1st e-bike conversion, talk me up, or talk me down!
- Thread starter Clyde
- Start date
First ride last night in single-speed config, and I'm happy to report that riding an ebike is not boring and does not suck! Spent an hour shredding the neighborhood; the parking lot, paved bike trail, road, and the overgrown patch out back. Nothing fazed it (ok, lots of wet vegetation bogged it down a little, but that was more me losing pedal momentum than the bike). With the stock 46t chainring and 18t sprocket I had enough torque to easily top a very, very steep paved hill, and hit 27mph on the street on throttle. Once I've got the Sturmey RS-RK3 swapped in and plumbed it ought to be a beast! I imagine the top speed will be up around 35mph, and the low gear will be good for hard climbs. Noticed that I was ghost pedaling above around 15 - 18 mph. Some gearing might help there, too.
FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Silicon Valley
Congrats on completing your build... it looks great and you have the satisfaction of a DIY project!
So of course it was raining this morning, so I drove in to the office. But then it looked nice about an hour ago, so I decided to run home and return by bike. All went well until I heard a clanging sound from the rear. Turns out the torque from the motor had caused the wheel to slip in the rear dropouts so the sidewall was rubbing against the brake-side chainstay. Limped it home, and need to make sure everything is tightened up better before the next adventure!
Finished, for now...
Here's how she sits with her new wheelset and Sturmey Archer RS-RK3:
And here's the Sturmey in its natural habitat:
Getting the shift cable properly adjusted was really frustrating until I realized that I'd reinstalled the shifter arm on the wheel incorrectly when swapping from the 18t rear cog to a 24t. The 24t turned out to be too low, so I swapped back to the 18t and got the shift actuator on the arm aligned with the receiver on the hub. May go with a 20t down the road, as they're cheap and not that hard to swap out, but a 42t chainring to replace the stock 46t might be a better solution.
The half-twist shifter interferes with the throttle a bit:
I may try to remove some material from the throttle to get it to fit closer, or maybe replace the thumb button with something that extends a little further to the right to make it easier to reach. Had an interesting ride yesterday with a buddy on his acoustic bike, though, and found that my riding style was totally different. On solo rides I'd been doing a lot of throttling up hills and accelerating until I was at top speed most of the time. These have been mostly commutes to work, so that makes sense, but it really puts a strain on the battery. A 2 mile test run on the 24t cog drained my 52v 18Ah battery by about 10%, while a 15 mile rec ride alongside my acoustic pal in PAS 1-2 only used about 9%, and was honestly more fun.
So today I hit Lake Fairfax Park to give the singetrack trails there another shot (came off really good the first time, as I was following a kid on an acoustic Trek and going too fast on an unfamiliar trail). This time, keeping the pace down and using PAS instead of throttle I managed to stay on the bike. Having a low gear for the big climbs helped a lot, too.
So all that's left is to plumb in the gear shift sensor so I can let friends ride without worrying about them shifting under load, and then a suspension fork in the Spring for a little more comfort offroad.
Thanks to all who've read and commented. Your advice and opinions and support have been a real help! If you're ever in Northern Virginia looking for a ride post up!
Here's how she sits with her new wheelset and Sturmey Archer RS-RK3:
And here's the Sturmey in its natural habitat:
Getting the shift cable properly adjusted was really frustrating until I realized that I'd reinstalled the shifter arm on the wheel incorrectly when swapping from the 18t rear cog to a 24t. The 24t turned out to be too low, so I swapped back to the 18t and got the shift actuator on the arm aligned with the receiver on the hub. May go with a 20t down the road, as they're cheap and not that hard to swap out, but a 42t chainring to replace the stock 46t might be a better solution.
The half-twist shifter interferes with the throttle a bit:
I may try to remove some material from the throttle to get it to fit closer, or maybe replace the thumb button with something that extends a little further to the right to make it easier to reach. Had an interesting ride yesterday with a buddy on his acoustic bike, though, and found that my riding style was totally different. On solo rides I'd been doing a lot of throttling up hills and accelerating until I was at top speed most of the time. These have been mostly commutes to work, so that makes sense, but it really puts a strain on the battery. A 2 mile test run on the 24t cog drained my 52v 18Ah battery by about 10%, while a 15 mile rec ride alongside my acoustic pal in PAS 1-2 only used about 9%, and was honestly more fun.
So today I hit Lake Fairfax Park to give the singetrack trails there another shot (came off really good the first time, as I was following a kid on an acoustic Trek and going too fast on an unfamiliar trail). This time, keeping the pace down and using PAS instead of throttle I managed to stay on the bike. Having a low gear for the big climbs helped a lot, too.
So all that's left is to plumb in the gear shift sensor so I can let friends ride without worrying about them shifting under load, and then a suspension fork in the Spring for a little more comfort offroad.
Thanks to all who've read and commented. Your advice and opinions and support have been a real help! If you're ever in Northern Virginia looking for a ride post up!
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FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Silicon Valley
Well done... she's a beauty!
Little update: still waiting for Manitou to stock up the Mattoc Comp fork, and will likely do a brake upgrade to hydraulic, but other than that she's done. Added a Trans-X Kitsuma dropper (110mm), and replaced the horrible, plastic grip shifter with a nice thumb shifter that cleans up the cockpit nicely. So now from L to R it's dropper switch, controller/display, brake, brake, shifter, throttle. Keep thinking about removing the throttle entirely, but it fits so it stays for now.
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JES2020
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Other
so what's your top speed now?
I went from the stock 46t chainring and 18t cog to a 24t cog first, but that was way too torquey and top speed was probably under 20 mph. So switched back to the 18t cog and Bafang 40t chainring, which messed up the chainline a lot, but brought top speed back up to around 25 mph. Finally bit the bullet and got the Luna 42t chainring, which I should have done from the start, and in 3rd I can keep up with assist 3 and pedal for around 27-28 mph. Throttle max is higher, but I haven't touched that in months.
JES2020
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Other
I was wondering what your top speed, throttle only was , now that you have the second motor installed.
Still just the one motor; BBSHD from Luna with the 1000w "hot rod" program. Max recorded speed on the display is 38 mph, likely downhill. Imagine it would approach 30 mph in 3rd on the flats throttle-only.
As she sits now I have about $2300 in the project.
kmccune
Well-Known Member
Of course, after the "build bug' bit", did you think that would be your one and only Build? We have to get the word out about EBikes in my part of VA EBikes are pretty much unheard of.
I am concentrating on a "trike " build right now( I finally realized why the bikes seem so wobbly beneath me, (spoiler"its not the bikes")Besides I want something besides my"2-litre* cold weather start up 4x4" for close trips.
(https://www.tricycleconversionkit.c...onParams={"origin":"cart-popup"}¤cy=USD,) this company seems to fill the bill" for the conversion to attach to my "steel" lowstep. Already have 18 ah battery, have bracket so the 10 ah battery is going to be included as well{perhaps paralleled or wired separately to mid drive.
The "Warwagon' is still vaporware, the spark is there in my imagination.
* It seemed to take a half a gallon of Gasoline to start in cold weather.
Dewey
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Arlington, Virginia
Or watch an episode of Mr Bean
I wish front trike conversion kits were more widely available outside the EU
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