Gongon
New Member
Thanks for accepting me.
After getting tired of climbing the hills at my local mountain bike facility, (Kalamunda Circuit, near Perth, Western Australia) I decided to cross over to "the dark side" and get an e bike.
Resisted for long enough, some said I would be cheating (the same people who get to the top of the hill in a truck!)
At 73, I have nothing to prove anymore, just want to have fun.
My 69 year old neighbour has a Giant Fathom e bike and he loves it but getting fed up with waiting for me!
I did try to get the same but, because of this Covid-19 crap, i would need to wait until September! (All of the bike shops are empty)
Alternative was to build my own (I am a retired engineer and love tinkering with my motorcycles etc.)
Having looked at the kits available, I decided to "go for broke" and get the most powerful mid mount available here - Bafang 1000W with 52w battery.
The fact that Luna Cycles have a shop within 30 minutes drive was a bonus, Rod was very helpful despite being in the middle of moving shop.
It isn't legal to use on the road but I never take a bike on the road anyway.
I took both of my mountain bikes into the store (both old Giants, one hardtail and the other a full suspension Anthem Le (my favourite))
Only the hardtail has enough space for the battery (52v 14ah) so that's the way I've gone.
3 hours to fit the kit (although I'm constantly fiddling to improve the installation - cable routing, controls etc.)
Battery mounting isn't the best. I had to drill a hole in the battery base to match the bottom bottle mount and still really need a third bolt. I have riv-nut kit but I need a 90 degree drill attachment to get in under the cross bar so I'm waiting for that to arrive.
I'm also looking for a piece of 50mm aluminium that I can machine to fit between the downtube and the battery base to give it a flat base to mount to.
Battery does work loose on a 2 hour downhill trail ride.
Took the bike to Kalamunda the next day. Really needed another day to shake it down but eager to show My next door neighbour jumped on it and the chain derailed and broke!
20 minutes later , I had fitted a new chain and off I went. (Since refitted the front deraileur chain guide on it's own close to the aftermarket 42t chainring to prevent recurrence)
What I didn't expect was the fact that you only get power once the pedals are turning (my mates is torque sensing) so it was hard not to stop it from runing away at first.
Also the motor doesn't shut off immediately when you stop pedalling (Brake sensors would help but I haven't sorted that yet out - lever design doesn't help)
Result was that I went crashing over rocks that I would normally trickle over - rear tyre was flat within 10 minutes ("snake bite" puncture through the rim trapping the tube on the rocks) but had a new tube in quick smart.
I struggled through the downhill trails (forks bottoming out with the extra weight - pumped up when I got back to the car) then had a bit of fun on the uphill trails (where I would normally walk) but still out of control!
Eventually I got to "Mount Gungin Road" - a very steep dirt road that has everyone walking.
Not me this time! I selected top pas level, changed gear (made me realise that I needed to fit the gear sensor to soften the change) and pedalled like mad. Shot up the road passing everyone and a full 5 minutes in front of my mate's 250w Giant.
I now realise that I must curb my enthusiasm in case I get banned! (It's so much fun - at my age, it's the only fun I have!)
Second week, I decided that I must figure out how to fit the brake sensors. So the night before I played around with the fitting and succeeded in losing both sensor magnets, couldn't find them anywhere!
So I ordered some magnets off ebay and decided to have another go when they arrived.
The next day I loaded the bike onto the car and spotted one magnet stuck to a caliper bolt!
Went for my ride at Kalamunda (crashed of course - looked down at my knee protector and noticed that the other magnet was stuck to it! - couldn't make it up)
Still working on the brake sensor thing, maybe make up some little brackets to go on the levers, or install a separate lever to cut the motor. Could replace the whole system for $200 but that's all the basic bike is worth! Wouldn't make sense.
(Besides, I am looking for a suitable full suspension bike to transfer the kit onto (possibly a 2014 Giant Anthem or similar))
I will sort it, I have machining facilities, all part of the fun.
I've christened it "the beast" as I need to ride it using pedals and throttle to get over the rocks and then need to be ready to stop it.
I know that I could probably use throttle all of the time but don't want to antagonise "normal" bikers
I will tame it. I moved to Western Australia from UK six years ago and sold my classic trials bikes. They were all a handful but that was part of the fun. this e bike is just another opportunity.
Not as user friendly as a shop bought e bike but i don't care - I love it!
After getting tired of climbing the hills at my local mountain bike facility, (Kalamunda Circuit, near Perth, Western Australia) I decided to cross over to "the dark side" and get an e bike.
Resisted for long enough, some said I would be cheating (the same people who get to the top of the hill in a truck!)
At 73, I have nothing to prove anymore, just want to have fun.
My 69 year old neighbour has a Giant Fathom e bike and he loves it but getting fed up with waiting for me!
I did try to get the same but, because of this Covid-19 crap, i would need to wait until September! (All of the bike shops are empty)
Alternative was to build my own (I am a retired engineer and love tinkering with my motorcycles etc.)
Having looked at the kits available, I decided to "go for broke" and get the most powerful mid mount available here - Bafang 1000W with 52w battery.
The fact that Luna Cycles have a shop within 30 minutes drive was a bonus, Rod was very helpful despite being in the middle of moving shop.
It isn't legal to use on the road but I never take a bike on the road anyway.
I took both of my mountain bikes into the store (both old Giants, one hardtail and the other a full suspension Anthem Le (my favourite))
Only the hardtail has enough space for the battery (52v 14ah) so that's the way I've gone.
3 hours to fit the kit (although I'm constantly fiddling to improve the installation - cable routing, controls etc.)
Battery mounting isn't the best. I had to drill a hole in the battery base to match the bottom bottle mount and still really need a third bolt. I have riv-nut kit but I need a 90 degree drill attachment to get in under the cross bar so I'm waiting for that to arrive.
I'm also looking for a piece of 50mm aluminium that I can machine to fit between the downtube and the battery base to give it a flat base to mount to.
Battery does work loose on a 2 hour downhill trail ride.
Took the bike to Kalamunda the next day. Really needed another day to shake it down but eager to show My next door neighbour jumped on it and the chain derailed and broke!
20 minutes later , I had fitted a new chain and off I went. (Since refitted the front deraileur chain guide on it's own close to the aftermarket 42t chainring to prevent recurrence)
What I didn't expect was the fact that you only get power once the pedals are turning (my mates is torque sensing) so it was hard not to stop it from runing away at first.
Also the motor doesn't shut off immediately when you stop pedalling (Brake sensors would help but I haven't sorted that yet out - lever design doesn't help)
Result was that I went crashing over rocks that I would normally trickle over - rear tyre was flat within 10 minutes ("snake bite" puncture through the rim trapping the tube on the rocks) but had a new tube in quick smart.
I struggled through the downhill trails (forks bottoming out with the extra weight - pumped up when I got back to the car) then had a bit of fun on the uphill trails (where I would normally walk) but still out of control!
Eventually I got to "Mount Gungin Road" - a very steep dirt road that has everyone walking.
Not me this time! I selected top pas level, changed gear (made me realise that I needed to fit the gear sensor to soften the change) and pedalled like mad. Shot up the road passing everyone and a full 5 minutes in front of my mate's 250w Giant.
I now realise that I must curb my enthusiasm in case I get banned! (It's so much fun - at my age, it's the only fun I have!)
Second week, I decided that I must figure out how to fit the brake sensors. So the night before I played around with the fitting and succeeded in losing both sensor magnets, couldn't find them anywhere!
So I ordered some magnets off ebay and decided to have another go when they arrived.
The next day I loaded the bike onto the car and spotted one magnet stuck to a caliper bolt!
Went for my ride at Kalamunda (crashed of course - looked down at my knee protector and noticed that the other magnet was stuck to it! - couldn't make it up)
Still working on the brake sensor thing, maybe make up some little brackets to go on the levers, or install a separate lever to cut the motor. Could replace the whole system for $200 but that's all the basic bike is worth! Wouldn't make sense.
(Besides, I am looking for a suitable full suspension bike to transfer the kit onto (possibly a 2014 Giant Anthem or similar))
I will sort it, I have machining facilities, all part of the fun.
I've christened it "the beast" as I need to ride it using pedals and throttle to get over the rocks and then need to be ready to stop it.
I know that I could probably use throttle all of the time but don't want to antagonise "normal" bikers
I will tame it. I moved to Western Australia from UK six years ago and sold my classic trials bikes. They were all a handful but that was part of the fun. this e bike is just another opportunity.
Not as user friendly as a shop bought e bike but i don't care - I love it!
