New Member - Maryland ebiker - Build Advice

[MadRhino]

Any fiber tape does fine, even electrical PVC tape is OK. If you use a rim band, find a Michelin yellow plastic band or else just use more tape turns.

Everyone needs a spoke wrench, and a few essential tools.

Your original stem is for 25.4mm handlebar. Yet if you fit a suspension fork, you might want to use a different stem, that likely will match the MTB standard of 31.8mm

 

[Chalo]

Commercial rim bands these days tend to be made of nylon fabric with a PVC coating. They're easier and more effective than older rim bands, so I rarely reach for the Velox or Zefal rim tape these days.

 

[Philaphlous]

I think I'll use some gorilla glue tape that I have for my battery for the spoke guards. That stuff is super thick and holds really well.

Already ordered a new aluminum straight handlebar. 610mm. My original is like an H bar so it looks kinda dorky.

 

[Philaphlous]

Quick question...just trying to gather an idea..

How much do you think it'll cost to ship the 26" bike from Columbus Ohio to Bethesda MD? UPS APPARENTLY quoted $156...lol that's ups ground. I don't have details of the box size but it can't be more than 40lbs...

 

[Chalo]

Quick question...just trying to gather an idea..

How much do you think it'll cost to ship the 26" bike from Columbus Ohio to Bethesda MD? UPS APPARENTLY quoted $156...lol that's ups ground. I don't have details of the box size but it can't be more than 40lbs...

http://shipbikes.com

http://bikeflights.com

 

[Philaphlous]

Yea I saw that. Looks like they use fedex. I got a $55 quote but not sure on the box size and weight. I just realized I don't need the rear tire or front tire rubber since that's getting replaced. That'll really cut down on the weight of the box.

 

[Philaphlous]

So I won't be getting my bike this week. Maybe next week hopefully....

I think I might get my hub motor this week or next depending on shipping. Some of my parts will come early this week and likely others next week. But at this point I'm no longer in a rush..what's another week right?

I'm looking at the hub motor and I've read alot of posts on the crappy 3 lead wires for the hub motor power that goes through the shaft. Not sure its really worth it since this is only a 1000w motor but I've been looking at some thin shield 12AWG wire instead of whatever crap wire they have on it now... I'm pretty sure I'll have time to disassemble the motor and test it with my battery and controller prior to having the bike...so any wire upgrades I want to make I can do before I even have the bike...It may sound like I'm going all out but I also want this thing to be reliable and efficient...crap thin wire would be a bad idea when I need a reliable commuter.. My battery has 12AWG wire and the 3.5mm wick wire connecting the cells...

 

[MadRhino]

Normally, the phase wires should be good for 1000w but they are easy to cut where they exit the axle channel. You must pay attention to let them wires with some slack there (we do a half loop, then a tie wrap on the stay near the dropout.

 

[Philaphlous]

I should be getting my hub motor today. That includes the controller and throttle, power cutoff brake levers. All that good stuff. I'm planning on testing the unit right after I get it just to make sure it powers on and spins properly. Once that is complete I plan to brake open the controller, cut the wires I don't need, and properly paste or pad the fets to cool them. I've seen some pretty bad controllers have such poor cooling I'm hoping that task is easy and I can hook up the fets right to the housing for cooling. Stay tuned! More updates coming! I should have my bike shipped out on Thursday or Friday this week so hopefully have the bike in hand sometime early next week.

 

[Philaphlous]

Quick update! But an exciting one!

I got my hub motor last night! I also got the new inner tube and spoke wrench. I went ahead and did a sloppy and quick wiring and the motor and controller both work. Unfortunately the wheel flew off my rig I had mounted in my guest bedroom and crashed to the floor and disconnected all the wires instantly. Lol hopefully that didn't damage anything. The strange thing is I think the wheel started to move with no throttle...ive read a few people have that issue..any fix? The controller wires look to be decent gauge. Possibly 12 or 14 gauge..so those are good to go. I ended up adding some thermal pads in the controller which I took pictures of my mod. Will upload that later.

The 3 main wires from the motor are tiny! Maybe 16-18 gauge and seem to be really hard wire so almost a solid wire instead of stranded...lol

I didn't realize this but had it in the back of my mind. I may encounter an issue with the rear fork....the hub motor has the mount for disk brakes...my old bike doesn't have disk brakes so therefore I think the width of the rear fork is too narrow for the hub motor... Is this going to be a huge issue or can I bend the fork open to fit the hub wheel/motor? Hoping to get the bike shipped today so stay tuned! Thanks for the help guys! This commuter is going to be awesome!

Oh...one last thing. Any way to prevent arcing from connecting the battery to the controller? I'm using a deans ultra for everything and it arcs pretty bad on the first connection even with it completely off...

 

[Philaphlous]

Bike frame is in the mail on my way here. Should have it my Monday. Supposedly it might ship tomorrow but I highly doubt it. I think I'm going to ghetto rig my battery to the same seat down tube and bungicord the battery to the frame...that should be enough to secure the battery to the frame. I'll switch out the stock motor wire after the hub with 12awg wire once I get the bike so I know how much wire I need. Should come together real nice!

I'm hopeful for: 30mph on flats....? According to my calculations my bike battery should be able to handle short bursts of 30amps or around 1400w. I hope to keep a sustained 600-800w awhile riding to and from work which will get me___mph... My entire commute is going to be sidewalks and bike trails so I'm pretty happy about that.

 

[Philaphlous]

Found out my issue. I tested the hub motor again this morning and it sounds great! It's quiet and spins very freely!!!! The "Speed limited" wires, which are two individual white wires with both male and female connectors were connected at the time. This meant that once I turned it on, it would start to spin slow then go up to high before I turned it off... So got that fixed! Now I have full throttle only control! My next step is to remove the three indicator lights on the throttle. They're kinda dorky and really bright. I don't need them at all because I have a power meter that tells me the exact voltage.

Bike arrives Tuesday. Probably won't start working on it till Wednesday. First thing is to mount the Hub motor and I'm probably going to have to take a trip to the hardware store to mount the controller and then wire everything up.

Just from low spinning the wheel and hub motor, the hub seems really well made and properly tuned which is great! I'll have to do a little tuning since I see ever so slight wobble but its really good! Excited about that!

 

[ScooterMan101]

I am now using XT 90 Anti Spark Connectors on my Battery to Controller Connection.

At this time there are no XT60 Anti Spark Connectors, so the XT 90's will have to do until the Hobby Parts Vendors get enough letters and phone calls , calling for XT 60 with Anti Spark.

Buddy RC does not list them, Hobby King does have them.

I am much happier now, get a couple from what others have said the Anti Spark feature only works for a while, not sure how long , others can reply with what they have experienced.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/xt90-s-anti-spark-connector-2pairs-bag.html

Oh...one last thing. Any way to prevent arcing from connecting the battery to the controller? I'm using a deans ultra for everything and it arcs pretty bad on the first connection even with it completely off...

 

[Philaphlous]

Here's a quick vid of my test this morning. Ran the motor full speed. Tiny bit of wobble but that's because the tire is completely flat. Once I get it on the bike I can tune it and I think I'm going to get myself some lead tape weights to balance the wheel with the tire on... that should really make for an enjoyable ride!

[youtube]https://youtu.be/cQgtS6UT1PI[/youtube]
https://youtu.be/cQgtS6UT1PI
Not sure why the youtube link doesn't work...
I think the louder tick that you hear is the table I have the wheel on...The motor is actually nice and quiet and with living in the city...It'll be nice to actually hear the motor wind up when I get going...

Can't wait to get this thing on my bike!

 

[Philaphlous]

It's here!!!! Finally here! Took a bunch of time to fix the rear derailleur and get the chain on right. Definitely going to need to tune that once everything is all in place. Stupid usps lost my handlebar in the mail so I'm looking to order a new one...again..but I may just test this out for now. Rear motor fits great! It's only like maybe a foot or a foot and a half but I changed out the phase wires to 12awg wire. Now I'm getting my controller mounts today and so I'll be able to mount the controller. Once I get that I'll be able to connect all the wires for the controller. I'm hoping to give it a test run this weekend. The battery fits perfect on the top cross bar and I'm planning to wrap bungicord around the battery to hold to the frame of the bike!

Looking forward to testing this thing out! I still have plenty of brakes left but will definitely need new ones. I'm also hoping I can drop my front riser bar some...it's pretty high and I like to lean a little farther forward if possible...so I'll have to look into moving that down... The dropouts are steel so I'm hoping that will suffice for not needing any torque arms..

 

[MadRhino]

Never ride a hub motor without any means of torque retaining. A torque arm or torque plate is very easy to make, as compared to all the trouble that a spinout would be. You would not be the first to strip the dropouts of a steel frame.

 

[Chalo]

Never ride a hub motor without any means of torque retaining. A torque arm or torque plate is very easy to make, as compared to all the trouble that a spinout would be. You would not be the first to strip the dropouts of a steel frame.

That's a vertical dropout frame that probably doesn't even engage the full axle flats. So it's even more precarious than a horizontal dropout frame would be without torque arms.

 

[Philaphlous]

Woohoo! So good news! My handlebar is found and they are out for delivery today! Tomorrow I get new pads for my front brakes. I've also mounted the new inner tube and tire on the front tire..which is awesome! I may end up converting the rear tire to the same if I like the ride.

Overall things are coming together really well. I may encounter a snag because I'm not seeing how to mount the cable inside the shimano thumb shifter... It came with a cable that I took out but my bike has one already on it from the previous shifter...now I'm not sure how to get the cable in since it has the big capped end to the cable...

I'm going to pick up my controller u bolt mount today so hopefully I can mount the controller tomorrow. I also plan on soldering the phase wires to the controller phase wires tomorrow also. The big thing is getting the new handlebar. I feel like I'm in limbo waiting for that because then I can mount everything once I have that.

I'm thinking I may test out my commute on Sunday this weekend to see how the bike handles and the battery capacity and power. Super stoked for this ride. Heck it's like my little low powered motorcycle. Lol

 

[Philaphlous]

New handlebar is on the bike!!! Fits great! Also went ahead and mounted the brake levers, throttle, grips, and shifters. Tires are pumped up, wiring is almost good to go...I got the U bolts for the hub motor but discovered the controller holes are too narrow for how thick the bolt is. I'm going to have to wait to drill out the mounts till Sunday... Once that is set I just need to wire everything up and I should be good to go! I don't like my battery holder option and the bungicord I have isn't flexible at all..so I'm thinking a few velcro straps would work the best...full length straps to wrap all around the battery should be more than enough to hold the weight of the battery to the frame. I also get new brake pads today which I'll have to mount. Not sure how to mount the brakes with the multiple washers but I'll figure it out.

Pics to come this weekend!

 

[Philaphlous]

Holy crap...wow...this bike is freaking awesome!!!! Got it working at least..took it out for a spin. The wheels need tuning for sure...the rear tire makes this weird creaking noise and the front tire rubs the brakes in one area...so those definitely need fixed. But dang guys. I'm pretty sure this gets upto 30MPH pretty easily...I had an awesome time riding around my apartment complex and some business complexes also. I went about half way to my route to work which seems like an easy commute. With the speed of the bike I can probably get into work really quick!

I think I saw a few 1400w spurts here and there when I was riding today. Climbing hills definitely uses soo many watts I'm quite surprised. The battery is just temporarily mounted to the bike with the heavy duty duct tape... I need to figure out how I'm actually going to mount the battery properly... I also want to take it off and carry it to my cubicle at work so nobody steals it...

I need way more zipties and I need to figure out this sunding speedometer thing... I hooked it up and haven't figured out how to program it but its obviously wrong...at one point in my ride it said I got upto 60mph (99kmh) downhill in a residential neighborhood...lol
I also need to fix my left pedal... for some reason the pedal threads expanded??? not sure what happened but it was literally impossible to get on the crank arm so I literally stripped out the threads.... I'm going to drill a hole through it and drive a bolt through the two so it's basically set in the arm...future upgrade but it'll work for now...

I'm hoping to take it to work maybe next week after I figure out the logistics...

 

[MadRhino]

Did you fit a torque arm ?

The left pedal has counteclockwise thread. :wink:

I can imagine your impression on the first ride, I see it often.
Now try to imagine full suspension and 70 mph

 

[Philaphlous]

Did you fit a torque arm ?

The left pedal has counteclockwise thread. :wink:

I can imagine your impression on the first ride, I see it often.
Now try to imagine full suspension and 70 mph

No torque arms yet. I'm really trying to keep the costs down and I'm being really easy on the throttle.

 

[docw009]

You might want to turn your motor axle so the wires hang downward. If the wires get wet, it's said that water could run downward and into the motor with your current set up. I always hang them down. Can't hurt. Do it when you get around to mounting a torque plate or a torque arm. Otherwise, check the axle nuts every few days.

 

[MadRhino]

Did you fit a torque arm ?

The left pedal has counteclockwise thread. :wink:

I can imagine your impression on the first ride, I see it often.
Now try to imagine full suspension and 70 mph

No torque arms yet. I'm really trying to keep the costs down and I'm being really easy on the throttle.

Use a 10mm wrench and a hose clamp as a temporary torque arm.

 

[Philaphlous]

Ah gosh!!! This left foot pedal is killer. I tried to drill through the hardened steel bolt with no luck at all. So the pedal is barely attached. I'll probably have to replace the crank arm and probably the foot pedals also...

Last night I figured out this speedometer and it's really accurate! I used Wayze to check the speed and it was spot on. I was able to get upto 34mph on a 3/4 full battery which I thought is great! I honestly don't like riding that fast at least one a path because it's just too bumpy. Road is a different story but for the most part I'm very happy with my bike. I bought the wrong velcro straps for my battery last night and I have a bike lock but I forgot the combination..fail... So it may be a week or two before I attempt to commute with it.

Rear drop in is looking great! I'm really easing in the throttle, one not to pull too many amps since my bms is limited to 30a and two, I'm trying to stay safe without a torque arm. Rode 5 miles lastnight and barely used any battery, I think I was at 48v after 5 miles..so this thing is great! I need to get an iPhone holder for my bike so I can map my route but also take a vid of my ride.