Monk's Modular 2004 S-Works Enduro 69'er build

Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
12
Location
Arizona
A friend of mine gave me this bike about 11 months ago. The forks were beyond repairable and the rear shock's "brain" was no longer functioning. The rear shock was replaced with an air shock with a travel of 165mm (extra 15mm). I replaced the front fork with a 120mm 29'er air fork. Thus earning the moniker "69'er" as its 29 up front and 26 out back... I suppose 96'er would be more accurate, but 69'er sounds fun.

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I removed the front derailleur and rode the sucker until I fell, cracked two ribs and had moderate concussion. At that point I moved back to my Cannondale SuperX for strictly commuting/fitness. I work 23 miles from door to door, but I am there for 24 hours at a time. Still, this ride was a bit much for my actual functioning at work.

Well, I have decided to give this bike a new lease on life... plus I am "value oriented" (wife calls it cheap). I came into a way to get lots of 18650 cells for next to nothing except my time, they are used of course. Right now I am sitting on just over 200 usable cells, although I know they are at the very least genuine.

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I have 3d printed modular battery packs in 2s4p pairs. (pic shows 2s3p while testing)

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I have printed 6 in total giving me a 12s4p overall.

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My battery math for the cells I have works out like this:

  • 12s*4p*3.6v*5A = 864 watts
  • 12s*4p*2.6mAh*3.6 nominal volts = 449.2 watt hours (total energy)
  • 4p*2.3mAh = 9.2 amp hours (capacity)
  • Amps at motors = 864 watts / 12s*3.6v = 20 amps @ motor (864/43.2)

Looking at that math, I am tempted to reprint in a 12s5p or even going 6/7p configuration to get more capacity. The problem is the frame and mounting options. There is no triangle to mount a more typical case. I have been looking at mounting options like a madman, and have few ideas, maybe you fine folks will have a few more?

I could use the lower water bosses, and a traditional Hailong case. BUT, I would really like to keep the pack modular as I can maintain the battery (as in replace individual cells) much easier with this design. With the cells being used, I am going to need to pay special attention to them while charging and how they are behaving while discharging.

Furthermore, I have still not made a decision on what type of motor to run. I really like the idea of less maintenance in the direct drive world. As I said, I will need to monitor my battery more than most, so any reduced maintenance would be welcome. My commute is super flat like 500 total feet in 23 miles along my "river path" that is generally bone dry 90% of the year.

Initial thought is to just slap an ebay 48v 1000w kit on the thing and get the watts out!

For charging, I am going to use a Riden rd6006 coupled to a 60v 8a meanwell power supply.

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Any input would be greatly appreciated!
 
Ace start to project , mean lookin solid suspension frame ,check , shed load of 18650s ,check, see your leaning toward a hub motor I also think this bike be best direct drive ,I'm a bit biased as I have so much fun on my entry level 1500w, so the question is as with all hub motors is where put controller? Can a phaserunner controller fit in small triangle in middle? Would be slick if did, most elegant solution for battery is belly tank style under downtube location, maybe controller could fit in there ,front wheel clearance on shock full compression permitting, could always put a 26 wheel on with 29 fork if not
I do this anyway on my bike as I like the more upright body position this gives,
you could 3d print a battery box or maybe just the sides and use acrylic front panel, great work on cell holders by the way like the braided conductors. Or just a thought a BBS mid drive with back pack battery, :wink: solves controller placement issue, love the fact if chain breaks a hub motor will still get you home though can't beat that, range is an important factor , I get on flat ground 23 miles from 17ah not peddling much avg speed 20 mph on my 1500w 45amp peak controller, so same set up would work for you presuming you gonna charge when get there, or could double pack size but be heavy and may have issues fitting that many cells, could go with much smaller motor for range but frame deserves bit of power and ripping along river paths is fun , happy ebiking :mrgreen: looking forward to see how it pans out
 
Very nice project and I like the no-weld/solder battery modules. I hope you used extra protection rings on the positive side of the cells.
I'll be following your progress. Good luck and enjoy building.
 
Yeah 69'er seems odd to come up with as a term but its 26x29'er

Initial thought is to just slap an ebay 48v 1000w kit on the thing and get the watts out!
Yeah whatever your battery can handle and whatever gets you out and riding the fastest. I never ridden a hub motor laced into a 29'er, I have a Trek hybrid 700x45C that I am thinking about converting probably to geared mac or just buy cheap hub motor. It will start off slow in the beginning and slowly get up to a faster speed then same motor in a 26. I am used to the torque of my setup on diff bike 52V40A in 26" Leaf 1500W. Which is perhaps what you should look into if you think you may need more power. I dont know your weight, your riding terrain but those generic 1kw hubs will get you from A to B, its just if your 300lbs+ or want to carry groceries or have lots of steep hills around.

Look into shortening up your crank arms so they dont hit the ground if you plan on doing lots of sweat pedaling.

I rode around in a 26 rear, 700x45C front but I get to many flats and I didnt want to ruin that bike, so I bought a fat bike cruiser with 26x3.50 rear which is basically 29" with a tire size of 26x2.25 front hub motor. Its decent though I dont do speed, but I like to throttle up hills with ease and minimal (if at all) sweat pedaling.
 
I'm no battery guru, but it looks impressive nonetheless. On the bike itself, that was a nice bike for someone to give to you, regardless of its 26" wheels. On your application of a 29'er front end, that is not uncommon and usually referred to as a mullet. I run one of my MTB's in 27.5 front/26 rear all the time...works well. Also if you go to a mid-drive like a Bafang, the 29'er front will give you even more ground clearance for the motor and the crank/pedals if you go off road. I would be really tempted to go mid-drive on that bike. That's a good suspension bike and having a hub motor tends to negatively affect the suspension action of the wheels with the added weight being unsprung weight. If you're never going to do any trail riding, it probably won't matter, but that bike almost screams..."ride me on a trail"...LOL!
 
Thanks for the replies, eyeballs and suggestions my friends... gonna need help on this as we move forward!

I went ahead and ordered the CSC 26" rear wheel 48v - 1500w kit from EBAY. Its was $323 OTD with free shipping. It is the KT LCD3 version. I am not sure if I made a mistake with that as the other option was SW900... I tried to do some research on it, but in the end decided to "SEND IT" with the KT version.
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Playing around with rePackr and I think the 12s4p pack is going to be too small. I have plenty of 18650 cells, so I am upping my game to a 12s6p pack. Here is how the math worked out on rePacker which is more accurate than my guessing math as you enter the cells capacity into the program. I am very pleased with rePackr and my stats for the pack as follows:

Divergence (from the average pack capacity) -1 mAh / Deviation (between the capacity of cells in the pack) 117 mAh

12s4p = 10.267Ah / 443.53Wh
12s6p = 15.087Ah / 651.67Wh

That decision necessitated a design change. So I printed new 1s6p holders which will increase my work load a bit for assembly, but should be quite a bit safer as the series connections will be 4mm banana plugs. Pro tip: if you are using used cells, catalog them as you test them in a spreadsheet. I have 20 count cell holders and labeled each row in the spread sheet in coordination with the each set of 20. Makes populating the 12 sets of 1s6p cells quick work you only need to look through 20 to find the right cell vs. looking through a giant pile of batteries. This was a total accident and I was so happy for myself.

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Things that need to be done to complete battery holders:
  1. Add insulator rings to positive terminal
  2. Cut braid to size
  3. Crimp braid to 12AWG silicon wire
  4. Solder 4mm banana plug
  5. Solder BMS wires
  6. Heat shrink
  7. Kapton tape stuff

BMS - Still struggling here. Part of me really wants a smart BMS so I can monitor cell activity on my phone via BT.... but I may want to add more "S" and would rather not buy a new BMS every time... what do you guys think?

I printed a cargo cage for the down tube of my bike. There should be plenty of room down there for this pack.

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I was thinking about printing another one to sandwich the battery on each end. Then just strap the living dog snot out of it with velcro sewn to nylon webbing. I haven't decided if I am going to print the case, buy a square piece of PVC tube and stuff everything into it, or make a bag and stuff everything into that. I have an industrial sewing machine that I use to make bags and stuff. I used to repair firefighter turnout gear as a side gig, but I got tired of it. Here is an example of a bag I have made, I use it when I commute to work.
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Still need to obtain: Torque arms, BMS, complete wiring/charging diagram, portable 48v charger
 
you went with DD :thumb: , this is the exact same kit as i have over 3000 rough miles and the occasional soaking still going strong, finding a good place to put the controller going to be fun be nice keep top tube clear for looks , if you have issue with occasional hesitation in power i solved that when I changed a setting in the L menu think was L2 from 1 to 2, I have both LCD3 and sw900 almost no difference except lcd3 has battery voltage and air temp both useful , both provide a variety of settings, details of these easily found online and programmed by entering hidden menus by holding down up and down think L menu is reached by going through P and C menu then holding down buttons again, I upgraded from 48v to 52v battery no reason as 48v fine but this kit really comes alive on 52v , I've not taken time to look at figures on your cells but a 52v 17 or 19ah with Bluetooth BMS would be awesome, if your concerned about monitoring your cells think extra cost for this feature would be money well spent, plus you get a quality BMS, as your battery will be in a location where water gets flicked up by front tyre ,not sure how it would work but like idea to make some kind of extra protection/securing method for battery from same durable water proof material used on the orange bag as well as using sealant on battery box joints and wire exit points :mrgreen:
 
Sweet! Really happy to have your eyeballs on the build as I don't really know what I am doing!

You talked me into buying the Daly Bluetooth smart BMS. I got the 13s 60amp version... Currently printing another 1s6p holder. Gonna leave it at 13s6p for a while as I figure things out. Hopefully this thing gets me to work... lol. The least worrying thing, for me, is water. We average 12 inches of rain per year. I am more concerned about heat, or at least I probably should be more concerned about that.

What kind of pack are you running?
 
Lucky you ,not much rain , ebikes worst enemy :lol: I got a Samsung cell 52v from hallomotor, think 17ah 50amp bms 14s 5p all crammed in a medium hailong style case so far so good :mrgreen:
 
Soldering connections today to get the pack completed. Thought I would do some stress testing and I needed to practice soldering anyway.

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So I soldered these scraps up and tried to get them as flat as possible. I am using 1mm 63/37 solder with a flat tip to really heat the joint as the braid and 12AWG really soak up the heat.

After soldering and cool down, I literally started bending them back and forth about 500 times and pulling like crazy. Held up really well.

The final connection method will be: Braid -> 12AWG silicon wire -> 4mm bullet

I experimented with crimping those connections, but it just added too much bulk.
 
Massive UPDATE!!!

I am still at this yet!!! As many of you know, life finds a way to get in the way of fun stuff for us... like ECNL soccer for the boy, State league soccer for the girl and Club Track and Field for the both of them (in addition to work, school and other life activities).

So I have completed the pack as seen below.

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Lots and lots of soldering to get this modular pack built. In hindsight, I am not sure it is worth it. Perhaps if I have the need to take it apart, I will thank the foresight to make this a little easier to disassemble. BUT, there is still a LOT of work to take this apart.

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I used some "lever nuts" to wire the BMS.

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Sewn straps secure the battery together. Seems to be really holding up well in the limited testing I have done so far. I know some of these are big no-no's, but I consider this to be a test rig.

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Mounting the motor and kit to the bike wasn't bad. The only real modification was the rear dropouts needed to be filed for the large axel that is used for the kit motor. I also bought and installed some torque arms. Although the geometry of the frame allows me to install one arm. We'll see how it holds up.

I made the bag to house the battery out of recycled billboard material. Doubled up the fabric and glued some tabs for strap stability with special vinyl glue.

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I did not install the PAS sensor and will simply use my wrist as the throttle. Items left; Program the KT-LCD3 for everything I want, iterate on mounting options for the battery, and learn how to program the BMS.
 
tons of work done on battery looks sweet , ah yes the ankle biters do seem make these projects take bit longer spent half day restring daughters violin today was only sposed take half hour :pancake:
great thing about ebikes is you do get to experience all the rewards for effort,( much like kids :D ) def a plus and save money that your battery will last longer than a bought one as you can swop out duff cells,
and is option splash the cash and treat yourself upgrade to whatever the latest high power cell is , 8)
also you won't suffer the dissapointment of 6 month old battery going south cos one of the groups going down like my first budget (still not cheap) battery did, pain to fix not worth sending back due to cost ,
hub motor worth it lots of power more fun no chain line issues a la BBS
easier upgrade and cooler than mid drive in my opinion , was wondering how you would get on with motor when I took closer look your dropouts,
I only use one torque arm and has been fine , pas is nice maybe you could get one of the sensors that fit hollow tech bb, thumb throttle nice upgrade to , how do you rate the Daly any good? :mrgreen:
 
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