"Ardita" cruiser style E-bike project

[k1kk0_1t4]

Hello, i opened a thread a couple of months ago asking for some help and advice on a e-bike kit to create my first ebike.

Naturally the project was longer, more difficult and more expensive than planned, but all my strange projects seems to go that way so that's ok!

The initial idea was to build a "stealth" and cheap e-bike from a cruiser frame and pieces cobbled togheter and a small geared motor, the ebike should be used as a commuter to go to work, running errands, hitting the pub on saturday night.. but still be "nice" to see and to drive. I have to say that none of the objectives is reached: the bike is not stealth at all nor cheap and a DD motor is used.

The build was difficult but fun: before building the bike the only maintenance i ever done on a bike was to grease the chain and repair flats on my MTB but because i prefer to take the difficult road i decided to buy a random frame and some parts from the net and started the assembly.

I learned a lot: how a bicycle is made, how to lace a rim(i used a front drum brake mounted on a mtb downhill rim to match the rim the motor is laced in), how to cold set a frame and i did some nice and fancy workout because i didn't like the frame colour so i had to de-paint and repaint it.

Sheldon Brown's website was where i learned all the info needed to do the hard work.

I really like my springer fork: i prefer this model to the "classic schwinn" one the only problem is that i overpaid it (69 euros)

In the meantime i bought a kit from Paul at em3ev: i bought a MXUS rear drive 305rpm kit laced on alex rim dh32 with a 25A controller, a cycle analyst 3.0 and the CA pas sensor. Paul is really nice guy and really helpful, all the nice feedback he gets from the forum is really justified in my opinion.
Another thing i'd like to add is that the Grin products CA is really a nice piece of hardware, is really well made and cool.. probably i'll need a year or two to learn all the functions and optimize everything for my setup... the unespected thing is that the CA is bigger than i tought!

After the motor arrived i ordered, from HobbyKing, some braided sleeve to order and cover the spaghetti wiring and a battery and a charger from forum member Schwibsi, i exchanged various mail with him then i choose to buy a 13s4p sony konion vtc4 battery pack. I'm waiting for the sleeve and the battery in anxiety because they are the last parts to complete the bike... hope they arrive soon so i can go out and be a trouble for lycra wearers: passing them on step hill while wearing bulky jeans and boots whitout sweating at all, in particular i'd like to beat this one:

(he lives in the same town i work), so i can brag around that i outmatched a winner of the Giro.

While waiting for the last parts ti started working on the triangle bag: i used some red PU leather matching my chain and my brakes cable, some black cotton and some zippers to create a custom bag with some flair:

the bag is internally lined with a PVC fabric and a flame retardant lining, so should be safe from water and from hazardous events from the battery or the controller

the total cost for the bag was 4€: the pu leather was a leftover from a previous project, the cotton was stolen from my mom patchwork stash, the PVC and flame retardant were taken for free from at job and the embroidery and the sewing machine used to create the bag are the one i use at job so also free, the zippers were 4€.
The bag is mounted to the frame using straps cutted from an old and broken mtb innertube.

I covered the handlebars in leather matching the saddle and modded the throttle to be covered to.

The saddle is a brooks b66 and was a bargain.. i spent half the retail price to buy mine and is a super comfortable saddle.

The (almost)finished bike (fix CA, cover CA/motor/controller cables, wait for battery, charge, zooooooooooooooom!)

I'd like to say thank you to the members that helped me on the other thread, the sellers i bought the items from and all the forum: a noob like me needs help info and relaible suppliers to succed and you do a great job!
Thank you for watching, sorry for the long post.
Kikko

 

[k1kk0_1t4]

I finished my bike and i really like ebiking!
The max speed is more than i hoped for (max on flat is 47kmh) the battery (made by Shwibsi) is really good and doesn't sag to much.

Good points:
Front suspension and springer seat are worth every € i spent on them, they make the travel more easy and secure.
Big balloon tires seems a wise choice for my ebike, they help the springer fork and saddle and keep the bike at control even under heavy rain, the rear tire is a bit weared even if i have only about 230 km on it but i don't know why.
Family, friends, and people generally like my bike they concede that's a smart move for the summer in my town but they think is a madness after the question: "how much that costed?"

The bike had some minor problems:
Two days after finishing i noticed a "clang" coming from dropouts when starting and when regen braking... the motor axle was rotating about 20°on the dropouts, problem solved with a torque arm.
My double legged kickstand is a killing machine: it sits to low, when i lean while cornering it can touch the ground, i had a crash caused by that kickstand (and my own stupidity, but i'll blame the kickstand )
I need to find a replacement but local LBS doesn't carry a model i like and can mount on the bike so i need to buy one online.

Things to do:
1 New headlight and backlight: i actually use a cree headlight mounted on my head, i'd like to save for a cyclelumenator or buy a small dc dc converter and a bigger cree led headlight and mount it on the handlebar.
2 Trash the kickstand
3 Better waterproofing for autumn and adding mudguards, my rear brake/tire clearance is 2mm so i can't fit a off the shelf mudguard, i'll have to hack togheter something.
4 ... build a faster bike?

Last thing: a video of my bike and a horse (the video quality is crappy)

[youtube]EXReuncErQk[/youtube]

Thanks to every member that helped me during the build!

 

[tomjasz]

Just caught up with this post searching suspension forks. What a sweet ride. Well done. I need a springer/suspension fork on my crank forward frame! Yours looks fantastic,

Tom

 

[k1kk0_1t4]

Thanks for the kind words but please stay away from that kind of suspension unless you plan to stay on a flat road wirh small bumps: that fork flexes and doesn't have torsional rigidy...
i abused the fork doing jumps and climbing and bombing stairs and actually is bent... but sure that fork looks badass