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https://www.flickr.com/photos/27532210@N04/
March 23, 2017...
Added some pictures, see my Flickr page.
Put it on my BMX bike. It goes ZOOM.
Similar to the second bike experience, but more efficient and much simpler. Plus the bike can be pedaled. Plus the fact being pedal assisted makes it legal without a license in my city. A 20 inch drift trike wheel will probably work fine.
Original post...
I have no fancy tools, so what I build is easy as possible. This is probably the easiest possible electric bike build without using a hub motor.
1. Slice the end off of a 1/2 inch drive 3/4 inch (19 mm is a slightly better fit) socket.
2. Remove the drill chuck and replace it with a nut that can be found in Lowe's (USA) or online.
4. Screw the nut onto the drill spindle and rotary tool slice off the excess with it slowly spinning.
5. Drill holes in wide aluminum flat bar pieces, then attach them to the fork for holding the drill. Use lots of superglue where the bolts clamp the flat bar to the fork.
6. Use a bicycle cable noodle attached the drill trigger and the drill handle, for trigger/speed control.
You can see various related pictures on my Flickr page. Scroll down and you can see pictures that show the drill to spindle connection and the drill trigger control mechanism.
There are some potential difficulties. I have a special homemade tool that helps remove the chuck from DeWalt's high powered drills. Combined with a high-powered DCD899 impact wrench, after removing the gears and placing the tool up inside of the gear case, the chuck can be safely removed. Otherwise you will in fact risk breaking up the gears while trying to remove the chuck.
My first bike used a DeWalt DCD780. Much less powerful, but worked for 10 months. Then the bike was disassembled and the DCD780 is my main cordless drill. This version uses their most powerful 20 V MAX DCD991. Hopefully the fork connection can handle it. The fact it is front-wheel-drive might allow the wheel to slip under a huge abrupt load, so hopefully it doesn't break anything.
Apparently drift trike front wheels are the only source for this design. The hub plus wheel might cost between $150-$200 (US). The powerful cordless drill is roughly $280 for a kit, plus spare batteries.
PS
I always wanted to post here, seeing how you guys are gung ho for technology. I had some trouble signing up before, getting the confirmation email. But this time it worked fine.
