Inner city transport options? DIY or not...

[Siress]

I'm moving to Atlanta in 6-7 months and am trying to work out my housing situation; which is highly dependent on my inner city transportation, obviously. The primary options are to live on campus or not. The rest of this post is analyzing the 'not' option. So, inner city transportation including on-campus travel; motorized vehicles are, strangely, not mentioned in the code of conduct.

My 'diy' experience is rather extensive. I'm the son of a plumber/carpenter, grandson of a master welder, an engineering student in a transfer program for GA Tech, have worked as a CNC machinist for 18 months, have built well over 50 PCs/servers, understand several programing languages and spent a year as a professional paintball gun tech (surprisingly complex systems that involve pneumatic operations and, in my case, a lot of electronics). I look forward to the work involved in a project, but I have some unfortunate time constraints to deal with. I suspect I can spend ~220 hours on this project over the next 5 months.

Electric bikes:
I like this option for two reasons, ample bike parking and it seems safe compared to the next option. I believe I could construct my own and use a battery unit that I could carry with me while the bike was parked, as a theft deterrent. Another benefit of this choice is that I can use it without the electrics being functional and I can start off with a quality bike.

Electric skateboards:
I really like this option because it's fast and seems pretty cool, but I fear it's use would be severely limited by weather conditions. Another thing is that I've never owned a skateboard before. I've ridden them a few times but I never mastered it. My only problem was sustained propulsion...and that I weighed 300lbs at the time (195lbs now).

Comments? Suggestions? 'Just ride the freakin' bus, kid'? Thanks for the consideration.

 

[dogman dan]

The cool factor of an electric skateboard, or similar device with handlebars is going to depend on two main things. How far do you need to ride? and do they bust you for it? In most states in america the motorised skateboard and scooters are illegal on sidewalks and roads. But the question is, do the cops give a hoot? You need to get in contact with locals for an opinion on this. If long distances are your need, then you need the speed and range of a good ebike. This option is legal most everywhere, and if not, stealth is easier to achieve on the bikes as long as you keep the speed looking normal.

Folding ebikes are the way to go if you need to go into elevators and trains, but hopefully you will be able to use bike racks on the bus. I found that a pretty practical way to go myself, using the bike to make getting from where the bus goes, to where I want to go easier. A medium long ride on the ebike would save a lot of walking, or riding in circles making transfers. Expect to spend at least $1500 on a really good ebike motor and lifepo4 battery pack.

 

[pwbset]

as a theft deterrent --- I can start off with a quality bike.

Get a crap old steel frame bike that you don't if it's stolen or not and make it as stealthy as you can with as many removable e-bits as possible . I had a nice mountain bike stolen a couple years ago in a town of 6,000. It was locked and behind a bush out of site. Gone in less than 6hrs. *sigh* No one has looked twice at my ebike 'cause it's from the 90's and all covered in wires and crap. Not stealthy per se, but ugly.

A folder you can take into class etc. might be your best option... make sure you create a build thread over in Photos section!

 

[michaelplogue]

Several questions come to the fore in order to get an idea as to what you're looking for:

• ~ How much are you willing to spend?
  
  ~ What do you expect your round trip distance to be (max)
  
  ~ Would you need to be able to take this vehicle on public transportation (bus, train)
  
  ~ Would you expect to have to carry this up stairs (apartment, work, school)

 

[dogman dan]

I couldn't agree more about ugly being a theft deterent. Since an ebike peadles itself, some folks choose the cheapest possible beach cruiser for a bike to electrify. Spray it flat black like it's allready been stolen once, and you can just about leave it unlocked.

 

[paultrafalgar]

Welcome to the Sphere, Siress. You probably thought of this but just in case ya didna:
You've not quite ruled out living on campus yet? Why not choose an are of Atlanta you might live and hire an ebike and ride it on the resultant route? It's going to be a big part of your life so why not test it first? Just my 2p worth.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Siress]

This place is awesome. I'll just take things in a linear progression.

Dogman, thanks for giving me the heads of the legality of the electric skateboards. That just seals the deal on an ebike.

Pwbset, I've yet to see a folding bike that I liked and was in production. Care to offer some suggested bikes? If/When I build a ebike, there will be loads of in-progress pictures.

Michael, depending on the distance I can get on a charge, ease of use, and durability I could spend up to $2.5k on this project. The distance is variable at this point. However, anything more than 10 miles and I'll just take a train or bus. Taking the bike onto a bus or train would be GREAT! I didn't know this was an option, honestly. I've never seen a bike rack on a public bus; or lived in such a large city. A professor recommended some 'too good to be true' apartments that are located directly by a Marta station. I can ride Marta to within .5 miles of campus, but I'll probably traverse 4 or 5 miles per day. Carrying the bike upstairs and stuff isn't an issue until it starts to get to the 150lb mark, considering I'll probably have an 60lb backpack as well. I don't expect I will have to, but I haven't concerned myself with it to be honest. Is it a common occurrence?

Paul, thanks for the welcome! I don't know were I could rent an ebike, but I don't have the time for that even if I could. Worst comes to worse, I'll just stick to the usual public transportation.

Nuts&Volts, that is a fantastic source of information and parts! Thanks. I don't know if I want to cheap-out on this project, though. I believe I'd rather do it right the first time and sell it if I don't require it later.


I'll probably get a rather cheap mtn. bike that functions great and spray paint it, as suggested here. Besides, I can take off the e-bits and tear up the trail some time. Does anyone else here make their own battery packs? I've done this for RC cars and paintball guns, so I have the urge to check out the price difference from one I can build and one I can buy. However, I haven't found a place to get cells with such large specs.

Thanks everyone,
Siress

 

[Anonymous]

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[dogman dan]

Now that I see your budget, Just go straight to ebikesca for the crystalite stuff. If you want speed the big motors do it. Many many folks are very happy with the 408 though and at 48v or above, they go plenty fast enough to get hurt bad in a crash. On the donor bike, it doesn't have to be cheap, so much as look it to help deter theft. Amazing what a specialized logo can do to attract thieves. These druggies may not know Trek from Huffy without the badge. Even just keeping it muddy on the frame can do wonders. Around here, the busses had to have bike racks, the walk to the bus stop can be several miles.

Another option not discussed is an elecrtric street legal scooter. Usually this is a moped by law most places. They have peadles, but they are decorative for legal purposes. If you ever have a problem they are nearly impossible to peadle home. A converted bike, while hard as hell to peadle with a dead battery, can be ridden home. The internal geared bike hub motors can be peadled quite easily since they have a freewheel built in. Regular hub motors have some noticeable drag when riding without power.

 

[michaelplogue]

Another possible option would be an electric, stand-up scooter. The Goped ESR is one of the best out there, and they now have a full suspension, lithium version for sale. They are very portable, can travel around 20mph, and depending on which battery configuration and what mode you ride it (turbo vs economy), can travel anywhere from eight to twenty-eight miles a charge. They can fold up and be carried onto a bus or train (usually can fit under the seat). With the lithium being the only battery option they have now, they are a bit pricier then their original SLA versions. But the range and life-cycle that the LiPo's provide are worth it in the long run. I've still got an SLA ESR, and it's a great little scoot - I put nearly 3,000 miles on it the first year I had it.

http://www.goped.com/Products/ESR750HoverLI-Ion/Default.asp

Another stand-up scooter option would be the Diggler. You can buy one pre-configured with an electric motor, or build your own like I did.

http://www.digglerstore.com/scooters_electric_01.html

(Mine)

The downside with these sorts of scooters is that if you run out of juice, you've pretty much got to push them - they are simply too heavy to try to 'kick' any distance.

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[dogman dan]

Those are all Illegal on the street where I live. Like I said about skateboards, locals can tell you if the cops give a damn. In my town the town police would likely let you ride all over as long as you stayed on bike trails , bike lane, didn't terrorize the sidewalk, etc. But the instant you rode that on campus you'd be busted by the campus police. In places where the cops ignore you, those kind of scoots are the best for taking on the bus or subway. If those are cool locally, you will know right away just by the number of em you see.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Siress]

Thanks for the insight everyone!

Here's my list so far:
Good condition mountain bike w/ great suspension and brakes: spray paint black or what ever
LiFePO4 36V 20Ah with charger for $460 : http://www.pingbattery.com/
Crystalyte 408 front wheel motor for $280 : http://ebike.ca/
Crystalyte 36V 20A peddle first controller for $95
Twist throttle for $15
Cycle Analyst ? $135

I may end up making my own version of cycle analyst. A bluetooth transmitter would allow my phone to compute the information and upload it to my computer when I get home, allowing dynamic ride data. Do bike/ebike riders do that already? Like the Nike+iPod thing, but different competitions based on efficiency, speed, distance, etc.

 

[michaelplogue]

If you want an all-inclusive data logger, you might want to look at the EagleTree data logger. It has a GPS module, and can record pretty much everything to include throttle usage, temperatures (up to three) rpm and speed, amps, voltage, etc. All of this can be recorded and dumped via a USB cable to your computer and charted and/or read via spreadsheet. Once you start adding up all the plug-in components, it is more expensive than the CA. But it does a very nice job as a data logger for detailed analysis.

http://www.eagletreesystems.com/

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[Siress]

Thanks, Michael! That's a great little piece of equipment. I wonder if it could be programed to upload to a thumb drive whenever one is connected. Not likely, but it's possible. I just don't see myself yanking out my laptop to grab the data or going to the trouble of disconnecting and reconnecting the eLogger unit every time I wanted the ride data.