Wanted to add my 2 pence to the list:
Bike is a 1997 Jamis Aragon with a 48V 15Ah Ping battery. Max Speed is 34 mph on flats with me weighing 200 lbs.
The housing is made of 1 PVC sheet (left side panel), 1 alum. sheet (right side panel), 2" wide flat bar, some cutout alum. sheet rectangles to bend around frame, 1" wide steel flat bar, and alum. angle bar secured together with steel rivet nuts, rivets, and M8 nuts and bolts.
From a design point of view, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the frame as accessible (especially on the road) as possible with just my Allen wrench set, and I finally found the solution! Two words: Rivet Nuts. They allow me to make a blind threaded hole so parts don't have to be held via nuts and bolts. To demonstrate the serviceability of the frame, it breaks down into 3 groups: panels, left side frame, right side frame. It's held together with 3 nuts and 8 bolts, using pliers or wrench and Allen wrench to reassemble. The main 3 points of contact with the bike frame are the 2 inch wide aluminum flat bars (pain in the ass to cut), with 2 on top and 1 in the rear. The weight of the frame rests on the top two flat bars along with the weight of the battery. I know they shouldn't be used this way, but the rivets holding them to the left side of the frame (right side with bolts) act as pivots to swivel them when disassembling. In total it takes about 10-15 min to take apart, and thankfully I haven't had the need to in a while.
Price-wise ( or Penny-wise
), just the metal frame (fasteners not included) cost around $25 in parts at my local Lowe's. As for my panels, my dad's a contractor so I "borrowed" :wink: them from him, but if I had to do without the expensive aluminum and PVC sheets, I'd just use Coroplast instead and 2-ply that on both sides (around $20 for a 4 x 8 ft sheet). What surprised me was how expensive rivet nuts and bolts cost plus shipping: around $27 on Fastenal
! Although, I have to say it did include the parts necessary to use a rivet nut in the first place. The rivet nuts were also annoyingly difficult to use right.
As you can probably tell, it's more a function over form build, but it gets the job done
. The right side panel is aluminum because the bike leans left when locked up and the sun had caused the previously PVC right side panel to warp
. From the front, there's nothing bracing the front of the panels which causes it to bend out a bit there.
Vibration and bumps-wise, the battery is suspended with wire to prevent it from smashing the wires underneath, but I haven't figured out how to hold the controller in place, causing it to rub against the right panel on bumpy roads.
Here's my baby in whole
:
