Truusje79
100 mW
About 6 months ago I bought a secondhand KMX Viper for 425 euro with the idea to transform it to an E-bike, the bike was in fairly good shape but had some wear in the gears and chain and little rust on the frame from riding it in wet western European weather, but nothing too serious.
I thought it was a very good platform to make a fairly fast and steady ride, and luckily it is.......
First I wanted a hubmotor on the KMX but I was on a budget and didn't do enough research, or there wasn't any info available ( whatever comes first ) because it was at that time a brand new product, I ended up with a Magic Pie from Goldenmotor, mucho torque for my hilly area ( eastern Belgium ) and fast enough on 48 volt, at least in the Goldenmotor figures, about 30 mph which is plenty enough for me.
I had to return it to the Goldenmotor vendor because I couldn't spoke it to my 24 inch rim and a bigger one like 26 inch won't fit on the KMX, kind of a downer to me at that time, but reading about its performance and reliability lately maybe I have to count myself lucky.
Now I got a Cyclone setup 24 volt - 650 watt, a little less powerfull in specs then the MP @ 1kW but it has good climbing performance and it is a economical setup in a way because I don't have to go to a bikeshop to change spokes, rim, gears, diskbrake etc etc....installation was a breeze, super easy once you measure everything where it needs to be.
I had the 1 chainring setup and placed the motor under the seat, out of the rain / moist and it is less noisy this way. ( it isn't really noisy at all but I thought it would be.... )
Mounting brackets are of no use because of the square frame so I drilled some custom holes to fit the M6 bolts, the motor was in close enough allignment with the chain so no fiddling here.
A heavy duty chain guiding sprocket guides the chain about 90 degrees around the motorsprocket and then under the seat to the chainring.
Before the Cyclone came I already had made 2 battery boxes out of brushed stainless steel from an old cooker hood canal to house my 4 X 12.8 volt 20 Ah Thunderskies and other electronics and made a bracket to fit one of them on each side of the wheel, sorrily the controller didn't fit between the boxes @ just 5mm short, so I had to mount it on one of the boxes ( for now ) just behind the motor, it's a rather big casing for such a low ball controller IMHO......
And now it looks like this......
I made some taillights from a couple of reflectors I had laying around and put red ledstrips in them which run off a 3 cell LiPo and had it wired so that they have brakelight ability, normal taillight runs off 2 of the 3 cells through the balancing wires @ 7.4 volt, but when braking it uses the 3 cells together @ 11.1 volt, of course I had to put 2 switches on the brake calipers ( front and rear ) to make this work, a lot of wiring involved but the end result is great and flawless.
Taillight measured 0.8 watt, brakelight has more ledstrips at higher voltage so this uses a whole 1,8 watt.
Hours and hours of runtime off my 1800 mAh LiPo.
Here you see the clickyswitch mounted on the rear brake caliper.
Finally I could ride, the whole install took about one and a half day and now I was all charged-up to take it for a spin, first ride was about 5 KM and I had about 6 chain dropouts, quite annoying due to that black plastic chain guiding wheel that does its job poorly, so I got it off right away, it was so worn already that the dustbin was and is it's last resting place R.I.P, cheapo plastic good for nothing.
Made a chain guider from nylon tubing, much sturdier and longer lasting.
Second attempt, no problem whatsoever, although the chain dropped 2 times from the front chainwheel, because with the long chain it moves from left to right when you hit a bump and then drops off so another chain guider was made for the front also.
Now for the ride, I just think it is great, the motor, although rated @ 650 watt, regularly pulls about 1150 watt and using the shifter it can accelerate just like a car, it even sounds a bit like that, sound however is not a big issue, it is much quieter then I thought it would be. ( big plus :lol: )
Hill climbing is just great, I used to walk a hill near my home, halfway I had to catch my breath a bit to continue, but with the bike in low gear it would climb @ 15 kph / 9 mph NO PEDALING, does not sound fast but then again it is VERY steap.
On the flats it hits 37 kph / 23 mph ( GPS verified with no pedaling), I think this is not bad for a bike + rider of about 300lbs / 140 kg, top speed somewhat downhill in top gear was 52 kmh / 32 mph and that was just scary
Acceleration with pedaling is fast up until about 35 kph, almost always faster then a car ( if the car is faster I just give them the jack-off / tosser move hehehe...i'm just a sorry loser )
I had a longer trip today and I calculated that the batteries would take me about 50 - 55 km / 30 - 35 miles flat out no pedaling and maybe about 100 km / 60 miles mild pedaling and 3/4 throttle...I just say WOW
especially if I think about that the same power that makes me a cup of coffee in the morning can take me about 15 km on the bike is quite astonishing to me.
Sorry for the long post.....hope you liked it
Greetz
KMXtruus
I thought it was a very good platform to make a fairly fast and steady ride, and luckily it is.......
First I wanted a hubmotor on the KMX but I was on a budget and didn't do enough research, or there wasn't any info available ( whatever comes first ) because it was at that time a brand new product, I ended up with a Magic Pie from Goldenmotor, mucho torque for my hilly area ( eastern Belgium ) and fast enough on 48 volt, at least in the Goldenmotor figures, about 30 mph which is plenty enough for me.
I had to return it to the Goldenmotor vendor because I couldn't spoke it to my 24 inch rim and a bigger one like 26 inch won't fit on the KMX, kind of a downer to me at that time, but reading about its performance and reliability lately maybe I have to count myself lucky.
Now I got a Cyclone setup 24 volt - 650 watt, a little less powerfull in specs then the MP @ 1kW but it has good climbing performance and it is a economical setup in a way because I don't have to go to a bikeshop to change spokes, rim, gears, diskbrake etc etc....installation was a breeze, super easy once you measure everything where it needs to be.
I had the 1 chainring setup and placed the motor under the seat, out of the rain / moist and it is less noisy this way. ( it isn't really noisy at all but I thought it would be.... )
Mounting brackets are of no use because of the square frame so I drilled some custom holes to fit the M6 bolts, the motor was in close enough allignment with the chain so no fiddling here.
A heavy duty chain guiding sprocket guides the chain about 90 degrees around the motorsprocket and then under the seat to the chainring.
Before the Cyclone came I already had made 2 battery boxes out of brushed stainless steel from an old cooker hood canal to house my 4 X 12.8 volt 20 Ah Thunderskies and other electronics and made a bracket to fit one of them on each side of the wheel, sorrily the controller didn't fit between the boxes @ just 5mm short, so I had to mount it on one of the boxes ( for now
) just behind the motor, it's a rather big casing for such a low ball controller IMHO......
And now it looks like this......
I made some taillights from a couple of reflectors I had laying around and put red ledstrips in them which run off a 3 cell LiPo and had it wired so that they have brakelight ability, normal taillight runs off 2 of the 3 cells through the balancing wires @ 7.4 volt, but when braking it uses the 3 cells together @ 11.1 volt, of course I had to put 2 switches on the brake calipers ( front and rear ) to make this work, a lot of wiring involved but the end result is great and flawless.
Taillight measured 0.8 watt, brakelight has more ledstrips at higher voltage so this uses a whole 1,8 watt.
Hours and hours of runtime off my 1800 mAh LiPo.
Here you see the clickyswitch mounted on the rear brake caliper.
Finally I could ride, the whole install took about one and a half day and now I was all charged-up to take it for a spin, first ride was about 5 KM and I had about 6 chain dropouts, quite annoying due to that black plastic chain guiding wheel that does its job poorly, so I got it off right away, it was so worn already that the dustbin was and is it's last resting place R.I.P, cheapo plastic good for nothing.
Made a chain guider from nylon tubing, much sturdier and longer lasting.
Second attempt, no problem whatsoever, although the chain dropped 2 times from the front chainwheel, because with the long chain it moves from left to right when you hit a bump and then drops off so another chain guider was made for the front also.
Now for the ride, I just think it is great, the motor, although rated @ 650 watt, regularly pulls about 1150 watt and using the shifter it can accelerate just like a car, it even sounds a bit like that, sound however is not a big issue, it is much quieter then I thought it would be. ( big plus :lol: )
Hill climbing is just great, I used to walk a hill near my home, halfway I had to catch my breath a bit to continue, but with the bike in low gear it would climb @ 15 kph / 9 mph NO PEDALING, does not sound fast but then again it is VERY steap.
On the flats it hits 37 kph / 23 mph ( GPS verified with no pedaling), I think this is not bad for a bike + rider of about 300lbs / 140 kg, top speed somewhat downhill in top gear was 52 kmh / 32 mph and that was just scary
Acceleration with pedaling is fast up until about 35 kph, almost always faster then a car ( if the car is faster I just give them the jack-off / tosser move hehehe...i'm just a sorry loser )
I had a longer trip today and I calculated that the batteries would take me about 50 - 55 km / 30 - 35 miles flat out no pedaling and maybe about 100 km / 60 miles mild pedaling and 3/4 throttle...I just say WOW
especially if I think about that the same power that makes me a cup of coffee in the morning can take me about 15 km on the bike is quite astonishing to me.
Sorry for the long post.....hope you liked it
Greetz
KMXtruus
) so total range should be close to 50 km/ 32 miles.