tensioner - The current hacked up derailleur is ridiculously long especially with the smaller diameter wheels. I'd like something that will let me shorten up the chain considerably for a cleaner look.