Fat Tire Chopper 1000w 48V

[graucho]

beautiful work! Since you have a jackshaft, that provides you with a lot of options. Have you decided on a motor yet?

Thanks spinningmagnets! yes, 1000w 48v hidden in-between the front wheel covers.


Painted and clear coated.
I made the mistake about 15 years ago by making a yearly trip down to
Southern Arizona and falling in love with the terrain and the mix of
American Indian-Mexican motif and artwork.

I have never built a theme bike. Ever. I have never named a bike either.
I always build my frames and main components of my bicycles from old bikes, spare
parts and whatever I have laying around that is weldable. One day cleaning and sorting I came
across A few old rusty horse head drawer knobs, horseshoes, pitchfork, cast metal stars.
The Mix of everything sitting there mixed together gave me a visual thought. It gave me a flashback of all of my
trips down to Southern Arizona and many trips of crossing the border into Mexico.

Since its conception I had many personal bike projects going. This bike had been put on the
back burner many times. Slowly but surely the American Indian-Mexican motif is turning into
the "SOUTH OF THE BORDER LOWRIDER"

3 coats of paint. 6 coats of clear.

For my color pallet I took blue, red, yellow and black and mixed them to make brown.
15% blue
60% red
75% yellow
5% black
and then a teaspoon of brilliant silver.

It's my own color. I call it "Steel Brown". Then I mixed another accent color which is Coco Brown.
I have never painted any bike i've built with brown, so it was a treat to try a unfamiliar color pallet.
All of the pieces are coming together. Mentoring for the High School Robotics Team has just fired up
so I will start reassembly at my leisure. Besides its 10 degrees with 20 inches of snow here. No wonder
i'm dreaming of southern Arizona.

[

 

[graucho]

I Started the battery cover side panels. The top photo is closest to the actual color. My overhead lights scream with 1000 watts like an operating table which makes it hard to take a true visual pic. Im working on getting the correct shape on my graphics. I have my graphics temp taped to the frame.

Then they will be mounted behind lexan clear to give them a high gloss look while looking through the lexan. Finally they will sandwich 4 SLA batteries. (48v) with my own mounting tech. I can't afford 550.00 batt's so I'll be towing around the extra weight.

 

[graucho]

I picked up some lexan clear for the battery cover side panels.
I cut both sides to fit the shape of the frame. I adhered the
graphics to the inside of the lexan which gives it a high gloss
sheen when looking through the clear. It is so shinny that it's
hard to take a good photo with everything reflecting into it. Even
my ugly mug made its way into a shot. :rolleyes4:

I set a few pieces of the body together to take a look. It got me
excited for the reassembly process.

 

[mateusleo]

Amazing paint job. You said you'r going to carry the extra weight about the batteries. Lithium batteries are not all about weight, but they handle more cycles, gets ou further, and they don't cost $550, you can find cheaper ones... Also, if you take in the calculus the average life cycle of SLA and lifepo4, lifepo4 will end up being cheaper, because they last alot more. If i'm not wrong, SLA will become a piece of shit after 300~ cycles, while LiFePO4 will still hold 70% of its capacity after 1300 cycles. I think you already have SLA batteries, so only think about this when they get useless, so you don't waste the money you already spent on them.

 

[SkyknightJohn]

Beautiful work. Makes me feel like the amateur that I am. Inspires me to get better and get a better shop, too!

 

[beast775]

Welcome graucho,great to see you still buildin wicked bikes! 8)

 

[m4s73r]

Thats some amazing art. But why that rim on that tire? You got this beautiful native bike and then that chrome rim? Love the tire, but it needs a rim change imo. lol.

 

[graucho]

Thats some amazing art. But why that rim on that tire? You got this beautiful native bike and then that chrome rim? Love the tire, but it needs a rim change imo. lol.

Yes, that was a good observation. During the build process that one of the first things that I thought also. The rim that was used was Power coated to match the bikes frame a few months ago.

 

[m4s73r]

That looks a lot better. How does it ride? have you finished it up?

 

[torker]

If the chrome clashes you could make one of your awesome photo covers.

 

[graucho]

That looks a lot better. How does it ride? have you finished it up?

Thanks, Perfectly balanced. Rides straight as an arrow. Not finished ... but getting close. I have to get ride of 48 inches of snow before a serious ride.

I took an old motorcycle headlight off the shelf and tore it down and made a 200lm
flashlight-bike light conversion. This little baby is as bright as a car light.

Orig Light

Light tore down with Cree P4 chip CR123A Flashlight

Paint time, and drilled out the old
wire entrance to allow finger on and off switch

Finished. Let the light scream

Lets find our way home

 

[m4s73r]

I think light is a understatement. How about "Illuminator!" lol

 

[Spicerack]

Wow. As the kids down here would say "Like, totes amazeballs!" Nice work, looks amazing and I look forward to seeing it powered up a bit more than the 1000W front hub. This thing is screaming out for a mid drive setup (either converted hub like a hubmonster or gng/80100 etc).

I agree with the battery comments but also agree that it is alot of money to spend at the outset. Better start saving!

 

[graucho]

Thanks m4s73r, spicerack!


Everyone here loves to look at photo's. I like the before and after shots. Here are a few that I paired up.

 

[mateusleo]

Have you already ride it eletrified?

 

[allen_okc]

dam dude, this bike is looking totally awesome, very kewl constructive fabrication work - pretty much what i like, putting art to work - would very much love to see the finished project when its done...

 

[graucho]

dam dude, this bike is looking totally awesome, very kewl constructive fabrication work - pretty much what i like, putting art to work - would very much love to see the finished project when its done...

Yes mateusleo, I've had it out for many test runs sloppily wired and parts hanging out here and there. :wink:

Thanks allen_okc! Yes, if it weren't for constructive fabrication work and art I would be bored stiff with my builds.

Time to do the wiring for the 48 volt front hub. I had to chop the wiring in half to get the manufactured plug ends through the frame.
I'm trying to hide as much wiring as possible.


The first shots are.... the front wheel with the hidden 48V motor sandwiched between wheel covers.
Vents were added for cooling. Currently I will only get approx 12 miles out of the current batts. All of my tests
indicate the motor running cool at this distance.
You can see the Wiring sneaking out from the axle.



I used some weed whacker line to fish the wires through the fork. There are many
different things to use to pull wire buy I haven't tried trimmer line before. (worked great)


Pulling the line up through from the bottom.



Fishing the line through the top of the fork.



Success.... that was super easy. (this time)



Continuing it through the main top tube.



Exiting through the 48v battery compartment area

 

[mateusleo]

You don't have to worry about heat in a 48v - 1000w motor. I live in a hot area in Brazil and it never brought me any problems...

 

[allen_okc]

i'll say it again very awesome work sir, i really do love this bike, outstanding craftsmanship...

 

[Ugrd]

Nice bike! I hope you take that baby on the trails around Minneapolis, if I spot you il flag you down

Cheers,
Ugrd

 

[dingoEsride]

i'll say it again very awesome work sir, i really do love this bike, outstanding craftsmanship...

Agree, Very nice

 

[mateusleo]

I'm missing new pictures and updates... please make new posts