New member, With Pisher Frice "My First Electric"

Howdy, I'm new to the site and new to these hippy tree hugging Spark-O-mobiles. Once upon a time, I used to be a cycling health nut, but a car wreck and a doctor decided I shouldn't go near a bike again. So instead I became a beer guzzling redneck with a gas guzzling Truck. Well, the Truck guzzled up all my beer money, and in a fit of sobrity, I decided I needed to get back to cycling. I'll show that darn beer money steeling truck who's boss!

After buying a Target version of a schwinn and taking it out for a ride, I had to swallow my pride. It don't taste as good as beer, let me tell you! I can't ride like I used to. I think I got passed by a 5 year old on a trike who was ringing his bell in frustration of my slow progress up the bike path.

So I looked into Electrics. What I ended up with was a Crystalite brushless center tap kit with 4012/408 option, and 48 volts. The kit came with a bag for the batteries that looks suppiciously like asoft sided 6 pack cooler, and fits on a rack over the back wheel to hold the 4 SLA 10 amp batteries. The result is a bike that looks like a mountian bike with a small bag on the back. Nothing outwardly geeky or tree huggery about it. But the results are 300 miles and 300 smiles in just a month. Plus I seem to have lost 10 pounds somewhere along the way. Not sure where that fell off, but I think it has as much to do with cycling interfearing with my snack time as it does actual exersize.

So now I'm a Hippy Tree hugging enviromentalist, without regrets. Well, one. If I lose my beer gut entirly, I won't have an emergancy flotation device should I ever end up in the middle of the ocean without a boat. That always seemed like a poor excuse for having a gut, so I guess I won't regret it's loss too much. My pickup is anoyed and thirsty, but I'm richer by a couple hundred buck in gas money. My friends were all happy for a while, as the fridge was fuller than usual with beer, but there becoming anoyed as I'm not restocking it. Generaly I'm a happeir person now that I'm back to cycling.

^ :lol: ^

Yah, you'll fit right in here...of course pretty much everybody does and that's half the fun.

Can we see some pics of your partially beer-powered crystalyte ebike?

Well, it took a while to figure out how to do it, but here they are.

That back rack is mostly iron, a repair job on the original aluminum with side rails and a mount for the controller, but the back legs are still aluminum.. for the moment.

Very Spiffy!


When ya gonna convert them 4wheelers?

(you could have the first Tesla Pick'mupTruck...)

Very nice indeed. Super clean.

Yes, very nice job. No duct tape. Everything looks sturdy.

I've heard reports that having all the battery weight on the back isn't the best, but it depends on what kind of riding you do. There's always something to improve upon with any design. You can refine things as needed over time. Innovate.

Is that an Arrogant Bastard Ale avatar I spot?
With such a gift with words you will fit right in with some of the other word smiths around here.
As others have said nice clean install, but I second the suggestion of getting the batteries lower if possible as it will make handling and parking easier.

The batteries are already significantly lower than the main source of weight: the rider. I don't see why they should be lowered.

Thanks for them kind words, And you guessed it. Its The Arrogant Bastard Gargoyl. Not bad for a light beer.

Your right about the batteries, The weight isn't in the ideal place, but being were they are I think helps in other ways besides handling.

My girlfriend came out in the driveway after I was done putting it all together, and asked when I was going to put the motor on it. I told her I already hard. So she asks "Where?" I told her it was inside the wheel, and she stormed back in the house thinking I was teasing her again.

That had two imidiate benifits. First, it ment I had the rest of the afternoon to my self to enjoy riding, and second, it ment that if the average non-geek couldn't tell it was electric, even after being told it was, I had done a fair job building it.

its always good to be able to get away for a good long ride