m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
HAHA yourself. Its one thing to watch a video and its another entirely to know these motors and bikes from experience.HAHA I don't agree , look at this ,mid-drive , this would scorch your dual hub. I would bet money on it . I wish they actually rode it though on video . The controller appeard to not have pedal assist when he got on it.
That little bike in the video is powered by a 3kw mini Cyclone kit. They were powered by a 60a Kelly controller that Luna was doing the programming for pre-sale. Want to see another one (I didn't spring for the Luna Tick alloy chainring in that video)? Want to see the instructions on how to install it? They are on the Luna forum. I wrote them. You will see this bike there in the pics.
This was, by the way, October of 2017, which is two months after your video was taken (which I watched at the time, pre-sale. Battery in it was a 52v 12ah Samsung 25R pack). In that video, the motor peaked at 62a. I didn't hear a wattage peak in the vid but mine peaked right at around the same amps. Peak wattage was about 4000w, not the advertised 3000.
So... rather than you watch a video and read it wrong, I can just tell you how they worked.
The Mini Cyclone had very high rpm's which is amply demonstrated by the guy holding it in the air and letting the motor spin it up. But... they are gutless. All horsepower (rpms) and no torque. Apply a load to the motor and it bogs down. To solve that It is essential to downshift at a stop 3+ gears, and then row thru them as you came off the line and get up to speed.
If you tried to run that motor under load without managing throttle - so those 60 amps are only used to make it go forward - it overheated and the controller shut it down. Then you had to sit on the side of the road for 10 minutes while it cooled enough for the controller to let it come back on. Once I learned how to feather the throttle (PAS did not exist) I was fine so long as I stayed off my 12T gear and let the motor keep the rpms up... after ramping up thru the gears. Top speed was about 33-35mph in that next-to-top gear on this bike, bearing in mind my 250 lbs, which were a major limiting factor. Also necessary to stave off overheating during my commute even after feathering the throttle were heat sinks all over the motor, as you can see installed below. These were worth quite a bit. Something like 40 degrees of surface temp but they made the difference internally between a shutdown and a successful arrival at the office from home.
But put all that aside... Cyclones were and are known to taco chainrings and tear chains apart (zoom in on that first pic and look at what kind of chain I used for the primary off the motor). The video you liked so much shows a guy spinning the motor under zero load. But look at the very end of the vid when he tries to ride it. They ended up fixing that as well as they could by the time they started selling them, but bottom line is you cannot watch a motor whiz around with no load and have the slightest clue what it will do with a rider on top.
So... you row thru the gears with that motor. Which was kind of fun as the bike - with no PAS and no display, was kind of like a little crude sports bike all rough around the edges. Remember this was 2017 and there were different expectations of what a DIY bike should be. Just look at all the zip ties I used.
So... THAT is how a hub motor - with sufficient power - beats a mid drive off the line. Hub motors need no shifting. Their acceleration curve is smooth and continuous with no gaps. Mids - even with a gear sensor - need a pause in acceleration to shift, and when they do they have to ramp the power back up. It sounds EXACTLY like a car and it has exactly the same negative effect in a drag race.
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