The Mighty Volt
1 MW
Odd combination I agree.
I used to do a lot of reading about WW2 armour, the tanks of each army, their advantages and shortcomings. The Germans vs Soviets always intrigued me, the clash of engineering philosophies.
Little known fact- in 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, the Reds actually had better tanks. The T-34 and KV-1 were superior and would remain largely so for the rest of the war. The reason the Germans made such fantastic inroads was because they had superior tactics and superior {at that time} leadership. Some Soviet tanks didn't even leave the factory with paint on them. Their welds were like hideous stretch marks. But the Soviets churned them out.
In 1944, The Germans introduced a machine called the Konigstiger, erroneously called the "King Tiger" by the Allies {Konigstiger is actually the German for Bengal Tiger}. Hitler had insisted on heavier and heavier tanks to try and turn the tide of the war. The Kingtiger was the answer. It was largely unstoppable by ANY Allied or Soviet tank.
The only thing that could stop it was, well, itself. They kept breaking down. The transmission and engine had been designed for use in a smaller lighter tank, the Panther.
Hitlers fascination with heavier and heavier tanks, and the fascination of his engineers with over-engineering meant that the Germans produced fewer and fewer tanks as the War dragged on, and what they did produce deviated further and further from their original simple tenet of fast-moving, reliable vehicles with adequate firepower, adequate armour and superb tactics.
I have encountered a similar experience both with my own bike and with other peoples builds. When I first came on this scene in 2009, the X5300 was the absolute peak of hub motor technology. It was the biggest heaviest hubbie here. Some people had cyclones, I don't think I encountered anyone running an Agni. The odd Perm here and there {remember them?}
72v and an infineon controller represented the peak for most. The preponderance ran 36v or 48v cammy_cc or ping LiFe batteries. A123 round cells were a big thing. I don't even know if you can buy them anymore. 30c is so like 2007. There was a huge thread for making home-made spot welders, for welding these cells. That attracted the finest minds on this forum. Does anyone even think about how they are going to spotweld their cells when thinking about a build? We've gone from A123 rounds to A123 20Ah pouches.
This is a steep curve.
Now the Cromotor dwarves the old X5. And that doesn't even begin to take into account the Crowns, HT-40, HT-25, X5400 range, etc etc.
But our bikes are getting more complicated. Some peoples bikes are catching fire. Torque arms have "evolved" from small bits of metal to absolutely massive epoxied lumps. Dropouts are being stretched to accommodate the new hubs.
Is this all "Better" or are we getting away from the original premise of stealth, lightweight, affordability and reliability?
I ask this as I got into this to try and build a bike that would take the stress out of cycling. Now I want a beast. I don't know if my X5304 is good enough any more. I have taken the LiPo plunge and I think anything under 2000 w/h is a small battery. Bikes look more and more like Ebikes and less and less like bicycles. It used to be if a bike got stolen, you lost maybe $750. Now its like $2500
When I read about people going to their local motorcycle place to have their wheels laced to special rims with special spokes that can take the weight....I do think we have started to get away from first principles. Not saying it is a bad thing, its just a radical departure.
1939
1944
2007
2014
I used to do a lot of reading about WW2 armour, the tanks of each army, their advantages and shortcomings. The Germans vs Soviets always intrigued me, the clash of engineering philosophies.
Little known fact- in 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, the Reds actually had better tanks. The T-34 and KV-1 were superior and would remain largely so for the rest of the war. The reason the Germans made such fantastic inroads was because they had superior tactics and superior {at that time} leadership. Some Soviet tanks didn't even leave the factory with paint on them. Their welds were like hideous stretch marks. But the Soviets churned them out.
In 1944, The Germans introduced a machine called the Konigstiger, erroneously called the "King Tiger" by the Allies {Konigstiger is actually the German for Bengal Tiger}. Hitler had insisted on heavier and heavier tanks to try and turn the tide of the war. The Kingtiger was the answer. It was largely unstoppable by ANY Allied or Soviet tank.
The only thing that could stop it was, well, itself. They kept breaking down. The transmission and engine had been designed for use in a smaller lighter tank, the Panther.
Hitlers fascination with heavier and heavier tanks, and the fascination of his engineers with over-engineering meant that the Germans produced fewer and fewer tanks as the War dragged on, and what they did produce deviated further and further from their original simple tenet of fast-moving, reliable vehicles with adequate firepower, adequate armour and superb tactics.
I have encountered a similar experience both with my own bike and with other peoples builds. When I first came on this scene in 2009, the X5300 was the absolute peak of hub motor technology. It was the biggest heaviest hubbie here. Some people had cyclones, I don't think I encountered anyone running an Agni. The odd Perm here and there {remember them?}
72v and an infineon controller represented the peak for most. The preponderance ran 36v or 48v cammy_cc or ping LiFe batteries. A123 round cells were a big thing. I don't even know if you can buy them anymore. 30c is so like 2007. There was a huge thread for making home-made spot welders, for welding these cells. That attracted the finest minds on this forum. Does anyone even think about how they are going to spotweld their cells when thinking about a build? We've gone from A123 rounds to A123 20Ah pouches.
This is a steep curve.
Now the Cromotor dwarves the old X5. And that doesn't even begin to take into account the Crowns, HT-40, HT-25, X5400 range, etc etc.
But our bikes are getting more complicated. Some peoples bikes are catching fire. Torque arms have "evolved" from small bits of metal to absolutely massive epoxied lumps. Dropouts are being stretched to accommodate the new hubs.
Is this all "Better" or are we getting away from the original premise of stealth, lightweight, affordability and reliability?
I ask this as I got into this to try and build a bike that would take the stress out of cycling. Now I want a beast. I don't know if my X5304 is good enough any more. I have taken the LiPo plunge and I think anything under 2000 w/h is a small battery. Bikes look more and more like Ebikes and less and less like bicycles. It used to be if a bike got stolen, you lost maybe $750. Now its like $2500
When I read about people going to their local motorcycle place to have their wheels laced to special rims with special spokes that can take the weight....I do think we have started to get away from first principles. Not saying it is a bad thing, its just a radical departure.
1939
1944
2007
2014
