BAFANG power for the folding Montague for the airplane

[craneplaneguy]

I got another 5 hrs in New Years Day of ski flying with the E-bike. 100 mile + viz with crystal clear skies and dead calm all day. After flying up the east side of the biggest mountain range in Idaho, (not cruising at several thousand feet high, but down in the dirt, snow anyway, nap of the earth type fun )my last landing was in very deep and uncompacted snow. Uncompacted as it was in a very sheltered area, most of the ridge tops I land the snow gets consolidated a bit from wind action, this snow was fluff. Then I be bopped over the 9,000' pass (landing it on the way, good compacted snow up there) to a small town on the west side of the range where I had planned a lunch break, using the bike. Especially as it was almost 2 and I hadn't had any breakfast either. I was really looking forward for the bike ride into town, just a couple miles away with a slight uphill, temps were 10 degrees. This town is on the edge of the largest wilderness area in the lower 48, the Frank Church.

But on landing on the wheels on the asphalt I discovered I had a froze up brake on one side, never happened before but I ended up ripping the tube valve stem out and when I came to a stop looked down and saw the tire was totally flat and off the rim! Still there but zero air in it, I made a snap decision to get the heck out of there if possible, and once the bad tire was on some snow packed areas of the paved strip I was able to get moving, using lots of rudder to keep things straight, and took off. I ended up NOT using the bike this flight but getting 5 hrs in of fairly extreme back country ski flying, some at pretty good altitude, shows the plane's performance is still "adequate" even with the added weight of the conversion. So far the battery has been stored in flight within ready reach and where I can eyeball it easily, right under my seat.

Yesterday my DC/DC converter arrived, so now I can play around with it and see if using it in flight is a viable option for recharging the bike aloft. I'm hoping for around a 1.5 to 2 amp charge rate while keeping the 12 VDC draw down to what my plane's electrical system can handle. This low charge rate should, with careful monitoring, along with the Luna pack supplied voltmeter in the plane while the battery is out on the lift strut, be safe enough. Having said that, if I have any doubt at all, I will forgo the whole charging in flight thing and just deal with range anxiety as and if it occurs. Which reminds me, the day after I got my battery bag for my 52 v. Samsung 29e 11.6 ah pack all tweaked out and pretty well finalized as to where it would be carried when charging, I get an email from Luna on the latest shipment of bottle battery packs. Now, let me know if I am missing something here, but it was instantly painfully clear to me that I NEED ONE OF THESE! Look at the shape of the bottle packs when carried horizontal, low drag! And it comes with it's own mounting rack! Now, as of yesterday, my plan is to use padded ADEL clamps to secure the mount rack to the 3/8" dia. chrome moly tube that is the horizontal part of the jury struts, and that is where the battery will reside, charging or not, while in flight. Unlike the boxy and clunky looking Samsung pack, with the straps and buckles fluttering in the breeze, a bottle pack will be a super clean, simple, mechanically secure, fire safe, lockable both on the bike and the plane, and most of all a great looking addition to the plane.

Like many before me I'm sure, when getting into the whole E-bike thing, I didn't know what I didn't know, so I now have a great Samsung battery, charged once so far, I no longer want, though it works as expected, the aerodynamics of it sucks! I don't know (yet) what the protocol for selling stuff is here, but anyone want to make me an offer on the Samsung? Free delivery within a few hundred miles, weather permitting, seriously, I'll fly it out to where ever. No matter what, (I didn't know E-biking was going to be so expensive ) I'm getting a Panasonic 11.5 ah bottle pack ordered tomorrow. Today I will get working on a profile of the Montague's horizontal frame tube, ovoid, oval shaped anyway, I think is the term for it, I'm thinking 2 brackets that will simply clamp onto the frame with high quality stainless hose clamps, ending with a flat bottom section to mount the bottle pack mount bracket to. I'm not a huge fan of rivnuts, or putting holes in stressed structural members, but have long used hose clamps for all kinds of securing things besides hoses, and have a pretty good idea of their reliability and strength when used "properly". That way I should be able to real quickly slide the battery off the jury strut mount and onto the bike mount, way better then the battery bag concept I started with and fooling with straps and buckles every time.

 

[craneplaneguy]

Scratch the bottle battery idea, the Montague does not have the required room it turns out, but I just saved 400 bucks! So, the Samsung pack is after all the correct choice for. Rather then hang it under the jury strut horizontal tube, I'm contemplating a streamlined enclosed storage area for it on top of the hot tube, some aircraft piano hinge and 1/4 turn fasteners to allow quick and easy access to it.

Today I rode on bare pavement for the first time, getting something to eat after another flight of about 70 miles. It took 4 minutes from engine shut down to riding off, not bad. Especially as I had some fumbling with the straps, 3 minutes will be easily attainable. I need a kickstand though, ordering one tomorrow. The state of charge indicator (all I have presently) show I have yet to make much, almost no, impact on the batteries capacity. This is very encouraging and may as mentioned lead to me just charging on the ground at the end or start of a flying day. Keeping it simple, its just hard for me to fathom the amount of energy in that battery, its like magic.

 

[brucemetras]

The state of charge indicator (all I have presently) show I have yet to make much, almost no, impact on the batteries capacity. This is very encouraging and may as mentioned lead to me just charging on the ground at the end or start of a flying day. Keeping it simple, its just hard for me to fathom the amount of energy in that battery, its like magic.

If going by the stock onboard 'battery graphic' indicator, I'm reasonably sure it will be fairly inaccurate because you are running a 52v pack as opposed to the 48v the Bafang 750w is expected to see..

A 'full charge' for your 52v pack would be 58.8v with shut off around 44.5v ... for a 48v pack, 54.6v with shut off at 41.6v ((assuming 4.2v per cell max charge and cutoff at 3.2v per cell).. as I have the same basic system on my bike, once you start seeing 2/3 charge left on the battery icon, you are closer to 1/3 charge or less... a volt meter gives you a better indicator.. of course I could be all wet, but that's how it seems to me..

 

[craneplaneguy]

Good points, I will probably get a Cycle Analyst soon, right now I only have 20 miles on the bike so it's still all new to me and I'm just getting my feet wet, so to speak. Not knowing what is going on with the battery is like driving a car without a fuel gauge, stupid, some type of watt meter is on my list of things to buy next with the money I saved from not buying a bottle battery!

My ride yesterday: on the way back to the airport I was zipping along at about 25 mph, when I smelled something burning My first thought was " I knew this was working out too good to be true". But then I remembered where I was, Burley Idaho, where they have a large sugar beet processing plant that puts out a pretty good stink, somewhat similar to a fired electronics stink, it sure fooled me for a second.

 

[WoodlandHills]

You can get away w/o a wattmeter if you use a Cycle Satiator to charge. It will indicate how many ah it puts into your pack, combine that with a GPS and you can get a pretty good idea of your true range. The speedo, odometer and battery meter on a Bafang are just "guesstimates" under the best conditions. I set my display to MPH and a 32" tire and it still reads 2mph slow at 20mph compared to the Garmin since the 26x4.00 tire has such a huge effective diameter. The next step is to switch the display to KM and fiddle with the wheel sizes to get the km display to align with mph: at least the numbers will be accurate, if not the units!

 

[craneplaneguy]

I just checked my packs at rest voltage, 51.6. I just bought one of the new Luna chargers and so will use it as my charger of choice, so I guess the Cycle Analyst will be the way I go. One thing I'm not sure of: now that I have my wiring pretty finalized, ( trickier on a folder of course) and my Bafang display up on alongside the handle bars ( off the side of the fork tube top actually, no room on the bars without interfering with the planes control cables when stowed, that tight!), is the CA a plug and play type thing, and will it mean more cabling on the frame up from the pack or does it use the Bafang display cables?

I just had an expensive thought. I could still get a bottle battery, and mount it/carry it outside on the plane as I earlier figured, but just use a back pack when riding. It would look so cool, be so low drag, on the strut and be a real easy job to put it there, plenty of room, just not that same room on the bike.

 

[craneplaneguy]

yesterday I finally got on some level snow free pavement, after flying to a bike shop about 85 miles away that's a Montague dealer to get what turned out to be a generic kickstand. Also a 11-34 cassette. Hanging the battery on the frame is a PITA with nothing to lean it against other then the plane, and that ain't a good deal so I have to eat the weight of a kickstand. I've actually been enjoying the one that came with the little fattie Trail Viper, they are handy after all.

I was in a hurry, and was at WOT most of the way there and back, didn't pedal at all, 12 miles total, 27 to 31 MPH. This was a busy town so this was also my first use of the bike with lots of people around. At one point I started pedaling, but about 4 RPM, (not even close to catching up of course) anyone with any mechanical common sense would think I had some incredible gearing and was also incredibly fit I did this just to mess with people, it had to look damned odd I also had my first brush with The Man, while not pedaling, and I didn't get his attention so that was cool. I'm liking the left thumb throttle so far, especially as I had a cup of coffee in my right hand for a while. I ended up overstaying at the bike shop, BS'ing with the owner who was an interesting character. I was going to run out of day light if I didn't really haul butt back to the airport, landing after dark uphill and on snow on my 400' long strip is not a good idea. No lights either. Now the downtown traffic was pretty heavy, and I realized pretty quick that a good E-bike offers the freedom of a regular bike (freedom as in largely disregarding most traffic rules that apply to cars and getting away with it) while at the same time most of the utility of a motorcycle. Once out of the worst of the traffic I floored it (thumbed it) all the way back, quickly folded and secured it in the plane, and made it back home with minutes to spare. My backup plan was to get a motel somewhere if I really had to. but screw that.

I had started with a 80% charged battery, at least that was the setting I used on the Luna charger, set at 3 amps (and this will probably be my fall back charge regime). My no load voltage once back home was 48.8, and when I started charging I made a note of the time. 2.5 hrs later the green light went on, at the 80% setpoint (I assume) of 54.6 volts. So 8.5 amp hrs. for 12 miles of thrashing it, I'm pleased with that. It was still feeling real zippy also. This trip was a worst case scenario, no pedaling, big hurry, and starting with 80%. Until I get a watt meter of some type, this forensic charging (?) seem to me to be a way to start to get a handle as to what this setup will do for me. Once again, especially as it being the first time in town around other traffic, I couldn't believe how fun it was, and so efficient in getting around a crowded urban area. Preaching to the choir, I know, but to me anyway an E-bike is so much more then a regular bike, at least as a practical way to quickly cover ground, especially for this 150 lb. 66 yr old, decently fit though! But, no way could I have pulled this off in the time constraints I had without the the BBSO2's help, and it sure wouldn't have been as much fun.

 

[craneplaneguy]

THE SMOKE GOT OUT! Out of my dc/dc voltage converter that is, while bench testing it. No big loss, less then $20.00. I first hooked it up to a 12 V. battery, and then adjusted the pot so I was reading 54.6 V. There was another pot next to the one marked voltage, but it was not clear to me what it did, maybe amperage? As the only 52 V battery I have is the bike one, I went for a quick ride to get the mail (3 miles round trip) and then tired it out. The polarity was correct, but there was still a POP, and then the dreaded stink followed by the smoke. NOT out of the battery, no harm done there, but the converter is trashed.
It was one of these. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boost-DC-DC-Con ... SwPcVVk4lG

Any ideas what I did wrong? The battery was at 54.2 at the time.

I looked around on the internet, and found a place right nearby in Utah that specializes in all types of converters, but no stock ones that would work for my odd ball application. No problem, they also do custom work, starting at $500.00 min. ea. in lots of 200! So, no deal there. At this point I am going to put the charging while flying concept on the shelf, unless something comes up. Not a deal breaker, less crap to deal with in the plane, simpler also, probably safer also, I can live with that. I will fly with the LUNA charger, but just for ground use. The entire concept could well be a non issue, based on what I'm seeing on range so far. Good enough to get the job done without worrying about charging in other words, I'll just work around it. I can see eating lunch somewhere while charging at the 5 amp rate (rather then my usual 3), and tipping the waitress extra. Or the bartender (at the end of the day, and done flying), any one day trip I don't need to worry about it.

 

[Ykick]

As I mentioned in another thread, those DC-DC’s can be weird to setup.

Yes, the other trim pot is for current limiting and needs to be set to a survivable value for the circuit and job at hand before you try to use it to charge a pack.

Begin with inline power meter and minimum amperes driving a resistive (heater, lightbulb) load. Next connect a discharged battery and adjust current to a little under max rating for the convertor. Main thing is a power meter between the device and battery pack or resistive load when adjusting V/I. It can be done with one power meter but it's generally easier with power meter on input and output.

The one’s I’ve bought used a fuse but that doesn’t always save the circuit from over current.

 

[craneplaneguy]

Thanks, that all makes perfect sense.

So NOW, my plan is to just fly sans in flight charging, until and if it becomes an issue, then I'll try again with the converter. Good to know I have that possible option out there, and that they are cheap enough to screw up one or two

 

[craneplaneguy]

Coming up on my first 100 miles of riding, and 25 hours of flying with the bike onboard. It is all working great, I've had no teething problems, no chain jumps, no shifting issues, and the performance continues to amaze me, much better then I expected, then again I didn't know anything when I jumped into this. I have not had a chance to ride the 350 watt 36 v. hub drive Trail Viper since getting the 1300 watt mid drive Montague going. I expect the TV will underwhelm me when next ridden, and I am preemptively already thinking of a way I can get a different ride to carry on board the crane.

To my surprise, the tool box I built on the crane is tall enough for a full size bike, 40" tall clear inside. But....it's only 16" wide, and that dimension can't be enlarged. The TV has a folding handle stem to deal with that issue. I am thinking hard on a "regular" non folding bike for my next build, and will probably sell the TV at some point. This time I'm thinking of going FAT, and with the HD motor, weight won't be the issue like with the Montague in the airplane thing. No surprise, I want even MORE POWER this time around! Especially as this ride would also be my main mountain trail rider, all our trails out here go up or down, never remotely level. I won't have the weight constraints of the plane's bike, I can go all out and use some of the knowledge I've gained here and on that tall guy's blog in NY (thanks Karl). The simplest way to do this would be folding handlebars and folding pedals.

I have the pedal thing handled, those are no big deal. I googled "folding handlebars", and got a lot of hits for exactly what I'm looking for, but closer inspection (like trying to actually buy them) shows they were prototypes that never made it to production. https://www.google.com/search?q=folding+handlebars+for+bikes&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS482US485&espv=2&biw=1282&bih=924&tbm=isch&imgil=8sEndanWVDApUM%253A%253BZIAOSrXp7Msy6M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.aliexpress.com%25252Fpopular%25252Ffolding-handlebars.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=8sEndanWVDApUM%253A%252CZIAOSrXp7Msy6M%252C_&usg=__fHtcP3lD57Kgw16U1YURrK_DcaU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwjH-http://gizmodo.com/5015133/folding-bike-handlebars-so-obvious-it-took-this-long-to-think-of-itsaYyNfKAhVJ-2MKHaOGB-YQyjcITw&ei=eNWvVsfeLcn2jwOjjZ6wDg#imgrc=8sEndanWVDApUM%3A&usg=__fHtcP3lD57Kgw16U1YURrK_DcaU%3D And my favorite: I really don't want to mess with allen wrenches every time I get the bike out, it has to be quick and easy, to be the coolest accessory for the crane, most practical anyway. I deal with aircraft chrome moly all the time, it's available in any wall thickness and dia. you need. I know I could cobble something up, using the appropriate sized tubing, that would have an inner sleeve/splice joint, held in place when riding by two pip pins. Pins out, the two outer lengths with the grips, brakes, and shifter would lay to the side, leaving a less then 16" handle bar center stub. Assembly would be only as long as it took to grab a outer length and shove it into the inner length and insert the self locking pip pin. I've trusted my life to similar setups for years on aircraft, (traveling South America with a hang glider that had the airframe broke down into back packable lengths) done right it's plenty safe. Before I go down this route, anyone know of any readily available quick fold bars??

The picture is of the Montague, with all my snowboard gear in and outside the plane, along with the folding Travoy bike trailer. I was all set to fly 150 miles to a small town north of here, then use the bike and trailer to haul me and the gear into town and then rent a cheap car for a few hours to get the last 40 miles up into the mountains to a kick ass little local ski area (like the one right behind my house, the grass is always greener....) I want to check out. Thick impassable fog halfway there changed that plan, too bad as I am really looking forward to seeing how the bike pulls the Travoy, next time.

 

[JPLabs]

I think that may be the coolest DIY transport rig I've ever seen. I bet there aren't too many places you can't get to, with the combination. Who needs a flying car?

(I still want a flying car.)

 

[craneplaneguy]

350 miles of trouble free riding, except for one chain derailment caused by goober mud so bad it about sucked the boots off my feet when I stopped. I'm loving the ability of taking it places far away (some 100 miles +) using my Yaris, getting 44 MPG lessens the guilt over not pedaling the entire way. I've had Montagues for going on 20 years so have always appreciated their portability, but now, that feature combined with my new enhanced ability to go much further, faster, is incredible. Being able to carry it in the Yaris is almost as cool as being able to carry it in my small plane. The only extra time it takes to get ready is as long as it takes to hang the battery from the top tube (3 snaps) and plug it in, about as long as it took me to type that just now. 2 or 3 easy minutes at most, counting a double check of the V brakes as the folding sometimes leaves them dragging a bit, no tool required for this, just a quick wheel spin. I've been driving across the desert into the biggest mountain ranges in Idaho, and then riding through some of the passes, passes that I have flown through. It has been a long wet spring so crappy flying weather but good enough for riding. Now, when I get up and look out the window on the morning of a planned flying trip, if the weather sucks (for flying anyway) I don't get all bummed out, I just go riding. It's a great backup activity, and when I do fly, even locally, I now keep my eyeballs peeled for interesting bike rides! Then, after riding them, I'll fly them again and really get a handle on where that other trail branches off to, how much further to that lake etc. I see things on the ground I don't notice from the air, while I see things from the air I can't see from the ground, combine the two and I pretty much see it all.

I am real happy with the 11.5 HR battery I have, and so far have only ran it out one time, on a 46 mile ride (at 26 miles, after a big climb) and then I plugged in my other 11.5 AH battery I had borrowed from my fat bike and only used half or less of it. I'm glad I didn't have room for a much bigger battery, as 90% of my rides are easily handled by one battery. I have been pedaling more, and harder, for some reason it feels "right" and the range increase is the payoff. I have yet to be surprised by the lack of range, I'm almost constantly surprised by how far I can go.

In the works: I still have my original V brake pads, and though I adjust them often they kind of suck after the fattie's hyd disc. I need to get better educated on the best V brakes out there for my application, I don't think it would be worthwhile to try to change everything over to hyd disc, not without impacting my folding/getting it in the plane process. I'd consider buying a new Montague, with factory supplied juice brakes, but I am afraid to as the fit in the plane is so perfect now, and any little difference could screw that up. I need to get my hands on one and try it in the plane first. The way it fits in the plane is just so uncanny I still quite can't believe it, and the e conversion addition didn't change that a bit, I got real lucky there. Also, MAYBE a Rohloff hub, I've been lusting after one since I found out about them, and have almost convinced my self I need one due to their great reliability and the better chain line I'd have, safety first right? I'm getting pretty far out on some of these rides.... and have tried to get in the habit of grabbing the PLB (personal locator beacon) out of the airplane, in case things really go wrong. Cell phones won't work, the PLB is SAT based. I've built up a pretty good (I think) emergency tool kit that I swap back and forth between the fattie and the Montague, when I remember.

 

[craneplaneguy]

I ordered my third Montague today, in 20 years) the Paratrooper Pro, next will be the Rohloff hub, and I need to decide whether bbso2 or for a few lbs more weight the bbshd. I'll sell my current e Montague to another pilot.

 

[craneplaneguy]

As I mentioned in another thread, those DC-DC’s can be weird to setup.

Yes, the other trim pot is for current limiting and needs to be set to a survivable value for the circuit and job at hand before you try to use it to charge a pack.

Begin with inline power meter and minimum amperes driving a resistive (heater, lightbulb) load. Next connect a discharged battery and adjust current to a little under max rating for the convertor. Main thing is a power meter between the device and battery pack or resistive load when adjusting V/I. It can be done with one power meter but it's generally easier with power meter on input and output.

The one’s I’ve bought used a fuse but that doesn’t always save the circuit from over current.

Ykick, you'll be amused by this! I got my second dc/dc converter in, and it was just like the first one BUT it had a digital display and buttons to set things up. No instructions but with a multi meter I figured it out. I jury rigged a test setup using my idling Toyota's battery (idling because I wanted more voltage then the at rest battery, more like the planes 13.8 to 14 volts when running), and sure enough within a few minutes I had it set up to produce 58.4 vdc at 1.7 amps. This drew 7.9 amps out of my car battery. I stopped here and declared success, as I don't want to draw much more then that out of the plane's system, maybe a bit more but I figured I was not going to push things just yet.

Then, I started taking the jury rigged set up apart, first the 52 volt battery alligator clips, and then....while still wired to the car battery, I let the leads that had gone to the bike battery, the devices output, briefly touch, and saw a small spark. Immediately the included fuse on the device blew, so no harm done I figured. I replaced the fuse, and just to make sure it was working before going to the trouble to mount it in the airplane, I checked it again. No such luck, it was toast! The built in fuse didn't protect it, my bad for sure but still...., not a huge deal, at a bit over $20.00, just an annoyance. If I pursue this and get a third unit, I'll be more careful, encouraging results anyway, to a point.

 

[craneplaneguy]

It finally occurred to me to contact Solar Converters Inc. (http://www.solarconverters.com/index.php) a long time presence of quality gear in the alternative energy world. They've been around for decades. I explained my particular requirements, and Dave immediately got back to me and said he could tweak a "CV12/48-3PV to limit my amp draw from the airplane power system to my specification, and also up the output voltage to properly charge my 52 volt battery. All done in such a way that it should be idiot proof for me plus easy to hook up. A fused switchable input from the plane battery, some 14/2 high quality speaker wire taped to the lift strut going out to the battery, and I will be good to go. I'm guesstimating somewhere around 2 amps charge rate (14 vdc inflight at the battery x 9 amps=126 watts. Divide that by 58 volts=2.17 amps.

This would in no way substitute for the usual plug in charger, but be a whole lot better then nothing and it should insure I'll have a reasonably charged bike battery after landing. An hours flight should result in somewhere around 4 miles of extra range, another rough guess. Whatever, I just don't want to ever land somewhere after hauling the e bike along, and then be walking because I have a flat battery due to a prior ride with no change to use the plug in charger.

 

[craneplaneguy]

I have 50 miles on my new Montague Paratrooper Pro build now. It was an easy install other then the usual considerations one has to keep in mind with a folding bike. Once again, the frame design of the Montague lets one install a mid drive motor with minimal, none maybe, ground clearance loss. Chain stay clearance is good with minor shimming, and the chain line with the Rohloff hub is......PERFECT, and will STAY THAT WAY no matter what gear, amazing!

Yeah, I used a Rohloff, and yes, it alone cost more then the entire bike. I don't worry much about whether or not this makes any sense, I wanted one and I have one, and besides the whole e bike thing (this makes #4 for me) is hard to justify dollar wise. In for a dime etc.,moving on: the hub install was easy, and luckily the shifter cabling seems to take the required stress of getting tweaked a bit while the bike is folded just fine. The only hard part was figuring out the cable install in the twist grip, as the other wise very complete manual covered an older shifter unlike the one I had. So I muddled through, and right after I finally figured out the correct way to do it (it then took about 30 seconds to properly feed the cable ends into the twist grip, this, after a couple hours of head scratching) I for the first time turned to the end of the manual and saw an addendum that clearly covered my newer shifter cable install, piece of cake, now!

I had Cycle Monkey lace it into a wheel for me, they are the authority in the US in all things Rohloff it would appear, so it was more of that in for a dime thing and I took the easy and quick way out again. This leaves me with a new, unused Montague rear wheel with the disc brake, tire and tube, and cassette that I will hopefully sell off to whoever needs one. The Rohloff uses a "special"4 hole brake disc, that I also got from CM. A Rohloff chain tensioner was the last item that they sunk their hooks into me for. All expensive but all super high quality and complete in every detail, with no extra parts required. The "Monkey Bone" transfers the hub torque to the frame (or maybe it's the other way around) in a neat and simple way, that also will make changing a flat a no brainer. I gained 2 lbs, right at 50+ compared to 48+, between the 9 year old Paratrooper and the new Pro. I'm happy with that, as I also gained a much better front shock, a real slick rear rack that flips down into a bike stand (super handy for oiling the chain if nothing else) a perfect chain line,and 14 real honest to God gears. Future maintenance issues should be greatly simplified, changing the oil is about it, or so I understand. After a LOT of riding, if and when a full service is required, I'll send it back to CM, maybe every 5 years or so.

With the 41 T front chain ring that came with my Luna BBSHD kit and a Rohloff 17 T rear cog, it is ridiculously low geared. So much so, that I have ordered a 18T rear cog, as they are of the newer splined type that makes swapping them out a couple minutes work, so I will also have a 19 T Rohloff cog to add to the parts to resell at some point. I took it on a trail ride that has some super steep parts, and it never came close to running out of power, even in second gear. Top speed seems to be just a bit over 30 mph, less then my higher geared BBSO2 Montague. Clearly, I can afford some higher gearing while still having the low end performance I need for the trails I ride. At the same time, I also want to be able to assist at low 30 speeds when zipping around town, now I can't, so I'll play around with the gearing until I can.

Rohloffs are supposed to be noisier, if mine is, it's not enough to matter, a non issue for me anyway as I'm a bit hard of hearing, perfect! As some have mentioned, with a powerful e bike you don't need a lot of gears, I agree, and find myself shifting gears 2 or 3 at a time. I didn't go Rohloff to get 14 speeds, more the wide spread between the lowest and highest, and that it delivers in spades. The shifting is easy and quick, no grinding or other issues at all yet, I just back off a bit on the pedaling or hit the e brake if powering along. It is so quick and easy I sometimes think maybe it didn't shift , but it always does. And yes, the ability to get into any gear while at a full stop is super handy, especially on a trail that catches you unaware with real steep grades, no problemo now! At this point, all the bugs seems to be worked out, and I will assume the legendary Rohloff reliability is a given. I'll use the chain that came with the Montague until it wears out, then upgrade to something better. Now that the drama of paying for it all is over, it has a real understated look, nothing flashy to draw the eye of others, just a plain jane black bike. For a 14 speed, 2 horsepower electric folding bike that fits in my small plane, for it to look that simple and plain is the best part! It's like a sleeper of a bike. I'm using the same 11.5 AH Panasonic PF battery, which I find more then adequate for 95% of my rides, anything over that I have 2 other 11.5 AH batteries I can borrow from my other rides. Plus, Monday the guy in the big brown truck will bring my new 6 AH Mighty Mini Cube battery that I will use for the shorter rides, bringing the all up weight down to what the older Montague weighed but with a lot more capability. I have some epic rides coming up that I have been putting off until this new ride was finished Finally, it fits the airplane even better then the old Montague, hugely important as if it didn't, what good would it be, to me anyway?! The disc brakes don't have the mounting V brake things in the way when I reach past the bike into the planes baggage area, it really increases how easy it is to drag things out. The time to get it in and out is exactly the same, less then 3 minutes after landing, I'm riding off.

 

[cvin]

this is an awesome thread to read

thanks for taking the time to write it all up

what a cool setup!

 

[craneplaneguy]

I've had some really good rides with the old Montague the last few months, on one trip to Montana I used the bike 5 times in 2 days. Getting my mo gas using the Travoy bike trailer is working out great. Riding up to a small station recently with every pump being used by a large group of Harley riders was a laugh for both of us, like what I am doing on a bike at a gas station? THEN they figure out it's an e bike, THEN I tell them it all fits in a small plane nearby, and I'll be flying along side them for a bit when we all hit the road again.....it all makes traveling lots more fun and is a natural conversation starter. Traveling around by small plane is one thing, doing it with a bike is a whole different deal. Doing it with a trail worthy e bike is frankly something I have to pinch myself to believe. There is nothing worse to be stuck on the ground with no transport, after flying in like Superman, the contrast can be a real pisser. With the e bike, the fun continues once landed, instead of coming to an abrupt end.

I've also been using the little Trail Viper that I keep in the crane quite a bit. This last week I was doing crane work on a big project, lots of dust, noise etc. I drove the crane there, but come lunch time it was still set up. So....I got the TV out and 30 seconds later was riding off at a high rate of speed (since the 52 V upgrade and a new controller, it does over 30 mph), and had lunch at a nice quiet restaurant. The bike in the crane, like the bike in the plane, is really a super practical addition, besides being a hell a lot of fun.

 

[cvin]

Do you have any idea if it’s possible to put a rohloff and belt on this bike?