comradegerry
100 W
After lurking, reading, learning and generally being left in awe at the slew of recent builds on the sphere, I thought it was about time to start a build thread to help document and hopefully get some advice to save any obvious costly mistakes during this iminent build.
The plan is simple, take Hal's awesome Greyborg platform, mate it with Matt' awesome 2 stage reduction, integrate a 48v 20ah battery into the frame, flesh the rest of the bike out with the best parts available and then run it through the cranks to the 11 speed Alfine lurking in the rear wheel. The bike will be initially built with a chain drive, however once the new monoque aluminium swing arm becomes available it will be getting switched out to a Gates Carbon Drive system to the rear wheel.
The bike is currently in transit and most of the parts are gathered or ordered, with the exception of the battery, this will be something a little special and hopefully a debut of something new.
I have next to no mechanical, electrical or engineering skills, therefore this build will showcase the skills of others and encourage others with limited abilities to take advantage of the plethora of available parts that helped Ebikes become plug and play. I have a mate that is an engineer and I will be bribing him with alcohol on a regular basis to ensure his assistance with things technical.
Whilst waiting for the parts to arrive, I thought I might make a start on the handlebars. It is worth mentioning that I am currently suffering a compulsive attraction to titanium bike parts and also am trying deal with an Ebay addiction, the build log may end up being part of my therapy and the first step to recovery.
The bars are Bontrager Race Lite Ti, I saw them on ebay and just had to have them. The idea is to mount a large format Cycle Analyst with 2 of rather bright LED lamps either side. I originally was leaning towards just the one but in the interest of symmetry I have ordered another one. The lamps are shipped with a standard handle bar mount, well made and quick release. This did not really wok for what I wanted so they have been adapted a little. I did a couple of dry runs to see where I wanted the parts to sit then drilled 3 x 4mm holes through the top bar. I worried about ruining the structural integrity of the bar so I mixed up some JB Weld, taped the bottom of the through hloes, took a syringe and put a good blob in each to help spread any load, I drill the holes out again the next day. I took the original mounts off then hand filed a half round profile into the plastic so that the mounts sits squarely on the skinny pipe. 3 stainless M4 machine screws will then be used to secure everything. Once I have the other LED light in hand I will shorten the cables to make them as tidy as I can on the bars. Few pictures below for illustration purposes.
I need this to be up and running in 3 months so that is my timeline.
Having seen Grayborg #1 in matt black posted by Hal in another thread, that pretty much settles my colour choice, black it will be!
The plan is simple, take Hal's awesome Greyborg platform, mate it with Matt' awesome 2 stage reduction, integrate a 48v 20ah battery into the frame, flesh the rest of the bike out with the best parts available and then run it through the cranks to the 11 speed Alfine lurking in the rear wheel. The bike will be initially built with a chain drive, however once the new monoque aluminium swing arm becomes available it will be getting switched out to a Gates Carbon Drive system to the rear wheel.
The bike is currently in transit and most of the parts are gathered or ordered, with the exception of the battery, this will be something a little special and hopefully a debut of something new.
I have next to no mechanical, electrical or engineering skills, therefore this build will showcase the skills of others and encourage others with limited abilities to take advantage of the plethora of available parts that helped Ebikes become plug and play. I have a mate that is an engineer and I will be bribing him with alcohol on a regular basis to ensure his assistance with things technical.
Whilst waiting for the parts to arrive, I thought I might make a start on the handlebars. It is worth mentioning that I am currently suffering a compulsive attraction to titanium bike parts and also am trying deal with an Ebay addiction, the build log may end up being part of my therapy and the first step to recovery.
The bars are Bontrager Race Lite Ti, I saw them on ebay and just had to have them. The idea is to mount a large format Cycle Analyst with 2 of rather bright LED lamps either side. I originally was leaning towards just the one but in the interest of symmetry I have ordered another one. The lamps are shipped with a standard handle bar mount, well made and quick release. This did not really wok for what I wanted so they have been adapted a little. I did a couple of dry runs to see where I wanted the parts to sit then drilled 3 x 4mm holes through the top bar. I worried about ruining the structural integrity of the bar so I mixed up some JB Weld, taped the bottom of the through hloes, took a syringe and put a good blob in each to help spread any load, I drill the holes out again the next day. I took the original mounts off then hand filed a half round profile into the plastic so that the mounts sits squarely on the skinny pipe. 3 stainless M4 machine screws will then be used to secure everything. Once I have the other LED light in hand I will shorten the cables to make them as tidy as I can on the bars. Few pictures below for illustration purposes.
I need this to be up and running in 3 months so that is my timeline.
Having seen Grayborg #1 in matt black posted by Hal in another thread, that pretty much settles my colour choice, black it will be!