parajared
10 kW
For build five I said to heck with off-road abilities; I wanted something tailored for endurance street use.
It happened again; I went with a sensorless controller, this time intentionally even (the last motor ended up with fried hall sensors) and I put a Vuelta 60t chainring on the front because the stock chainring was just pathetic for top speed. I built the battery bay huge: (e-bike wise) big enough to hold a whopping 1760 watt hours of hobby lipo.
I built the battery bay from thrift store bedframe and I welded some braided steel to make a battery lock of sorts. I also delved into some amateurish upholstery and made a little squishy foam enclosure for my lipos. Padded cells seemed oddly appropriate for rc hobby lipo.
Total price minus batteries: about $1200
KMX Typhoon: $700 “in new condition” (actually not) off e-bay
EM3EV MXUS: $200
Lyen 12 fet Sensorless: $150
Thumb throttle: $20
Three way toggle: $20
Vuelta 60t chainring: $45
Epoch 11-32 freewheel: $30
Bedframe: $2
fabric and foam: $15
Battery: 44volts 20ah swappable to 10ah 18s depending on what mood strikes me
Top speed: mid 20s mph on 12s, mid 30s mph on 18s
Efficiency: 10watt hours per mile if I do pretty much all the work and go slow as heck, 20watt hours per mile is about par for the course, 40+ watt hours per mile when I'm lazy and want the bike to do all the work.
update 5/24/13
I was pretending the trike was a luge and bombed down the side of a mountain. I was flying along pretty fast and caught one wheel in a pothole and it violently yanked me sideways. Fortunately I didn't flip but slid sideways for a while ripping the tire clean off and giving the stock 16" rim got one heck of a bend. I switched to 20 inch rims which aren't as squirrely at high speeds as 16s and allow you to drop off curbs without scraping. You don't feel the bumps of the road as much buy they make the trike a tinch more flippy so no more encounters with potholes, or hard cornering.
update 7/17/13
I'm starting to do distance runs. I did a 72 mile trip the other day using just a mere 1650 watt hours of power. I was amazed at how easy it was to maintain my top speed with just a paltry amount of power helping me along. I'm starting to have as much fun playing with low power for the distance as I am with high power.
update 1/6/14
Little fleks of dirt seem to make it past the mud flap and peg me in the back of the neck. I tried taping a piece of cardboard to the flap with limited success, then I found a bike rack at a garage sale. Rear rack seems to be the best solution to the lousy mud flap problem.
update 9/25/14
I took the Black Bullet on a 185 mile road trip to the Grand Canyon. Read about it here: My first cross-country trip: 185 miles
Update 5/2/16
I built a solar attachment for my e-trike
update 5/20/16
the Black Bullet goes on a 251 mile solar ride
update 9/28/17
I left Arizona and did a 207 mile ride in Utah
update 10/1/17
KMX gets some new upgrades
-panniers added: after I attempted to get around for a while on a pencil thin tire road bike solely off leg power I thought not having an electric motor kinda sucked! I sure did miss the comfort of a bents and sold my touring rig but decided to keep the panniers. I like them because it kinda hides the motor and its nice to have the extra storage space.
-rear bag added: after swapping the rear rack with a pannier rack I started having fleks of dirt pelting me in the back of the neck and I added a rear bag to block the dirt. Also works nicely as a Subway sandwich holder.
-switched to Trisled 70t chainring: minor issues with throwing a chain on my Vuelta 60 tooth chainring; Trisled chainring has a little plastic lip on the edge that helps keep the chain from flying off. Issues with leg cadence- I can only comfortably spin my legs and help propel the trike to about 24mph or so with 60t/11t. I can hit 28mph or so at a somewhat spastic leg cadence with the 70t ring.
-switched over to Multistar 10c batteries due to better wh/weight ratio (compared to Turnigy 25c batteries)
update 9/16/19
Black Bullet goes to Skull Valley Loop Challenge 2019 consuming 1640 watt hours to complete 54 miles in 2hrs 3 minutes
update 2/12/23
Black Bullet now powered by weed-whacker batteries (EGO Gen3 5ah x2 + TerraFirma adapters). For some reason it makes sense to me to use the same batteries that I trim the yard with to also power my bike.
It happened again; I went with a sensorless controller, this time intentionally even (the last motor ended up with fried hall sensors) and I put a Vuelta 60t chainring on the front because the stock chainring was just pathetic for top speed. I built the battery bay huge: (e-bike wise) big enough to hold a whopping 1760 watt hours of hobby lipo.
I built the battery bay from thrift store bedframe and I welded some braided steel to make a battery lock of sorts. I also delved into some amateurish upholstery and made a little squishy foam enclosure for my lipos. Padded cells seemed oddly appropriate for rc hobby lipo.
Total price minus batteries: about $1200
KMX Typhoon: $700 “in new condition” (actually not) off e-bay
EM3EV MXUS: $200
Lyen 12 fet Sensorless: $150
Thumb throttle: $20
Three way toggle: $20
Vuelta 60t chainring: $45
Epoch 11-32 freewheel: $30
Bedframe: $2
fabric and foam: $15
Battery: 44volts 20ah swappable to 10ah 18s depending on what mood strikes me
Top speed: mid 20s mph on 12s, mid 30s mph on 18s
Efficiency: 10watt hours per mile if I do pretty much all the work and go slow as heck, 20watt hours per mile is about par for the course, 40+ watt hours per mile when I'm lazy and want the bike to do all the work.
update 5/24/13
I was pretending the trike was a luge and bombed down the side of a mountain. I was flying along pretty fast and caught one wheel in a pothole and it violently yanked me sideways. Fortunately I didn't flip but slid sideways for a while ripping the tire clean off and giving the stock 16" rim got one heck of a bend. I switched to 20 inch rims which aren't as squirrely at high speeds as 16s and allow you to drop off curbs without scraping. You don't feel the bumps of the road as much buy they make the trike a tinch more flippy so no more encounters with potholes, or hard cornering.
update 7/17/13
I'm starting to do distance runs. I did a 72 mile trip the other day using just a mere 1650 watt hours of power. I was amazed at how easy it was to maintain my top speed with just a paltry amount of power helping me along. I'm starting to have as much fun playing with low power for the distance as I am with high power.
update 1/6/14
Little fleks of dirt seem to make it past the mud flap and peg me in the back of the neck. I tried taping a piece of cardboard to the flap with limited success, then I found a bike rack at a garage sale. Rear rack seems to be the best solution to the lousy mud flap problem.
update 9/25/14
I took the Black Bullet on a 185 mile road trip to the Grand Canyon. Read about it here: My first cross-country trip: 185 miles
Update 5/2/16
I built a solar attachment for my e-trike
update 5/20/16
the Black Bullet goes on a 251 mile solar ride
update 9/28/17
I left Arizona and did a 207 mile ride in Utah
update 10/1/17
KMX gets some new upgrades
-panniers added: after I attempted to get around for a while on a pencil thin tire road bike solely off leg power I thought not having an electric motor kinda sucked! I sure did miss the comfort of a bents and sold my touring rig but decided to keep the panniers. I like them because it kinda hides the motor and its nice to have the extra storage space.
-rear bag added: after swapping the rear rack with a pannier rack I started having fleks of dirt pelting me in the back of the neck and I added a rear bag to block the dirt. Also works nicely as a Subway sandwich holder.
-switched to Trisled 70t chainring: minor issues with throwing a chain on my Vuelta 60 tooth chainring; Trisled chainring has a little plastic lip on the edge that helps keep the chain from flying off. Issues with leg cadence- I can only comfortably spin my legs and help propel the trike to about 24mph or so with 60t/11t. I can hit 28mph or so at a somewhat spastic leg cadence with the 70t ring.
-switched over to Multistar 10c batteries due to better wh/weight ratio (compared to Turnigy 25c batteries)
update 9/16/19
Black Bullet goes to Skull Valley Loop Challenge 2019 consuming 1640 watt hours to complete 54 miles in 2hrs 3 minutes
update 2/12/23
Black Bullet now powered by weed-whacker batteries (EGO Gen3 5ah x2 + TerraFirma adapters). For some reason it makes sense to me to use the same batteries that I trim the yard with to also power my bike.
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