I'm thinking it needs a Banana Seat. My Black Cadillac Bike

[Mr. Danelectric]

Hi, I'm new here. I thought I'd sign up and show you what I finished building on Halloween.

Before...

(Seven speed Nexus Rear Hub, Hand actuated roller brake rear - Hand actuated drum brake front, Saddle bags from motorcycle, but could not handle the weight of the six 12 ah 12 Volt batteries. Chrome springer fork)

During...

Currently...

Boxes on the back are cut from a six-space ABS plastic Pro-Audio rack with a sawzall tool. Battery supports are Rack Rails from another Pro-Audio rack welded onto the rear drop-outs (hard to see, but they are supported by steel supports further back behind the batteries as well). Main power connector from Batteries is NL-4 Speak-on Twist-Lock Neutrik connector. XLR connector to the charger. 35 amp fuse and toggle switch from Pep Boys.

Crystalyte 5304 Hub Motor laced to 700c rim on Kona Project II 29er rigid fork. 72 Volts, 6 12ah 12Volt Batteries, on-board charger: just plug in the "tail", Custom Kickstand made from the original springer fork, easily reaches 38 + mph regularly. Range = 6 miles at full throttle constantly, 12 miles the way I like to ride it, 18 + miles if I go easy on it.

I made some videos about it:

Queen "B"
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oXe-1QNi294

Welding
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2xy1lbrw2qw

 

[fechter]

I love the battery box. How much do those cost?

I'd like to see a close-up of the part where it sits on the bike rack to see how you cut it out.

It looks like there is a LOT of room inside that, and I like that it has a handle on the top (not that you would want to carry around that much lead very often). It also looks like you've got the charger inside the box, cool.

 

[Mr. Danelectric]

Thanks for reading my post! fechter, I've been enjoying your posts in the "technical" forum - awesome stuff, man!

Originally, you could just grab the handle, and remove the whole deal, including the batteries, but it was just too much weight. My batteries are big and heavy and there are six of them.

The rack was like $85.00 from a music store, like guitar center or musician's friend, online... It's a six-space Gator... It would be a lot wider, if you got an 8 or 10 or 12 space rack. I didn't just go out and buy one, otherwise, I would have gotten it "wider". I stared at it, and emptied out all the P.A. gear, and just went at it with a saw'z-all. The handles are really tough. It's two layers of really heavy plastic sandwiching two thinner layers of plastic, all riveted together. You should be able to fill this rack up with power amps and lift the load by the handles, so I would say the handles might be rated to 80 lbs.

I drilled four holes into the handle's recessed area part of the Audio rack and through my bicycle's rear rack and bolted the whole ordeal on. Originally the Audio rack carried the battery weight, and it was too much and made the Audio rack sag and flex too much. Now, the Audio rack is basically just a cover, an aesthetically pleasing curtain for all the junk to hide behind. The side panels remove with the original hardware, for servicing. Of course, the controller is bolted to the inside of the six space Audio rack, and all the wires are tied to the rack rails inside. Also the battery chargers are mounted inside as well as a three receptacle miniature extension cord that sticks out the back, like a tail. Now that there is no heavy load for the Audio rack to support, I only used two bolts to secure it to the bicycle's rack (mainly because I lost the other two in the process of the conversion), and it is solid and secure.

The next step would be to fully enclose the rack and have the wires come through a hole with a grommet. I guess I need to learn how to use that fiberglass paper mache stuff. Unless anyone has a better idea.

I will get some pictures for you, later...

 

[Noobster]

Here's mine banana seat equipped ebike.

 

[Mr. Danelectric]

Whoa, cool. Looks like the batteries hang really low! Hard to see in the picture, but is the bike and seat banana yellow colored? Sweet!

I just snapped a couple of pics for ya, fechter.

 

[Noobster]

Here's a better picture I took today.

 

[trappermike]

WOW noobster what a beast!! Reminds me of 60's road race motorcycles.
Oh,and I-forget- your -name I like your cruiser,a rear musical battery pack....

 

[trappermike]

Danelectric...
I am ordering a "banana" seat soon ....,it's not like the old hard banana seats of the "Mustang" bike days(you have to be old like me to remember that,60's),I have found a nice long padded rectangular seat much like a dirt bike's,with a nice sinking little curve in the center to settle into. I rode motorcycles and MX bikes in my younger life,and I still cannot accept a little "pie-slice" traditional shaped seat jammed up my butt and pounding the family jewels,I see no reason for this.
I'm gonna order 1,I can order 2....
I have a friend in Taiwan who gets me any part I want,dealing with foriegn factories is not so easy. Anyway look at:
Velo Enterprise Co. Ltd Taiwan.
http://www.velosaddles.com
Model# VL-9008-1

 

[Noobster]

If you'd like to read about my bike, see more pictures and get detailed instructions for building a FWD unit like I did check my website out. electricky.googlepages.com (no www.). -Ryan