all wheel drive

I got my max life 22Ah leadass batteries for $85 with free shipping. I am scared of lipo cause of all that has been said of fire. plus it would have been a lot more money as the 6s brick was the same price about $85 but then I would need a charger/balancer and a power supply. but I haven't totally given up on lipo. I have a basket on the back of the bike. I tied a small shopping cart to the basket and went scrappin awhile breaking my batteries in. I gorilla taped and bungeed them to the bottom of the triangle frame for even weight distribution. everything's groovy but I am replacing the plastic milk crate basket with steel bolted to the frame. I am getting bigger and better wheels for the cart and bolting it to the steel basket I will be fabricating. i weigh almost 250 pounds and the bike is over 90 pounds now with the new batteries. my final upgrade will be the magic pie front wheel kit and two 22.5 6s lipo bricks. any more lead acid batteries would be ridiculous due to the weight. i plan on pulling between 100 and 200 pounds of scrap metal. metal goes around $10 a hundred pounds. i can easily get that in a couple hours right in my neighborhood on garbage night. i need the xtra power with the front wheel kit. 450 watts and 24 volts is not even enough power to get me up a hill without pedaling . and that's with my basket empty and nothing hooked up to the back. i will be able to unhook the shopping cart by two large wing nuts. for when i am not scrapping. does anyone know if there is any cheaper front wheel 48 volt 1000 watt kits as good as the magic pie. also should i charge the lipos outside in the back yard to be shure my house don't burn down if one of the batteries are defective. with a good charger it should be quick enough to while i spend time gardening cooking out or working out with my weights. i will get pictures when i get everything done. i really want an electric pick up truck. so i am sort of building one out of my ebike.

Dual motors is a good plan for serious cargo hauling. I was going to do the same thing, but then I found a larger motor to use instead.

Even with two motors, try to keep the speed above 10 mph. Even on the flat, you will make heat hauling cargo much slower than 15 mph. The motors will run more efficient and waste less power at above 10 mph.

Wish my neighborhood had that good picking. No way I could find 100 pounds of metal around here. Everybody is selling their metal now. Years ago, there was steel laying around all over in old dumps in the boonies. All cleaned up now.

yep, i had one guy stop his car out in the street and walk over to my metal pile on the side of the house and pick up the biggest heaviest piece of steel he could steal. 4' long piece of 4x6 square tube, 3/8" wall. weighed about 80 lbs. guy just picked it up and carried it over to the trunk of his car and tossed it in and was coming back for more when i walked outside. he took off when he saw me. slammed the trunk lid down but the tubing was still sticking out the back so his trunk lid just bounced off of it and he raced off down the street with his trunk dangling open.

it would be cheaper for this guy to just buy a $300 pickup instead of trying to make a bike do that much hauling. some things require the ability to move heavy stuff and down the road at highway speeds. i can haul up to about 1300 lbs in my honda wagon i took the seats out of. i did break the suspension on my old one by putting almost 1800 lbs of wet lumber cutoffs in it but the torsion arm bar was already cracked so the overweight just killed it totally.

I agree with dnmun. for what it would cost to build an ebike that could haul a few hundred pounds, you could buy a cheap truck that might just need some wrench time. Then be able to haul tons instead of pounds, cover more ground, and hanfle larger hauls.

Another posability is old RVs. I knew someone who recently picked up a running 21 foot motorhome for $500. They were going to cut the back end off, bolt some hinges, and have a toy hauler for their motorbikes. something like that would make a great box truck, and old RVs sell cheap.

dogman said:

Wish my neighborhood had that good picking. No way I could find 100 pounds of metal around here. Everybody is selling their metal now. Years ago, there was steel laying around all over in old dumps in the boonies. All cleaned up now.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean, we have trucks cruising up and down our street on the night before trash day looking for metal scraps.

my friend does have a truck and I drive it to the scrap yard at least once a week. the problem is it never has gas and always needs gas. the ebike/pickup truck I am building is for hauling metal to his back-yard and piling it up. it saves on gas and puts more money into our pockets. when the pile gets big enough we use the truck to cash in. a lot of small metal adds up. old computer monitors usually have 3 or 4 dollars in copper. vacuum cleaners have motors. about 2 bucks a pop. I will be canvassing with electric power a two mile radius of the metal pile. sometimes when we used the truck and did not get much metal it didn't even pay for the gas we burned. I will be getting a cell phone I will call the big metal phone for my friend with the truck. if I roll up on a stove, fridge or anything too big to pull with my bike I can call him to come with the truck. doing things this way not only saves gas and the environment. It saves money.
now that I've made that clear can we move on to ebike upgrades. would it be cheaper to upgrade my motor or controller to 36 volts. could I use my existing motor with a 36 volt controller. the front wheel upgrade would be ideal. but I am concerned about the cost. one more 22Ah leadass battery would be needed for 36 volts but I would only want to use it when scrapping. for regular bike riding 24 volts is enough. so the controller would have to be for 24 thru 36 volts variable. these are just some of the options I am looking at. extended unemployment has passed the senate. if it makes it thru the house. I will be 1700 dollars richer. if that happens forget about front wheel drive for my existing ebike. I will upgrade the rear wheel motor and controller to 1000 watts and 48 volts. get two more 22Ah leadass batts. stick them into the basket. and go out and buy a second bike. all aluminum mountain bike 29 inch and order the magic pie. that wont be for haullin it will be for cruising.
that's wishful thinking on my part though. a front wheel kit and lipo is still the simplest and most logical upgrade for my current work bike. so any suggestions of anything cheaper than the $400 + magic pie deal will be appreciated. thanks guys latecurtis out.

The Lord must surely admire your faithful spirit. I pray in the name of Jesus that you and your friend will be blessed and prospered. Amen.

Don't want to hijack a thread, but it seem applicable.

For two wheel drive, does each motor need its own controller, or can two 500w motors run off a 1000w controller?
Separate battery pack, or same battery pack?
Can they at least share a throttle, or do those also have to be separate?
Thanks

Lots of too long dual motor threads. The basics are.

Two controllers mandatory.

Two batteries advisable, or a VERY strong battery.

One throttle can control both controllers. Lots of different possibilities, including two throttles, or switches that allow either one or both to connect to the throttle.

What Late Curtis needs, is at least one of his motors to be a very very slow winding, or a chain drive through the bike gears.

I disagree that a truck is cheaper. Many of my older trucks have cost two dollars per mile traveled. Drive 200 miles, another 400 buck repair, drive another 200 miles.... Truck parts are way costly nowdays. Better though, if the truck is a lower miles Toyota, than a high miles chevy.

At some point though, a small wagon or hatchback can carry an amazing amount, if he can scrape up the cash.