Aprilia Enjoy

[tonyontopofabighill]

Another racing model for sale in Brissy. A bit pricey at $800.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aprilia-Electric-Assist-Bike-/261330924957?pt=AU_Cycling_New_&hash=item3cd889759d&_uhb=1

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

I bought an Aprilia racing a few months ago . I only paid $50 for it as it had been left out in the elements for god know how long.
Anyway I put a new chinese controller and throttle on it and put on my 3 x 8s lipo pack and took it out for a spin. It did'nt go too well and I ended up having to push it home I think the motor might be buggered.
I have had this idea for a while now I modifying one of these bikes so I removed the motor and tool out the little helical gear (part 18) and put the cap off the motor back on top of the "new" gearbox. I didn't have the right length bolts so I just cut the old ones and siliconed them and the cap back in place temporarily to see if it would work okay.
I bought an el cheapo rear hub off ebay. The kit is a 36 volt 800 watt hub motor which came with the hub motor laced in the wheel,tyre,controller,thumb throttle,grips,brakes,rack,battery bag and all delivered for $209 ( how do they do it).
The kit went on fairly easy with the aid of a few profanities, as I said it was an el cheapo kit.
I had a 36 volt 10 ah lithium ion pack so put that and the controller in the battery bag on the rack and hit the throttle. She went like a beaut!
I went for a ride this morning and it went really well ,I was amazed!
THe kit came with a 6 speed freewheel and I didn't check how many teeth the low gear had but It struggled to get up my big hill so I will swap that for the standard Aprilia megarange freewheel and that should solve that problem.
So I am happy that I have done this modification as I love these bikes and it means now that if I don't want to replace parts on the standard motor/gearbox I can go down this road.
THis has been a bit of an experiment and that is why I bought the cheapy but I can see a 48 volt 1000 watt kit with the battery in the battery box would make a very nice bike indeed.

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

View attachment 1View attachment 2

 

[Hillhater]

Wow !....... $50 was a bargain even if the motor is dead.
The Gbox alone is worth 2X that !
But i think it is a good basis for a hub drive, since you still have the battery & controller space ready made and the "overdrive" on the cranks is good for fast riding, but you will need a big rear sprocket for the hills.

There are some very good reports on those hub kits ( especially the 48v 1000W )
Only yesterday i was browsing Ebay looking at those ! :wink:

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

I had a look at the rear sprocket and it is a 28/14 so if I put a 34/14 megarange on it should be just about right I reckon. I bought a 48 volt 1000 watt hub motor kit for another bike from Dillenger in QLD. It was more expensive but much better quality. It will be interesting to see how this cheapy holds up.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

This is the kit I bought. They only charged me $209 for some reason.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Electric-Bicycle-36V-800W-Front-Wheel-E-Bike-Conversion-Kit-Battery-Bag-Rack-/140892445378?pt=AU_Cycling_New_&hash=item20cdd81ac2&_uhb=1

 

[Samd]

That's a prokit 901 from a reseller of goldenmotor.com. An ok motor for a kilowatt.

I was surprised the rear dropouts fitted Tony, 120mm on the bike vs 135mm usually on the motor?!

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Are you sure about that Sam,

I have always thought the Aprilia was a 135mm dropout? The motor fitted on alright with the spacers provided although I had to grind the drive side spacer down a bit to get it on.
I have still got sore thumbs from getting it in to the dropout.

By the way I have a good name for those bikes you are building........SAMADHI......

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

My ""modified" Aprilia from above goes like a little rocket. It is quite fast,smooth and rather stealthy to boot. I am very happy with the conversion. I will have a look at fitting a 36v battery into the original battery compartment next and that will make it a nice little package. I need to change the rear cassette to the original Shimano Megarange to get up my big hill. On the flat with average hills it is just a matter of staying in top gear and cruising quite quickly.
I love it!

Cheers,
Tony.

 

[Ken Taylor]

It is often small errors that lead to failure. Don't install the controller with the wires exiting upwards!

The controller housing sits at an angle to the frame so securing the controller to the bottom of the housing maximises the space for neat cable connections at the top. Water jets off the front wheel which can be seen from the amount of dirt that has got through the unused screw holes in the housing.

Some of the spray, goes over the housing top, runs down the wires and through an imperfect seal. That means loss of assist in the rain and over time, a corroded controller.

It is unpleasant when its pissing down 20km from home and you just want to be warm and dry as soon as possible but becomes annoying when that 20km has to be traversed on the heavy Aprilia without assist.

By the time I'd dried out and warmed up the bike was always fine, which made fault finding difficult. I suspected the throttle as it was always full of water and I thought the housing was keeping spray off the controller. However, after the last occasion, I found the Aprilia lying next to an overturned flower pot some distance from where it had been parked with the motor running and unstoppable.

I faced the wires down and made an effort to seal the blank cover of the replacement controller with silicon. Wiring pushes against the motor this way and it is not as neat, but hopefully it's waterproof.

 

[Hillhater]

Ok gents, Murphys law has struck, with a need for spare parts just as the world shuts down for holidays !
The slight "clicking " from the gearbox was irritating me, so a lazy quiet holiday arvo' was spent investigating and it appears that the nasty metal rot has struck with an outbreak of tooth decay in the main bevel gears.
Actually its only a slight case of "chipped" teeth on the big bevel gear, but its definitely in need of replacement.
The UK spares site has the parts, but i cannot get any reply at the mo' ( not surprising really !) ... so i can see those taking a while !
..meanwhile... does anyone have a spare set of bevels ??..or even a complete/part gearbox they might be willing to sell ?
Or maybe an alternative source of these parts ?..( Tony, did you have any luck with that European source that another poster advised ?)

PS ..Happy New Year !

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

G'day HH,

No, I never bought any parts from O/S. I know Samd did of course.
About 18 months ago when I first had trouble with my motor/gearbox I took it to John Sample automotive in Sydney ( the Aprilia agent) He swapped my unit for one they had (free of charge ..can you believe it) The new unit worked perfectly. I would presume they would still have my unit laying around as they were not interested in fixing it. I just cannot remember what was wrong with it but I am betting it was just the electric motor. You could give them a ring. I have bought a couple of old bikes just so I will have spares when the inevitable breakdowns occur.

 

[Samd]

Hi Guys,
apologies for the delay - been moving house! I do have another gearset but both my bikes are down so that's why I have two - sorry!

There was the other chap a few posts back from italy who lived near the Aprilia warehouse and offered to buy spares - worth a PM I should think.

Good luck!

 

[PaulGreatest]

Hello everyone! Finally I got the time for Aprilia
Long time ago, there were solutions for battery, but is there something new? I was absent on forum too much.
What is the most suitable choice?

 

[Samd]

If I were to do it again I'd put in six of these bricks:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9177__Turnigy_5000mAh_4S_20C_Lipo_Pack.html
Just configure them as 8s bricks - cheaper than buying those. And if you want to mount a rear hub motor later you can have two banks of 12 packs.

 

[Hillhater]

Long time ago, there were solutions for battery,
What is the most suitable choice?

"Most Suitable" .. depends on what you want/expect from the bike, and your own expertise.
Many of us use those HK lipo packs because they are light , small, power dense, and cheap.
..but you must be aware of the risk and care needed with Lipo..it can be dangerous.
The " ultimate solution may be a custom made pack of Sony or Panasonic 18650 cells which could be more energy dense , have a longer life, and be simpler to "manage" ....but more costly !
The choice is a personal one really. :|

 

[PaulGreatest]

I want something a cross between power and time of usage. For example 2 hours of driving.
The six of those looks not too cheap I thought what about two of this http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8586__ZIPPY_Flightmax_5000mAh_6S1P_25C.html ? What you could tell?

 

[Hillhater]

2 hours of driving can be done with any battery ....you just have to pedal a lot !
Again it depends on how fast you intend to ride and how much you want to pedal.
Is your controller the original Aprilia one ?
Those 2 6s packs would have less capacity than the original Aprilia battery... so you would get less ride time.
You would need a minimum of 4 of those packs to ride for 2 hours at a steady pace ( <20km/hr) with pedaling some too.

 

[Hillhater]

Guys , an update on my drive gearbox issues.
The Uk supplier ( www.apriliagenuineparts.co.uk / aka..Tees side motorcycles) were not responding, ..Strike 1 !
.. so i called John Sample M/c's ( Au Aprilia importers) to check for parts availability but their initial response was that they do not supply retail..only to authorised agents and anyway the Enjoy is not supported anymore ! ..Strike 2 !
Not to be put off by one phone call, i took the broken g'box down to their main base at Revesby and talked my way in to the spares section....only to be told that the only person who knew anything about the Ebike was on holiday !.. Strike 3 !
..but i leave my phone number asking the mystery man to call me.
In desperation , first week of January i place a on line order with apriliagenuineparts.co.uk , hoping an order will prompt a response ...
2 weeks into January i get this Email from the UK supplier..

Aprilia Genuine Parts
13 Jan (7 days ago)
to me
Hello,
I don’t understand how you have come to order these parts as we no longer advertise the electric bike on our website. As 90% of the parts are no longer available. I can only assume that you bought your parts through a search engine like Google as appose to visiting our website direct, as the Electric bike has been removed from our website to save us from problems as such as this.

Strike 4 ?? .. But not quite, as they also say they may be able to get the parts from Aprilia Italy. ...Bingo !!
..One day later i get the return call from John Sample and a very helpful "Martin" who crunches the part numbers into his computer and tells me they are both in stock !
Martin also arranges for a close by M/cle shop ( Scooter Central, Brookvale) to act as retail outlet , and ships the parts to them for me to collect. ! ..Score !
So, i have gone from being unable to source any parts, to now having 2 sets on order. .. oh well !

However, here is a "heads up"... Martin at John Sample was quite certain that i had been luck and got the last set of these gears they had in stock, and they have no plans to restock.
Also, it was quite obvious that the UK supplier was not planning to stock the parts either..and infact i still do not have confirmation that i will get the parts from Italy . ..So be aware, parts may not be easy to get in future.

Fitting the parts was much as Samd described back on page 18 of this thread, with the reverse thread of the main gear being a real bitch to remove, requiring the application of the Special High Impact Tools. ( S.H.I.T. ..aka ..big hammer !)
But eventually it all went back together as intended and runs smooth again now.
I do have to say though, having now become intimately familiar with the design and internals on that gearbox, how well engineered it is with some very cleaver and precise components ( lots of roller bearings , hypoid bevel gears, quality materials, 2 clutches, torque and speed sensors , etc etc. all very impressive and quite a shame they didnt continue to develop it ( EG:-Brushless motor, Lifepo battery, etc etc.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

.

Fitting the parts was much as Samd described back on page 18 of this thread, with the reverse thread of the main gear being a real bitch to remove, requiring the application of the Special High Impact Tools. ( S.H.I.T. ..aka ..big hammer !)

I was taught that the above tool was called a BFH ( big f#&@ing hammer)

Was one of the places you contacted in the UK this crowd on ebay ?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Genuine-Aprilia-Enjoy-City-Racing-Electric-Bike-Ratchet-Bevel-Gear-AP8000162-/170868472007?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item27c88df8c7&_uhb=1

 

[Hillhater]

Yes.. BFH, also known as a "Birmingham Screwdriver", or the "Persuader" ! :lol:
And yes .."aprilia-vecchi" is "apriliagenuineparts.co.uk" trading as "Tees Side Motorcycles" .. all the same entity.
I suspect they are just "cleaning house" of Enjoy parts, since that gear they show..AP8000162.. is one of the "Sun" gears from the pedal driven planetary train in the g'box and is unlikely to wear or be damaged , unlike the main motor drive bevels which are the ones we have all had to replace. ..AP800129 and Ap8000149.
This parts catalogue is worth saving for reference .. ( even tho' they claim to have deleted it ?)
http://www.apriliagenuineparts.co.uk/components.php?hdnCatalogueID=22

 

[Hillhater]

MORE ISSUES !!
Having fixed the gearbox and been happilly back running for a week or two,.. suddenly a new problem..electrical this time !
Remember the bike is running on 10S lipo @ 38v volts
Cheap chinese YK40 28amp controller ( rated at 24v, 28A )

This kit has been running happily for 5+ years with no issues, but yesterday after a normal run around i stopped at a set of trafic signals but then the bike refused to run again ?
Detailed inspection & test show the motor is A OK and runs happily when fed direct from the battery, but the controller only outputs 1.0v max ( 0 -1v on response to the throttle ). and actually drives the motor very weakly at about 100rpm ?
The controller internals show absolutely NO sign of component damage, heat , broken traces or dry solder joints ( microscope examined)
The FET's ( all 3 !) dont even look to have been warm ?
So , the question is, has this controller just rolled over and died internally (in the IC maybe ?)
Is there any test ( simple.. i am no electronics tech !) that can be done ?
Or do i just sit back and wait for the mailman to deliver the replacement $15 controller ! :lol:
I have opted to order a 36v , 800w YK 31 controller this time ... it seems better matched to the battery.

PS: .. i will post a photo but its amazing to see how tiny the actual controller is out of its case.
The size of a credit card and weighing about 50gms .. incredible to think it has been happily feeding 1200W to the motor for years !

 

[Hillhater]

Latest Update.....PROBLEM RESOLVED ?
Checked the following..
Voltage at the controller infeed...= 40.5 v .. OK
voltage feed from controller to throttle...= 4.6 v ..OK
throttle feed back to the controller = 0 v..-4.6 v variable ..OK
Controller output to the motor ..0 v ..40.5 v .. ??? .. WTF ?..this is where previously i had only 0.0v to 1.0 v max. ??
So, in a nutshell, the fault has disappeared and all is back to normal.
I can only assume that there was a bad contact/connection somewhere previously that i have corrected by stripping everything out and reassembling again.
so now i will go through and remake any untidy/dogy connectors ( lots of those !) and stop bothering you guys !


Still amazed at the ability of this tiny 3 fet Chinese controller to haul the bike along at 50+ km/hr !

PS:.. I noticed Kens controller had 4 FET's ??

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

G'day HH,
I have opted to order a 36v , 800w YK 31 controller this time ... it seems better matched to the battery.

So, are you going to replace the controller with the one above ?

I am looking at replacing my 8s battery pack with 10s and thought I might beef up the controller .

Cheers,
Tony.

I still cannot add a quote. Could someone please explain again.

 

[Hillhater]

Tony, .. I dont plan to change now that the (24v) YK40 is working again, though i may be tempted to give the 36V a try if i have a quiet day with nothing better to do.
Having closely inspected the little 24v YK40, and seeing NO sign of stress etc ( clean and like new inside), i am reluctant to change it out, even though its handling 10S up to 42 volts and 30 Amps.
I did notice that the cap's etc inside the YK40 were only rated for 50volts, and i have toyed with the idea of a full 48 volt pack, so if the new YK31 has higher rated components ( 63volts is common) i may swap it in for that experiment.
Having said that , i am wary of pushing things too far.. A 48 volt pack would give 1500W at times and having chewed up the gears once with only 1200W, and considering the design of the motor for only 24v... i am keeping an open mind on that at the mo !
But you guys with spare motors, gear box's, etc, could do destruction tests much cheaper !! :lol:

For Quotes... instead of hitting the "Reply" button,.. hit the red "Quote" button at the top of thread you want to quote from. That will open a reply box with the quote already inserted ( you can edit the quoted text there also)
Alternatively ,.. open a reply box as normal, then hit the grey "Quote" button above the reply box, then copy/paste any text you want to in between the quote brackets. :wink:
like this..

I still cannot add a quote. Could someone please explain again.