e-beach
10 MW
I just had a look at CL Eugene. Gotta say I am surprised by the cost of decent bikes up there. I can get down here something for $75.00 that would go for $350+ up there....... 
1st ebike. Yescomusa battery/controller options
- Thread starter valleygoat
- Start date
valleygoat
1 mW
Donn, I actually saw a CL add for a Burley mountain bike when I started hunting (didn't even know Burley made mt bikes). But the add was over a month old and seller wasn't responding. I would have been all over it if I had the chance. Made in Eugene and something you can't get anymore. You must be enjoying yours.
E-beach, if I had the time and resources I'd love to figure out what the heck is going on with the used bike scene in this town. It makes no sense. But, Eugene being one of the highest bike theft cities in the country probably has something to do with it (bikes don't have the chance to get old before getting shipped out of town). Deals do occasionally pop up on CL here, but prices always seem way more reasonable in surrounding cities. Anyway, I've at least come across some serviceable frames I can make do with if I give up on finding my unicorn.
E-beach, if I had the time and resources I'd love to figure out what the heck is going on with the used bike scene in this town. It makes no sense. But, Eugene being one of the highest bike theft cities in the country probably has something to do with it (bikes don't have the chance to get old before getting shipped out of town). Deals do occasionally pop up on CL here, but prices always seem way more reasonable in surrounding cities. Anyway, I've at least come across some serviceable frames I can make do with if I give up on finding my unicorn.
e-beach
10 MW
valleygoat said:
So what kind of locks do you use up there? BTW, look for the unicorn until you find the silver (or black) stallion. :wink:
valleygoat
1 mW
Locks don't much matter, thieves just load up the whole bike rack around here
In public, I try to never leave it out of sight, or lock it in front of the police station if I have to.valleygoat
1 mW
Been a while since I last posted as I waited for parts to get in, but have the bike and motor (still waiting on battery) and have a question about torque arm suitability as I start to put it all together.
Ended up getting the Burly Roundabout on Craigslist I thought I missed out on (seller was out of town). A bit spendier than I was originally planning, but it's a vintage steel frame handmade in my hometown and with nice flat e-bike friendly dropouts. Once I got the seatube unsiezed (lots of sweat and cursing) and trued the front wheel, it all seems to be in pretty good shape.
Motor is a 1000W 48V rear w/ LCD from ebay/APlusChoice (out of La Puente, CA, so pretty sure it's the same seller as yescomusa/xcerries, but APluschoice had the best price at $175). Still waiting on delivery of the 14S6P-PF triangle hardcase pack from em3ev.
For torque arms, the completely flat dropouts on the Burly give me tons of options. But, I unexpectedly took a 4yr kid in my house last week, and the amount of free time I have to craft something with just a drill, angle grinder and next to no metal working experience has shrank dramatically. The quickest/simplest option would be just sticking a 10mm wrench on the axle flats and then drill the end of the wrench to secure it to the pannier rack mounting bolt that the end of the wrench happens to line up with (or maybe just hose clamps). But, as you can see, the 10mm wrench doesn't have a whole lot of meat on it, and also has a bit of slop, allowing maybe 5 degrees of motion on the axle. There's probably know way to know for sure without trying it, but curious for people's thoughts: would one of these wrenches on each side likely do the trick? Or, does that look way underkill --in which case I'll try and find the time to work on something beefier out of steel plate while waiting on the battery (or maybe even--gasp--buy a pre-made torque arm)?
(note: the tabbed washers obivously aren't doing anything in their current location outside the wrench. I'd most likely remove them, or maybe put the wrench outside the washer and slightly bend the wrench handle in towards the frame to attach).
Ended up getting the Burly Roundabout on Craigslist I thought I missed out on (seller was out of town). A bit spendier than I was originally planning, but it's a vintage steel frame handmade in my hometown and with nice flat e-bike friendly dropouts. Once I got the seatube unsiezed (lots of sweat and cursing) and trued the front wheel, it all seems to be in pretty good shape.
Motor is a 1000W 48V rear w/ LCD from ebay/APlusChoice (out of La Puente, CA, so pretty sure it's the same seller as yescomusa/xcerries, but APluschoice had the best price at $175). Still waiting on delivery of the 14S6P-PF triangle hardcase pack from em3ev.
For torque arms, the completely flat dropouts on the Burly give me tons of options. But, I unexpectedly took a 4yr kid in my house last week, and the amount of free time I have to craft something with just a drill, angle grinder and next to no metal working experience has shrank dramatically. The quickest/simplest option would be just sticking a 10mm wrench on the axle flats and then drill the end of the wrench to secure it to the pannier rack mounting bolt that the end of the wrench happens to line up with (or maybe just hose clamps). But, as you can see, the 10mm wrench doesn't have a whole lot of meat on it, and also has a bit of slop, allowing maybe 5 degrees of motion on the axle. There's probably know way to know for sure without trying it, but curious for people's thoughts: would one of these wrenches on each side likely do the trick? Or, does that look way underkill --in which case I'll try and find the time to work on something beefier out of steel plate while waiting on the battery (or maybe even--gasp--buy a pre-made torque arm)?
(note: the tabbed washers obivously aren't doing anything in their current location outside the wrench. I'd most likely remove them, or maybe put the wrench outside the washer and slightly bend the wrench handle in towards the frame to attach).
e-beach
10 MW
Play in a torque arm is a bad thing. It defeats the propose of keeping the axle in place. If you are going to go home made, try to make a clamping torque arm that you can tighten around the axle. Although steel dropouts are pretty good on their own. What I have been using for years are 3/8" x 4" U bolt plates. I have one on each side and I use 4 hose clamps to keep them in place. (two hose clamps per side.) Make sure you clamp the motor bolts tight. Less then $10.00 USA for the whole setup.
Also, check this out. https://electricbike-blog.com/2015/...rom-breaking-without-using-ghetto-hoseclamps/
Also, check this out. https://electricbike-blog.com/2015/...rom-breaking-without-using-ghetto-hoseclamps/
valleygoat
1 mW
E-beach: got any pictures or more details you can share of your U-bolt torque arm setup? I tried searching your posts, but you're too helpful on here and there was a lot to try and sift through. The u-bolt plates I'm thinking of are fairly thin. I figured they'd flex a lot with two plates clamped around the axle and with bolts through the existing holes at the ends of the plates, so I'm wondering if I'm envisioning it correctly.
E-HP: Just measured it. The dropouts are 1/4" thick. The 10mm wrench looks pretty thin and puny in comparison (and in hindsight, probably provides little added benefit). Skipping the TA sure would simplify things as long as the dropouts can handle it (though I'd hate to be wrong).
Thanks.
E-HP: Just measured it. The dropouts are 1/4" thick. The 10mm wrench looks pretty thin and puny in comparison (and in hindsight, probably provides little added benefit). Skipping the TA sure would simplify things as long as the dropouts can handle it (though I'd hate to be wrong).
Thanks.
e-beach
10 MW
At 10mm your steel dropouts may not need a torque arm.
My torque arm set wouldn't work for your setup. I run a front hub motor and have heated and bent my torque arms to fit my suspension forks. They also double as a washer inside the dropouts. And worst of all I can't find the pictures at the moment.....
My system would add about 6mm more steel total and help keep the wheel in place if the extreme event the dropout fails completely. . On my non axle side I just slide the plate onto the axle. On the wired side I took the wires out of my connectors and slid the cable through the plate hole so I could slide onto the axle. As stated I use them in place of the inner washers. Then I clamped them to my fork with hose clamps.
It may or may not work for you, but 3/8" x 4" u-bolt plates are cheap so playing around with it would cost you something like $2.00 USA. And if it works for you, it will help with the ghetto look that keeps thieves away.
My torque arm set wouldn't work for your setup. I run a front hub motor and have heated and bent my torque arms to fit my suspension forks. They also double as a washer inside the dropouts. And worst of all I can't find the pictures at the moment.....
My system would add about 6mm more steel total and help keep the wheel in place if the extreme event the dropout fails completely. . On my non axle side I just slide the plate onto the axle. On the wired side I took the wires out of my connectors and slid the cable through the plate hole so I could slide onto the axle. As stated I use them in place of the inner washers. Then I clamped them to my fork with hose clamps.
It may or may not work for you, but 3/8" x 4" u-bolt plates are cheap so playing around with it would cost you something like $2.00 USA. And if it works for you, it will help with the ghetto look that keeps thieves away.
My YESCOM, 1000w rear hub with 52V battery was fine with thick aluminum dropouts (Tidal Force frame) and no torque arm for three years until my son decided he wanted to construct a commuter/MTB with the bike and I moved the motor to a steel Schwinn; again no torque arm. Didn't consider regen since, for me, the downside is greater than upside.
thundercamel
10 kW
I have a similar motor kit on my wife's bike with no problems so far. The LCD with your kit will be nice to see the speed and other data without a separate device. Without regen, I don't use a torque arm on her steel bike, and it hasn't widened the dropouts at all.
I'm glad you got a 52v battery from em3ev as you will know what cells are inside, and it would be nice if you got one with a smart BMS to actually keep an eye on the cell group voltages. I predict with 17.1Ah and decent pedaling at 20mph you will just meet your 30 mile range goal. The bike looks nice, and I hope it's comfy enough. You may end up putting as wide of tires as you can fit on the frame to get more volume.
We took in a 5 day old foster daughter this summer, and combined with our 3 year old son I similarly have no free time during the week.
EDIT: Also, the cadence sensors these type of kits come with are junk. Both of mine are way too strong, even though the ebikeling one on my bike has some adjustments. I had to unplug them, and go back to using just throttle alone.
I'm glad you got a 52v battery from em3ev as you will know what cells are inside, and it would be nice if you got one with a smart BMS to actually keep an eye on the cell group voltages. I predict with 17.1Ah and decent pedaling at 20mph you will just meet your 30 mile range goal. The bike looks nice, and I hope it's comfy enough. You may end up putting as wide of tires as you can fit on the frame to get more volume.
We took in a 5 day old foster daughter this summer, and combined with our 3 year old son I similarly have no free time during the week.
EDIT: Also, the cadence sensors these type of kits come with are junk. Both of mine are way too strong, even though the ebikeling one on my bike has some adjustments. I had to unplug them, and go back to using just throttle alone.
valleygoat
1 mW
Thanks all. Picked some miscellaneous parts including a 4" x 3/8" U-bolt plate during lunch. Will experiment if I can do anything quick/simple for a bit off added assurance. If not, battery (with smart bms) will be here Friday and based on everyone;s advice I'll give it a try without the torque arm.
Thundercamel: sounds like you have a pretty good idea what I'm going though. The fostering has been pretty great overall, but a huge adjustment from kid-less life 2 weeks ago. And too bad about the cadence sensors. I guess I can always upgrade the controller or put a cycle analyst on down the road if I want the PAS.
and based on everyone;s advice I'll give it a try without the torque arm.Thundercamel: sounds like you have a pretty good idea what I'm going though. The fostering has been pretty great overall, but a huge adjustment from kid-less life 2 weeks ago. And too bad about the cadence sensors. I guess I can always upgrade the controller or put a cycle analyst on down the road if I want the PAS.
The PAS on the KT controllers isn't bad if you work with what it provides. On mine, level 1 give about 250 watts of assist, so without contributing leg power, the bike will ride at 14.5 mph, so I like to pedal up from there to 17 mph. That way, if I ride 17 miles, I'm only using 14.5 miles worth of battery (~17% leg power). I can extend my range even further but staying at level 1 and pedaling up to 20 mph, for instance. Level 2 provides around 350, and so on. I'm using the LCD3, and with that you can also adjust the PAS power higher or lower, and using the lower setting, level 1 provides about 150 watts, so if the normal levels provide too much assist, you can ratchet them all down using that parameter.
There is a quirk with these KT controllers, or at least with mine, which is that while using PAS, applying ANY amount of throttle acts like full throttle. I'm not sure if that goes for other KT controllers, but I've seen posts where folks say that PAS kicks in with full power, but mine doesn't unless I'm touching the throttle.
There is a quirk with these KT controllers, or at least with mine, which is that while using PAS, applying ANY amount of throttle acts like full throttle. I'm not sure if that goes for other KT controllers, but I've seen posts where folks say that PAS kicks in with full power, but mine doesn't unless I'm touching the throttle.
