StefEbike for my wonderful disabled wife

[thundercamel]

All three bikes now have upgraded forks with suspension and disc brake mounts. Like wturber, I've always been able to stop with rim brakes, and my riding is usually just cruising the trails for the scenery. They weren't able to do a good emergency stop though.
Since I needed good suspension forks as the old ones were garbage on Prancing Pony, starting to bind up on StefEbike, and rigid on the Lynx, figured I may as well try some disc brakes out. As seen in the previous post, the Tektro HD-M290 with Shimano B01S pads was good enough for me to put on all three bikes. I had to make a 1200mm hose for the recumbent which was easy, but bleeding with Tektro's kit pretty much requires two people to hold everything together without hoses popping off adapters/nipples.

StefEbike now has the same SR Suntour XCM 30 fork as my Prancing Pony. The fork is definitely beefier than the original Zoom one it replaced. I had to cut the 180mm steerer tube down to 6.5"/165mm with a sawzall and nailed it! Painted it pink to match the old one and my wife cut up a vinyl decal on her Cricut which is pretty schweet. Built a front wheel reusing the original rear rim and a new Shimano hub for the disc brake mount.

I also made this post detailing strange behavior with the rear shock on the Lynx, and have replaced it with a DNM DV-22. I had to reuse the sleeves and nylon spacers from the old shock, which actually required some work for one of them! Thankfully I've amassed a fair amount of tools over the years. The shock is supposed to have 30mm of travel, but there's only 20mm before it hits the bumpstop, which the old shock didn't have. I could cut the bumpstop down some, but it's probably fine as is. Not including the bumpstop, I measured 38mm of travel at the top of the seat, and calculated 68mm of travel at the rear axle.

Also changed my Prancing Pony to a 203mm rotor with E10.11 organic pads.

Removing the bearing race the right way! Also got it hot with a torch before dropping it over the new fork.

 

[thundercamel]

I used about 90% battery on both StefEbike with Emmett and the Lynx Sunday. They're both well improved from last year! Excluding the electronics, StefEbike could use a thudbuster seatpost, maybe trigger shifters and that's about all! It feels great on pavement and gravel.

The Lynx however, could still use a headrest, seat cushion, more work on how the battery bag is held, and eventually a new idler pulley. It's nice having a rear shock that actually works, decent front suspension, and the new index shifters and disc brake are flawless! It's fun to use on smooth pavement, but I think it will always be only ok on gravel, where every corner makes me cautious. Next time Justin rides StefEbike next to it, he'll have to tell me if I'm slow in the corners or not on gravel. I should measure front to rear weight distribution! It's nice to feel the full suspension working over smooth bumps, but with so much weight on the front and only 50mm of travel, sharp bumps are just a lot to ask of it. Thank goodness I have that 2.4" tire.

I also tried to retest the power usage of the Lynx, and came up with these numbers below. Again these watts are all recorded using this 60A smart BMS on the same stretch of road averaging both directions. No pedaling allowed, just motor. It's very hard to test, because I have to manually regulate the speed with the throttle, looking between the speedometer, watt reading and road trying to not crash, and trying to decide what watt readings are valid since even this "flat" road has sections that are slightly downhill and uphill. A dry lakebed and cycle analyst would make this easier. The Grin motor simulator gives significantly lower Wh/mile estimates for all of these readings, except the single 35mph sample is pretty close.

Speed	Lynx	Wh/mile	StefEbike	Wh/mile	Prancing Pony	Wh/mile
10	100	10.0	115		11.5	115		11.5
15	242	16.1	325		21.7	325		21.7
20	370	18.5	600		30.0	590		29.5
25	580	23.2	950		38.0	960		38.4
30	860	28.7	1425 @ 29	47.5	1560		52.0
35	1170	33.4

Could use a longer lever on both of the upright bikes. Might eventually switch to the same index shifters that I put on the recumbent, which just makes all the positioning different...

 

[thundercamel]

Been biking a lot, with and without family. At first, I was getting disappointed with my battery range. Turns out, I had gotten so used to riding fast while testing limits of my new modifications, I had been just too fast during my trips. Remembered that I like to keep slow enough to listen to nature instead of wind in my ears, and that brought the speed from 20-25 to 10-15mph. A lot more time to enjoy the trip, contribute pedaling, and had significant battery remaining when I got home, as well as a sore butt.

The Lynx recumbent sure helps for long distance cruising, but I am still improving the battery mounting, and working out a headrest solution. When I'm not pushing the limits, the front suspension over bumps and steering confidence through gravel turns aren't a problem at all. During family trips, I wasn't even thinking about them!

[youtube]x7vXZAnhpLg[/youtube]

Found this half-a-bike (instep) on the side of the road a couple streets over. The family didn't have the other half of the clamp, so I made my own from scrap and leftover TV mount screws.

 

[thundercamel]

Again, grateful for using a smart BMS. Noticed cell group 4 on my Prancing Pony this time, full after charging while the rest of the groups weren't quite full. During the next ride, group 4 drained sooner than the rest. This suggests one cell was disconnected from the group somehow. I was really reluctant to open the pack, since I didn't know what could have caused a problem, but the logic was clear. Popped off the parallel strip on group 4, and when I connected the charger, the 5th cell jumped up in voltage compared to the rest. By itself, the bad cell almost acts as an open circuit. Thankfully I had one extra cell from my original purchase, so that's now spot welded in place and everything's fine.

Noticed right away the location of the cell was in the middle of the pack, so I must have cooked it. I'll admit that I had the upper temp cutoff at 60c, which is what the MJ1 cells are rated to, but my sensors are on the outside of the pack. I lowered that limit to 52c now, which I did hit towards the end of a power ride.

Also added a power meter to my two bikes, which solarEbike clued me in are under $20. No good room for the giant shunt resistor on StefEbike, but the long term plan is to have PhaseRunners and CycleAnalysts eventually anyway. It's nice to see voltage at any time without a phone, and for whatever reason JBD BMS units don't calculate watt hours. I'm curious to see how few watt hours it shows from a full battery usage compared to the rated 1092 of the battery, lol!

While I was in there (Tom's Turbo Garage), I noticed the fuseholder was a bit melty. Guess there's a reason that ATC fuses top out at 30 amps; the quick slide connections have too much resistance for any more. I was using a 40 amp fuse, which is probably non-spec. I bridged the wires together, and am relying on the BMS short circuit protection for now. Through the BMS I always saw a max of 31 amps before, and now I see 32 just for a bit at the top of charge, then 31 like normal for the rest of the ride. The new meter shows 33-32 amps instead.

 

[thundercamel]

My wife wanted a bit more power for going up the hills when towing our son behind. The shunt mod I did with solder alone was perfect on the first try, and I also added a 220k resistor in an attempt to bring the LVC (low voltage cutoff) a little bit lower. It was just under 3 volts per cell before with a nice linear reduction in current allowed, so we'll see what it turns out to be now.

Her bike used 26 amps before, and it now uses 35 amps! My controller has always been 31 amps, and all these readings are according to the smart BMS units. I also got to use the macro camera on my new Moto G Power phone for the first time! Affordable cell phones FTW, and I only upgrade after several years of usage.

BTW, the soldering iron I used was far from ideal. I need to finally buy one, or at least a new tip.

 

[thundercamel]

Thankfully I tried to be conservative with the StefEbike Low Voltage Cutoff modification, because now it allows me to drain the battery right to it's 2.5 volt limit if I needed to, which I won't be doing very often. There's now the perfect amount of current limiting as the battery drains, assuming totally draining the battery was my goal.

The controller seems to have no problem with it's new 35 amp limit, and the setup as a whole is still more efficient than my bike, so with comparable riders my bike always runs out first. My wife however, is not a comparable rider :lol: We found a nice grass trail, which my son really got a kick out of on his half-bike, and my wife was flying through! I was bringing up the rear, since our one year old foster daughter was in the seat right in front of me. I had to be gentle over the bumps. Eventually StefEbike hit the 52c battery temp limit, to which my wife asked me, "Am I supposed to go fast, or not?" :lol: Touche.

Wowzers:

Drew a red line kinda showing the linear current limiting as the voltage drains:

 

[thundercamel]

I forgot to mention that I put a cheap half-twist throttle on the Lynx since it has index / trigger shifters, and I love it! I basically never use the thumb throttle that I had on the left, which had to be too far away from the triggers to not interfere. I'd like to convert the other two bikes from their original grip / twist shifters to the same trigger shifters, and switch to all half-twist throttles. I already got three left side half-twist throttles from EM3EV.com, and I'll get a couple more for the right side as well. Why both sides? I really want variable regen braking eventually, and plan to get phaserunners. Left hand for throttle and front brake, right hand for rear shifting and regen braking, and probably never use the rear brake again.

I also fitted a 26" front fender to The Prancing Pony since I like fenders, but it was a bit of work using the v-brake studs to hold the stays. The night after I finished, I saw a better idea of using cushion clamps around the front fork instead, which I may do on the other bikes. I'd really like to fit the matching 26" rear and 20" front fender I bought to the Lynx since the battery bag gets messy, but there's no room between the tire and fork crossover to fit it! Maybe the 2.35" Smart Sam tire I have will have room that the 2.4" Super Moto-X doesn't. Also the remaining 20" rear fender can go on my son's half-a-bike

Oh, and re-doing the Lynx battery mount is totally functional now, though still ugly (and includes wood ). I can swap the battery between bikes in less than 5 minutes now.

Fender in a good picture:

No room for fender:

Reddit ebikes have a thing about bridges?

I don't use the belt anymore; the zip tie is enough to keep the bag upright, and doesn't carry the weight at all.

 

[amberwolf]

I really want variable regen braking eventually, and plan to get phaserunners. Left hand for throttle and front brake, right hand for rear shifting and regen braking, and probably never use the rear brake again.

You could use a cable-operated throttle unit, and use the brake lever to pull it, for direct control over your proportional regen.

This is a how-to thread:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=105460
though with the PR's separate ebrake input, you don't need any of the relays or the CA stuff, just wire the COT directly to the ebrake input.

A dual-pull lever can be used to keep both mechancial and regen, discussion in this and subsequent posts:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=106614&p=1564523&hilit=dual+pull#p1564232

 

[thundercamel]

Thanks amberwolf, that is also an option It's going to be in the distant future anyway.

 

[thundercamel]

Here's a 360 video clip of the Lynx and StefEbike. That's right, look at the bikes. Not me.
It should load at 2880s if you have the hardware video acceleration for it. That's 5760x2880 distributed across the entire field of view, so it's kinda the same quality as watching a 1080p video.

Yesterday I did a 42 mile ride in 2.5 hours on a 4.13 volt per cell charge on these twisty gravel trails. Feel like this bike/battery could do over 50 miles on pavement.

[youtube]tKkQHmmXvms[/youtube]

 

[thundercamel]

I had to rebuild the rear wheel of my Lynx, as my limited options for the original spokes turned out to be too long. Some of their threads were bottomed out, causing the whole wheel to not be as tight as I wanted. There were 6 broken spokes, all fractured at the threads! The new ones were 5mm shorter at 165mm, but the included nipples seem to sit higher than the old ones, so I guess I could have used 167mm in the future. The Winemann DM30 wheel has one low spot (slightly bent I guess), but the nearest spoke still has enough tension once the wheel was tightened round. I was so grateful for the shallow non-aero design! Much easier than fishing dropped nipples out from between the double walls! :lol:

While I had the wheel off, I switched the worn out tire for a Schwalbe Big Ben I acquired for free (amazon shipped the wrong model first try). It's not what I wanted for the gravel trails, but at least it's a larger 2.15" size which is about the max I can fit, and matches the tread pattern of the front 2.4" Super Moto-X. It really looks factory integrated with the match, and is perfect for the pavement!

I was also BARELY able to fit a rear fender (the one that can't fit on StefEbike until it gets a Phaserunner), though a design with two sets of stays would have been better, since the seatpost attachment point is missing. Of course shortly into a big ride with two friends, the center screw backs out and starts rubbing the tire. I had to remove the wheel on the trail to access that screw, and stashed the fender in bushes for the duration of the ride. Glad I brought tools with! That screw will at least need some loctite when it goes back on.

You may also noticed I switched to an EM3EV bag. I have 3 LunaCycle bags with non-functional zippers now, and gave up on them. Hopefully this lasts, though it unfortunately looks to have the same water resistant design that I don't like.

 

[thundercamel]

Been doing some nice biking, for me anyways. It's not daily like some people, but it's what I can get away with, raising kids, back to working 40 hours a week and all.

Annual Des Plains River trail, ended up being 47 miles this time looping around Independence Grove forest preserve. I'm going to make this at least twice this year, since it's my favorite so far. My skinny friend Shaun came with this time, and since he's half the weight of Justin or me, he was able to get the gold bike the whole distance no problem even though it has half the battery capacity! 40 MJ1 cells vs. 84 MJ1 cells for the other two bikes. It was amazing, as he doesn't pedal any harder than we do, or even pedaling at all sometimes.

It's lovely using Metra to deliver us one way, so we only have to leave one car at the trailhead. I also came up with names for the twin Gold and Black foldable bikes: Goldiwatts and Foldiwatts!

I made up a second front wheel for my recumbent, using a 5mm wider wheel. I like the extra width, but the offset spoke holes make truing the wheel dificult. I put the 2.4" Super Moto-X on the new 29mm inside width wheel, and the 2.35" Smart Sam on the older Alex DM24 wheel. Still had to pump up the Smart Sam more than I thought, because the sidewall is so thin and soft, the tire wants to roll over when I hit pavement. Might get another 29mm wheel for both tires, since I know it fits fine.

Only tried the Smart Sam once so far, and thankfully it does make the loose gravel sections actually ride-able. It's probably not worth swapping wheels mid-trip like I did, but I might pick a wheel before I leave if most of my ride is going to be on gravel or pavement. Do you think this interesting pattern is caused by where the sidewall flexes?

We also ended up getting a new car for the wife, because I was not going to pay for an engine rebuild. Excessive blow-by (ala worn rings) pushed the crankshaft seal out a second time, covering the bottom of the car in oil again. First time a year ago, the timing belt was due anyway, so it was an easy fix. Now we know the seal itself wasn't the problem though. We've been wanting the new Ascent anyway, since it has three rows. I don't like the continuously variable transmission or the lack of port fuel injection, but the car is nice enough to deal with those two things. I'll try seafoam in the intake every 10k miles to hopefully clean the back of the intake valves, and just hope the CVT doesn't give us any problems. It definitely limits torque at 0mph in an attempt to keep the metal belt from slipping, which makes getting over a curb while backing a boat up a hill pretty wimpy (I had my foot to the floor), but as long as it gets the job done is all that matters. Under normal conditions it drives nicer than other CVT's.

Look at how high the hitch is now!

 

[thundercamel]

I have a few updates to make. After some work, my son is now riding on two wheels! I've never felt so proud in my life...

[youtube]U2pVpmBs6BQ[/youtube]

He has earned himself an upgrade from 12" tire to a 16" tire bike, and he picked this one out:

You might also spy the Christmas present my lovely wife bought me:

It looks and feels like a really nice piece of hardware in person, and feels great on the bike! I have yet to do a long ride on it, but my biggest problem with the Prancing Pony may be solved now.

 

[thundercamel]

During the summer last year we had an outdoor birthday party for our one year old foster daughter. My wife's brother who is named Phil kept riding the StefEbike all around the neighborhood, and seemed really interested in getting something similar to commute to work with. Phil hasn't had a license in about 20 years, and his work is only 4 miles away. Then I found out he ended up buying this for around $400...

When I talked to Phil at Christmas, he told me how the thing keeps breaking down on him, even having failed bearings since he weighs 100lbs more than I do, and I'm overweight as it is. The rear fender jammed in the wheel, locked up, and had a small crash. The front brake didn't work well, and the rear (coaster brake?) stopped working. A driver cut him off with a right turn, and he crashed again. I was thinking that a full suspension bike would survive Phil's weight a lot longer, since the bumps would no longer be such a high impact. Then I remembered the sister to Justin's bike that had been sitting unused since I gave it to Justin 2 years ago!

Before I got them; GoldiWatts and FoldiWatts:

After most of my upgrades were done:

It has full suspension, front and rear disc brakes, and the battery volume was too small for me to want. I asked Justin if I could buy it back from him, and he not only said that I could just have it back, but he did most of the work building a new battery for it! I called Phil's two other sisters, my in-laws (his mother), and his in-laws, and they all agreed to help fund the upgrades that I wanted to put on the bike so he could have a safe commuter.

$20.00 CEMOTO Folding Ebike from Ziggy
$273.91 Motor kit Voilamart E-Bike 26" 1500 watt Rear Wheel Motor Conversion Kit w/LCD
$187.88 42 Battery cells Samsung INR18650-30Q 15a 3000mAh high power cells
$49.15 Battery management system JBD SP New Energy Smart 14s 60a Bluetooth BMS
$28.53 Charger Yangzidianyuan store 14s 4a 58.8v charger for 52v battery xt60
$63.43 Front suspension fork SR Suntour XCM Suspension Fork 26" Straight 1-1/8" Threadless
$32.09 Rear suspension shock DNM Rear Shock AL 6061 Spring 750 Lbs 160mm 35mm travel
$83.98 Disc brake kit Tektro HD-M285 Hydraulic Front & Rear Post mount 160mm rotors
$19.11 Front brake rotor upgrade ZOOM 203mm Rotor and Post mount adapter
$8.51 Rear brake mount adapter Tektro Front 180mm or Rear 160mm Post to IS Adapter
$17.65 Brake pads Shimano B01S Resin - 4 pads for Front and Rear set
$10.99 Bell Bell Dinger 200 Chrome
$9.89 Headlight Shenzhen City Superstar store 20w 12-80v LED spot light
$11.31 Tail light and Brake light Easy-shopping store 48v Bicycle Brake and Tail LED Light
$29.31 Bike Seat Sunlite Cloud-9 Suspension Cruiser Gel Saddle Black
$17.99 Kickstand BV Bike Kickstand Center Mount Folding Double Legs
$7.50 Cell Phone Mount visnfa Bike Phone Mount Anti Shake 3.5 - 6.5 inches (Black)
$17.11 Rear Spokes to mount wider wheel SENQI 36pcs 14G J Bend Bicycle Steel Spokes W/Nipples
$17.99 Puncture Resistant Tube Sunlite Street Fit 360 26x1.95-2.35 32mm Schrader valve
$57.77 Puncture Resistant Rear Tire Schwalbe Marathon Plus HS 468 SmartGuard MTB Wire Bead
$15.90 Shipping/Tax
Total $980.00

I have more to add, but have to make dinner for the moment.

 

[amberwolf]

Before I got them; GoldiWatts and FoldiWatts:
<snip>
It has full suspension, front and rear disc brakes, and the battery volume was too small for me to want. I asked Justin if I could buy it back from him, and he not only said that I could just have it back, but he did most of the work building a new battery for it!

I have one of those (in gold) here from Cvin that I need to figure out a 36v replacement battery for (preferably that will still fit in the toptube case). AFAICT your battery must still be in there, so are these parts from your list all that was needed to build a new one inside that case? (other than the cell interconnects, insulation, wiring, etc) I'd be making a 36v rather than 52v battery, as she doesn't need the speed or the power and would rather keep the original internal controller, etc....

$187.88 42 Battery cells Samsung INR18650-30Q 15a 3000mAh high power cells
$49.15 Battery management system JBD SP New Energy Smart 14s 60a Bluetooth BMS

$20.00 CEMOTO Folding Ebike from Ziggy

Is that missing a digit, or was it really just that good a deal?

 

[thundercamel]

amberwolf, glad to be of service! Here is my first post regarding the CEMOTO bikes, which you can please read first and refer to for pictures. They can be opened in a new tab for the full resolution.
The batteries come skillfully packed inside an extruded aluminum tube, and if due diligence is taken, it is possible to fit your own recreation of the original 10s4p design back in the original casing. For GoldiWatts we did have that goal originally, but I had already purchased a 10s JBD smart BMS because I refuse to be without the monitoring capabilities. It is much larger than the original BMS, and there isn't space for it to live up by the steerer tube. Our battery fit within the original yellow plastic insulation, but didn't easily want to slide into the extruded aluminum tube, so we just skipped that piece and used large heat shrink instead.

The plastic end caps of the original batteries were already cracked and held on by tape from the previous owner, so we just ditched them and the electrical contact system that joins at the hinge. This let us sandwich the 30 amp single sided JBD smart BMS with the little 6 FET motor controller on the seat tube side of the hinge. (FYI a 60 amp JBD double sided BMS would not be able to stack with the motor controller, but could maybe pack front to rear). Just put some split loom tubing over the wires to prevent them from being pinched. For the more recent black bike, I made a 14s3p battery which is two more cells than the original. There was enough room by the steerer tube for that. I'll have more pictures and info next.

It was an unbelievably good deal, right? It pays sometimes to help others out, and I love seeing that there are still good people out there.

 

[thundercamel]

The bikes came with worn out 10s4p 36v 8Ah batteries, and the previous owner had made some poor modifications to the rear shocks, probably because he didn't know that they need 100+ psi. I replaced the rear shock and repaired the mounting hardware, and it has so little friction that it highlights the inadequacies of the front suspension. I found one remaining 100mm travel XCM fork for $60, and now the bike is so smooth that it takes some of the joy from my new expensive thudbuster gift on my bike :|

My plan was to make a high power 14s3p battery to use with a 1500 watt kit, since his commute was only 4 miles each way. The MJ1 cells I've been using in the 3 batteries that I've built weren't going to handle 11 amps each without overheating, so I did a little research. Was thinking I'd have to go with Samsung 25R, but all the graphs I saw showed that the 30Q have less voltage sag than the 25R somehow. I'd gladly take the extra capacity, and the temperatures seemed much better than MJ1's, so that's what I ordered. 52v 9Ah

We put together the rest of the bike in one day. Justin did most of the work assembling the battery, while I did everything else. It rides like a dream! The suspension is smooth and cushy. The hydraulic brakes are very direct, modulate with pressure (and not lever travel), and can bite hard if needed. Full throttle speed is 30mph, and does a little more if you pedal or go downhill. I'm satisfied enough with the Voilamart eBay 1500w kit, and like the new layout on the sw900 display compared to mine. Only disappointment was the 26" wheel had a 19mm inside width, and required a long stem tube. I later bought 160mm spokes, and swapped to the original Power Circle wheel the bike came with, which has a nice 25mm inside width. That allowed me to use the puncture resistant tube I had ordered and an overpriced puncture resistant Schwalbe Marathon MTB tire on the rear.

Old battery outside of it's aluminum and plastic:

Justin assembling the new battery:

New battery top:

New battery bottom:

Reused the old plastic for protection:

Didn't easily fit in the old aluminum, so I just put it in heat shrink and added some padding:

If I had somewhere else to put the BMS, it would have been nice to hide the motor controller in the back of the top tube:

I later bundled these with a zip tie to prevent wires from getting pinched:

Front fender mounted with P-clamps:

Got a flat on my second test ride, from a broken bottle shard, before the better wheel/tube/tire was installed:

 

[thundercamel]

Turns out the day we surprised Phil with the bike was the 20th anniversary of his sobriety. Justin and I joked that Phil might reject the bike outright, because it's not gasoline powered :lol: He likes it a lot, and has been using it every weekday since! It is covered in salt now... When he went on a test ride, I heard him say "Oh, it's smooth!" as he left the driveway. When he came back, it was "Those brakes are incredible, and it's silent!" Every time I've seen him since, he mentions the brakes. The hydraulic system really does provide a good feel, and having opposed pistons lets it be adjustment free after installation. He's also said, "It's a lot more convenient than having to mix 2-stroke oil into gas."

A bug he encountered, was that hot off the charger, the LCD would turn on with all segments turned black, and it would be stuck. Watch out for that with Voilamart, and I've never had that happen with Ebikeling or others. I had shown him how to adjust the charger voltage, and also turned out that the trim potentiometer operates backwards! It has to turn clockwise to lower the final voltage. Phil installed a rear rack and a mirror. I move the tail light underneath the back of the rack.

This is what he named it:

 

[thundercamel]

Testing a name change of the thread...

 

[99t4]

Very slick. Did you notice any frame flex (with no downtube)?

I had shown him how to adjust the charger voltage, and also turned out that the trim potentiometer operates backwards! It has to turn clockwise to lower the final voltage

I had at least one like that. I drew a small curved arrow on the pot with a + sign in ultrafine marker to remind me.

 

[thundercamel]

Neither Justin or I can notice any frame flex, and the hinge is super rigid with a strong latch. The only wiggle I notice, is when you first get on the bike which pushes the seat sideways. The top of rear suspension isn't held very rigidly from side to side (lateral) movement, but I can't notice any problems from that while riding. I am just a casual though, and don't ride downhill trails like whistler

 

[k2orbust]

Oh, and re-doing the Lynx battery mount is totally functional now, though still ugly (and includes wood ). I can swap the battery between bikes in less than 5 minutes now.

Thanks for the battery mounting ideas! I'm putting a similar shaped battery in a similar place, though maybe upside down from you (-: I have that EM3EV bag but might not use it.

 

[thundercamel]

You're welcome! It has worked just fine, though I figured the steel lag bolt strap would have fatigued at the bolts by now. I'm waiting to get a quote from a local welder about fabricating an aluminum box for me. I sent him the drawings below, which I had to come up with by myself. It's a pretty boxy with corners everywhere, but that should make it easier to build.

If his pricing turns out to be reasonable, I'd also like to have him build a rear rack based on the OEM design, but with a headrest attachment and Instep Pathfinder (half-a-bike) coupler added. Then I need to figure out some seat upholstery...

OEM rear rack:

 

[thundercamel]

Been planning to switch both upright bikes from their original grip shifters and thumb throttles to trigger shifters and half-twist throttles. StefEbike's left/front shifter seemed broken, but when I started the conversion I found it was the SIS cable housing that had blown out the aluminum end cap. I don't know why there aren't more steel ones available. I had to learn quickly about SIS housing vs. brake housing which I didn't previously know were different, and buy some supply to have in stock.

SIS cable housing blowout:

Old:

New:

The new setup is more comfortable, but can actually be a bit of a safety hazard while off the bike, which my wife and I weren't expecting. We had to get used to switching it off every time we get off the bike.

 

[Chalo]

I found it was the SIS cable housing that had blown out the aluminum end cap. I don't know why there aren't more steel ones available.

I've never seen a steel cable housing ferrule. Most (good and bad) are brass, with a few (good and bad) being made of aluminum.

The best way to prevent the long lay wires in shift housing from poking through a thin ferrule is to grind them flat after cutting the housing.