Bit the bullet!

K

KarlJ

100 W
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
295
Location
Melbourne
Long time lurker, signed up today and .....NOW AN EBIKER :)

went for the lightweight 350W MAC motor and 48V 29E type 11AH samsung frame mounted pack from EM3EV, with 528Whs and an all up weight including me around 108kg my thoughts are that the battery should last a long time on my short commute of just 22km.

Will go in the front of my C8 fixie which so far has upgraded Tektro brakes (factory jobs were junk), a sturmey archer 2 speed hub, some bullhorn handlebars and mountain bike type clipless pedals. (not that i'm a racer just easier for the uphill bits)

Will likely pick up a small triangle bag for wiring stuff and given the frame is simple Hi-tensile steel, might drill some holes and conceal the wiring or at the very least i'll do a nice job of hiding it. (pretty handy with the soldering iron)

I'm biking to loose a bit of a beer gut and unfortunately the 37 deg heat here in Perth an lack of fitness (given up smoking after 20 years too -about 10 weeks now) is keeping me from doing the 22km trek each way every day, only managing a couple of days a week ATM and excuses the others.

Ebike should help with the commute - scenic route = less taffic but killer hills vs 3km longer but basically on freeway and this is dangerous.

lessons learned so far - should have bought a better bike to start with however did leave the $1000 change to buy the ebike kit.

Just lucky wife signed up for IPL laser hair removal treatments at $1600 as i was wondering how i would ever justify it (the expense) when i get a company car and fuel card and can simply drive.

I'm a sales rep for a solar panel wholesaler in Perth, wife drives a 2012 a hybrid camry + other cars all on LPG +11.2kW solarPV +SHW on the roof hence i guess i'm a greenie and this fits the bill with my philosophy of leave it better than i found it.


Karl
 
Sounds like a solid plan. Don't fret so much hiding the wires, just run them alongside the brake cables and they blend in fine.

If your wife likes you, the cost of the bike will be well worth your improved health. If she doesn't, even more need to improve your health.

Here's the trick to keep the benefit despite having the motor. Just set a speed, then pedal up 2 mph more speed. It will take about 100w of effort, not too much in the heat, but enough to reset your calorie burn rate when you do it for 30 min per session or more. Then you will burn off fat all day even if the job is a desk job.

This may not be as fast as the bike goes, but as fast as you can pedal and still push on the pedals.

If you really want to lose some weight, cut carbohydrates from your diet as much as possible. Eat nuts instead of potatoes, and zero bread. When I went on the paleo diet, I lost 20 pounds in a month. But I'll admit, no matter how much steak I ate, I was ravenous the whole time.
 
Hey Karl, welcome!
I recognise you from whirlpool!
Post some pics of the bike when you can, and also update your location in your forum profile. Someone will tell you to do it sooner or later, may as well be now.
 
done the profile update cheers.

RE the sturmey archer 2 speed..... i wont complain about the hills as in Perth there arent that many BUT there are 2 that on my trip home without it i had to get off and walk.
out of the box a 44 :16 gear ratio and now 44:18 with 1:1 1st gear and 39% overdrive. gives 12.5% shorter down the bottom and 25% longer up top.

This achieved 2 things, A) I can get off from the lights with some pace b) i'm not done at 40km/hr can still pedal fast enough at 50km/hr which is a winner for the last 3km into work which is a poofteenth downhill......
also a winner for trip home as being a poofteenth uphill and 4km meant slogging it out at 20km/hr which is 300m/min = 10 mins of HARD YAKKA, followed by another 2km of even harder yakka..... now manageable more easily at a better cadence.

E boost probably would have saved me the $150 the sturmey wheel cost BUT MAC does freewheel and do-able without is still do-able vs the single gear which was simply beyond my level of fitness.

Problem was i bought bike as some exercise to have whilst wife was walking, do some extra side streets etc but not having a destination sucks from a motivational perspective so riding to work better idea and fixie wrong bike for that purpose but now i have it!
BUT my mate at SolarEbike reckons his fixie is the best ebike combo he has come up with thus the fixie /Efixie was always in the back of my mind.

I would have bought his kit BUT missing ebrake handles, no gear reduction on bigger than 250W motors, his bigger battery "super tube" kit still only 36V at 11.6AH which is 417WH with Panasonics vs 528Whr vs Samsung which again get great reviews.

So 48V offers lower running currents over 36V and that = more life from battery.

I'm not out for the cheapest or i would have bought the dillinger from ebay, surely full of compromises and nothing to tinker with.
I will note that the combo i got is just under double the price of the dillinger with similar looking battery frame with unknown cells.

Flogging Solar has its ups and downs, i'm lucky in that MGT made the decision a long time ago to only sell good gear hence i simply dont have
unhappy customers vs some mates flogging junk = lots of unhappy customers.

This is another reason for going with EM3EV...... no point looking at all the advice and saying stuff it i'll do my own learning and start from scratch.
Paul has been in the game a long time and appears to have settled on the MAC/Samsung battery combo and by all accounts fits the same mould as i do. Buy decent kit once and you're sorted, buy rubbish and you spend your life chasing warranty and fixing it.

I'm not suggesting everything else is rubbish and i seriously considered turnigy packs for example but with many options for chargers and LOTS of charger failure stories and a birds nest of connections to fall apart if you bought say 4x3c 5000mah packs, busting it up to charge it......

???? if i wanted to develop all of the kit required to operate safely i would but this is my first build and my years have given me the wisdom to use the learning (mistakes) of others to make my life easier.
 
Good suggestions by Dogman to losing weight. May I also add pedaling from stop signs and light up to normal speeds a little motor power to keep up with the flow of traffic.
 
Hi Karl, welcome...

Hey you wouldn't be the Karl I met at the EV show the other day at Swinburn ??

What did you think of my bike dude !!
 
nope i'm in WA and Visit Vic as infrequently as possible......not quite all family back there but no Swinbourne visit for me.
 
Ahoy Perth, AU! (From Hoser Land, about clear 1/2 way `round the world.) Welcome aboard this Ship of Fools of Alt. Reality (watt some others might rudely call it. Really, AFAIK, all HEROS here.)

Cheers
L
PS... "given up smoking"... EVerything??? Ouch! Blimey Mate... have a beer for me ("low cal" of course... I heard such a thing exists now... somewhere.)
 
Kit turned up today, being a bit of a perfectionist, took a little longer than it should.

Think kit should have had ebrake handles but not the end of the world.

quick spin in the dark and flat out she sits on 45km/h with no pedaling whatsoever!

i can still see why folks constantly need more power though.

Tomorrow's job find another less tooth sproket for the rear.
 
ROFL..... took it round to a mate who is importing flash Euro bikes (250W BOSCH mid-drive)....
they are really nice with disc brakes, nuvinci variable speed and belt drive = as good as it should get
BUT they are very cleverly limited to 25km/h for assist and 250W is it, has tried a few tricks to make it run harder
to no avail, of course there is always a way but costs mo-money!

So despite my lack of a bag to carry all the wiring and ugly non-waterproof and exposed plugs, the 40+km/h with ease impressed!

Made up a harness for the charger rig to measure incoming charge via one of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Wattmeter-LCD-Voltage-Watt-Meter-Ammeter-Power-Analyzer-60V-100A-Battery-/321328570743?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item4ad0ace177

only problem is my wireless CATEYE speedo looses signal on anything but full throttle hence difficult to work out w/hrs / km -
Just had a thought
will try shifting it to the other side of fork from the phase cable.
 
I've been looking at getting a very similar kit from Paul. Except i would go with the rear hub motor. I have 2 bikes that I could put it on but am leaning towards my specialized pitch full suspension as it has disc brakes. My older rock hopper only has v-brakes and I'm not sure they will be up to the task of the extra weight going down the big hills around here.

I have been looking for more information on the specifics of mounting the frame mounted pack as the triangle on my pitch frame is quite small. Does it need to slide on and off the mount? I would love to see any pictures or video of your setup. Specifically the mounting of the frame mounted pack.

I'm also building my first ebike and think this kit looks like a pretty good solution. Did you go with a Cycle Analyst? If not does the pack have some kind of indication of how much charge is remaining?

Cheers, Gordy
 
well i just bought a bunch of konion 1.1ah cells and i can tell you that samsung pack sounds delicious........good luck with it and i wholly agree with your lifestyle
 
pack can come off the frame yes, but no reason it cant stay there permanently either.

I didnt go with the cycle analyst as i have the wattcounter (have another one on the way to affix permanently)
and making up small loom to plug in charger it to bike was a 2min job and cost $20 vs $240 in AUD delivered for the CA.

I'll post pics as soon as my work email back up and running (Virus = down for 3 days and crippling us.....how times have changed!)

here is a pic of mountain bike with batt http://dillenger.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/7_dillenger_electric_conversion_kits.png

note that i didnt go the dillinger as the EM3EV has better everythings and came highly recommended (as it happens now i see why)
 
Hows the pics? Would love to see it...
 
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