Dogmans 5304 Fuji Blaster

[dogman dan]

As usual I forgot the before pix. This Fuji Blaster, 24" steel frame was pretty sad, nice and rusty, everything plastic on the handlebars sun rotted, etc. Paid $20 for it for the parts never thinking I'd ride it. Then along comes Dirtdad's ad for some used motors. So I bought a 5304 with bad halls in a nice fat 24" rim at a pretty cheap price. The only decent forks I have are 26" so why not? Handlebars replaced with taller ones, seat with softer one. The result is a semi chopper 24" rear, 26 " front dirtbike. After a test ride this afeternoon a few issues will need fixing. Definietely a stronger rack is in order, but they want a fortune for good ones at the LBC, and Wallmart has none with support stays. Some electic conduit pipe should do the trick, like I did on another bike. Number two issue is the 48v 8 ah batteries. Even running on a 22 amp WE controller, I have never seen this pack this hot on any other motor I've had. Gonna have to figure out how to buy more lifepo4 to paralell with the nicads. Maybe a headway pack for christmas.

The performance as it is now is adequate, but that is all. Speed is there, but acceleration is not, no suprise, but the batteries do last long enough to run my dogs through the desert. I'll have to wait for more volts to roar up the steep hills. As is, I should be able to do some riding on the singletracks with a nice assist up the steeper bits. As the money is avaliable, this will get a real controller, and some serious voltage batteries, mabye even 72v. I like my commuters at least close to the legal description of bicycle in the US, but this thing is intended for the gas line and fence line roads in the desert.

The handling is to say the least , interesting. Being an old dirt biker, I kinda like the way it feels. It's real light up front, and the big wheel just seems to float, and starts to skid a litte in the sandy corners. Cool, it might scare others, but I think it feels neato. A little more power to the motor and I'll be countersteering corners. 8) It's super easy to pull a wheelie if you want to. No doubt a 25 pound motor and 16 pounds of nicads on the rear wheel helps that. But I wouldn't say it feels sketchy in corners, just kinda floaty. For me, a little slip is fun. Sorry about the too big photos, I did make em smaller, but not small enough.

 

[kentlim26]

hi dogman,

Your change need some W4d, some spray with anti-rust. Chain colour had lost its shining colour. have a nice day,
kentlim

 

[Drunkskunk]

So you finaly came over to the dark side of rear wheel drive?

Good looking bike man. Have you considered running the cheap hobbycity Lipo?
55.5 volts @ 10Ah would run $300 and should provide 75 amps continous. it would also only weigh 7 pounds or so.

 

[vanilla ice]

Isn't that how some of the very first MTB's came.. 24/26". Looks nice.

 

[dogman dan]

Heh heh, right after the pic was taken, I hosed the whole chain and derialur with WD40. I was kinda suprised it worked ok, that rusty. Surely I have a better chain in the parts pile, but this bike is just getting together. You might notice the rear shifter is now stuck out there dangling till I get around to relocating it on the left side. Usually I toss the front shifters and just shift by hand when I need to.

I have done some dirt riding with the front hubs, but you can't get good suspension forks with steel dropouts too easy. I did see some better than wallbike ones at the LBS the other day on a Trek. the Fuji frame just came with no suspension forks. You get some spin on the looser surfaces on steep hills with front hub, but with rear motors, like the Ev Global I used to have, keeping the front wheel on the ground climbing steep hills is an issue. But bottom line, when I get this motor a bigger controller and more volts, you'd be an idiot to have it on front forks. Justin rode across canada on a front 5000 series, but at 36v.

I'll have lots of time to get my decision together for batteries. I need to research the lipo more, but for the moment, the wife is pissed, and I am broke again. The best time to use it will be after september anyway. The other option with appeal is the headway 48v 10 ah, which I could use on this bike or the aotema commuter, giving me dual use, and could be paralelled with the nicads I have. I do need something though, so I can get on a stronger controller without melting batteries. One step at a time, I seem to have commuter bikes sorted out, so on to fun stuff!

Lotsa motorcycles have the big front wheel, small rear configuration. What makes this one wierd is the rake angle on the headset is changed quite a bit, but I have no problem riding it. So many years on bikes and motorcycles, nothing feels that odd to me. It definitely skids into a countersteer easy, but I happen to love countersteering. I used to take a kz 750 to the gravel pit frequently, just so I could go round and round in a big donut, countersteering all the way.

 

[pwbset]

The other option with appeal is the headway 48v 10 ah

Have you seen the latest ecitypower pricelist? They have a 48v10ah for $274 with BMS and charger... that's really damn tempting even if it is a risk. Not sure shipping costs and it would have to be a 4-5C sustained pack to make it worth it, but still... tempting!

View attachment Catalogue0620.xls

 

[Sacman]

So... this is your off-road, rear drive Vee-hickle huh? Pretty nice!
Even got some decent plastic fenders to keep the dirt and mud off you.

 

[dogman dan]

Minor improvements continue, better rack, wires sorted, right length, andersons etc. Added a speedo, and get 25 mph top speed hot off the charger, with the 48v 8 ah nicads. Still havent put the shifter anywhere, I hate changing the cables in those things so not just yet. Beefed up the seatpost with a broomstick inside it. One short ride bent it pretty good. Of course, the better posts I have around are the wrong diameter. I find I hook my foot on the fender, so I'll be using it only when I have to. Not a problem if I don't peadle, but that will have to wait till I get zippier. For now it's just a nice assist at 48v. The main thing is I can ride uphill without the smoke coming out of this motor so soon.

I just love the name on the frame, it's a blaster. 8)

 

[dogman dan]

Just got back from the first ride on the real mountain single track trails. I'm very happy with the performance. I was thinking I might have to stick to the lower, less steep areas in the trail system untill I bought some higher discharge batteries, or at least something to prarallel them with. Heck no, the ebikes ca 48v nicads had plenty of power to ride these trails. I wasn't blasting uphill full throttle, but just using the needed assist while pedaling up the trail. It gradually climbs about 1000 vertical feet, but the route goes up and down many many gullies, so the total climb is more. The downhill sections give the battery a short break, which is much better than street use, which is a nonstop drain. In general, the grade is not so steep, like 5% or less, but at the tops of the trail loops, there are small sections of more than 10%

Amazingly, the performance exceeded the EV Global I had, which I thought was pretty torquey. I know a 5304 can put out the torque, but I just didn't expect to ride up the worst parts of these trails. Other motors had to walk the steepest slickrocks, but this one crawled right up, with only a 48v 22 amp controller, and some 8 ah nicads. Wow! I can only imagine what it's like for the Doc and others that have 72v or more.

The batteries stayed cool all the way, finally getting hot when I got to 100% discharged, after riding 7.5 miles. So a 5 mile ride up there should be ok, even without more batteries. The trails are so rough and technical, that you just don't want to ride fast enough to hammer the batteries.

The motor barely heated up to body temp, feeling barely warm the whole time. I have had three other motors up these trails, and all got hot, especially the Heinzmann. For desert riding off road, I finally have a suitable motor.

Like the EV globlal, the heavy rear was actually kinda nice, since I don't lose traction on the rear wheel if I stand up to pedal up a steep spot. Gotta watch the wheelies though, If you lose it and start to get off, and don't roll the throttle back off all the way, as the wheelie comes up, the handlebars rising cause you to put on more throttle. Wheeee, suddenly the bike is like a leaping fish. So you have to learn to stay on, since taking the weight off the pedals can start the wheelie. My trials riding is a bit rusty, but soon I'll stop putting a dang foot down.

Best of all, my knee feels fine. I did some pretty bad damage to the right knee last time I pedaled a regular MTB up this trail. The fun thing about being strong and old, is you get to where you are strong enough to rip your joints apart as they weaken.

 

[docnjoj]

That's a cool, powerful bike, dogman! Enjoy!
otherDoc

 

[Ypedal]

48v 22 amps.. is just choking that motor down.. get a 40+ amp unit with batteries to feed this motor properly and bring a towel to wipe the grin off you face at the top of the hill.. :wink:

Take it further with a 20" wheel and more volts, it's double the fun !

 

[dogman dan]

Send me the stuff and I'll ride it, but for now, I gotta go earn more money, and keep paying old bills. Slowly, I get stuff together, but not this summer, the new motor was the budget for awhile. I need a battery seller who wants a 72v pack tortured in a rewiew . Meanwhile, I'm really glad I don't have to park the thing while I wait. 8)

Actually though, I don't want to go much faster on these trails, they are seriously twisty, rocky, cactus studded trails. 5 mph on most of it is all the pounding I can take. The parts easy enough to haul ass on, this motor will allready do it as is. What's really nice though, is the motor doesn't melt!!!. It will be great to get the higher amp, higher votlage stuff later and do some fast riding on desert roads with more room for a boo boo. With a big battery, I could ride to the single tracks, instead of going there with the bike on the rack of the subaru. With more power, there are even more wicked power line roads really close to my house. Eventually, I want to have the whole hog, with a really nice full suspension bike, disks on both wheels, etc. But right now the total cost of this setup is about $750 and I'm pretty happy. All I had to spend right now was $200 for the motor, and another $100 and change to replace the controller and throttle I took off the commuter bike.

 

[dogman dan]

Todays activity, relocate one of the 8 ah 24v nicad packs to the frame triangle. I am using 2 of these series connected to get 48v. Originally they were bought to have 16 ah on the Ev Global, but I sold that to my brother in law.

Various parts, I did not steal the road sign, I swear it was in the garage when I bought this house, along with a cow skull. Great aluminum sheet for this.

Assembled this side , and then the other.

And installed on the bike. Viloa, now I only wheelie when I choose to, or try to climb something about 30 degrees steep. Much better, It handles much like the EVG did, except for the stronger motor.

I did some riding with my trusty ping, the v1 36v 20 ah, and with the weak controller, it does ok, speed is a bit slow, but no more than to be expected from the smaller wheel. More amps is needed, but not on these batteries. It will keep me happy for the summer, till I can afford something better.

 

[kentlim26]

Hi dogmans,

The almimum casing if can add alittle of paint, or alittle of duct tape (opionion), finally Plus some nice stickers. it will be a complete product WWu.. ! nice 100% ( Paint colour + stickers+ overall = must be matching to achieved *) sure you can feel the satifaction 100% , if you like to add a alarm, you can add inside the casing. Building a casing is certainly challenging + Fun also creative.

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, needs some blue metal flake. And I'm bummed the strapping covers the blaster logo. So I might have to put that back as E blaster or something.

As for stolen, this bike will never be taken where it could be. If it was going to be, Id be leaving it as ghetto as possible. This one will just ride from my house out to the big arroyos (gullies) a mile from my house, or get taken on the car to the mountains nearby. Either way I'll be on it to deter theft. At home of course, I'm dogman. My garage door sits open days at at time, with power tools, 3 ebikes, and a scooter visible. Nobody wants to take even a tiny chance I'd let the pack out the door. My four dogs, and 6 more in the adjacent yards keeps the alarms on 24-7. There is tons of crime in the neighborhood, and burglary is the favorite, but my block is crime free. Not even taggers.

 

[nicobie]

Nice job. I like it when I can get something built out of stuff that's hanging around taking up space.

I knew I'd see a 2 x 4 in your project, and I'll bet you used a mag 77 in the making of it.

Nick

 

[dogman dan]

Allways some stray 2x4's around my house. And I did need to take up some space, with the dinky 24v pack. I wanted to fill the whole triange so it attached better. One of my mottos. never throw metal away, but wood needs to be used within about a year. 2x4's that held sliding glass door panels heating my front porch last winter were used the other day to build the hot air balloon club 4th of july parade float. Scraps from that were right by the saw when I needed to make the battery box. Re use, re purpose. It's a newish thing some places, but in New Mexico it's been the way of life for 600 years. Santa Fe used to be 2000 miles from the nearest store.

Of course I have the classic worm drive skillsaw. Only number 3 in a carpentry career going back to 1981. Wish I could weld aluminum though. Or even steel.

 

[dogman dan]

Bump post. people hate searching.

 

[trav]

I have revived this post from 2010! I'm working on the battery mount for my bike right now, and that is a very practical solution. Everything is almost done, I can't wait to ride.