Suzuki RG250F Gamma conversion

Well today I finally got my bike over to EVWorks for some final work, and assembly :D

I'm getting John, the ace TIG welder to knock up a battery cage for the bike, and maybe weld some lugs onto the cross-bar of the motor mount. The way I have the 10 mm rod is good, but it means you can't actually tighten the nut unless you are a 20 mm tall man who can squeeze in and swing a very small spanner. Bit of a design flaw, but oh well :roll:

I'm also getting Rod's BMS units, cycle analyist, motor and controllers all wired up, so fingers crossed I'll have a race bike ready in two weeks!

I found that an original part http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-rg250-1987-fch_model13996/partslist/FIG33.html such as this and the side covers will cost over AUD$560.00! Surely there's a cheaper way... Oh, I would love to get a fibreglass tank made too, but maybe I will need to get the existing tank and smear plasticine all over it to expand the rear a bit, then take a mould - two batteries end to end is a real tight squeeze.
 
Not much to add just yet, as the bike is still getting a battery cage welded up, but I did find a quote for a spider coupling.

Despite my best efforts to get the two motors lined up perfectly, even slight differences are likely to cause grief. So I got a quote for a spider coupling: http://www.tea.net.au/welcome.aspx?mid=7

This should be OK on the RHS coupling, and take out any abnormalities at high RPM. Quoted $43.52 for the coupling, and $48.00 for boring out to 19 mm and machining the keyways.

Not bad I thought, especially since the insert is cheap enough to replace.
 
I'd not given much thought to the problem of aligning two motors before. Do you know how Agni does it? I guess you still have to get the motors as closely aligned as possible with the spider coupling, otherwise you get vibration and accelerated bearing wear?
 
Yeah, I suspect this is more of an insurance measure. The bearings are pretty essential to the whole alignment / smooth running of things, and given I'm placing the drive sprocket over the coupling on the LHS, some kind of anomaly balancing on the other side is a good idea. No idea how Agni has done it, but I imagine something similar.
 
My coupling arrived in the mail today!

It's erm... aluminium. I was expecting steel. Anyway, it looks like it's probably up to the task... I hope!

Coupling001.jpg

Coupling002.jpg
 
Alas, almost a year after starting my project, it is tantalisingly close to being finished. However I must travel to Vancouver tomorrow night for work, and it will sit waiting for me in the workshop.

John has done a great job welding the battery cages up, and my cardboard battery packs were a useful guide (even if I got their size wrong :oops:) so all that remains is to wire her up!

batterycages001.jpg

batterycages002.jpg

batterycages003.jpg

batterycages004.jpg


Otherwise, I'll see you crazy cats on the other hemisphere!
 
Beautiful! I think with your excellent battery and motor setup, you've got something as good or better than most of the TTXGP bikes. :)
 
Hey, I just noticed that the coupling you're using is a 19/24 spider coupling, but (the lovejoy ones) are only rated to 20 Nm max. If you have 2 agni's, you'll be pushing ~106 Nm at max accel (hopefully!). Is there any reason that you went with the 19/24 over the larger ones? I'm only asking, because i'm also doing a twin agni build and i'm trying to sort out couplers myself right now. I may end up just using a rigid sleeve coupler on both ends because the larger spiders will interfere with my front sprocket. I found that the 28/38 size red Shore A spider will fit with a good fatigue tolerance (320 Nm max) for reversing loads (regen), while the slightly smaller 24/32 will just barely work @ 113Nm.
Any thoughts? thanks!
 
Yeah, after much deliberation I have opted not to go with this coupling. I think the whole system will be better without it actually. Well, when I get back from Canada I'll do it anyway.
 
We will be rolling through Edmonton, but you'll have to meet me at the train station :) Maybe in August we're heading to Winnipeg and beyond, but no real plans to hang out in Edmonton.

I'll be based in Vancouver for the next 3-4 months (and missing the E-bike expo cause I'll be at a conference dammit! :x :x )
 
Hi Splinter,
I'm using cell_man's A123 prismatics, but these are impossible to get now, short of a massive reversal of A123's business approach.

If not for these, I'd probably be using some high-C LiPo. I'm all about the power :)
 
No new news on the motorbike, as I'm still in Vancouver. But I thought I'd share some news - Katherine and I are engaged! :mrgreen:

We haven't made any plans for a wedding date, but I can assure you there will be a wedding burnout :)

Thanks for the company guys and girls!
 
wow ive just sat here and read the whole thread looks nuts and expensive O.O be interesting to see how you win your first race 2 wheels or 1 :twisted:
 
Fun, absolutely.
Expensive, you bet :( About $15,000 all told :( :(

Winning races? I don't know since the only competition I'll have is in the historic class (lots of fast 750 cc ICEs in that class)
On one wheel? Hmmm :) I don't think the torque is enough to overcome the COG of a rather heavy bike, but we'll see :)

I actually leave for Perth in 5 days, so it's going to be exciting :D Vancouver was nice for the summer, but the cold and wet is settling in and that's a pretty good time to leave. Watch this space!
 
jonescg said:
I actually leave for Perth in 5 days, so it's going to be exciting :D Vancouver was nice for the summer, but the cold and wet is settling in and that's a pretty good time to leave. Watch this space!
Click to expand...

Don't forget the "upper decker" in the
Hotel shitta before you leave jonesy it would be un-Australian of you
nbot too leave a small "parting gift" wouldn't it :mrgreen:

Glad your on the way home mate, looking forward to seeing this beast
finished, not alot to do now IIRC...

KiM
 
I got no burning desire to leave them with a bad taste... through an act of bad taste :D The Mrs is Canadian so I must not offend :)

A mate of mine once left a bag of prawn heads in the door panel of another guys car. He cleaned it head to toe and still couldn't work out where the offending odour was coming from :lol:

Yep, the bike has a bunch of work to be done on it, but the heavy engineering is out of the way, by and large. I still need to get a workable BMS and a charger. Lots of heavy duty wiring and a tail cover for the controller are all that remain.

Looking forward to it :)
 
Prawn heads are a classic, pop them in curtain rods in a house and they are near impossible to find, i have heard of
it done and the house painted throughtout and new carpets added and still they couldnt find/get rid of the smell
hehee... C'mon man Upper Decker... [chant] Up-a- Deck-a.. Up-a- Decke-a [/chant] :mrgreen: Seriously though, get back ASAP
and get that bike going!!! I was out at Barbegello 2 weekends ago for the Power Cruise
has changed alot since i last went there some 10 years ago now! Theres house EVERYWHERE on the drive in,
the track surrounds have been extensively improved, pity the tracks still the same though :: sigh ::

All the best with the rest of the build anywayz matey...look forward to watching you cain thye shit out of it around waneroo...

KiM
 
I spent yesterday at EV works in Kewdale putting some final additions to the Electric RG.
The 50 mm2 wire should be good for the task... most of the time :). I think I need to make a water cooling jacket for the controller to sit on, and maybe a couple of fans on top of the controller too.
I hope to assemble the beast this weekend, but it is still without a charger and a BMS. The BMS will probably be mounted remotely, in the form of two panels of 16 units each hanging either side of the batteries, under the fibreglass fairings.

Mainwiring001.jpg

Mainwiring002.jpg

Mainwiring003.jpg


Almost ready :D
 
Excellent decision to use some proper sized wire. I'm loving seeing how this bike is all coming together. :)
 
Not even the biggest - they had 95 mm2 wire, but I couldn't physically fit all that copper on the bike! I imagine I'll be pulling over 800 amps through the motor wires, but hopefully no more than 600 through the battery. That's all the fuse is rated to :)
 
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