First Mid Drive build, cyclone 3kw, custom mounts, Full suspension Bike.

java230

100 mW
Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Messages
35
Here goes! This will be my first mid drive. I picked up a cyclone 3kw kit. I was planning to install in my old hard tail bike, but found a good deal on a older Intense XC frame. I want to mount it inside the frame to keep the gorund clearnance. This will mostly be afun commuter bike, but there are lots of good trails around as well.

Plan is Multistar Lipo's, 52V 16ah (I already have a charger etc from RC stuff). My ride to work is 14.4 miles, so hopefully I will have enough to get there easily. I can charge at work as needed.

I had the seller measure the frame opening, it looked like I would need to notch it, but it turned out to fit exactly tight between the tubes. Could not have had 1mm less space.

Frame, well a whole bike, but everything needs some love. Brakes are done, need to be rebuilt and bled (I have a new set off another bike I will use), Fork needs a full rebuild. Cables are broken. So really I bought a wheel set, frame and bars, but the price was right. Its a early 2000's Intense Tracer.
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Got the frame home and set it over the motor, I was super happy! It fit, just barely. If it needed to go any further to the drive side it would not have fit.
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Now to build the mounts. I picked up a sheet of 3/16" aluminum, a bit thicker than the stock HD mounts. I wanted to use the same style, clamp in with the BB and catch the motor bolts. A little bit of CAD and I have a design. It follows the down tube and catches three of the bolts on the gear side of the cyclone.
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Rough cut with the jig saw (I used 3003 alu for easy cutting)
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Two of the three bolt holes are perfect, the top one was off a bit. Not sure exactly why, but sharpie cardboard and had drills might be part of it. I think I will be able to oval the hole enough to make it work. Luckily this one will also be tied to the suspension pivot point so I think it will be strong enough. (no the tensioner wont go there)
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This tab will help the BB not let things rotate and support the upper edge. I was only able to use 1/8" here, but its a short span.
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Hanging in place! Now to do the other side.
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The mount for the other side started with the stock bracket on the BB. I had to notch it a little for the suspension bolt. A piece of aluminum flat bar was cut the same width as the BB, I and drilling and tapping this through both of the mounting plates. It will sandwiching them together, adding a little shear, and also I can clamp around the down tube there if needed.
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Drilled and tapped for m6x1, not perfect, but it was all held in place and drilled together by my eyeballs....
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Now the two mounting plates were tied together, I needed to get something to help the motor not rotate under load. Hopefully what I can up with is strong enough, I have never done a mid drive... I used a piece of 1/8"x2, it catches the lower motor bolt, and then ties into the black plate down near the BB. Two bolts hold it in place down low.
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So at the end of the night I have a motor mounted in the frame (ignore the random hardware, I need to run to the hardware supply house and get correct stuff....), I trimmed down the connectors I would not be using off the controller, built the series battery connector, and tested the electrical side.
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Chain lines are pretty decent, although the drive chain will have a fair bit of slack to take up with the tensioner.
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Hopefully tonight I can get the bike side of things fixed up, replace the derailleur cable, swap my brakes over, fill tires etc. Need to figure out where to put the controller too, thinking a saddle bag maybe? Then wire runs, replace the phase wire connectors with 6mm bullets and test ride! (and figure out what to do about the front shock....)

Id love to hear thoughts on if my mounts look sturdy enough!
 
I'm getting all kinds of interference between the shifter and throttle, what is everyone running for shifters? A Shimano XTR does not appear that it will work....
 
Rube said:
Grin have a super slim throttle, that will be my next attempt to solve interference between throttle and shifter.

Thanks, I'll take a peek at them!
 
Chains are on, cranks and pedals are one. Brakes are done. Controller is just temporarily zip tied on, its going to go in a saddle bag in roughly that spot. I put 6mm bullet connectors on for the phase wires, I have a 6pin waterproof one coming for the hall's. Only issue is the throttle/shifter interference. I fired it up last night and it all spins nicely!
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Is it worth running nice fat power wires into the controller?
 
Ill try the left thumb for the time being..... Bars done for now.
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I know SBP says these are right or left, but it was not comfortable for me, maybe I have a short thumb.... I'm making an extension, hopefully I don't break the tab off... Its just a little piece of aluminum.
rough shape. I will bolt and glue it in place.
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Well its 10:15 pm, 20 degrees outside, and I just went for the first test ride! My god! Its goooood. Tries to pull the front wheel off the ground in 5th gear.

So to wrap up the build so far.

Made the umbilical from backpack to bike. Came out nice I think!
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Got a 6 pin waterproof connector to run the Halls through.
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Wiring the motor side.
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Braided sheath over everything coming up from the frame side.
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Feeding all the wiring into the saddle bag that will house the controller.
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Bag in place
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On the test ride!
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Bro, that's sick! Awesome build, how's it like with the battery in the pack? I'm out drifting with my mid drive bike when the snow is on the ground and more than once ive been thrown off, If you fall of what will happen to the cable? Not that I'm suggesting anything but a powerful mid drive can make you do some crazy stuff :D
 
Cricket_Swe said:
Bro, that's sick! Awesome build, how's it like with the battery in the pack? I'm out drifting with my mid drive bike when the snow is on the ground and more than once ive been thrown off, If you fall of what will happen to the cable? Not that I'm suggesting anything but a powerful mid drive can make you do some crazy stuff :D

Batteries are a couple pounds more than I expected. But they all fit in the water bladder sleeve in my pack, keeps them nicely in place. And really once the pack is on it doesn't feel heavy at all. I'm very happy.

The umbilical has a plug at my butt, I'm hoping if I ever fly off it will come undone there.
 
Cool, must be awesome with a 3kw bike that doesn't have the weight of batteries, even if that weight is on you, I can understand the front wheel wants to come up
 
The controller might overheat being insulated inside the bag. I'd keep an eye on temps during testing.

One possible solution would be to glue one side of the controller to the inside of the bag. This would eliminate the air gap and allow for better cooling through the bag material.
 
fechter said:
The controller might overheat being insulated inside the bag. I'd keep an eye on temps during testing.

One possible solution would be to glue one side of the controller to the inside of the bag. This would eliminate the air gap and allow for better cooling through the bag material.

Yeah I will have to keep an eye on it, I have an IR temp gun I'll take on my next ride. There is a piece of plastic forming the bottom of the bag, I could cut that out and use aluminum there too.
 
Voltron said:
I used one of my old soldering irons to burn ventilation holes for an controller bag, then the edges don't fray.

Did you have overheating issues? Thats exactly how I mad the hole in mine too! :D
 
I wasn't waiting till it got hot on that one... But others I had got pretty toasty.

Been running the wires out the front of my backpack battery.. Seemed to make it easier to stand up but not have it droop into the wheel while seated.
 
Voltron said:
I wasn't waiting till it got hot on that one... But others I had got pretty toasty.

Been running the wires out the front of my backpack battery.. Seemed to make it easier to stand up but not have it droop into the wheel while seated.

Thanks for the input! What temp should I consider "hot?

I ran mine out the top last night, seemed to work ok for standing. I will have to get more seat time to have any real idea though I think. I made it pretty much minimum length.
 
I didn't get actual numbers... But on one the controller had been running cool frame mounted, and then moved everything over to another bike with it in a bag... And it was startlingly hot after being used to it running cool at the same power levels.
 
I could keep my hand on it, but pretty toasty, and I hadn't been flogging too badly. Really only stuck with as it was a bike for a gf that wasn't going to be pushed too hard, and hiding wires was a factor. My normal way ( as in not for a paying customer but a personal ride ) involves just slapping it together enough to ride reliably. Been burned on builds where I put a lot of time and care into making everything sleek, and then not liking the ride characteristics after 3 outings or having it get stolen and whatnot. Great for air cooling tho .. :wink:

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Then after about a year I clean up the wiring if I like the bike...
 
Voltron said:
I could keep my hand on it, but pretty toasty, and I hadn't been flogging too badly. Really only stuck with as it was a bike for a gf that wasn't going to be pushed too hard, and hiding wires was a factor. My normal way ( as in not for a paying customer but a personal ride ) involves just slapping it together enough to ride reliably. Been burned on builds where I put a lot of time and care into making everything sleek, and then not liking the ride characteristics after 3 outings or having it get stolen and whatnot. Great for air cooling tho .. :wink:

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Then after about a year I clean up the wiring if I like the bike...

Thanks! If worse come to worse I can just loose the bag, but I liked hiding it all in there. I have hi/lo speed switch, all the wiring jumble, all the connections in there (sorta keeps the water off?). I need to do a longer ride and see what it feels like.
 
I was half kidding (but not by much) about cleaning things up after a year... but def see if you like the ride enough to make TLC worth it. And big plus having the phase plugs outside the bag in some airflow... thats often a big hot spot.
 
Voltron said:
I was half kidding (but not by much) about cleaning things up after a year... but def see if you like the ride enough to make TLC worth it. And big plus having the phase plugs outside the bag in some airflow... thats often a big hot spot.

Hmmm They are just inside, but I did swap them to 6mm bullet connectors. I will keep an eye on it all.
 
By coincidence I ran into a guy with the rebuild cartriges for the fork on this one thats been waiting in my dirt room, so seeing yours is motivating... I might be following in your footsteps soon.. or wheel ruts or whatever. :D

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Oh, very nice!

I just did a quick speed check, hadn't charged the batteries yet. They were at 52.3 when connected. Ran 35.2mph with me peddling :D
 
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