Bike Friday and Bike E projects

[Dalecv]

Another new members first post.

My first electric bike project of the summer, a Bike Friday with a GoldenMotor kit. 36 V 18Ah SLA batteries, silver = controller, black = battery charger, and yellow = volt/ohm meter for monitoring. 16 MPH top speed, 20 miles range with no pedaling and heavy rider.

My second electric bike project of the summer, a Bike E with a Crystalyte 403 hub motor, Crytalyte 36 V 35 A controller, Cycle Analyst computer, Soneil 48 V 3.5 A charger, with 48 V 22 Ah SLA batteries. 29.4 MPH top speed. Range hasn't been adequately tested, but just did 20.5 miles, very little pedaling, Cycle Analyst speed limited to 19 MPH and used 11.76 Ah.

Third project, upgrade the first project. :wink:

 

[fechter]

Excellent!

Welcome aboard.
22Ah is a ton of batteries. You should get good range out of those.
How's the handling on the BikeE?

 

[TylerDurden]

Time for another kick stand

Tell the truth... you're Chuck Norris.

 

[Dalecv]

The handling on the BikeE didn't change in any noticeable way with the addition of the ton of batteries. It still takes a two lane street to turn around without Flintstoning. Using bathroom scales, the front wheel weighs 60 lb and the rear wheel weighs 60 lb so about 120 lb total. The BikeE is so nice to ride and has the stamina that since I finished it last week the Bike Friday just sits at home on the charger.

 

[safe]

My bike weighs 140 lbs.

I've got three 12V 38Ah SLA batteries and that seems about what you need for an electric bike if you want decent range and not to have the batteries wear out too fast.

I'm up to over 2,300 miles so far, how about you?

(I love not having to pay for gas anymore!)

 

[Smoker]

The bikeE is awesome. Is that the model with rear suspension?

 

[Dalecv]

safe, your question of how many miles I have ridden got me to check more into the capabilities of the Cycle Analyst computer on my bike and to my surprise I found it does maintain a total mile log. In the last 12 days I have gone 128 miles, used a total of 77 Amp hours of juice, and reset the trip log 12 times. 8)

It is a XL BikeE AT, the AT stands for Air Technology which is the shock. The shock does smooth out the bumps quite nicely. I have read some where that the XL model was good for riders up to 270 lb, with this rider and batteries I know that figure was conservative.

 

[D-Man]

I saw a Bike-E down at the bike shop. Can't remember if it had rear suspension though. I assume there is no front suspension? Thats looks like a good way to mount the batteries. Do you have a close up picture of the mounting brackets and hardware?

 

[Beagle123]

That looks like really nice work. You did a great job with the batteries. I think the most difficult thing converting a bike is placing SLAs on the frame. The first bike looks like it would feel nice to ride because your weight is in the back, and the batteries are low in the front. I think when people try to put them on the back rack the bike starts to ride weirdly.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Dalecv]

No front suspension. Below are the pictures I took of the build process. I chose UB12220 batteries because they have the most Ah for their case size and are 3 inches wide and fit between the crank arms which are almost 4 inches. I had to lower the last battery to allow the cables to exit the frame. I used all-thread for the connecting rods with nylock nuts. I used aluminum purchase from a local salvage yard for the bracket frame pieces. I mounted the controller on another piece of aluminum attached on the all-thread above the battery brackets on the top of the frame. The batteries are held in place by tightening up the brackets and clamping the batteries between the lower bracket and the bike frame. The last battery has an aluminum top bracket to clamp it in place. One problem is that the chain will rub the battery bracket connecting rods if I use the largest couple of rear sprockets, but I don't have to use those sprockets now.

I spun the front axle in the fork slots so I added the wrench to prevent this from happening again.

 

[The7]

Both of your ebike are front wheel drives.
How do you compare them with rear wheel drives?

 

[7bobw]

How many miles do you have on the Bike Friday? Which model is it? How does it handle? Do you think the front fork is strong enough for the motor on the Bike Friday? I am thinking about putting a Bionx kit on my Bike Friday.
Thanks for the info. Both bikes look good.

 

[docnjoj]

Front hub Bike-es are really great! That is one cool battery mounting.
otherDoc