StudEbiker's E-Bike-E build- ride vid pg. 7.

I got the bike on the road again and tried a shift map similar to Drewjet's and it worked fairly well. I have the efficiency down to 30wh/mi. which I suppose is acceptable, but I would love to get it down to 20wh/mi..

The rack was making some noise so I am going to have to see what's rattling and try and take that out. I really like not having to shift as it makes the ride really pleasant with one less thing to have to focus on when I'm riding.

The bad thing about the NV hub though is that there is no shift by feel. It is really difficult to tell if the NV is in a good range or not. I suppose the best way to dial it in would be to have one of the doo-dads that let's you shift it manually and have a CA to watch watts. I don't even have a CA right now, so I can't watch in real time what's happening as I go down the road.

I can look at the Turnigy after the ride and see peak amps and total wh, but I don't have any real time feedback.

My next big e-bike purchase is going to be a CA.
 
We've had a couple of days of decent weather this weekend so today I thought I'd go for a real ride on the Bike E. The climb is one of the steepest roads in Ashland. I don't know the grade, but it's a real climb to be sure. Video quality sucks. I wish there hadn't been so much gravel on the road. :(

[youtube]I5vUQ2_ZsTI[/youtube]

BikeE1.jpg
 
Well, after many trials and tribulations on this bike, I am happy to report it is settling down and becoming a nice enjoyable (mostly reliable) bike to ride.

I guess I was somewhat optimistic to think that with so many things on this bike I previously had ZERO experience with it would all work perfectly right out of the gate!

The problems I've been having with the Nuvinci were a result of having the gear ratios too high. most of that was a result of setting my shaft RPMs too low and my top speed too high in the configuration editor. For any of the rest of you having problems programming the NV Dev Kit, pay careful attention to the shaft RPM setting and don't feel like you have to use ALL the NV gearing.

When I was programming, I felt like I needed to have the CVP go through it's entire range of gear (23-977), but now I have it set where like the highest it ever goes is to about 750. The bike just performs so much better now and it is getting very close to my ideal two wheeled bike.

I am going to change the 48t #25 sprocket for a 54t and slow the jackshaft down because my pedal cadence is PDQ and I don't like riding around looking like a hamster pedaling like crazy. not only is it annoying, it really goes against the whole idea of the NV. Once I do that, with the 52t front chainring I have now that should give me a pedal cadence of 86. If that's still not slow enough, I will go with a bigger front chainring.

Today, I pulled my first substantial load behind the bike with the trailer. With 44lbs of tools and trailer behind me, I barely felt the load at all even uphill! Today was the first day I saw the REAL benefit of a mid-drive.

Here a few pics from today. 8)

View attachment 2

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Alan B said:
Any watt hour per mile data with the bike alone?
Click to expand...

It depends on how I ride. Balls out about 30wh/mi, but I'm hoping that improves when I get the pedal cadence slowed down. If I ride conservative, about 19 wh/mi.

Even with the trailer today, using plenty of throttle, it was 30wh/mi.

The performance has improved greatly since I made that last video. I'll try to get make another one soon.
 
Those are really tame deer to allow such a pose! :lol: You feed them? :idea:

Isn't Ashland the town best suited for nuclear fallout or something like that for an ideal survivalist location? :?: :idea: The deer sure a friendly. :p

Nice & green there... with an "almost" ideal setup... you're home free. 8)

So, does the trailer hamper performance, especially higher speeds, very much or ? :?:
 
deVries said:
Those are really tame deer to allow such a pose! :lol: You feed them? :idea:

Isn't Ashland the town best suited for nuclear fallout or something like that for an ideal survivalist location? :?: :idea: The deer sure a friendly. :p

Nice & green there... with an "almost" ideal setup... you're home free. 8)

So, does the trailer hamper performance, especially higher speeds, very much or ? :?:
Click to expand...

The deer in Ashland are famously docile. Since it's a town filled with vegetarians, they have no natural predators here. :wink:

I've heard that about this being the best place to be in a Nuclear exchange, but I'd rather not find out if it's accurate or not.

In all honesty, the trailer is barely noticeable when riding. The trailer hitch has no slack in it and since it's a one wheel trailer, it tilts with the bike. The only time I can tell it's back there is when I'm stopping coming down a hill. Then I wish I had some better brakes. Coming down the hills around here with the Bike Es rim brakes even without the trailer though is not very fun though. That is definitely something I would like to upgrade on this bike. Actually the brakes are about the last thing I am wanting to change. Other than that, I'd like to add a Cycle Analyst, oh and a bigger battery, but other than that, that's it. :lol:
 
CrazyBike2 is about 30Wh/mile on typical commute to work, ~2.5 miles each way on the flats with about a dozen complete stops and starts, no pedalling. That's with the 9C "frearnt" hubmotor in the wheel, moving ~300lbs of me and bike.

So I guess with you dragging the trailer weight around, that's not too bad, especially given that you have the hills and stuff. What tire pressure is that trailer at? (if it's lower than 50psi you may get notably better wh/mile by raising it to 50-60psi or more) What terrain are you riding on, and how long is the trip, and are there lots of starts/stops or is it mostly cruising at a particular speed (and what speed)?
 
amberwolf said:
CrazyBike2 is about 30Wh/mile on typical commute to work, ~2.5 miles each way on the flats with about a dozen complete stops and starts, no pedalling. That's with the 9C "frearnt" hubmotor in the wheel, moving ~300lbs of me and bike.

So I guess with you dragging the trailer weight around, that's not too bad, especially given that you have the hills and stuff. What tire pressure is that trailer at? (if it's lower than 50psi you may get notably better wh/mile by raising it to 50-60psi or more) What terrain are you riding on, and how long is the trip, and are there lots of starts/stops or is it mostly cruising at a particular speed (and what speed)?
Click to expand...

That's 30wh/mi with or without the trailer. The trailer tire pressure is at 35psi. Riding on pavement with some gravel. Normal city type starts and stops. I have a top speed of 25mph. Remember though that I am running a planetary reduction, to a jackshaft, to a Nuvinci. Efficiency loss+efficiency loss+efficiency loss. Also remember that my pedal cadence right now is higher than it should be so I can't assist as much as I normally could/would.

Also remember I said if I ride conservatively I can get 19wh/mi.

I think these are pretty good numbers all things considered. Plus, the bike is just a pleasure to ride. With no shifting, it's just twist the throttle and go. I was going uphill carrying 44lbs of trailer and tools at 23mph not pedaling at all. On a 1400w setup, that seems pretty good to me.
 
StudEbiker said:
...

Yeah, I turned the shaft down in a drill press using emery cloth, and cooled the shaft in ice before assembly, but the bearing has to go on the shaft for about 3" on the side that went defective and it just seemed like the shaft wasn't cold enough. As far as heating the bearing, the person I was working with was concerned that heating the bearing might make the OD smaller because of the expansion. At first I disagreed, but after thinking about it some, it did seem like that might occur. The metal would expand in all directions, not just outward so why wouldn't the OD get smaller? ...
Click to expand...

When heating a "ring" the circumference expands three times faster than the material's expansion rate, so the ID does grow. You can find this in various places on the internet. Search for thermal expansion of a ring or plate with hole. Here is one:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/thexp2.html#c1
 
Good news to report.

After blowing through two bronze bushings, the first even going so far as to ruin a planetary and a housing, I finally bit the bullet and bought the upgraded planetary housing from EVDeals.com ($160 shipped :shock: ). I am VERY happy to report that this has made a significant improvement all around in the drive unit.

My watt hours have dropped to 24wh/mi. even when riding it hard. Peak amps have dropped from 39 to 34, and the sound is MUCH quieter. It finally rides the way I REALLY wanted it to ride.

Since my last update, I also changed the 48t #25 sprocket on the jackshaft to a 54t in an effort to slow down the jackshaft so I can keep up with it with the cranks. That made a great improvement also. I still think I could go to a 56t front chainring on the cranks, but the 52 is workable for now.

For anyone considering doing a build using the old Currie planetary housings, do yourself a favor and just get one of the housings from EVDeals from the start. The bronze bushings are just not up to the job. Here are some picture so you can see what running 1,300 watts through the stock setup will do.

This is the first housing I used, notice how the housing around the bushing has been worn out of round.

006.JPG

This is the second housing, the bushing is worn badly. This is after 134 miles.

007.JPG

008.JPG

009.JPG

Here is a side by side comparison of the stock unit to the improved unit.

005.JPG
 
The most recent modification to the E-Bike-E is doing Jeremy's Turnigy Watt Meter remote shunt modification (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21976&hilit=remote+shunt+turnigy#p320027) and putting the watt meter on the handle bars. I am so glad I did it as I can greatly extend my range now by being able to watch the current amps and watts on the meter. Before I was just kind of guessing what was causing the heaviest drains on the batt. What I can see now is that one of the things I was doing that was hurting my efficiency the most was accelerating hard from stops and always pegging the throttle instead of just using what I need to maintain a speed. The modification wasn't terribly difficult even for a poor solderer like me. I wish I had done this sooner!

turnigy.jpg
 
Went for a ride the other day and took along the camera to get some shots.

033.jpg

035.jpg

garage1.jpg

I've got this bike sorted out now where it's really pleasant to ride. Top speed 25mph and have got everything sorted the way I want it. Really the only thing I would still like to do on this bike is put in a 90mm Sturmey-Archer front drum brake. A bigger capacity battery would be nice, but I really have all the battery I need right now.

I've put a little over 750 miles on this bike now. It has been a learning experience for sure, but in the end it has ended up being what I hoped it would be.

If I did another Bike E, I would almost certainly try to find an AT (rear suspension) as the ride on this bike is very rigid, but it is still a blast to ride around town. The looks and comments I get on it everywhere I go are great.

Thanks to everyone who helped me on this build!!
 
All done. This brake feels great. So much better than the reverse mounted V-brake that was on the bike before this. It has great modulation and excellent stopping power. Since a disc brake is off the table for a Bike E, this was the only easy option and I have to say I think I may like this better than even a disc brake as it is all weather and the pads don't have to be changed as often.
 
Where did you source the chain tensioner on your pedal chain? It looks like it could be just what I'm looking for on my build...
 
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