My idea: AWD 1500W Radrover

[walawn]

Coming from a motorcycle technician background with almost 2 decades of experience, I've always wanted to build my own ebike. Living in NoVa for the past few years, in a small apartment with a fraction of the tools I once had with me though, I let that prospect scare me away into buying a pre-built ebike for the second time in 3 years. The more I get on these forums like Endless Sphere and browse sites like Luna Cycle, the more I think that it is completely within my capability to do so. I've been toying around with the idea of building a 1000W mid-drive with the Bafang kit, but now I think that I may want to modify my new Radrover. I'm thinking of installing the same motor from the rear inside the front wheel. Not sure if I should add another controller or battery, or replace the controller with one to control both motors and upgrade the battery in the system to something larger or custom. I could see using the Shark battery packs to reduce weight and the stock controller is small enough to mount a second one easily. Synchronization could be an issue though. This idea may never been anything more than that, but it is exciting to think about double the torque and both the wheels of my 60+ lb. ebike pulling their own weight. Now don't get me wrong; I love my new Radrover. It is night and day better over my old Prodeco Phantom X3, which cost $400 more. I think I just can't go too long without wrenching on something. Maybe I should just build a second ebike from scratch to see if that gets rid of this urge to craft a muscle/monster ebike...

 

[Adrian]

Coming from a motorcycle technician background with almost 2 decades of experience, I've always wanted to build my own ebike. Living in NoVa for the past few years, in a small apartment with a fraction of the tools I once had with me though, I let that prospect scare me away into buying a pre-built ebike for the second time in 3 years. The more I get on these forums like Endless Sphere and browse sites like Luna Cycle, the more I think that it is completely within my capability to do so. I've been toying around with the idea of building a 1000W mid-drive with the Bafang kit, but now I think that I may want to modify my new Radrover. I'm thinking of installing the same motor from the rear inside the front wheel. Not sure if I should add another controller or battery, or replace the controller with one to control both motors and upgrade the battery in the system to something larger or custom. I could see using the Shark battery packs to reduce weight and the stock controller is small enough to mount a second one easily. Synchronization could be an issue though. This idea may never been anything more than that, but it is exciting to think about double the torque and both the wheels of my 60+ lb. ebike pulling their own weight. Now don't get me wrong; I love my new Radrover. It is night and day better over my old Prodeco Phantom X3, which cost $400 more. I think I just can't go too long without wrenching on something. Maybe I should just build a second ebike from scratch to see if that gets rid of this urge to craft a muscle/monster ebike...

Just put a BBSHD on it.

 

[walawn]

@Adrian I was thinking the same thing. Our BB seems awfully large though.

 

[Adrian]

@Adrian I was thinking the same thing. Our BB seems awfully large though.

Here's someone that did it; http://electricbikereview.com/community/threads/bbshd-installed-in-my-radrover.3988/

 

[pxpaulx]

Agreed, bbshd is the right choice here. Putting a 750w motor in that fork will destroy it in no time, most likely via catastrophic failure. Front hubs shouldn't be any more than half that power at most, and definitely not on a suspension fork (especially one that is such junk quality).

 

[walawn]

@pxpaulx I was planning to upgrade the front fork. I'm not sure what kind of quality is available in the aftermarket for fat tire bikes though. But I am thinking of doing the mid-drive conversion now since I know it works well.

 

[JoePah]

If you want to DIY why not just upgrade what you have ? The guys at Kinaye have a lot of experience supersizing the motors AWD fat bikes.

They would know what's the most fun, and they have the parts to help you. Unless you're into hill climbing AWD won't give the kind of acceleration a high performing rear motor will.

That little geared motor on your Radrover can take 1500 watts or more.. Then you can upgrade the gears and clutch after a while..lol

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

 

[George S.]

If you want to DIY why not just upgrade what you have ? The guys at Kinaye have a lot of experience supersizing the motors AWD fat bikes.

That MXUS 28 mm kit looks great. Not much weight, comes with PAS setup, temp readout. Someone actually pushing things along on a hub build motor.