The easiest way to frame mount your batteries?

auraslip

auraslip

10 MW
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Mar 5, 2010
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So while looking for frame bags I discovered this site.

Xoe2P.jpg

I love that the front fender is made out of windshield reflector.

He custom makes frame bags, on top tube "gas tank" bags, seat bags, and seat bags.

I don't know what pricing is, but if it's under $100 it might just be the best way to get my batteries mounted.

I asked him if he could include backpack straps or satchel straps so I can take my battery into work/class/store/coffee shop/bar/hookah lounge/book depository.



More interestingly he has a gallery of his work and their are some pictures from the Alaskan Iditarod BIKE race. It seems like the bikes are mostly Surly Pugsleys with large marge rims. It looks freaking awesome!

WHuSE.jpg
 
Ideally a quick release system for the bag would be great.

Battery support is the most important thing though. My idea would be to have him make an inner pocket inside the frame bag that fits my battery pack snuggly. A bungee net would be wrapped around this inner bag, and the bungle cord would use said quick release snaps to click on to the frame tautly. With a little padding on the inner pocket for cushion the battery pack would be safe and secure.
 
Get one that has velcro straps. Too bad Nashbar doesn't seem to make those large ones anymore. They have velcro straps and you could literally just pull it off easily.
 
yeah, I saw that website. On one of the pages, it says

Typical prices are $125-$175 for full size bags -
Click to expand...

Kind of ridiculous. I paid $20 for my Nashbar frame bag which is almost as big as those.

Was looking at the picture above. Anyone ever tried the Surly Large Marge rims with the Surly Endomorph tires on an electric bike? The tires are 26" x 3.7" which is like a motorcycle tire. Be interesting to see how it rides. It'd cost $200 per tire and rim each so that's $400 for a rim and tire, not counting the spokes.
 
I've been looking at those bags for ages. They look AWESOME!

About the prices... they're a handmade item so of course they won't be dirt cheap. I'd have no problem paying some cool dude in Alaska to spend a few hours at the sewing machine some decent coin.

What he should really do is manufacture a soft version of the 'saddle bag' lipo pack holder that liveforphysics made for his bike. That would be easily adaptable to most bikes and keep weight decently centralised.
 
voicecoils said:
I'd have no problem paying some cool dude in Alaska to spend a few hours at the sewing machine some decent coin.
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Only way he will get it is if you post it to him :mrgreen: Otherwise he will just have to be
content with his bowl of rice and couple bucks for his weeks efforts :p

Dunno about these bags fellas, one drop of the bike the wrong way onto the wrong surface and your
expensive packs might take one for the team :shock:

KiM
 
auraslip,

How do you like those CST Cyclops? I found them on Amazon.com for $13. Not bad. Seems similar to the Maxis Hookworms but for about half the cost.
 
I'm surprised that Kim didn't mention that the easiest way to mount your batteries is duct tape.


Kim loves duct tape.


But seriously, I liked the look of my bike better with the duct tape rather than the shiny petrol tank looking battery box I made. It looked MEANER.
 
For me , the easiest way to frame mount was to use sheets of aluminum for the sides. Then in whatever corners are left in the space after the batteries are arranged, blocks of hardwood spacers are put. Screws into the wood hold the aluminum sheets together securing the whole thing. Then wherever you have wood near the frame, a metal strap can be installed clamping it to the frame. Pics are somewhere in the pic section, on my Fuji build thread. Search Dogmans 5304 fuji blaster.

This worked for me because I was starting off with a bit of extra space in the area. I was mounting a 24v nicad pack in there. If space is more limited, then a similar thing could be done using thinner metal parts or bolts instead of wood. The use of screws and wood made assembly a bit easier. Attaching the wood to the frame was really easy. The wood parts could even be outside the triangle, instead of inside it.

Love those surly pugsleys. One of the reasons I had to buy my specialized was that it came with 2.70 inch tires. Not quite the endomorphs, but they float nice on deep sand that's about as hard to ride in as snow. But unlike the pugsley, I get plush suspension. My other FS mtb would only take a 2.5 inch tire, and even then it sometimes knocked the chain off the sprocket with the knobs.
 
I used sheet metal mounted via the bottle mounts, and a zip tie on the seat tube. Bit of foam to cushion the cells, and velcro strap to stop it jumping out. Dead easy, and still going strong after 5000+ kms.
DSC_5487.JPG

I eventually "prettied" it up with a bag, for a bit more stealth, and protection from the elements. The bag was alot more effort, but worth it in the end for me.
file.php
 
Nice mount, but zero protection from the sides. For sla's this may be ok, but lithium is often a more vulnerable package. Using the bottle mounts to attach a box is common and a good way to do it.

The thread is " easiest way" not best way though. I think you won second in the easy contest, after just slapping it into a prefab frame bag. I don't count duct tape as a method worth considering.
 
Easy enough to slip bash plates inside the sides of the bag for when you drop the bike...
 
What he should really do is manufacture a soft version of the 'saddle bag' lipo pack holder that liveforphysics made for his bike. That would be easily adaptable to most bikes and keep weight decently centralised.
Click to expand...

That would be perfect if we could get someone to mass produce that.

Maybe I can just mount my topeak mtx bag rack over the top tube some how. I love the convenience of the mtx system.

Easy enough to slip bash plates inside the sides of the bag for when you drop the bike...
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My thoughts exactly.



How do you like those CST Cyclops? I found them on Amazon.com for $13. Not bad. Seems similar to the Maxis Hookworms but for about half the cost.
Click to expand...

They are pretty fun. I love "the float" factor. I can hit sand and mud with no problem. The LBS told me that Maxxis sold the tooling for the old style of hookworms to CST, and it became the Cyclops.

Search Dogmans 5304 fuji blaster.
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Looks pretty professional! I don't have a saw that can cut metal though ;(
 
I agree, a bash plate of some kind inside the bag can be enough. Coroplast political signs are easy to cut and fold to the shape you need and provide a crush zone about 3/16 thick around a battery. What I do though, has saved two batteries from destruction in crashes where the bike went flying end over end. Plastic or metal box, padding, and then another metal box.
 
auraslip said:
. . .

Looks pretty professional! I don't have a saw that can cut metal though ;(
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A regular carbide tipped blade for wood in a circular saw or table saw cuts thick aluminum quite well.
The thin stuff can be scored with a knife then bent and broken with a few bends.

Coroplast is good stuff and priced right.
<hint> Realtors use it for their signs too.
 
I like my Topeak MTX bag but if I were to mount a battery in the triangle and wanted a ready-made solution I'd try this Crystalyte box;

BATCASE-BBX-3-2T.jpg

http://us.itselectric.ca/product_p/batcase-bbx-3.htm

It's made for 3-12Ah SLA's so there's plenty of room however it needs to be attached with tie-wraps (I would use stainless steel ties) meaning you wouldn't be able to remove it for charging.

-R
 
Zoot Katz said:
auraslip said:
. . .

Looks pretty professional! I don't have a saw that can cut metal though ;(
Click to expand...
A regular carbide tipped blade for wood in a circular saw or table saw cuts thick aluminum quite well.
The thin stuff can be scored with a knife then bent and broken with a few bends.

Coroplast is good stuff and priced right.
<hint> Realtors use it for their signs too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good tip on the saw blade. I cut into my aluminum table saw table accidentally with my portable circular saw so I know that works...

Also if you put a carbide circular saw blade in backwards it cuts thin tin pretty handily. Noisy though.

Gary
 
I made a battery box out of 1/4 steel rod once. It enclosed the front triangle area and had a hinged lid. I bent the rod using a bench vise and hammer and welded the parts together. I cut a piece of 1" steel pipe into short narrow pieces to make 3 0r 4 mounts that fit against the frame tubes and were secured with hose clamps. It held a 40-50 lb lead pack securely.
 
When I made my aluminum and wood box, I cut the aluminum sheet, 1/8" thick, with a circular saw. Set the depth just barely deep enough to cut it, and it will cut nice without the blade hanging up, and outside curves can be cut by just making lots of short straight cuts. A hacksaw blade on a sabre saw works too, or even a drill can cut an inside curve. I happend to find some old road signs in the garage when I bought this house, but sometimes you can find old ones in the bottom of a creekbed or out in the boonies. Great alu sheeting, but just don't go stealing any. Same thing could be done in all wood though, with 1/4 thick paneling.
 
I never found pics of the cookie sheet battery box. I want to make a similar box for my lithium pack. Do you have any pics available Dogman.
 
In the Pics section I bumped it to page one, Dogmans 5304 Fuji Blaster. Shows the whole build. I'm a dumbshit that still doesn't know how to post a link. Why cant we drag and drop one? It was easy for me on the V. It was explained how once to me, but I didn't understand. The original pics are in a hard drive that died, and I never bothered to pull em back out of the archive to my computer.
 
Where are the pics of the cookie sheet battery surround that you made. I see pics of your triangle mounted battery box. I already have a decent mounting system in a panier bag but I want to further protect the battery from shock , friction and vibration by making a tight fitting sheet metal battery box.
 
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