Giant DH Comp Drop Out adapters and conversion

Giant new battery.jpgsteve two.jpgsteve one.jpgHi Kiwi. Hey long time! Drop outs are still working awesome. My friend is just trying to source out some drop out torque arms for his Brodie 8 Ball. I dont suppose you would have the interest or time to consider these these for custom one off's. Also a question for you.......HIs bike will be only running through a mac 10t 1800 watts in the rear wheel. If he goes the custom one off route from a local cnc guy do you think he could get away with just one side. Say if the disc brake side had a 1/4" Stainless Steel replacement for the removable aluminum drop out shown in the attachment? He will of course not be using re gen with the mac so I am half thinking one side may be good enough if its nice and thick. Also the fastening system for the removable drop outs used on this bike are very robust. What do you think about this?

I have made a few changes to my Giant from way back when I got the drop outs from you. I have included a photo of its look now. The other two photos that did not download are of his Brodie 8 Ball Drop outs.
 
If you run one torque arm, you put all the load on that one, stressing the axle out on one spot, running the risk of shearing the axle, if you run two you half the load on each side of the axle, reducing deformation of the axle. I would go for 2 if you can.
 
Good point, I never thought about the axle as being a weak link. My buddy and I are only running 1800 watts max but now that you mention the axle taking all the stress on one side if I went the short cut route I think you are right and we will go with two. Thanks Kiwi.........wayne
 
Hi Kiwi,
first of all i would just like to say love your work, i think you have done the electric bike community a huge favour with the design and production of these dropouts. so thank you very much :D
I have a DH Team (not sure what year but thinking its 2005) with 150mm swing arm spacing and need a set of your dropouts to fit my 18" laced cromotor rim to the bike with.
im located in South Australia but my dad and i are both originally from NZ. We are now putting our kiwi innovation to the test in building this bike haha
feel free to email me the bill or pm me at kim.saywell@gmail.com (providing you have some available that is)

Thank you very much
your a legend
 
Ha. No comment.

Yeah I'm back. Going to Aus bike in Melbourne this weekend.
I have some adapters in stock. Slightly revised, easier to make for me, weight reduction, clearance for the derailer, and captured nuts for the clamp bolt.

My DH comp is for sale for any one in NZ. There is a NC8x8 24" or a MAC 10T 24". No other kit, but have plenty of controllers to choose from.

Been super busy developing a conversion kit for "normal" people. Thats pretty much ready to launch at xmas.

Frame mount battery cases for hard tail bikes, plenty of them in stock.
A few forklifts left.
 
Sounds Good, as long as they are of similar or higher strength than your V2s im happy :D (quite worried about twisting or shearing the axle off)
wont be using a derailer but sounds great otherwise.
is the price still $190.00 USD?
we can transfer the money from our NZ bank account if that would be easier for you. if not feel free to email me the pay pal bill.
thanks for the quick reply
 
Aus bike was tiny and sleepy. Where is everyone? There were more bikes at the local Avanti shop than were at the Expo.
 
Haha - I did warn you!
Seem like every one decided it's not worth their time..

Oh and congrats on pinning NZ on 'big mointain' map
McGazza for president!
p4pb10208624.jpg

http://www.redbull.com/us/en/bike/stories/1331615557537/rampage-2013-kelly-mcgarry-run
@ 1:10 :shock:
 
I am unable to use the pinch bolt on the disk side because of how the wires come out of the cromotor and they have to go through the drop out part were the bolt normally goes. What do you think about using regen with only the chain side with a pinch bolt?

I did have to grind down the inside of the drop out a little bit but the disk side is very tight and I have to lightly hammer the axle to get it all the way down in the drop out.
 
Scott said:
I am unable to use the pinch bolt on the disk side because of how the wires come out of the cromotor and they have to go through the drop out part were the bolt normally goes. What do you think about using regen with only the chain side with a pinch bolt?
if the axle's as tight in the dropout as you suggest, there's probably no problem, IMO. bummer tho. start easy. i was able to tell when my axle rocked/ w/ regen on my GT (not this adapter). might be worth finding an alternative to that bolt tho. some kind of clamp mod that does the same thing. and i'm not sure how much power you got, cause looks like the warranty's up at 15kw. :lol:
Kiwi said:
I did my best but hold no responsibility if you tear your bike and your self apart putting 15kw into a CroMotor or something silly like that.

Scott said:
I did have to grind down the inside of the drop out a little bit but the disk side is very tight and I have to lightly hammer the axle to get it all the way down in the drop out.
the axle has to go straight thru, so if the dropouts are perfectly aligned, they'll pinch in spots. i used a long flat file, filing both dropouts at the same time.

i've done the hammer thing too w/ new axle (when bike's upside down), but figured out a better way once you get the axle halfway in the slot - flip the bike over and use a block/hammer on part of the frame directly above the dropout. (disregard nails, was scrap board kids were playing with, none went through):
20140201_153043.jpg
 
Scott said:
I am unable to use the pinch bolt on the disk side because of how the wires come out of the cromotor and they have to go through the drop out part were the bolt normally goes. What do you think about using regen with only the chain side with a pinch bolt?

I did have to grind down the inside of the drop out a little bit but the disk side is very tight and I have to lightly hammer the axle to get it all the way down in the drop out.
Hey Scott, I am feelin this same issue right now too. Since I have not been able to find a 150mm drop out I have been contemplating options on how to make the 135mm one work. I am thinking about a couple of methods, one of which may help with your wire problem. As I see it the issues are three:
1. Although the Cromotor WILL fit in the drop outs, i would really rather not spread them any more with spacer washers if I don't have to. But the disk rotor and rotor bolts contact the frame without them. I did find a good way to get the drive side to work without spacer washers, see my build thread:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55605

2. The wheel will need an almost unacceptable amount of dish to be centered up in the frame due to the asymetry of this drop-out.

3. Conventionally mounting the disk makes it almost impossible to line up with the caliper when it is mounted conventionally, yet moving the disk to a direct mount on the side cover causes the caliper to rub.

This made me start thinking of ways to move the disk closer to the side cover but only part of the thickness of the brake adapter ring. So here is an unconventional method that may work for me. First, I will mill the brake adapter ring down to about half of its current thickness on the back side and take about 1mm off the top face too (this still allows the side cover mounting bolts to clear the surface. Now I will mount the brake disk to the BACK side of this adapter. This will put the disk mounting bolt heads on the inside pointing toward the motor. Now, I will use a shim washer of just the right thickness between the disk and the motor side cover. This shim washer will allow me to space the caliper location out from the motor so that it just barely clears. This method should also make the disk mounting somewhat more solid since it will be firmly attached to the disk adapter and then sandwiched between that and the motor. The shim washer and the disk will need clearance holes for the disk adapter bolts to pass through. It will also need some small cut-outs to clear the disc mount bolt heads that will sit in the space between the disc adapter and the side cover. The result will be a much closer alignment of the caliper and the conventional frame mount for the kiwi TA adapter (some additional milling of the brake mount may be necessary). Also, the disk mounting bolts will no longer contact the frame, and the whole thickness of the disk mounting assembly will be reduced enough that I may be able to take some material off the axel shoulder on that side. This would reduce the over-all shoulder-to-shoulder width of the motor and also move the motor over a few mm toward center so that less dishing is needed. The other bonus advantage of doing it this way is that since the disk is moved further toward the center of the motor, there should be more space for the wires to safely bend up over the pinch bolt of the kiwi adapter.

I am still just working this out in my mind but I don't see any real flaws after taking some preliminary measurements. Of course the 150mm swing arm would solve a majority of these problems and would be my preferred method...if only I could find one. I still have a couple of possibilities so probably won't do this modification just yet. When and if I do though, I will document it with pics on my build thread:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55605
 
hey kiwi,

i just helped axel out installing your adapters and setting up his ebike:
20140406_095013.jpg


some notes re your adapter:

- i was very surprised how easily they slide on compared to mine. not sure if you refined the design (since i bought 'em 2 years ago) or if my frame was off.

- i also notice the axle slides in and out very easily. i really have to force mine. (and i installed the same wheel in his dropouts, so i know there's a difference). but with the pinch bolts, there's not slack/wobble at all.

- it also seems like the nuts are held in place by the adapter notches too. i use a screwdriver to stabilize the nuts when i unscrew the bolts on mine.

- i can't tell how many times i've removed my wheel. many, many times, and these adapters make it so easy. i used to have a very complicated array of washers, nuts, torque arms and worm clamps but your adapter makes it sooo much easier.

thanks again!
 
Wow! The blue bling!
Yeah made a few changes, always do to try to improve things. Post milling the drop out slot now to clean it up after weld distortion.

Got about 4 sets in stock.
 
you diggin the skinny old school bombers? lol

pretty sure it's an 02. all dh comps w/ large triangle (02-04) have 135mm dropouts and very offset rear triangles.

the 05 dh comp/team has 150mm centered (i believe) rear triangle (but smaller main triangle where you'd want to put batts).
 
GCinDC said:
you diggin the skinny old school bombers? lol

pretty sure it's an 02. all dh comps w/ large triangle (02-04) have 135mm dropouts and very offset rear triangles.

the 05 dh comp/team has 150mm centered (i believe) rear triangle (but smaller main triangle where you'd want to put batts).
Hi GCinDC,
thanks for the reply - yes, I think the bike looks great... did the wheel get dished offset to match? What motor is that?
If you could list all the components, that would be much appreciated - the bike looks very well integrated.
 
If anyone wants to go for the 150mm drop-outs good luck they are getting exceedingly hard to find...but wait!! There is a new option now available I had my 135mm swingarm on the Giant DH Team widened professionally by a great pair of technicians. One is a heliarc specialist that does air frame repair for a major airline as his day job and his partner is a metallurgist. They did a primo job and opened mine up to 155mm while maintaining the original temper. You can see the details here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55605&start=50. They are willing to do this same mod for anyone via the mail for $150.00 if you get it stripped first, a little more if they have to do it. After powder coat mine cost $325.00 which is less than the new ones cost from Giant back when they still had some. If you are interested get in touch with me and I'll get you the contact info. Obiwan
 
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