A2B Octive/Metro purchase?

[E-Glider]

Would you say this is about normal range for the battery?

I loosened the shock nut to no tension when parked, that seemed to eliminate the hop but the spring rattles a bit now when going over a bump as it's unloaded.
Robbie

That sounds about right to me for a used & standard rear pack.. but mine was 'dead on arrival', so I never got a chance to experience/test it before rebuilding.
(Lots of info elswhere here tho.

Some people have fitted a larger crank-chainwheel too, thereby raising the gearing to the point where human legs can actually contribute more useful power to the rear wheel at speed.

OK.. play around with your spring tension a bit more then.. maybe tighten it so there is a little tension when parked.. that might then eliminate both the rattle AND the hop?

Enjoy anyway!

 

[robbiesd]

Good suggestions, Thanks

 

[fechter]

There are lots of them out there [for sale] if you look long enough

Fechter, if I swapped-in some good street tires, what is the fastest top speed for a frame like this? 30-MPH perhaps?

I'm occasionally doing 30-MPH on a beach cruiser frame (yikes!)

Mine does 35 on a slight downhill. Seems very stable at that speed. It's a very heavy bike so it does well at higher speeds and the brakes are adequate.

 

[E-Glider]

No worries Audisport09 - a pleasure to share!
Yes.. you clearly have the general 'picture' now.

Regarding paralleling balance leads, my thoughts at the time were twofold:
1). Available space was getting very tight in there.. literally down to millimeters!
2). Factory Li-po battery-batch matching-standards are now chemically really very high (even in China - and owing largely to the 'exploding laptop/phone' era!).
So I concluded that if any one of the x4 cells being parallel-balanced really started to collapse, I would still receive an adequate indication from the charger-monitoring of this - and abiding by the golden rule to never walk away whilst your Li-po's are charging, thus also pre-empt/avoid any terminally serious issue!
For similar reasons, I also never 'rapid-charge' the cells and also always balance-charge - and they have remained stoically within .01v of each other.
A 'compromise' of sorts yes, but I'm very happy & satisfied with it - so far.
Range/performance also remain good.

Maybe you could try contacting Turnigy/Zippy/Multistar etc directly, regarding their present range/catalogue of available high capacity Li-po packs?

Those perfectly (A2B frame) sized Multistars were on 'special' at Hobbyking at the time, so I just went for it - & adapted everything else to suit!

Good luck, continue to enjoy your A2B ~ & please let us know how you go anyway.

Jeez, steer clear is a little bit strong. Yes out of the box, they may not be the best bike in the world, OP said he is looking for a project bike...I'm a roadie as well, the metro is a really nice change of pace, I ride it faster than my road bike thats for sure. Each to their own indeed. Although on second thought, if they have no batteries 1500 has a little steep. Were you looking to buy both for yourself and someone else?

E-Glider, thank you, pictures paint a thousand words. I'm a newbie to lipos but I think I understand now. Didn't know you could palleral balance leads like that. In the event of a cell death, an issue could arise. Maybe some sort of 24 pin connector would be better? I have a 12s charger so I don't think I would need a relay in that setup. But 12s isn't enough I only do short rides. Shame about the multistar. So I need 3 high cap lipo's in series with a relay on the third and 3 ports for balance? If I could find 2 high capacity 10s it would make wiring so much easier. Trouble is the highest on hobby king is only 4.5amh.

Hi Audisport09,

Well after 3 years of sitting (both self & bike!), I charged up the A2B Li-Po packs today and found that they had 'stored' flawlessly and have remained stable & balanced cell-wise.

Attaching a quick screenshot from the 'ChargeMaster' software that came with the charger.
I went on to charge both front & rear packs to around 80% and look forward to a sunny Autumn day ride here tomorrow.

~ Also fitted a basic 'Sunding' bicycle Odometer/Speedo device recently, so should be able to update with some range figures to suit.

Did you end up trying out the Li-Po possibilities at all?

Enjoy anyway!