Apollo 250 Dirt Bike Conversion

nutspecial said:
I told them over chat I was interested in the 7.5kw and some other stuff, specifically a moto seat for their older steel frames but never heard back via email. They prob forgot/overlooked it. I'll give it another go then.
put the front wheel on the back of the bike to lighten it and increase speed and rebuild the front end with 21" moto rim 20mm hub downhill bike components a triple crown 1-1/8" fork.
If axles, spacing, & headtube etc allow, it would still a large endeavor in time/money to save a few lbs. (<ten lbs?). I'd keep playin with it stock and get that controller running full tilt. That 12ah battery must be sagging pretty good too? Then I'd go bigger with the motor if you still want, trying to keep the rest of it as 'stock' as possible for cost/simplicity/balance.

That makes sense the bottom subframe was somewhat structural. I guess mainly for the headtube? Maybe adding some back or fabbing something under there for a decent sized battery would be good.

Ya I still need to get it out on the trail for a maiden voyage before I make any rash decisions... But the main reason I was such a weight weenie on my LR Genesis build was so I can simply lift the bike and throw it in the back of my truck and go off anywhere riding! Its awesome and very easy to lift multiple times.

I wanted to take this bike out the other day but because of its weight I simply didn't want to bother loading it into my vehicle twice just to try it out. I do not have a bike ramp I will need to make something of the sort if I want to get it in my truck easily.

I have a feeling I will be building my own custom frame very soon to suit my needs more similar to a LMX type ride. Why buy a bigger motor when you can build a lighter bike?
 
I wanted to take this bike out the other day but because of its weight I simply didn't want to bother loading it into my vehicle twice just to try it out. I do not have a bike ramp I will need to make something of the sort if I want to get it in my truck easily.
A piece of aluminum C channel would be nice. I'd ride it on and strap like someone mentioned b4.

I have a feeling I will be building my own custom frame very soon to suit my needs more similar to a LMX type ride. Why buy a bigger motor when you can build a lighter bike?
The weight that comes with a dirt bike actually makes it more capable for alot of riding. So much heavier duty to really thrash. I'm just wondering if the extra weight will be that much extra for motor batteries and controller. I hear ya tho on the LMX- they are one of a kind. I wish I had more of a DH FR than XC sometimes, but everything has it's pro's and con's.
 
Skeetab after such a nice conversion I would think a ramp would be easy for you? Slap a winch in the bed of the truck and winch up the entire bike and ramp in one go.
 
After my body was used and abused on another deadly LR Genesis ride this weekend, I think I will plan to take the Apollo out fairly soon to finally get a chance to ride a Cadillac in the trails!

Im sure it will ride so nice compared to the heavier bicycle on really rough trails, and with the thumb throttle being so twitchy and scary I didn't do anything crazy besides just trail ride.
 
I've been stalking some Hobbyking Multistars that were stocked in the US warehouse...unfortunately I took too long hovering over the buy it now button for a few weeks and now they are sold out. Shipping from china will make it $50 more than before...Doh

Looks like I will continue to shop around until I see a steal
 
Nice little moto build. I am not sure if you are going to keep the plastics, but I removed the old warn out decals on the stock plastics on my dirt bike and replaced them with some new decals from a newer dual sport sticker package. Best $50 I spent, made it look much newer and makes everyone think it is a KTM :) Required some trimming.
 
Well I finally got out rippin on the Apollo BHT dirt bike! Ended up going to harbor freight and getting a $50 set of ramps I figure ill have them for a long time and its going to be worth it to own a decent pair. I have to say this bike is pretty fun, but after two days of riding it we broke it...The motor mounts I made have bent from the massive torque and will need maintenance before its up and running again.

I can say that with my little 18s 12ah battery it is a bit underpowered, but still very fun to ride and handle thru the trails compared to my lightweight bicycle. Since I was babying the chain drive system during testing I was going up hills slower than I should have been normally and when I got the the high point in the trail I stopped and noticed the BHT motor was so hot you couldn't even touch it. This was after only about 5 miles of riding with 80F degree weather and only 4 decent hill climbs.

After noticing the motor being so hot I almost instantly decided to cancel the project and start another custom frame... But you never know I may come back to this one with a bigger motor. I have a feeling with a 300a capable pack the BHT would be smoked in one hard days riding with the weight of this bike...but it is really nice to ride a real handling dirt bike in the trails again

The top speed with 18s was slightly depressing probably around 32mph but its acceleration and torque was quite acceptable to me.

Funny story after bulk charging my battery with the statiator it is so damn hot I let it ride in the bed of the truck since I don't want it in my vehicle!

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Shot before the first ride!
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Second day of riding was at my mothers house, letting others test it out and have fun
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Shot of the bike right before my brother bent the bracket to its death!
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Action shots
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Grind off that bracket and make a sturdy one and you are golden. If you keep pushing close to thermal limit for the motor you might wanna consider a dual drive with the BHT and a jackshaft to split the load. Nice build, I bet that is a ton of fun.
 
Ok so I figured since I have to redo my motor bracket anyway, I should just go ahead and upgrade the motor while I'm under the hood...

Ordered the D7500 eastgem motor! Im excited about this one since its so cheap for what it claims to be, I watched both videos of it being powered by Kelly controllers and it sounds nice...

decided not to order a sprocket from eastgem since I wanted an 12T I just bought one online elsewhere. Should be able to reuse everything else and get a bracket made up shortly after the motor arrives. Now lets see if this one takes a week or two months to come it!

Still have not pulled the trigger on a battery yet, its painful
 
Curious how the Denzel 7500 works! How are you going to mount that bad boy, as it doesn't have feet like the bht? I have a pit bike I'm going to do if yours works out. I did notice Eastgem raised prices. Should have bought parts from them a few weeks ago. I might just grab the Kelly controller from him and use it for a while on my cyclone. I am still trying to figure out if Eastgem made them plug and play or if I'll have to cut and solder, also find out halls.
 
Probably plates/brackets at 90deg to catch the bolts? I'm very curious how good it is too. I bet it's maybe 30% more capable.

Did they answer your email skeetab or did you just click 'buy'? I got one return email from them a few weeks ago to which I even replied twice, but they never replied with kV of motor and if they could sell me a seat. I don't get it Rrrr.

Good info (and build) so far- that thing looks really cool (and fun)! And the kelly really seems to be 'where it's at' if it can do >100a AND has better throttle control. Do you know how many fets it has?
 
Ya I just bought it online and they immediately email me asking for a contact number like always and tell me its shipping out tomorrow. Doesn't tell me if its shipping from china or usa so it could be a while!

30% more capable will make it perfect for this build if I keep shaving weight and double my batt capacity. I am flying blink with the KV also but figure itll be faster than the BHT since BHT is the slowest ive ever used. So with a 12t front and same rear I got now it should be even faster.

Ya I will have my brother make another press bent 90deg bracket and weld it to the bottom cross bar of the frame, should be ok and a lot stronger than before.
 
dirkdiggler said:
Curious how the Denzel 7500 works! How are you going to mount that bad boy, as it doesn't have feet like the bht? I have a pit bike I'm going to do if yours works out. I did notice Eastgem raised prices. Should have bought parts from them a few weeks ago. I might just grab the Kelly controller from him and use it for a while on my cyclone. I am still trying to figure out if Eastgem made them plug and play or if I'll have to cut and solder, also find out halls.

Its probably easier to buy Kelly controllers straight from Kelly IMO. Im sure they are not plug and play will have to figure out combo on my own its fairly easy tho.

Kelly controllers are odd they don't even tell you how many fets are in them, its a company I stayed away from for so long because I was scared to sack up the money and try them...Now I don't think I will every buy another controller. The sheer fact of how powerful they make them and how small they can be amazes me. I will not even bother opening them up unless they break, too tiny and watertight to mess with
 
skeetab5780 said:
Ordered the D7500 eastgem motor! Im excited about this one since its so cheap for what it claims to be, I watched both videos of it being powered by Kelly controllers and it sounds nice...

I'm excited too :)
the 50/100Nm sounds way to good to be true, but it should give you enough power and hopefully your overheating issues are a thing of the past.
 
So FedEx tracking said the motor was going to show up yesterday, it didn't come in and now the tracking says unavailable at this moment today?

FedEx guy said since its international it goes express and he cannot give me any info

Lets hope it shows up soon!
 
My bike at 20s with that BHT motor is a different animal when compared to 18s. Interested to see how this new motor works out for you. I want to build another bike but can't get a BHT motor anymore I guess?
 
standfast said:
My bike at 20s with that BHT motor is a different animal when compared to 18s. Interested to see how this new motor works out for you. I want to build another bike but can't get a BHT motor anymore I guess?

18S was plenty of power for the BHT problem was the weight of the bike, even tho 20s top speed would have been nice

My BHT is still for sale nice and cheap
 
at 20s with that BHT motor is a different animal when compared to 18s

Tell me about it! And 24s . . . . :twisted: Of course it depends on your ride and riding style, but my motor used to get hot to touch while controller stayed cool. Now on 24s I have that extra wattage available (and extra speed to gear down or manage), but also the controller actually gets warm first. That tells me the perfect balance is somewhere in there?

I think it was madin88 that mentioned the low kV is just begging for high voltage to achieve best performance from it. I think the d7500 will be similar even with an expected 2x kV - if we can find a reasonable way to gear it @ the highest supported controller voltage we'll get the most from them.

I can't wait to see you get your beast rolling again skeetab- it was already an awesome conversion!
 
Ya this build was designed around 20s I just have not sacked up the hobbyking bill for the LIPO yet :(

If the KV of the d7500 is higher I may stay with 18s but otherwise not

Thanks NUT! for your kind words

update on motor tracking. Still has not gotten to America says left Shanghai CN about 10 days ago
 
Tempting on the BHT, may have to wait to find out how this motor works out for you though! I really like the BHT for it's mounting format, size, weight, price, and performance. It works pretty well on a bike under 100lbs. I do want something that I can buy multiples of because I have several friends begging me to build them a frame the next time around.

Looking forward to finding out the Kv of this new motor and how it goes on the heavier bigger bike. Keep it up!
 
standfast said:
Tempting on the BHT, may have to wait to find out how this motor works out for you though! I really like the BHT for it's mounting format, size, weight, price, and performance. It works pretty well on a bike under 100lbs. I do want something that I can buy multiples of because I have several friends begging me to build them a frame the next time around.

Looking forward to finding out the Kv of this new motor and how it goes on the heavier bigger bike. Keep it up!

Ya I would use it on my next build but the BHT will not work because of the mounting feet(need side tapped holes like LR HD)

It is a sick motor and I will more than likely keep it since no one wants to sack up $200 for it
 
About your Kelly controller -
Did you end up needing anything else plugged in besides, halls, battery and throttle for it to work? I don't get if wire #7 needs to be connected to the battery positive for it to go. I couldn't get mine to light up with just that hooked up and would rather get a good answer before I fry this controller. Why can't they just make all these controllers the same? Sucks to have to cut off such nice connectors, but I try and keep all my controllers similar.
 
ya you need a pink wire to positive to light it up

Ya I immediately cut off all the watertight connections. It sucks but I never use any of the functions and the connectors are huge!
 
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