Monster (build thread, Lots of pics, Bike Porn included)

[Drunkskunk]

So Pike's Peak didn't happen. I had to scedual the vacation time last Augest in order to get it, so I decided to spend that week on a beach on an island in Florida. And Of course, I brought the bike.

No normal bike rack would hold this thing, So I modified a motorcycle hitch rack to carry it. I've got a big SUV, but this thing hangs off each side by a foot. I'll post some pics later.

The Important question, will it attract women. Yes.
Sort of.

Oh, and it also handles the Sugar Sand found on the northern Gulf coast. Not the greatest, but it works. My other bike with 2.5" tires would dig 6 inches into the sand just being pushed, and sitting on it, it sank in.
With this bike, I was able to ride most anywhere, although with a top speed of about 8mph on the softest sand. I was pushing a bow wave of sand in the softest parts. On one 1/4 stretch of beach I was kicking up a rooster tail of sand the whole way as I rode through an area where many people had walked and softened the sand's surface. That may be the longest Ebike burnout yet

 

[pendragon8000]

Cool. Waiting for pics. Pick up chicks - sort of? Explain...
How'd you go cleaning the sand off? And did the motor get very hot?
Living up to your signature, nice

 

[Rix]

Ebikes and chicks go together like pizza and beer. Cant wait to see some Pics DS.

Rick

 

[Drunkskunk]

Crazy inventions attract crazy people. Their crazy inventors tend to date crazy women. and when those crazy women, who have decided the relationship was over the day before you go to a beach with endless oppertunities, but then decide they didn't mean it when you get back, and then decide to be mad about some random bikini bottom that showed in a pic of my bike, hanging from the handlebar to dry in a hotel room...
I have no regrets. I do have a few bruises.

I haven't found the SD card with the video yet. No idea what happened to it. It may have ended up in a blender. Other things did. Crazy girls are scarey when they get mad.

There's a long story here that I'm just not telling. I'm grinning ear to ear, but not telling. But the trip was great. I met up with a freind there, and we managed to get thrown out of a bar or two, get hassled by the police for various things they considered inappropriate public behavior, and got plastered on the beach drinking margaritias out of plastic sand castle buckets. Had some great food, ran up a couple 3 figured bar tabs. I even toured the navy flight museum. Its a pretty cool place, and I love old machinery. And I actualy heard someone say "They actualy made a plane out of wood?". That got me thinking, and later philosophising while drinking, in another 70 years, will people in meuseums be saying "They actualy made planes out of metal?"

And I rode the hell out of the bike. I put more miles on it in those few days than I have in any given month since I got it running. Much of that at near pedal bike speeds, Stopping to talk to people, or just enjoying the view. Bikini's come in some many wounderfull shapes and colors.

 

[ohzee]

I love your bike it's one of my favorite on the board glad to see it's getting plenty of use.

I swear all chics are crazy and the hotter the crazier.

 

[Rix]

Great Pics DS, that bike is really really big. Being on the back of your SUV puts it into perspective better than any other pics. Thanks for posting.

Rick

 

[Drunkskunk]

Salvaged some video of the ride out to Fort Pickens. Only a little bit near the end on the sand, but you can see how deep footprints sink in compared to the tires as I ride past my own tracks for a moment.

Oh yeah, Crank the bass.
[youtube]GcHl4I__1R8[/youtube]

 

[Rix]

Drunk Skunk, like the vid, those tires work well in the Florida sand. Did you 5404 get hot at anytime?

 

[pendragon8000]

Nice one drunk skunk love the bob marley remix. and as you say the tyres do really roll accross the top of the sand. I think we are all still waiting for some more hard core action though.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Thanks. No heat issues, It bearly got warm. I need to abuse this motor more.


As for action shots, I'd have to spend less time riding and more time filming.
Here's some action. I turned this video over pretty quick. I think some may flip over it. Its a new spin on camera angles. I wunder how many more bad puns I can come up with for this?
Anyway, watch it full screen. See how long you can stand it before you get dizzy.

[youtube]vCN2MECbEMs[/youtube]

 

[Rix]

I feel car sick now. :lol:

 

[Drunkskunk]

Last week I decided to test out the range and battery capacity a bit. I didn't charge the bike all weekend, and took a ride out to the lake, along with a few errands and a couple trips to the park. I'll have to look at the mileage again, something like 40 miles total I think. I had cut the battery off at ~3.65 volts, having used 16AH. Not bad for batteries that are a year old now.

Unfortunately, I found 2 banks of cells were 0.1 volts lower than the others. 3.55v instead of 3.65. That's the first time I've ever had a low cell with this pack, even with 72 cells in the pack, they've always been within 0.01v
So I dismantled the whole battery pack, and I'm balance charging the cells in the kitchen stove, siting with them in case there is even a hint of a problem. I also started the dishwasher, and grabbed a book while I sit with the batteries.

10 minutes into the book my eyes are itching, I've sort of been distracted by the book, and haven't realized the room is now full of thick white smoke. About then the coughing hits me. And the panic. In half a heartbeat I'm poised in front of the stove, fire extinguisher in one hand, yanking charger plugs from the wall with the other, ready to tame whatever firey beast may be about to rage from the vents of the stove. Its then that I notice, the smoke is coming from the dishwasher.
The water's fill cycle failed, and the heating element in the bottom is burning the soap.

Its probably the first time dish washing has ever caused me that much of an adrenalin rush.

 

[dan974]

hahah that's a good one ! I was expecting a "backdraft" kind of story...happy end

 

[Rix]

Yah, dish soap is some scary shit when confused with Lipo Thermal breakdown.

Rick

 

[John in CR]

Drunkskunk,

Thanks for reminding me that it's been way too long since I've taken an ebike down on the beach. My favorite beach has a very shallow angle and finer sand than the Florida panhandle, so when the tide is out it becomes a 100-200ft wide perfectly smooth lane with no cars and almost no people for miles. It's even more tranquil than sailing, and so relaxing. I nearly fall asleep while riding.

Now that you've spent real time with your beautiful red monster, have you found any significant detriments off road riding with the long wheelbase?

Thanks for reminding me how much I too value a silent ride. I'm headed mid-drive, but it's gotta be belt driven.

Cool runnins,

John

 

[Drunkskunk]

Man that sounds like a great place to ride. There's nothing else like riding on a deserted beach. But spotting the occasional wild Bikini doesn't hurt either.

There a whole long list of advantages to a long arm suspension. I've only found 2 problems with it. It amplifies the unsprung weight problem. I basically gave the 40lbs of back wheel an extra long pry-bar to use against the rest of the bike. Never been a real problem, but on rutted roads It can give me a good fight when it slips into a different tire track than I was expecting. The other problem is a also one of it's advantage. Its so smooth of a ride, that it can be hard to tell from the seat what the back tire is actually doing. You can get into a corner thinking the back in is tracking well and you have plenty of traction, only to find out it was bouncing and slipping at the edge of losing all traction.

Everything else is an advantage. Long arm suspensions soak up the rough stuff with less angle change, so the back wheel can stay planted better and give you more control.

I'm thinking a Mid drive is going to be my next build, too. But it won't replace this bike. The silence is too good to give up.

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

hope you lernt your lesson.
your dishwasher wouldn't have caught fire had you been charging ferrophosphates.
that bad-boy LiPo is a bad influence on the other appliances, gives em ideerz.

 

[Hyena]

hehe cool story. I was reading it thinking "that lipo balance is fine at that discharge level, why the hell would it suddenly blow up just because you removed the pack from the bike" and then... the dishwasher strikes!

I still think the bike is to blame. A few times in winter I've bought my bike gear into the kitchen to solder at the bench etc because it's too cold in my workshop. Each time my dishwasher overheats and blows up at me. For the record, ignoring her doesn't work and leaving gear on the breakfast bar over night results in the sandwich maker function ceasing to work in the morning too :lol:

 

[Rix]

hehe cool story. I was reading it thinking "that lipo balance is fine at that discharge level, why the hell would it suddenly blow up just because you removed the pack from the bike" and then... the dishwasher strikes!

I still think the bike is to blame. A few times in winter I've bought my bike gear into the kitchen to solder at the bench etc because it's too cold in my workshop. Each time my dishwasher overheats and blows up at me. For the record, ignoring her doesn't work and leaving gear on the breakfast bar over night results in the sandwich maker function ceasing to work in the morning too :lol:

Damn sandwich makers and manual dishwashers not doing what they are supposed to do.

 

[pdf]

Just read this thread. Awesome bike. Great story all the way around. Very funny part about the dishwasher. Would be funny to have your first reaction to the smoke on film.

Anyway, really cool bike. Love the frame.

 

[Drunkskunk]

I retired my rear tire yesterday. after a few hundred miles the tread was gone. I ordered a Vee Rubber Mission 4" tire, but figured I'd re-use the tube. That was a mistake. After taking the tire off, I found not just a couple of thorns, but a couple of thorns per square inch! Hundreds of thorns imbedded in that tire, all poked through the tube.
Slime works. But that tube is a pin cushion, there's no hope of patching it.

Since no one locally has a 4" fat tube with a Schrader valve, I decided to try a new approach:
21" Motorcycle tube.

Works perfect. Its a little smaller than the rim, but stretches easy to fit. 22" I think would have been the correct size for a 26" Bicycle rim, but no one stocks those. 21" will fit down to a 2.75 bicycle tire, and is cheaper/thicker than a DH tube. It has a fully threaded valve so I can add a nut. thats a good thing when you run 5-20lbs tire pressure.

I've been riding the tires off this bike lately. Trips across a dry lake, trips up nature trails, trips between towns.
Last week I took a 30 mile trip up a hiking trail. At the turn around I met a ranger who told me the trail was suppose to be closed due to the rain. That was some of the toughest trail I've rode in Texas. Mud, sand, lose rocks the size of small dogs, and climbing up 15% grade of mud/sand/rolling rocks. That's the trail that finished off the tread on my bike. the rocks and sand ate off the last hint of the center knobs. I got some video of parts of it, but Its shakey as all hell and through dappled light from the trees, so the old gopro2 never got in focus.

I've half cured it I hope. yesterday I picked up a chest mount. next time I hit that trail, I'll use it. in the mean time, here's a test video I shot on a nearly dead battery.
[youtube]evl6VH_Yg-U[/youtube]

While I was out, I snapped this shot. That's a normal sized 26" full suspension bike next to the Monster.

 

[John in CR]

While I was out, I snapped this shot. That's a normal sized 26" full suspension bike next to the Monster.

LOL! I love it. That really puts your beast in perspective. I've got my 21" moto wheels ready for a mid-drive build that will copy yours a lot.

 

[Rix]

Great vid Dunk Skunk, you still running 18S on that beast?

 

[John in CR]

Great vid Dunk Skunk

Yeah. That's what I want to build, a go anywhere the world-is-my-road ebike.

 

[100volts+]

Drunk Skunk,
Are you any closer to wanting to sell frames? No paint, no components. Just frame and bb. It would be an instant hit.