azor tweelingfiets build thread

[catgirleugenics]

ok so before i go crazy and start grinding away at the frame doing permanent damage, i want to see if getting a smaller chain would work. right now i am running an 1/8" wide single speed chain, and as you can see in the 'chain rub' picture it is barely clipping the frame. it's not even doing it constantly, every once in a while i just get a bit of a rattling noise from it pinging against there. the rear sprocket i am using is a 3/32" sprocket (which happens to be on the narrower side) and then of course the lekkie chainwheel up front which is compatible all the way down to 11/128" chains. now because i am using a wider chain i think the chain is just walking side to side on the cogs and that's why sometimes it rubs and sometimes it is fine. my thinking is if i get a narrower chain that will be tight enough on the cogs it won't walk back and forth as much, and maybe i can save myself the headache of getting out the angle grinder.

the question is what size chain do i try? do i take the safe bet of a 7 or 8 speed 3/32" chain which i know will fit on the cogs, but will only reduce the wide of the chain by about 1 to 1.5mm (and will still probably walk back and forth a bit). or should i try a 10 or 11 speed chain, which will fit the lekkie, and in theory it will fit the rear sprocket since that has a diameter of 2.18mm (which is the same diameter between the narrow plates of an 11/128" chain). this would reduce my chain width by 2 to 2.5mm.

or am i being ridiculous and my only option here is to get to grinding?

 

[PedalUma]

Only a single speed chain will fit the cog. The ss teeth are further apart than will fit multi-speed chains. Would a larger cog give more clearance? Three mm is not much to grind.

 

[catgirleugenics]

Only a single speed chain will fit the cog. The ss teeth are further apart than will fit multi-speed chains. Would a larger cog give more clearance? Three mm is not much to grind.

i was under the impression that the teeth are the same space apart regardless of the speed of bike, and all that changes is the width of the teeth? i've never tried it myself (i'm usually the type of person to buy the same chain that came on the bike when it wears out) but this article implies that you can mix and match as long as the inner width is right, and i've seen people on other forums talk about running 6 speed chains on fixies.

a smaller cog would give more clearance which is why i dropped from 22 to 19 teeth but if i go any smaller the chain will grind up against the hub.

you are right though 3mm is not much to grind and it would probably be better long term if i could run wider chains. i'm still just unsure of how to space out the non drive side of the bb after grinding, and loathing the idea of tearing everything apart immediately after getting it together.

 

[catgirleugenics]

after trying a plethora of chains i landed on the kmc e1. it fits no grinding or anything and is a proper single speed so should be plenty durable enough (i would hope for how much i paid for it). tried a z1 narrow but it didn't like the lekkie. silly problem to have but got there in the end.

my battery got here and i am making a case for it (it's a PVC style battery). these usually have a bit of padding in them so i don't need to worry about adding foam or anything do i? i'm just 3d printing a basic shell for it so i can make sure it's safe from water and add a lock to keep anyone from running off with it too easy. it will mount inside the crate on the front rack.

 

[catgirleugenics]

i finished the bike (is it ever really completely finished) last week. we've been riding it around town a bit and it's so nice! with both of us riding it i think i'm peaking at around 10A of power being used, and that's really just starting and when we hit the occasional hill. the 2" tires are nice and cushy so it's plenty comfortable, even managed to find some mud guards that fit them properly. i've tweaked the programming on the motor so it's got much gentler starts, and capped it at 18A total output. my PAS is set up so that every level has speed limit set to 100% and the amperage increases by 10% through levels 0 - 9. this has been very nice for my style of riding because i use the gears to control speed like normal and then set the PAS level to give me whatever extra oomph i need.

the only thing i don't really like is starting from standstill with a passenger, it's kind of scary. i have my slow-start mode programmed to 3, because i read somewhere that you wanted to keep that number low so you didn't put too much torque into hub gears. would it make sense for me to bump that number up? i'm trying to avoid adding the throttle back but i find myself missing it because it was helpful to get out of a dead stop. there's a lot of intersections around the city and the only time i genuinely get nervous while riding is when we get all wobbly trying to build up speed coming out of a red light.

thanks to y'all that helped me spec this bike out! i appreciate it so much i think it's really perfect could not ask for a better performing bike. i will get you pictures somewhere prettier than the basement sometime soon.

 

[Dewey]

Congrats, glad you and yours are enjoying the bike you assembled. I agree you should experiment with the controller settings. I thought this recent thread did a nice job explaining what the settings do https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/bbs02b-my-look-at-driver-settings.47120/

 

[catgirleugenics]

Congrats, glad you and yours are enjoying the bike you assembled. I agree you should experiment with the controller settings. I thought this recent thread did a nice job explaining what the settings do https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/bbs02b-my-look-at-driver-settings.47120/

oh nice i hadn't found that one yet thanks Dewey

 

[catgirleugenics]

got a few pics before it started raining. i think it's a good balance of looking pretty enough to make me happy but shitty enough to hopefully make it not worth a thief's time lol. the battery is in a 3d printed case with a lock on it, it slides on a steel rail that is bolted to the front rack and crate. there's a little hood made of black plexiglass which makes it a bit more stealthy, and gives some rain protection if i have extra groceries or something that won't go in the panniers.

the graph shows data from a portion of my ride today when i picked the gf up from work. even with 2 adults on it (and admittedly not being conservative with the PAS) it didn't even break 500 watts. i'm very confident in this things ability to get us around town and looking forward to taking some longer 50+ km trips with it.