Recent content by borschelrh

I built a trailer for my ebike to transport my inflatable catamaran on a 4 km ride to Lake Balaton. The trailer loaded weighs around 50 kg and so far has worked well. My only real problem is weight balancing of the boat in the trailer and I have found I need to keep the weight balance forward or...

Thanks. That is my plan to upgrade everything to 48V, a new controller, and a cycle analyst. I am still contemplating the battery. I may try just tearing apart the pedelec packs and making a 50V battery from those or just bite the bullet and either make one from Hobby King LiPo's or something...

I don't disagree with you. There are several things I keep on me when I ride. The first is a small medical it for emergency use only. You can put this together for emergency use and have just the bare necessities as you shouldn't be that far from civilization. Typically, I ride by myself on...

Okay I can now report on how this has worked out after 6 months of nearly daily riding. I have built the bicycle trailer for use in toting my Smartkat inflatable catamaran to Lake Balaton. The boat normally packs down into 2 separate carry bags each weighing about 21 Kg. The trailer was a...

The battery costs and tires etc. are all expected costs and should be part of the normal calculations for costs. I found used battery packs from pedelec bicycles that just need to be rebalanced and should last a year or more. At less than $100 for a 36V/10.5 Ah pack this seems reasonable. I...

I added screw adjustable pipe clamps to make it secure after I took this photo. The zip ties were to just test out the system the first day. I need to take more photos and plan to once I get the trailer finished. This works for me and has held up on long and very hard rides. The motor controller...

I put mine inside the triangle on the tube using pipe those big hose clamps. I actually had to use 2 for each part. I first used nylon zip ties but added the clams to make it secure. I put a strip of rubber insulation between the tube and the battery case. See my build thread (beats me how to...

I can vouch for that myself. Back in my younger days I was a serious marathoner but did all of my training on forest trails. I found not looking at the trail straight on was far safer than trying to focus on the roots or rocks. The same is true for mountain biking. Trying to focus on an...

John, Sorry I didn't catch up on posts recently. There are a couple of ways to control the assist. The method my kit used and is the most common is called pedelec in which there is a magnetic sensor that mounts to the bottom bracket and measures pedal rotation. It is merely reading on or off...

I can vouch for the dangers. I have had 3 near misses in the past week all from idiot driver's not estimating my speed correctly and turning left in front of me. I have had at least 2 more time when the see me coming they try and pull onto the road in front of me and are shacked when I almost...

A very interesting story about Borat and the woman with the Degree from Russia. I am married to a Russian (Geophysicist) and after 7 years I more or less understand the issues. I also worked 10 years in the FSU Republics and have led several Russia scientists which all give me a somewhat better...

I made a mistake on the agreement. They are signing an agreement to meet and make an agreement. So, it still has a long ways to go. This impacts on the US automobile manufacturers as it means an immediate decrease in prices for European manufactured autos which is pretty much a one way street...

http://www.customs.go.jp/english/tariff/2012_1/index.htm lists the official import duties. It is a serious consideration when buying stuff outside your country and something nearly absent in the US now for some very stupid reasons. It used to be that import duties were the main source of revenue...

Don't forget John is living in Japan so US prices, availability, and options don't apply. He is better off buying either in Japan or from China but I don't know the customs duties issues from China to Japan. Given the current political crisis over the islands between China and Japan this may...

Dogman, Your advice is sound but please correct me if I am wrong, but your setup is if you don't pedal at all (or not very much). Pedaling can increase this range a lot, especially if there is some regen. I do agree 48V will give a lot more power and I am a bit underpowered which I am okay with...