Wife Hopper beach cruiser

After sampling the sheer joy of my 24s GM 901 hub motor build, my wife decided she needed one. Okay, I actually decided she needed one. Due to medical concerns, it is a chore for her to pedal so her bike was sitting unused in the garage. I really wanted to use a better quality frame, but she insisted that if I were going to build her a bike that I had to use her Huffy Panama Jack beach cruiser since "it is so cute". AND, the build had to be clean. As opposed to my build, all Mad Max and exposed wires.

So, that got the wheels turning... Since it is a step-through frame I knew that the batteries and controller were going to have to go into saddlebags. And to keep them as small and clean as possible, I was going to have to build them myself. Paul's posts on his leatherwork inspired me to try it out myself. I found an example online of a fellow building panniers using wood sides which seemed perfect since I would not have to sew the leather!

The equipment list:
- Huffy Panama Jack beach cruiser (spread the chainstays to make the motor fit)
- 9C 2807 hub motor
- 20T Shimano freewheel
- 2x Grintech torque arms
- Lyen 12fet 3077 controller
- 15s2p Turnigy Lipo
- CycleAnalyst v2.3
- Front cantilever brake forks from my 1999 Schwinn
- Handmade saddlebags from 9 oz leather and cedar, with sliding/removable drawers

Todo:
- Install rear side-pull brake caliper (Tektro C326, on order)
- Upgrade front brake to 90mm Sturmey-Archer drum
- Add headlight and modify rear reflector as a tail light

First, the latest shots. I just got the bike running last night. There is still a little cleanup to do and the rear brake caliper (Tektro C326) should be delivered soon, but for now:

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In this picture you can see the on/off switch on the left saddlebag. This way she can easily turn the bike on and off without opening the bag.


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In this picture you can barely see the rear supports I made, attached the the rear end of the rack. Just aluminum L bar stock painted black. Its only purpose is to keep the bottom rear edge of the bags from hitting the tire.

The bike rides like a dream and pulls nicely. My wife is at a doctor's appointment this morning, so looking forward to us riding together over lunch!

The neighborhood speed limit is 25 MPH, so my goal was a 30 MPH eBike that did not require pedaling and something in the 14s - 15s range (lipo, since I already have experience with them and the charging setup). I saw mlt34 post that he had a lot of gently used ebike equipment for sale, and swooped in on the 9C 2807 and Lyen 12fet controller.



While the bike would likely be fine with just one torque arm, I went with two just to be safe. I mounted one up and one down, to account for the regen braking as well...





Now, to plan out the saddlebag layout so I can get the needed dimensions. The plan is to have the batteries on one side, mounted to a board that can slide out for charging. So unplug the main battery connector and slide out the battery board. The controller side will also get four 40mm CPU fans for cooling, The bottom two fans are intake, the top two are exhaust. The Kaze mini ultra fans I picked are very quiet and even though there are four, barely audible.

The bulk of the build time was spent on making the saddlebags. While an easy, straightforward procedure, my lack of tools and wanting to get them right for my wife made me take extra time and care.

I started with an 8 foot cedar plank ($5 from Home Depot), rough cut into 4" x 12" sections. I then cut them down to 3" x 10.5" and used a Dremel with a circle cutting attachment to round out the edges.

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The board that I am using to mount the batteries and controller to is 1/8" peg board. I like using peg board since the existing holes make for easy mount points and it is easy to work with.



I used a routing bit on my Dremel to cut the channel for the board to slide in.



The rest of the build was pretty boring stuff. Measure and cut the leather using a razor knife, use Chicago screws to attach the leather piece that connects the saddlebags, etc.

I did use a little water shaping to help get the curve on the top shaped. Just wet the leather, apply pressure overnight, and voila!

what an awesome build! clean and nice, i really like the leather saddle bags, great job! i imagine you grin from ear to ear every time your wife rides it

Thanks Paul! BTW, here is a picture of the batteries snug inside the bag, before making the serial and parallel harnesses: