Dogmans Longtail Beach Cruiser

Nearly finished, side view.jpg

Rode it to the flea market today, on the weekly hunt for cool bikes. They are quite used to seeing me riding some thing weird there, but today I saw a different look on all the faces. This time, the faces said. I WANT THAT!
 
That wouldn't fit the fenders. When choosing the bike, I was looking at a fatter tire cruiser, with much wider fenders. But it had an aluminum frame.

Little as it rains here, I could lose the fenders. Plenty of room for tire there, even in the front forks. For now, I have a thousand miles or so to wear out the original tires.
 
Took the bike out this morning, intending to chase a hot air balloon with it. But then it started to rain, and we went to breakfast. After, the rain had stopped but the roads full of puddles.

Rode 10 miles home through puddles, and got home completely dry. Big front fender a nice thing! Very little mud splashed on the bike. Though I live in a dry climate, still a very nice thing to have full fenders.

NO rattles. a tiny squeak in the seat springs, but otherwise completely silent running. I'm just tickled pink!
 
Pretty much the final touch. (yeah right)Wood deck, the final touch.jpg

A wooden deck added to the top of the rack. Why the wood? The original rack is pretty nice! It makes the bike much more usable to me. The wider and longer deck makes carrying a pizza home from the store possible for one thing.

But it also makes all kinds of cargo possible to carry, pretty easy. If you have a few screws in the tool bag, just about anything can be quickly attached to the bike. Various soft coolers make great carry containers, as well as milk crates or plastic tote boxes. Such cargo carriers can be attached in one minute with a few screws driven through the bottom into the wood. In a pinch, you could even dive a dumpster for a cardboard box, screw it to the deck, and carry something bulky home you hadn't planned on getting.

I have to say, each accessory added at this point makes the bike uglier, including the CA that I will be hanging off the bars soon. But at some point, utility has to rule. Though not intended to be a cargo carrier for big shopping trips, it will still be nice to slap a cooler on the rear deck for a trip that would over fill the saddle bags. Many trips to the store will be possible though, just by carrying the bread in a messenger bag. Meat, eggs, veggies, etc can fit in the saddle bag that has no battery.
 
027.JPG021.JPGHey dogman dan , You've given me some inspiration for changing my old 1982 "road king cruiser" Really like your idea of the extended rear wheel ,,,,it sits well and looks practical for a cruiser :idea:
Its all alloy frame though ,,,gotta put the thinking cap on for this
rick
 
Yeah, you'll have to go buy another cruiser, a steel one. Pretty affordable really, bike $100, welder about $100, Another 50 for a welding hat and other stuff. $50 for a grinder to cut steel. $300 budget aint that bad for a fun project.

Stretch your chopper? It's steel right? The big benefit of a longtail, is getting your ass off the top of that rear wheel. Lengthen the bike, you don't need a thudbuster so bad. Or have to run soft tires.
 
Pulled some performance numbers for the motor kit on this bike. The 48v "heavy duty" kit from E-Bikekit. 6x9 motor. Works ok, but honestly, this bike needs 2000w, not 1000. The kit has 5 power levels, but level 1 is stupidly low power and near useless. Ranges are given for a theoretical 500wh battery. Test rides were 3 miles, slightly up and down hill light pedaling, I can't pedal hard.

The numbers are higher than I expected, no doubt due to the big saddlebags catching the wind. It was breezy during the test, but the route went both up and down wind. The bike is heavy too, 90 pounds with one battery. So total weight was about 275.

Full speed and power on level 5. 21 mph, 34.5 wh/mi, 14 miles range.

Minimal pedaling in level 5, bike geared too low for comfortable pedaling except on the uphills.

Level 4. 17 mph, 25.3 wh/mi, 19 miles range

Level 3. 13 mph, 17.8 wh/mi, 28 miles range

Level 2. 8 mph, 8 wh/mi, 62 miles range.

Really? 62 miles from 500wh? Sounds like the Storm bike claim.

Well, level 2 gives you about 50-70 watts. So it's pretty much no assist at all. It would be easier to just ride a much lighter bike 62 miles. But a guy like me can't pedal, and I could limp home a long ways on level 2 if I had to. Without pedaling, about 5 mph, and range would be more like 30 miles. Honestly, pedaling 62 miles in level 2 would be a nightmare.

But the butter zone, levels 3 and 4 are very nice with this setup, on this bike. Decent range in level 3, and pedaling is easy. Level 2 pedaling is pretty hard work.

As far as the bike holding up, no creaks or tweaks so far, after about 30 miles of riding. I think it will be strong enough now for sure.
 
dogman dan said:
Pulled some performance numbers for the motor kit on this bike. The 48v "heavy duty" kit from E-Bikekit. 6x9 motor. Works ok, but honestly, this bike needs 2000w, not 1000. The kit has 5 power levels, but level 1 is stupidly low power and near useless. Ranges are given for a theoretical 500wh battery. Test rides were 3 miles, slightly up and down hill light pedaling, I can't pedal hard.

The numbers are higher than I expected, no doubt due to the big saddlebags catching the wind. It was breezy during the test, but the route went both up and down wind. The bike is heavy too, 90 pounds with one battery. So total weight was about 275.

Full speed and power on level 5. 21 mph, 34.5 wh/mi, 14 miles range.

Minimal pedaling in level 5, bike geared too low for comfortable pedaling except on the uphills.

Level 4. 17 mph, 25.3 wh/mi, 19 miles range

Level 3. 13 mph, 17.8 wh/mi, 28 miles range

Level 2. 8 mph, 8 wh/mi, 62 miles range.

Really? 62 miles from 500wh? Sounds like the Storm bike claim.

Well, level 2 gives you about 50-70 watts. So it's pretty much no assist at all. It would be easier to just ride a much lighter bike 62 miles. But a guy like me can't pedal, and I could limp home a long ways on level 2 if I had to. Without pedaling, about 5 mph, and range would be more like 30 miles. Honestly, pedaling 62 miles in level 2 would be a nightmare.

But the butter zone, levels 3 and 4 are very nice with this setup, on this bike. Decent range in level 3, and pedaling is easy. Level 2 pedaling is pretty hard work.

As far as the bike holding up, no creaks or tweaks so far, after about 30 miles of riding. I think it will be strong enough now for sure.
Wow ,,a huge jump of miles after you got out of 5 & 4 . Do you think if the bike was geared for keeping up with L5 speed you would have got more distance ?????
rick
 
fevitz said:
Wow ,,a huge jump of miles after you got out of 5 & 4 . Do you think if the bike was geared for keeping up with L5 speed you would have got more distance ?????
Unlikely--it's wind resistance more than anything else above the speeds at L3. Try the various simulators out for that.

Though also, pedalling is proportionally more important to wh/mile at those lower speeds, as well, especially without multiple gears for higher speeds available to the pedal drivetrain.
 
dogman dan said:
Yeah, you'll have to go buy another cruiser, a steel one. Pretty affordable really, bike $100, welder about $100, Another 50 for a welding hat and other stuff. $50 for a grinder to cut steel. $300 budget aint that bad for a fun project.

Stretch your chopper? It's steel right? The big benefit of a longtail, is getting your ass off the top of that rear wheel. Lengthen the bike, you don't need a thudbuster so bad. Or have to run soft tires.
Ive know a guy nearby who does gr8 welding ,that's no problem,,NOW a stretched rear wheel on my schwinn chopper or a cheapie cruiser to chop up ? That,ll make it 4 bikes to the collection , wife may start making noises .
Cheapie sounds like the way to go ,,,,tks rick

Amberwolf , im 12 mths into e-bikes and loving it ,,,its catchy . Still learning ,,,,, but hearing what your saying .

thanks rick
 
Exactly as AW said with the range. Bear in mind, this is a cargo longtail. Those saddle bags catch wind like hell, so above 15 mph, range drops incredibly. Taller gearing and pedaling hard would help some, but only about 50w worth, out of an 800w total. So in this test, level 5 was pulling about 800w, and I was pedaling 50w half the time. (on the uphills) Bigger gear and a rider able to pedal would be more like 100w for the entire ride.

That should allow you to do some math, and figure it out. I would guesstimate, at best 30wh mile.

But to be honest, I did expect a bit better out of 20 mph. The bike also has the very upright riding posture, so my chest is at 90 degrees to the wind, catching a lot of breeze.

But that's a Cruiser for you, no tucking on this bike. This bike is not built for efficiency, it's built for style and comfort.
 
Always just one last thing.

Got around to adding the front disc brake. Now I'm rid of both of those cheap ass wheels.Completed bike, front disc brake added.jpg

And possibly a dumb idea, I just ordered a bob type trailer to go with it. $58 on amazon, unbelievable cheap. I was going to build one, but at those prices I just bought.

The dumb part, I'm going to revisit the idea of carrying a generator. My old Honda 700w is a pig, 70 pounds! But hope to one day have solar panels on the trailer, able to put out 50w or so of 48v, on the roll.
 
Have a close up picture of your controller mounting?
 
Sure, not talking a lot about the motor kit, lest it be seen as selling out side the for sale new section.

Later on, after I run enough miles with this kit to better serve customers on the work chat, I'll be swapping out the motor for a much stronger old school 5304. Hence the need for double disc. 8)

This shows the backside of the controller. I ended up stacking some padding under the bracket because I didn't quite have the right length allen screws. The fit is perfect with a 27.5 mm seatpost.

I like the way the controller body, to some extent, heat sinks to the frame. Not an ideal thermal contact, but every bit helps. Only 22 amps, so not a real hot running controller anyway.

What can't be seen is some slots that would also allow use of hose clamps to attach it to an odd size frame.
 
I like this bike and how it's coming together.
 
Do that for sure! Bring a cruiser frame and some scrap steel, and we'll build you one. You already have the same motor.
 
Latest upgrade, a trailer. The original plan included extra steel behind the dropout for a trailer mount. The plan had been to build a bob type trailer. But then I found this one on amazon, for less than the cost of the wheel I'd had in mind for the home built trailer.

Not able to carry a gigantic load, the cargo tray smaller than it looked in pictures. Clearly not the same quality as a real ibex bob trailer. But works dandy for a typical grocery run, about half a cart load.

And it still leaves the rear cargo deck clear for it's designed use, carrying a take and bake deli pizza.

Aosom trailer.jpg
 
Just a little update,

The trailer is working out great, the capacity is plenty for a typical grocery run, it holds about half a cart full easy enough. Plus, bulky items like a bale of TP carry fine on the rear deck.

So far, not one broken weld, or any creep like I had on the trashrunner frame. Solid, and straight so far with over 500 miles on it now.

Actually seriously considering leaving the E-Bikekit heavy duty motor kit on it. It's the slow motor 48v dd kit Jason added to the line up this year. It's a bit gutless on a really steep hill, but it has done my motor killer hill with no problem, towing 40 pounds in the trailer. Its working out perfect for my grocery run, which only has about 200' vertical to climb to home. We finally have a walmart up here on the hill now. Sams club is still 600' down the hill. But typically I drive to Sams anyway.

But if I was to tour on the bike, I'd need a bigger trailer, and a 2000w motor. Or put a second front motor on it for the big mountains.
 
Well, its 2019 now, so long overdue to update this thread. The bike has served very well, never having any problems with the welds. Tows a trailer like a champ.


I never did tour on it, so I went ahead later the first summer, and put a much more powerful and fast motor on it. An old heavy crystalyte 5304. On 48v, it goes about 32 mph. I ran it on various 2000w controllers. Mostly used it for grocery runs, a 10 mile round trip, so not needing a lot of range. But with additional batteries aboard, I could run it as far as 30 miles at 30 mph.

At one point I did run it on 72v for a summer, but above 35 mph it got wobbly. Not enough side to side strength in those extensions. But its been a damn fine 30 mph bike.


Fortunately it was not in the garage when it burned, so its still around. 8) But most of my batteries did burn, so I don't ride as much as I used to. Most of my grocery runs on a gas scooter these days.
 
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