New Member - Maryland ebiker - Build Advice

[motomech]

Riding a 30 +mph bike w/out a torque arm(a $20 part) is really dumb. You don't have a clue how easy it is to twist the axle right out of those drop-outs.
But the good news is, if you ride @ 30 mph on the streets of Bethesda, the cops will soon relieve you of your bike before you hurt yourself.

 

[Philaphlous]

Riding a 30 +mph bike w/out a torque arm(a $20 part) is really dumb. You don't have a clue how easy it is to twist the axle right out of those drop-outs.
But the good news is, if you ride @ 30 mph on the streets of Bethesda, the cops will soon relieve you of your bike before you hurt yourself.

Yea I'll pick up torque arms soon. And I was just testing out the bike. In no way do I plan to ride at that speed. Just more of a once and done since I know the bike has plenty of power.
I plan to abide by the local limits for my commute obviously.

 

[motomech]

Glad to hear it. Sorry if I over-reacted, but I was worried about you.
I just know any motor capable of 30 mph has more than enough power to destroy drop-outs in a "heart beat".
When I was riding around Kensington, chevy chase and Beth., my bike would do 22-23 mph and the cops never looked at me. There seems to be some kind of boundry in the middle to high 20's mph that makes bikes stand out.

 

[Philaphlous]

Glad to hear it. Sorry if I over-reacted, but I was worried about you.
I just know any motor capable of 30 mph has more than enough power to destroy drop-outs in a "heart beat".
When I was riding around Kensington, chevy chase and Beth., my bike would do 22-23 mph and the cops never looked at me. There seems to be some kind of boundry in the middle to high 20's mph that makes bikes stand out.

Yes agreed. When I get upto 25+ I start to feel like I'm definitely a step above any normal biker. Lol.

So I checked my rear spokes...wow...those were so loose. Had to do like 2-1/2 turns to just get them mildly tight. I'm 99.9% sure that's where the sound is coming from. I also trued up my front wheel since it was hitting the brakes as it spun. Tuned the gears even though I'll likely never use them but just in case. And I have an idea to fix my pedal but I won't get to that till Sunday. All in all I think this has turned out to be a great commuter. Now if construction will complete on my route to work...and I need a bike lock

 

[MikeSSS]

I have dealt with problems and maintenance on literally thousands of bikes during my many years as a cycle mechanic, but I've only encountered a handful of foam tires. Every single one of the bikes that was fitted with them had major wheel problems-- flat spotted rims, loose spokes, and worse. Not one of them had wheels that withstood the beating from such tires.

Tires are suspension for your wheels. The loads applied at the contact patch get distributed all around the wheel by a pneumatic tire. A foam tire loads just the part of the rim directly over the contact patch. It's the difference between a wheel that endures normal use reliably and one that doesn't.

Thanks for posting that information, it is informative, and very useful to all of us.

Best wishes,

Mike S

 

[Philaphlous]

So some good news!!! Got the front tire trued up which is great now! The rear spokes don't make any noise anymore but I still think they need to be a little tighter still, I'll work on that this weekend. I hope to get some new battery velcro straps and a real working bike lock this weekend. Hope to commute to work with it next week!!

My big concern now is safety... Im planning on leaving my bike at the metro bike hookup next to my building where I work. Well that area is slightly off the beaten path but again this frame is from 1992...not sure it'd get jacked... I also plan to take my front tire with me to my office to deter even anyone that might want the bike... Im planning on using a cheap steel coil lock with a hard key masterlock to lock the rear tire to the frame...I figure double lock will be really safe...let's hope.


The cells seem pretty balanced. Most will be within 0.02v of each other. The worst I've seen is during charging one will be like 4.2 and the other will be around 4.16...it eventually levels out.

 

[Philaphlous]

I tacked on 15 miles on Sunday morning with my bike. Rode amazingly well but GOSH I hate bumpy roads... If this becomes a reliable commuter I may end up looking into replacing the front fork with a suspension fork...The bumps are nuts. I guess I just need to slow down. Anywhere from 15-20mph is a nice steady cruising speed with the bike. If I'm on smooth road and nobody is around, 25-30mph is nice to have...

I ended up getting a 23" 3 velcro straps for my battery. Those work perfect for holding my battery in place! I still need the bike lock but other than that, things should be great!

The battery is holding up so well! I'm trying to limit myself to 30A bursts which from my understanding is the limit of the cells (2C discharge = 4A per cell, ~30A total) but not sure if going over that limit is going to do any real harm. The BMS is rated for 35A continuous - 100A peak, not sure what 2C cells can take for short bursts but I try to keep it within the limit... The spokes on the rear wheel are nice and tight with no issues anymore! The controller stays nice and cool because 1 it open to the air between my legs underneath the seat but also the tire spinning adds air to it also... so that thing stays nice and cold even after 15 miles!

I'm recharging the battery right now. I'm not sure if its the over voltage that the charger applies to the battery but it tends to cut out around 54.2-5.3v instead of 54.6... The cells are quite balanced, within 0.01v of each other so I'm quite happy with that. My new addition includes a phone mount also which is a little wobbly with hitting bumps...not much I can do about that but it works great! I use the same phone mount for my car as my bike so I can just detach the car adapter and put it right on my bike, super simple! The Volt/Amp/Watt gauge I've got works great and I love it, however, it displays an incorrect voltage... its about 1.5V too high... so I'm bummed but I have that in mind when I'm checking the voltage on my rides.

Man this bike makes me want a motorcycle...

 

[FlightService]

Just checking in to see how it is holding up. I have a Specialized Sirrus Sport Disc I just picked up for this very purpose.

I'm right across the Potomac from you too.

 

[Philaphlous]

Just checking in to see how it is holding up. I have a Specialized Sirrus Sport Disc I just picked up for this very purpose.

I'm right across the Potomac from you too.

Bike is doing great! Tacked on another 15mi yesterday...actually did my commute to work and back before the rain and the trail is pretty crappy...it's fun but not boring either, just a ton of turns. Bike is holding up well! The battery is rubbing alot on the controller u bolt mount and I'm worried it's either damaging the wires or denting the actual batteries...im going to have to reinforce that area of the battery and maybe put some foam where that bolt is on the bike.

Dropouts are holding up great. I tightened the crap outta the bolts for the rear hub so hopefully that is taking the brunt of the torque...

Phone holder is still wobbly. The phone sits way above the handlebars which I think I want to fix that....I think I know how to fix it.

Speedometer also is working as intended and is spot on.

I rode 15 miles last night and the battery went from 54.2v to 48v so I'm amazed how much life is in this battery. At 48v near the end of my ride, I can still hit 30mph and that pulls around 650w cruising... At full battery I can hit 35mph. I'd say my commute averages around 16-18mph on the current route...

I hate the 3 little lights on the throttle that burn 1.5-2w according to my power meter...im going to look into taking those out...waste of energy when I've got a power meter.

 

[Shalom_hadad]

Hi. Did you have link for the display?

 

[Philaphlous]

Hey guys. Question for you here.

So I've got a great bike! Yea I wish I had a suspension fork and regenerative braking...which got me thinking...and this is where I need help. Is there any way this controller supports regenerative braking? Is there any way I can tell or any way I can enable it? Many controllers on eBay require some led to enable the function, I was wondering if this is possible without it? I'd love to charge my battery back up on my ride since alot of time is spent braking...

 

[Philaphlous]

Not sure if this will help but it came from a generic 48V ebike kit with a leaf motor...

It's a generic controller...Pretty sure I threw away the instruction manual but it is 48v 26A. I modded it with some thermal pads on the bus bar which helps a ton with dissipating heat.

It does have a few different wires that I believe I left unconnected. Purple and black wires which I believe might be the brakes or ABS?? and a single white/grey wire also.

Doing some more digging: I believe this is my controller:

I assume its the brakes low/high? I'll actually get the bike out from my balcony this weekend and take a look... is it really as simple as connecting the wires somewhere?

 

[docw009]

No, that's not for regen. Brake Hi and Brake Lo are two different schemes for activating the brake cutoffs. Most levers close a switch to do this, and use brake low. A few levers open a switch and use brake high.

On a few of my controllers, which are KT models with the LCD display, regen is enabled in the options menu. Others have a jumper plug, and often the chinese call it EABS,

If you get regen running, you will need torque arms for sure, as now you get strong forces acting both ways on the axle nuts.

 

[Philaphlous]

I had this thought after the fact. Not sure it's going to be possible with my bms...I have a separate charging port so I'm not sure if I even get regen working if it'll properly charge...

 

[FlightService]

How this going?