Aprilia Enjoy

[tonyontopofabighill]

G'day Ken,

Lookin' good. I reckon when there is lots of text on the forks the bike seems to go faster. LOL.
I think I will stick with new Rockshox and disk brake up front. I have got the new hub and rear disk brake fitted but cannot ride the bike until I get the new chain tensioner.It is frustrating looking at the new setup and not being able to ride it.

 

[ikxdf]

this fork does not have the shock absorber ... it's really cheap and if you want to kill yourself, in the event of sudden braking, you have chosen the best method.
Save money on your fork, on the brakes and tires is the biggest mistake you can make.

 

[Ken Taylor]

this fork does not have the shock absorber

That is intended. A shock absorber consumes power. On every pedal push the front of the bike bounces and power is absorbed by the shock absorber. That is why most have lock outs and if you are going to lock them out all the time its better not to carry the extra weight. It doesn't matter much if you motor all the time because the Aprilia motor is stronger than a human.

... it's really cheap and if you want to kill yourself, in the event of sudden braking, you have chosen the best method.

I don't want to die but I can't figure out how the solid fork makes braking less safe, can you explain it? The Mosso looks well made and gets a lot less punishment than it would off road where many people use it but I can't tell whether it will fail from observation. Price isn't well correlated with quality so cheap is not automatically bad. It is reviewed fairly positively at http://gearinches.com/blog/reviews/mosso-aluminum-rigid-fork-review but the 2012 version is a different shape to the 2009 version reviewed. This might explain why the review says it is stiff but the comment from angeldust March 24th, 2013 says it has "quite a bit of flex" which is what I've observed thus far.

 

[ikxdf]

The problem is the original v-brakes of this bike. The braking is not modular and in case of emergency braking the wheel locks.
With the rigid fork and brakes that stop suddenly is difficult to handle emergencies. The same goes with a suspension fork very low.

 

[Ken Taylor]

The problem is the original v-brakes of this bike. The braking is not modular and in case of emergency braking the wheel locks.

I've found the original v-brakes work well.

I'm confused as to what you mean by "braking is not modular" and googling didn't help. The v-brakes seem to function the same as before and I can't see how they would be more likely to lock.

 

[ikxdf]

the v-brakes have a really powerful braking but it is very difficult to dose the braking, especially if you braking suddenly.
With disc brakes is much easier to dose the braking.

Sorry if my english is not the best

 

[Ken Taylor]

the v-brakes have a really powerful braking but it is very difficult to dose the braking, especially if you braking suddenly.
With disc brakes is much easier to dose the braking.

Sorry if my english is not the best

Mosso forks can have disc brakes but I like the v-brakes. I'm unconvinced

if you want to kill yourself ... you have chosen the best method

but thanks for the explanation.

 

[ikxdf]

but thanks for the explanation.

hahahah sorry I did not mean to be offensive ... it wanted to be a warning. I have a really lousy English ...

 

[Ken Taylor]

Ken, as you are probably realizing, the Aprilia is not really suited to "roadie" type ride outings... It will always have a limited range with anything over 40-50km becoming impractical for battery size ..and most of the road racers i know seem to want to have 100= km runs.

The Aprilia's not the ideal roadie but I'm still trying. As well as the forks I've done a replacement battery cover to incorporate an additional 36v-15ah battery. At 641 gms it's about 300 gms heavier than the silver plastic cover.

My advisor doesn't like it as it raises the top bar height to a level she finds uncomfortable and she says it's ugly, being too boxy.

So I'm looking again at Hillhater's advice.

...I made a new "battery tray" using plastic "project box's" from JCar. they have a 90mm x 150mm box that 2 5s Turnigy lipo packs fit in perfectly.
# of those glued ( PVC pipe cement) together gives a tray with 15Ahr of 10 s lipo that fits neatly into the battery bay with no mods to the bike or the original battery pack.( i can use either)

But more details are required. Specifically, how do you connect the new battery pack to the electrical contacts on the bike?

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Sorry Ken,

I have to agree with the adviser, it looks a bit like a bread box .A nice bit of workmanship though. I would look at HH's hobby box version. I am looking forward to hearing how he put it all together as well.

 

[Hillhater]

ah, sorry guys , i have been away O'seas so not been keeping up with the thread.
I will dig out some pic's to show how it went together, but basicly the JCar project box's each hold a pair of 5s, 5Ahr turnigy packs.
I glued 3 of the box's together ..end to end.. and made up a 10s, 3P , harness using 4mm bullet connectors.
I then added an extra pair of connection "Tails" to the original contact block on the bike frame, with 4mm bullets to connect to the pack. ( so i dont use the "pressure" contacts as with the original battery,..though they are still there if i want to use the old pack)
I also paralleled up the balance wires and use a pair of cell logs to monitor .
charging is done "off bike".
Im fairly sure you could fit the 5800mA packs the same way, and even double up the complete pack if you modified the original outer top bodywork a little.

 

[Samd]

Looks like one going cheap in 3 hours in nsw. Aprilia is misspelt so not coming up in searches. Bummer.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/APRILLIA-ELECTRIC-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-/281097837407?pt=AU_Cycling_New_&hash=item4172bc9b5f

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

I have spoken to the seller and I am going to bid on it closer to the end of the auction. It has the same problem as usual, sounds like the controller has spat the dummy. I can pick it up next time I am in Sydney. If anyone else wants it let me know here by about 5.45pm. I don't want to hog the Aprilia market if someone else wants one.

Tony.

 

[Architectonic]

I'd buy it if I lived in NSW, but alas...

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

It looks a bit crappy but probably just needs a good wash. The guy asked me what was involved in getting it going with the chinese controller, twist throttle and lipos etc. I told him it was pretty easy. He is an electrician but still wants to get rid of it, so I am happy to relieve him of it.

 

[Samd]

Go for it Tony. I think I just paid about that much for new gearbox internals. You could probable make more selling it seperately for parts!

 

[Ken Taylor]

let me know here by about 5.45pm.

I'm interested. It might even have a good torque sensor.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Geez Ken,

I have got 3 of these little gems, so I will step aside and let you have this one. Are you definitely going to bid? I was going to put in a bid of $400 in case any one else bid but if you are definitely going to do it I will let you have it. Let me know Ken.

Tony.

 

[Ken Taylor]

Let me know Ken.

I just put in a bid.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Okay Ken, it is all yours.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Are you going to go to $400 Ken. I am not sure how to do the PM message

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

Bugger !!!!!!

Someone else besides Ken and I got it.

Tony.

 

[Samd]

Gday Ken, let me get that other torque sensor out in the next week or so.

 

[Ken Taylor]

Gday Ken, let me get that other torque sensor out in the next week or so.

Thanks. I'll need to build up some courage to disassemble the gearbox.

Bugger !!!!!!
Someone else besides Ken and I got it.

Fun bidding though. We had three opponents, I wonder if any of them saw it advertised here. Our first opponent and the second most determined looked like a bicycle trader having bid on 14 other electric scooter or cycling items in the last fortnight. There was an amateur who'd bid on only one other item in the last month and I thought Tony had it at $425 when ebay said "Sorry, you were outbid. This item sold for AU $425.00". However a bidding meister somehow came in after the bell and scored it at $456. He or she looked like a trader too with bids on 8 unrelated items over the last fortnight. The meister's final offer was higher but well never know by how much.

It seemed a lot to me for a machine with unknown faults or else I was lucky on my first acquisition.

 

[tonyontopofabighill]

I am having trouble trying to put pics of disk brake and Nuvinci hub on here