E-Bike/Motorcycle--Feasibility, Legality??

[AmericanPharoah]

Hi all,

I've been very inspired to build my own ebike ever since first seeing a Super73 on the road. I've always loved the scrambler/mini bike style, and have been doing extensive research to recreate one, on a budget of course. I would like to preface this by saying that I am currently attending Mechanical Engineering school and have just about anything I would need in terms of custom fabrication. I also have plenty of experience in that regard.

Between the frame, drivetrain, braking, etc, It seems that achieving my goal could be more feasible by retrofitting a full size motorcycle with electric drivetrain. I have been looking at some 70s-80s on road scrambler frames, since they already have lights, full suspension, brakes, and chain drive components that could be compatible with the retrofit. I would like for this to remain as close to an 'ebike' as possible, as there are many here that run around relatively unregulated and I would prefer to not get a motorcycle license for now, and I think the overall conversion would be good to incorporate with what I currently study. Has anyone done a conversion on a motorcycle to ride on the street, without too much trouble from the police?

 

[amberwolf]

you don't give your location, but if you're in the united states as your profile indicates, then to legally ride a motorcycle (converted or not) you'll have to meet the state laws wherever you live, for registration, title, insurance, license plate, and motorcycle-class driver's license for the rider.


if all you want is an ebike, that's completely different, but if you want to be legal you also have to comply with your state laws defining a bicycle, and any ebike-specific laws as well.

if all you care about is what you can "get away with", well, that's going to depend on each specific law enforcement officer you interact with, as well as how you ride and where you ride, and probably what you are riding. that part we can't really help with, especially without specifics on what area of what city in what state you live in (because even different areas of the same city may have different leo responses to the same situations). even then, only someone that lives in the same area of that same city, and rides the same type of bike the same way you want to will have any useful data for you on leo response. so you'd also have to specify that, too.


some general experience garnered from years of this kind of thread, as well as threads discussing leo responses to various riders, is that if you ride within the law for that kind of bike (bicycle speeds for unlicensed bicycles, motorcycle speeds for licensed motorcycles, for instance), and ride safely with traffic per the rules of the road wherever you are, you're not nearly as likely to experience a problem.

but it also depends on what you ride. if you ride something intended to be a bicycle, but that looks like a scooter or moped or motorcycle, but it doesn't have a plate on it, or whatever else is legally rquired where you are for a bike of those types, you can expect to be noticed and perhaps harassed about it.

if you ride something intended to be a bicycle that looks like a bicycle, you might even not be noticed going a little faster than bicycles usually go, especially if you're pedalling all the time.


for the unusual, like my sb cruiser trike linked in my signature: i generally have no problems with anyone; i ride on the roads (in bike lanes if present, usually, depending on road/lane conditions), 20mph cruising speed, and unless my joints are really hurting, i also pedal, evne if it's what's often called ghost pedalling, as i'm only controlling the motors with that rather than inputting power myself. but if i don't pedal at all, and use only a throttle, i will sometimes have a leo keep pace with me for a while, probably trying to figure out what exactly i am and if they should stop me or not.

when i used to ride the bike version of the trike, the crazybike2, it rather looks more like a low-seated motorcycle, sort of, with large panniers on the back. so even when i pedalled (but especially if i did not), i did have leos follow me a ways, and a couple of times stopped to ask questions that seemed specific to determining if htey should ticket me or not (but since what and how i ride is completely legal, none ever tried).

i have dot lighting as well as bright downlighting and other lights that make the trike (and bike) quite apparent on the roads, it may not actually make me safer but it certainly makes far more people give me the whole lane than if i were on a regular bicycle with a tiny blinkie or whatever. or even if i were on a motorcycle with the common fist-sized or smaller lights (often fairly dim) those tend to have. i've actually had leos thank me for the lighting, and had some of them wish out loud that everybody did. :lol:

 

[amberwolf]

now, about feasibility.

detailed help also requires complete information about where and how you're going to ride, such as terrain, winds, guesstimated weight of bike, your weight, cargo/passenger weight if any, speed you will ride at, range required at what speed, whetehr it's continuous riding or stop/start traffic, etc., and any other details you can give.

also need some budget info if you want help sticking within it; if your funds are unlimited then advice will be unrestrained.


if you only need relatively short range at non-highway speeds, converting an existing motorcycle can be relatively inexpensive, but if you need fast and far, it's probably cheaper to buy a commercially-produced one. it might cost you several thousand dollars at a minimum, not including the motorcycle, depending on what you want to do.

for typical usage, ebikes are much simpler than motorcycles, partly because of weight and speed rquirements, and partly because most people can't ride one all that far even if they wanted to. a few dozen miles is tops in one ride for most people, and typically not even that, just because of the seating, and often because they don't get a bike that's fitted to them (which is very important if you want to ride a long ways or if you want to be comfortable and not injure yourself slowly over time riding it--this is the main reason i have joint issues; i've always ridden bikes as main transportation, and ive never had one that fit me--just whatever i could get cheap, until i started building my own from junk/scratch. so the wrong fits made me use my muscles/joints differently than they were "made" for, probably just a little, but it wore them out faster because of this, and because i put a lot of load on them, for basically my whole life. :/ )


anyway, an electric bicycle (ebike) for typical usage is much much cheaper and simpler than a motorcycle conversion. it might cost less than a thousand dollars, sometimes only a few hundred.

if you really like a challenge, since you have fabrication capabilities, if you also ahve good scrounging abilities, you can probably build a bike out of almost completely recycled / used parts for nearly nothing, depending on what you need it to do. that's what my crazybike2 started out as, and that's usually the basis for most of my projects.

 

[Dauntless]

Yeah, feasibility itself is easy, but what do you REALLY want? Do you mean something like the Monkey Bike? There are Chinese knockoffs that'll probably never miss the gas engine if you do a good job replacing it.

Or maybe a Honda Grom? Again, readily available knockoffs. https://www.powersportsmax.com/product_info.php/cPath/482/products_id/21854 Or even electric versions already on the market, though as always they seem a bit underpowered and still over $2k. It's done with a QS motor/swingarm which is a replacement you could do with BIG power. I'm sure that 125cc engine would bring you at least a third of what it cost to take the bike home.

My post broken back vision of a project is this bike with a crank motor. Perhaps I was delusional with pain but I thought I saw a 5kw QS for it, but I can't find it now. Well, there's Cyclone, BaFang, etc. So you have pedals, it's a bicycle. Register this. You'll have to come up with a bottom bracket.

Oh, you want to alter those numbers to read 180-300w, or the like. I think to match the removed engine you have to top 5kw, but that's all speculative at this point.