Elec-Trek Fankenstein

[moostrodamus]

Howdy,

This is my e-bike, the "Elect-Trek Frankenstein (mwahahahah...)

The bike is a Trek 820 steel frame bike with a Nine Continents 2807 motor and a Crystalyte 24-72v 30 amp pedal first controller from ebikes.ca. Battery is a Ping V2.5 48v 20ah bought from Ping's site. The Fairing is a "ZZipper 88 MTNBKZZ from zzipper.com. "Flinger" type box I got at Canadian Tire.

I ride to work and back a total of 40km(24miles) a day. Everything works good, a nice reliable machine.

Moo

 

[Russell]

Howdy Moo,

Nice ride. I am curious about how you like the fairing. I was considering one like that for cold weather riding; have you used it in low temps yet? Also does the fairing increase your top speed at all?

-R

 

[moostrodamus]

Hi Russel,

I just got the fairing this week (monday), coldest ride was 12C (53F). As a unscientific test I didn't wear my gloves, hands were cool but not numb, left gloves at home the rest of the week. In general you'd feel the wind less, but yer head is still exposed. The bike feels faster in a headwind, seems to use less juice to go, but i'm planning to do a test route once with & then without the fairing to see what kind of numbers I get. I'll happily post that when I get it done. I'm pretty happy with it just for the reduced wind...

Moo

 

[moostrodamus]

Howdy Moo,

Nice ride. I am curious about how you like the fairing. I was considering one like that for cold weather riding; have you used it in low temps yet? Also does the fairing increase your top speed at all?

-R

Hi Russel,

Did my first test route with and without the fairing consecutively. First part of the route is street riding, whereby i tried to keep the bike to 32/km/h.Of course there was quite of bit of variance on the street riding, stop lights and all. Last section is a long straight away on flat ground. I was riding into the wind on the way out and held the speed steady at 40km/h on both trips with and without the fairing. The return trip on the straightaway was flat out. The biggest difference was riding in just a light bike shirt and shorts....yes quite cool with the fairing, literally my teeth chattering without it!

Some unscientific numbers:

Weather
19C (66.2F)
Wind NE 13km/h (8mph)
Relative humidity 83%

Distance 10.7 km (6.6miles)

Fairring No fairing
amps used 2.842 2.857
Watt hrs 145.86 145.84
Watts/km 13.7 13.6
MaxSpeed 54.9km/h(34mph) 51.1/km/h(31mph)

Numbers for this small sample seem to show same basic power usage with higher top speed... and not freezing to death.

My guess is when it gets around zero, i'll be very reluctant to remove the fairing for another test...but will in the name of SCIENCE.

:0)

Moos

 

[Russell]

I kinda figured any speed gains would be minimal at best. Do you have any good size hills you could coast down to see if you reach higher speeds with or without the fairing?

If I got a fairing it would be mainly to divert the frigid air on late and early season rides though it would be nice to pick up a bit of speed. It might also make more of a difference if comparing "with fairing" and "w/o fairing" when in cold weather clothing.

Oh and can you post a picture that shows how it's mounted to your handlebars?

Thanks


-R

 

[moostrodamus]

I kinda figured any speed gains would be minimal at best. Do you have any good size hills you could coast down to see if you reach higher speeds with or without the fairing?

If I got a fairing it would be mainly to divert the frigid air on late and early season rides though it would be nice to pick up a bit of speed. It might also make more of a difference if comparing "with fairing" and "w/o fairing" when in cold weather clothing.

Oh and can you post a picture that shows how it's mounted to your handlebars?

Thanks


-R

Mounting pictures:

 

[moostrodamus]

I kinda figured any speed gains would be minimal at best. Do you have any good size hills you could coast down to see if you reach higher speeds with or without the fairing?



Thanks


-R

I'm going to try and solicit a buddy of mine to come out with me and help do some testing. Because i'm in the middle of Toronto any big hills i know for a coast test pretty much have traffic on them, and lots of it...and I can't leave anything on the side of the road(like the fairing) or someone will walk off with it. I'll keep my eyes out for a good test location and see if i can manage a good coast test, great idea.

M

 

[VirgilBudBrigman]

Hi Moose,

I'm curious about this fairing and may get one shortly.

How wide is the fairing in it's widest (middle) section. (I ask because I have very wide handlebars, maybe 750mm...and am wondering about the coverage.)

Thanks!

-Derek.