thickhead
100 mW
Greetings ES denizens!
I'm a relatively new ES member who's been mostly just lurking for months. This thread is intended to be my build diary for an Xtracycle FreeRadical conversion that I started at the end of August. I expect there won't be anything particularly new here for the experts, or exciting for the speed demons, but, in addition to placing a marker for myself, the thread may be of interest to other noobs with similar goals. As everyone always says, I am extremely grateful to the ES community. I learned a ton by just reading this site for weeks before actually buying any components. I hope that in some small way I can return the favor. That, and get help when I (inevitably) run into problems!
How did I get here?
This summer I found out about Xtracycles and e-bikes at about the same time, and they just immediately seemed like two great tastes that would go great together. Funny thing: I stumbled on the e-bike movement while watching old on-demand episodes of Weeds. There is a series of episodes that takes place in Denmark, during which one of the characters becomes infatuated with the Copenhagen Wheel. I was very intrigued. A little web browsing showed me that this was more-or-less highfalutin vaporware of the MIT made-for-TV variety, but it did lead me to many interesting sites with real stuff--blogs, vendors, YouTube videos--and, eventually, ES. I was hooked. I became a blathering e-bike wannabee, overcome by the urge to join the cult. My wallet started hemorrhaging shortly thereafter.
While I'm an enthusiastic fanwhen it comes to e-bike hot-rodding exploits, my current personal interests are not so much in that direction. Though there are many great builds to learn from on ES, my interest in e-bikes as green and groovy transportation make teklektik's gorgeous 2WD masterpiece my favorite to date--it sets a standard of technical artistry to which I can only aspire. I have also been inspired by Justin's vision of a transformative transportation technology. (Thanks, Ebike Nerdcast for the long interview, and thanks, Justin, for great videos, as well as for ES itself.) I'd like to contribute to that vision in my local community. Well, that--but mostly I just want to have fun tinkering with, and cruising around on, my e-bike!
What I wanted
My goal was to build a reliable commuter that I can also use for recreational touring on our local Appalachian mountain roads. In order of importance, my bike is going to be used for: commuting while lugging my computer, books, notes; shopping, running errands, and light hauling; and touring on local mountain roads. I want to build my own because, well, honestly I'm just into this sort of thing... but, for less money than it would cost for a ready-made I will get better performance (that's the theory, anyway )--and I'll also be better able to maintain the bike and tinker with it. I am looking forward to learning about electric motor controllers and energy storage systems.
My commute is about 8.5 miles each way. I'd like to be able to get to work in about 20 minutes, so I figured 30 mph would be a good top speed if I could get it, but I expect to generally cruise in the high teens to low 20's. I generally wanted to err on the side of relatively low cost, simplicity, and reliability, so decided to go with a single rear BMC hub motor--I wanted torque and relatively easy peddling if I run out of juice. To get the right speed range, I decided to go with a 48V system. At roughly 25-30 Wh/mile, that meant I'd want at least 10-13 Ah of storage. Given that it's my first build, I decided to go mostly with a single trusted vendor who could help me with integration. In the end, Ebikes SF won out by a nose over Grin because I thought it would be easier to deal with a vendor in the US. When I called Ebikes SF and got through immediately to Ilia, I found that he was very friendly and generous with his time, knowledgeable, but a no bullshit kind of guy. So that sealed the deal. In the end, I'm happy because I still am getting substantial stuff from Grin, as well.
What I settled on
The intent was to use my 1997 Jamis Eureka hardtail as the base, which has a 7005 aluminum frame. I was concerned about the age of the frame (given the material), but I had used it mostly for just getting around and occasional joy-riding when I lived in town. Now that I've moved out into the woods it's just been a spider house in the garage. Here's what I ordered from Ilia:
I got the FreeRadical on closeout for $390 (saved some bucks, but the older version without waterproof deck and FreeLoaders...). Total cost for everything was $2,646.60. More than I wanted to spend (now that's a real shocker, ain't it??!), but a pretty competitive deal overall. Based on actual quotes I received, comparable pre-built cargo e-bikes would have cost me about $3500--and that was for 36V systems!
So what I bought was close to what I initially wanted--with the exception that I opted for the torque of the V2T at the expense of a little top end speed (according to the ebikes.ca simulator). For a hauling bike, that seemed like a good idea. I went with the AllCell batteries because in principle the phase change protection should make them more reliable (they come with a two year warranty, which is a rare thing for batteries). More importantly (to me), they weigh less: the NMC chemistry has a bit under twice the energy density of LiFePo4 (the 13 Ah AllCell pack weighs 8.1 lbs, compared to 16.5 lbs for a 15 Ah Ping pack).
But of course, this was all just guesswork (educated by y'all) since I have no actual experience with any of it. We'll have to see how it all goes... I'll be posting build milestones to bring the diary up to date as I can finish them.
Cheers!
I'm a relatively new ES member who's been mostly just lurking for months. This thread is intended to be my build diary for an Xtracycle FreeRadical conversion that I started at the end of August. I expect there won't be anything particularly new here for the experts, or exciting for the speed demons, but, in addition to placing a marker for myself, the thread may be of interest to other noobs with similar goals. As everyone always says, I am extremely grateful to the ES community. I learned a ton by just reading this site for weeks before actually buying any components. I hope that in some small way I can return the favor. That, and get help when I (inevitably) run into problems!
How did I get here?
This summer I found out about Xtracycles and e-bikes at about the same time, and they just immediately seemed like two great tastes that would go great together. Funny thing: I stumbled on the e-bike movement while watching old on-demand episodes of Weeds. There is a series of episodes that takes place in Denmark, during which one of the characters becomes infatuated with the Copenhagen Wheel. I was very intrigued. A little web browsing showed me that this was more-or-less highfalutin vaporware of the MIT made-for-TV variety, but it did lead me to many interesting sites with real stuff--blogs, vendors, YouTube videos--and, eventually, ES. I was hooked. I became a blathering e-bike wannabee, overcome by the urge to join the cult. My wallet started hemorrhaging shortly thereafter.
While I'm an enthusiastic fanwhen it comes to e-bike hot-rodding exploits, my current personal interests are not so much in that direction. Though there are many great builds to learn from on ES, my interest in e-bikes as green and groovy transportation make teklektik's gorgeous 2WD masterpiece my favorite to date--it sets a standard of technical artistry to which I can only aspire. I have also been inspired by Justin's vision of a transformative transportation technology. (Thanks, Ebike Nerdcast for the long interview, and thanks, Justin, for great videos, as well as for ES itself.) I'd like to contribute to that vision in my local community. Well, that--but mostly I just want to have fun tinkering with, and cruising around on, my e-bike!
What I wanted
My goal was to build a reliable commuter that I can also use for recreational touring on our local Appalachian mountain roads. In order of importance, my bike is going to be used for: commuting while lugging my computer, books, notes; shopping, running errands, and light hauling; and touring on local mountain roads. I want to build my own because, well, honestly I'm just into this sort of thing... but, for less money than it would cost for a ready-made I will get better performance (that's the theory, anyway )--and I'll also be better able to maintain the bike and tinker with it. I am looking forward to learning about electric motor controllers and energy storage systems.
My commute is about 8.5 miles each way. I'd like to be able to get to work in about 20 minutes, so I figured 30 mph would be a good top speed if I could get it, but I expect to generally cruise in the high teens to low 20's. I generally wanted to err on the side of relatively low cost, simplicity, and reliability, so decided to go with a single rear BMC hub motor--I wanted torque and relatively easy peddling if I run out of juice. To get the right speed range, I decided to go with a 48V system. At roughly 25-30 Wh/mile, that meant I'd want at least 10-13 Ah of storage. Given that it's my first build, I decided to go mostly with a single trusted vendor who could help me with integration. In the end, Ebikes SF won out by a nose over Grin because I thought it would be easier to deal with a vendor in the US. When I called Ebikes SF and got through immediately to Ilia, I found that he was very friendly and generous with his time, knowledgeable, but a no bullshit kind of guy. So that sealed the deal. In the end, I'm happy because I still am getting substantial stuff from Grin, as well.
What I settled on
The intent was to use my 1997 Jamis Eureka hardtail as the base, which has a 7005 aluminum frame. I was concerned about the age of the frame (given the material), but I had used it mostly for just getting around and occasional joy-riding when I lived in town. Now that I've moved out into the woods it's just been a spider house in the garage. Here's what I ordered from Ilia:
- BMC rear V2T on a Velocity Cliffhanger, with matching unpowered front wheel
- DNP Epoch freewheel 11-34T 7 spd
- Lyen MK2 12 FET controller
- Half Twist Throttle with power switch
- Lumenator 1000 lumen headlight w/ variable brightness
- Grin 8 LED rear light 0.6 watt rear light
- Crystalyte Cruise control unit
- Tektro E-Comp hydraulic e-brakes with 203mm rotors, front and rear
- Direct Plug-in Cycle Analyst (didn't want to wait for v2.3!)
- AllCell 48V 13Ah LiNiMnCO battery pack & charger
- Xtracycle FreeRadical Classic
- USB-TTL programming adapter cable for the Lyen
I got the FreeRadical on closeout for $390 (saved some bucks, but the older version without waterproof deck and FreeLoaders...). Total cost for everything was $2,646.60. More than I wanted to spend (now that's a real shocker, ain't it??!), but a pretty competitive deal overall. Based on actual quotes I received, comparable pre-built cargo e-bikes would have cost me about $3500--and that was for 36V systems!
So what I bought was close to what I initially wanted--with the exception that I opted for the torque of the V2T at the expense of a little top end speed (according to the ebikes.ca simulator). For a hauling bike, that seemed like a good idea. I went with the AllCell batteries because in principle the phase change protection should make them more reliable (they come with a two year warranty, which is a rare thing for batteries). More importantly (to me), they weigh less: the NMC chemistry has a bit under twice the energy density of LiFePo4 (the 13 Ah AllCell pack weighs 8.1 lbs, compared to 16.5 lbs for a 15 Ah Ping pack).
But of course, this was all just guesswork (educated by y'all) since I have no actual experience with any of it. We'll have to see how it all goes... I'll be posting build milestones to bring the diary up to date as I can finish them.
Cheers!