billybronco
100 µW
I'm in the process of turning a retro norco 12 speed road bike into an e-bike. I'm looking for some opinions on drop bar throttles. What's available and what works for you.
Thx.
Thx.
I find straight bars hurt my hands and wrists. I tried padded grips, bull horns & cane grips. Nothing helped so I switched to drop bars decades ago.I think you should instead think about why no vehicle with both handlebars and a throttle has drop bars. Heck, think about why nothing that uses handlebars has drop bars, except for racing bicycles and recreational poser bicycles from countries where bicycles aren't taken seriously as transportation.
It's easy and cheap to put real handlebars and levers on your bike. Probably cheaper than working with what you have now. Then you don't have to worry about coming up with some one-off custom solution for putting a throttle on terrible handlebars.
What power level are you planning on. You might want to look at the build thread subforum for some ideas. There are a few road bike builds, and if you are running relatively low power (less than 500W), then you may be able to just use a button with a set throttle output.I find straight bars hurt my hands and wrists. I tried padded grips, bull horns & cane grips. Nothing helped so I switched to drop bars decades ago.
I have chronic heart disease now so I'm trying to build an e-bike so I can tour again.
If straight bars work for you then, ride with them. They don't work for me.
Hi InanekI feel similar about straight bars. I always put cruiser bars on myself and hold like an ice cream cone. Not difficult to add twist or thumb throttle that way either.
Never seen drop bars on an ebike. The motor provides plenty of power, so seems kind of pointless to contort your body like that. It's giving up being able to steer strongly and shift weight back for braking too, both of which are more important with motors. So no benefits and only cons with motors. If wind resistance is a problem maybe add fairings?
Maybe some of the "stealth" models or there have a solution? There are racer bars from the motorcycle world, but they are still single hand position to maintain access to the controls.
Personally I only use throttle to accelerate from a stop after stop lights and just have my PAS sensitivity cranked up otherwise. So maybe you can just ditch the throttle and do that if you really want multiple position drop bars. I can still hit 30mph on PAS without throttle since I have the controller set to output a lot more power for only a little more effort.
I do use cruise control sometimes too, though, where you hold throttle 3 seconds and it sticks until you brake. So theoretically you could slap a couple thumb throttles on your drop bars, enable very short time period activated cruise control in your controller settings, and just use them briefly during riding to setup your desired throttle level almost like shifters.
I have components that I had on a retro fuji. Headset issues made it unsafe to ride. I used a thumb throttle mounted on the stem. This proved awkward as I'm most comfortable riding on the hoods. I dialed the power down to where the battery would move me about 6 km per hr. It's a bit frightening but it will do 40 km per hr at 100%. I've been looking for thumb throttles on line. I'm trying to decide between 2 thumb throttles (one on the hood & one on the table) or a pas system. I think I can make the throttles work for what I want. A little help up the hills.What power level are you planning on. You might want to look at the build thread subforum for some ideas. There are a few road bike builds, and if you are running relatively low power (less than 500W), then you may be able to just use a button with a set throttle output.
Kepler Friction drive comes of age.
The arduino would be a great solution. Unfortunately my experience with arduino is limited but if anyone is interested in designing an arduino solution that will do the job, it would be great for the ES community. You would need the device to do the following steps Start drive sequence: 1)...endless-sphere.com
You'll need to ask Kepler, since I was just posting an example thread. If you need some other options, I used on of these lever style throttles for a while. It provides a different angle of travel than the typical thumb throttle, so may be something you could adapt for your layout.I have components that I had on a retro fuji. Headset issues made it unsafe to ride. I used a thumb throttle mounted on the stem. This proved awkward as I'm most comfortable riding on the hoods. I dialed the power down to where the battery would move me about 6 km per hr. It's a bit frightening but it will do 40 km per hr at 100%. I've been looking for thumb throttles on line. I'm trying to decide between 2 thumb throttles (one on the hood & one on the table) or a pas system. I think I can make the throttles work for what I want. A little help up the hills.
What your doing is way beyond my sphere of knowledge. I'll be buying my components not building them. I've got a sm connector kit coming today and that's going to be enough a learning curve for me.
I'm curious about the throttle button on your left hood. Did you build it or purchase it? I like how you buried the cable in the down tube. Really clean looking.
I've searched amazon for thumb throttles. I didn't look at button throttles. If it turns out that all I need is a short burst to climb a hill, as I'm imagining a button could be the answer. If I need more I'll be looking into a pas bottom bracket. I guess the only way to find out is to get busy & try it.You'll need to ask Kepler, since I was just posting an example thread. If you need some other options, I used on of these lever style throttles for a while. It provides a different angle of travel than the typical thumb throttle, so may be something you could adapt for your layout.
Amazon.com : Thumb Throttle Speed Control Push Down for Electric Scooter Pocket Bike Electric Bike : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com : Thumb Throttle Speed Control Push Down for Electric Scooter Pocket Bike Electric Bike : Sports & Outdoorswww.amazon.com
You won't find anything premade. It's simple to make one, but takes soldering a couple of resistors together, or one resistor and a variable resistor (or just a variable resistor working as a voltage divider), if you want to be able to tune how much assist you get when you press the button. I actually made one for my bike a couple of years ago, but mainly for coasting longer distances (negate the drag of my direct drive motor), and for navigating between foot traffic on the bike path, when PAS would be too much, and throttle would be too sensitive. Coasting worked well with 18W applied, slow traffic worked with about 80W-100W applied.I've searched amazon for thumb throttles. I didn't look at button throttles. If it turns out that all I need is a short burst to climb a hill, as I'm imagining a button could be the answer. If I need more I'll be looking into a pas bottom bracket. I guess the only way to find out is to get busy & try it.
Thx for the help.
That's way out of my skill set. I know nothing about electronics. Thumb throttles it is for now.You won't find anything premade. It's simple to make one, but takes soldering a couple of resistors together, or one resistor and a variable resistor (or just a variable resistor working as a voltage divider), if you want to be able to tune how much assist you get when you press the button. I actually made one for my bike a couple of years ago, but mainly for coasting longer distances (negate the drag of my direct drive motor), and for navigating between foot traffic on the bike path, when PAS would be too much, and throttle would be too sensitive. Coasting worked well with 18W applied, slow traffic worked with about 80W-100W applied.
I find straight bars hurt my hands and wrists.
PAS = pedal assist. If you pedal, the motor assists. If you don't pedal, the motor doesn't. If you pedal faster (with cadence sensing), the motor assists more. If you pedal harder (with torque sensing) the motor assists more. Programmable controllers like the Grin Phaserunner allow configuring the lowest cadence/torque where you receive help and the ramping for how much more help you receive when you pedal a set amount faster/harder. Many e-bikes have no throttle and are completely controlled by PAS. They also often have buttons to adjust it up and down, e.g. PAS level 5 provides more assistance for the same cadence than PAS level 1.How is your cruise control different than your pas?
Ouch, that's too much.You don't have to use straight bars to use normal handlebars with a normal diameter. Probably the most common bend worldwide would be some variation of the "North Road" or roadster style bar, which is anything but straight.
See? Not straight but also not terrible like drop bars.
Clarification on the cruise control. There are generally two ways that a controller (or Cycle Analyst) triggers cruise control; throttle hold, and button press. I like the button press type, since it's more deliberate, so you don't have to be concerned about cruise control unexpectedly kicking in at full throttle.Cruise control is unrelated. It's a feature where, if you hold your throttle down at a fixed power level for a fixed time, then the bike will continue acting like you are holding the throttle down until you tap the brakes. It's for people who feel holding the throttle twisted all the time fatigues their hand/thumb.
Hi Inanek. I'm assuming that the cadence sensor setup would be a minimal cost. For some reason I keep thinking that a pas setup is going to send me through red lights at high speed. Kind of like a stuck throttle. I know if the pas system was unsafe, manufacturers wouldn't incorporate them into their production bikes. To many lawsuits!PAS = pedal assist. If you pedal, the motor assists. If you don't pedal, the motor doesn't. If you pedal faster (with cadence sensing), the motor assists more. If you pedal harder (with torque sensing) the motor assists more. Programmable controllers like the Grin Phaserunner allow configuring the lowest cadence/torque where you receive help and the ramping for how much more help you receive when you pedal a set amount faster/harder. Many e-bikes have no throttle and are completely controlled by PAS. They also often have buttons to adjust it up and down, e.g. PAS level 5 provides more assistance for the same cadence than PAS level 1.
A new bottom bracket generally isn't necessary. The most basic implementation is just a wheel of magnets glued on to your front cog and a small sensor zip tied to the frame nearby. This is enough to measure cadence. More advanced sensors integrated into things like bottom brackets and mid drives can detect torque.
Cruise control is unrelated. It's a feature where, if you hold your throttle down at a fixed power level for a fixed time, then the bike will continue acting like you are holding the throttle down until you tap the brakes. It's for people who feel holding the throttle twisted all the time fatigues their hand/thumb.