Cyclone Problems

[nsasch]

Hi all,

I've been working on getting my Cyclone motor to work nicely. It has a double freewheel on it.

I've noticed while running it on a trainer, that there is a wobble in the freewheel. After taking the freewheels off, the shaft is actually wobbling. I haven't taken off the gearbox though.
Is this normal for a Cyclone motor? It seems like someone didn't center something properly in a mill.

Also, I forgot about the complexity of adding a chain tensioner for the front chain (since I still have gears up there). As a solution, I've considered doing away with the double freewheel, and running a chain to the largest chainring in front. How necessary is a crank freewheel? I always pedal about 100-150W, even when the motor is on. Will I feel my feet being dragged around? Will the cadence mess me up?

I thought the double freewheel would be the solution to pedaling, motoring, and hybrid-ing. And, for the record, using a Watts-Up meter and a PowerTap wheel, I've calculated the efficiency to be from 45-60%. When I add a chain tube to help deal with some chain angle alignment, it should increase. The 45% is for the rear cogs that create the largest angle with the motor.

Thanks for the help,
Nick

 

[jondoh]

this wobble is the reason i sold my cyclone kit. what's happening is that the high torque being applied to your chain ring has caused your freewheel to start to spread apart. there's no way to fix it either. you just have to replace the freewheel on your cranks. I replaced mine once and it still happened.

 

[nsasch]

you just have to replace the freewheel on your cranks.

My problem is with the freewheel on the motor gearbox. I don't have a freewheel on my bike's cranks (yet).

Are you talking about a Cyclone part?

 

[jondoh]

sorry, my bad. yes, i was refering to the freewheel tht cyclone had in their kit.

you could see the gap between the two halves of the freewheel had grown.

that cyclone motor was pretty torquey

 

[j3tch1u]

you need to loctite the inner sprocket and lock the outer freewheel against that. the extended bb spindle tends to flex when you pedal. if you don't have a chain tensioner on both segments, hard pedalling and/or torque results in opposing lateral forces on the freewheels that could cause them to loosen. i'd suggest you put a hanger mounted tensioner on the back segment and a bb mounted one on the front. also make sure your bb is tight. don't even bother with the plastic cyclone idler--the bolt will bend (and if you're not careful break off and slingshot into someone's eye) good luck!

 

[nsasch]

Thank you j3tch1u!

I'll try that, and see how it goes. The picture is always nice to have.
I have a recumbent, so it makes things involving the chain a lot more interesting.

I also still have gears on the back, and can't change the rear wheel's hub to be gear-less, since it's a PowerTap wheel.

Cyclone/Headline Motors has a good idea, if only they made their product a little better.

After taking the freewheels off the first time, I noticed the washer was on in the wrong direction. Flipping that around, and adding my own washer of just the right thickness, helped some of the problem. The freewheel would click into two different positions.

So I'll try the derailleur for the front. Next step will be running it in-line with a good idler and bolt and have it pull my feet around, too.