ZOMGVTEK, his brother, and I have been researching / building / riding electric bicycles for the past couple of years. This year we decided to go with a new / better setup than the 60lbs of lead acid batteries we’ve had in the past. We’re now running 88volts of LIPO’s at 65amps through a programmable controller to a Golden Hub Motor. Basically, the way we have the controllers programmed right now gives us the ability to have a maximum distance of about 45 miles assuming we can stay under 15mph and take it easy on acceleration, or a max speed of about 47 mph (distance drastically decreases with increased speed).
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the rigs (we still have some fine tuning / cleaning up to do on them). I’m sure when Eric sees this thread he will post up some more/better pictures and videos.
You can pedal all you want, and it essentially can double the range at low speeds. However, they’re not that fun to pedal, so I just don’t.
Plus, my rear derailer smashed into the spokes at high speed last year, so I just pulled it all.
Ryanbgb22 has a week old bike, so his gears still work just fine. But its quite a bit harder to pedal than a stock quality bike.
A very high power setup like this is going to be at least 1K in parts, and quite a bit of work on your end to make things work. This is assuming a decent mechanical and electrical understanding.
This stuff has proven to be super reliable. As long as its assembled well, it should have no problem running maintenance free for years and thousands of miles.
You gave me a good idea… i’m gonna build a gas one and i already have a motor. I have this motor with big bore pipe and aftermarket filter it should be at least 7hp. Oh and its chrome lol…
AWD is kinda neat, and occasionally someone will do it. Its really only effective for lower power setups. The beefy hub motors capable of taking 10kW+ are 15+ LBS and $500+… Running two of those is costly, heavy, and quite a bit less efficient. The one guy who ran insane power into two big motors stopped using the bike since it had ‘insane’ traction issues, and was apparently extremely unsafe and would dump you if you snap the throttle open too quickly. All the muscle e-bikes run just a single motor in the rear, but run 10-20 kW into it. We are ‘only’ running 7kW into our motors, which is on the upper limit for our cheap Chinese motors and reckless abuse. We are all getting bored of the new setup already, and are looking into significantly more powerful setups. Things start to get expensive when you pass 100V…
A little gas engine like that would be neat on a bike, but I would question if you could get away with using it. Our bikes are technically illegal, but at least they blow by you silently, most people dont even really notice.
ICE FTW. Nothing beats Gas motors…heaters too. Just don’t complain about the shitty vid since there was no such thing as go-pro back then. Still have it and still going strong as hell.
i’ll bet the electrics can beat me in a straight line when the esc is timed for power, But I get 50+ miles a tank at WOT.
After reading up on lipos I only charge the ones for my RC stuff unattended by leaving them in the center of a huge cast iron frying pan. And even then I’m uncomfortable charging them unattended.
I would NEVER feel comfortable charging them unattended. I generally charge them outside with an extension cord while I’m home. Lots of time and careful construction went into the battery wiring…but yes, anything going wrong would have potential to be disastrous to the upper leg / nut sack region.
Me either. Buy a motorcycle or a dirtbike… or a fucking scooter. Cruising around on a bike that you’re not pedaling gives off the impression that you’re a huge fucking pussy.
EDIT: (unless you’re like 14 and can’t legally drive a car or motorcycle on the street… 1000 dollars would have bought a pretty nice used motorcycle that would be faster, safer, and 8 billion times less lame)
Quite a few precautions are being taken to prevent battery fires. During discharge, the main reason they occur is if one cell is weak and gets discharged to the point where it goes into reversal and the voltage becomes negative. This is essentially eliminated by running a 24S2P configuration, to balance the load between two cells, and individual cell voltage monitoring. We charge with balance chargers, which will not allow the cell voltages to exceed 4.20, and will stop charging if one cell voltage fluctuates suddenly. Any physical abuse can lead to an issue, but these particular cells don’t tend to burst into flames when punctured/stabbed/shorted. They’re on the ‘safe’ side of things for LiPo. And yes, unattended charging should never be done.
A motorcycle/dirt bike/scooter cant really be used to fuck around in a park or odd locations, especially late at night. Anything worth getting there would need to be registered and insured as well. While the initial cost may be high, the cost to use it is a few cents. They’re more powerful than most dirt bikes and scooters, especially in the low end. Its really just a whole different experience. You basically can do whatever the fuck you want, and nobody cares since its silent and looks like a bike
These are by no means a replacement for a motorcycle / dirtbike, and a dirt bike / motorcycle is not a replacement for these. It’s not like we’re doing this to save fuel or for an alternative form of transportation, it’s more of a hobby…like an rc car you can ride. While it may appear ‘lame’, I personally find it enjoyable to be able to ride down sidewalks/streets/parking lots at any time of day or night, do some light trail riding, or whatever…As far as looking like a pussy riding one, I kinda agree, but don’t really care. I have a snowmobile, bike, fourwheeler, jetski, and this has its place amongst them. Honestly, they’re a lot more fun to ride than one might assume. To each their own.
