Single Speed Ebike

Vagos

Vagos

New Member
Hello everyone, i'm Vaggelis from Greece and i'm planning on byilding an ebike out of my road bike.
The problem is, that i don't know anything about motors, batteries (a friend is an electrical engineer, so he can help on that part) and basically everything besides the bike part! I've been reading a lot latelly though, but i'm still comfused.
My story really quick, i am 35 yrs and i used to live in a city totally flat, where i used my bike for everything.
For the last 3 years though, i moved to a city (damn wife!), where the road is fairly uphill towards the center of the city ( i live 3 milesoutside). My house is 20 meters above sea level and the city center is 80 meters, so you can understand how steep the road is. I can ride there easilly, but on the hot/sunny months ( 8 months) i get really sweaty. So i need something to get me there without or light pedalling, but on the way back i don't have to use the motor at all. I'm not lazy, i just don't want to use my car all the time.
My bike is a Bottecchia duello and weights about 20-22 lbs. I weigh 187 lbs and i'm not planning on currying any weight on me when i use the bike. I saw a lot of project ebikes and i'm leaning towards a friction drive type, because it\s simple and i can take it off easilly. I want it to be smooth and clean, so i would like to use an outrunner brushless motor and place it on the bikes back triangle.
The motor. What motor do you suggest? Not something extremely expensive though. I've seen a couple of turnigys, but i don't know which one is wright for me. Can i go with one from the 50 range, or do i have to go bigger? Edit, i just won an auction on ebay, a Turnigy helidrive outrunner 4956-1350KV. I don't know if it suitable for my project, but i did...don't ask, it was late, i had a lot to drink...
Controller. I guess it depends on the motor, correct?
Batteries. For starters, i would like to use the cheapest option ( if it is possible), just to see how everything works.
Throttle. That is pretty simple...isn't it?
Thank you all in advance and i'm really sorry for the huge topic and for my gramar mistakes.
 
Welcome. To the site and the hobby.
If you buy the motor and controller from different places, you have to know a lot more about electricity and wiring diagrams. If you buy a power wheel and controller and battery from the same place, you just plug them up and bolt them on. Look at this thread of a wiring diagram to see how complicated it all is. https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ign-on-how-to-hook-up-motor-controller.15616/
Buying those special little connectors from 3rd party vendors would be difficult or impossible, also.
With a 22 lb bike, I would not bolt the wheel into the front fork. The fork probably doesn't have the strength. Unless it is already strengthened to withstand disk brake torque. In fact, with a 22 lb bike the rear may not have the strength to hold an axle drive either. You would need a torque arm to hold the axle against turning, and bolt the arm onto the strut to reinforce it against the torque.
I suggest you buy a beater steel kid's bike for $30 to do this project on, instead of warping the frame of your expensive road bike. If you can find one that fits your body and posture. Definitly steel, even if you have to pay E100 on some resale website. I found installing my power wheel that the shaft would not fit the slot in my fork, and I had to widen it with a auto body grinder to make it fit. You don't want to do that on an aluminum, titanium, or carbon composite fork or frame.
As for friction drive, that is so old fashioned I personally wouldn't mess with it. Most of those came from the days when a controller was a big rheostat that wasted the voltage as heat if you wanted to go slower than full speed. New contollers turn on and shut off the voltage in pulses, in three phases, to produce maximum drive with the least wasted energy, for longer range with the same battery.
I can't recommend any supplier in Europe, as all the suppliers the search engines will show me would be located on this continent. there is no money in giving visibility to suppliers a continent away.
There are lots of direct drive wheels with controllers, PAS sensor, brake handles, throttle, and display, over here for $200. People don't complain about them much. I bought a geared wheel for $220, and it failed, display goink blank and no power, after 70 miles. There must be something wrong with that supplier as all the reputible resellers here have dropped the geared power wheel thin enough to screw a sprocket cluster on batween 135 mm slots. Even though it is more efficient on hills with lower top speed. I don't want radical top speed, the brakes aren't meant for that and the clothing one wears is not either. Not sweating uphill at 10 mph, in your work clothes, that is a reasonable goal.
Note mid drive systems replace the drive sprocket with a single speed, which is why I did not want one of those even though Bosch and Yamaha make reputable ones. I hope to pedal most of time, using the power only on extremely long trips or when I have pulled a muscle/tendon and don't want to pedal, but do want to get out of there on a bike. Taxi service is $$$ here and there is no cheap phone service where I ride. Note it often takes special tools to get the pedal and crank off to install a mid-drive kit, anyway. Tools I don't want or need, as I've never worn out a crank and I have worn out some chains and rear sprockets with my 2000 miles/year habit.
 
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Thanks for the comment. My front fork is carbon, so no go on the hub motor. I thought that the motor was plug and play situation with the controller! I'll find a way, to conect them i guess. My problem is to choose the correct motor for my project and not a different kind of setup.
 
Vagos said:
Update, nothing happened with the motor i won ( the seller changed his mind).
I found a KEDA 63-64 190KV Brushless Outrunner and i'm thinking on getting one of these cheap ESCs
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/350...0a8807fe&transAbTest=ae803_5&rmStoreLevelAB=5
Do you think those two will be compatible?
Click to expand...
There's another guy doing the same work as your plan. I think you should take a look at it so you don't have to make the same trial and error mistakes. Learn from it and maybe leap frog from where he left off.

This is the earlier version.
 
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Yes i've seen Stantons ebike. I think i've seen ALL ebike projects on youtube :)
My worries are about products compatibility though.
 
Vagos said:
Yes i've seen Stantons ebike. I think i've seen ALL ebike projects on youtube :)
My worries are about products compatibility though.
Click to expand...
You can communicate with the master himself (Stanton) and ask for his recommendation for your personal application, considering your DIY capability background and your location for the availability of parts. I think the first version itself (geared for 20 mph) is already a very good build.
 
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I could, but i'm building a friction drive. I guess he can point me to the right direction. Maybe if this doesn't work, i can copy his desighn ( try at least...).
 
My bad, I forgot you planned a friction drive. Oh well, hope you have happy new year.:D
Endless sphere has lots of DIY resources there.
 
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Now that i'm watching Stantons project again, i'm thinking on trying something like that. I juust have to fiind the correct parts, because i don't have a 3d printer.
Happy New Year!
 
Nice try... :p
Kepler is giving me advice for my project.
But i think i will give Stantons project a go, but with chainrings.
 
Vagos said:
Nice try... :p
Kepler is giving me advice for my project.
But i think i will give Stantons project a go, but with chainrings.
Click to expand...
In that case, maybe you can ask Stanton about his first version for a bargain price, on the pulleys, belt, controller and esp the motor mount.
 
Update...i finally bought a front hub motor kit. I also used my steel single speed for the convertion
 
I tried to make it as clean looking as possible. I used a pvc pipe to hide the excess cables. I also had a problem with the PAS, not having enough space to fit the plastic disc and the metal ring with the sensor, but I found a way. I drilled the enclosure for the esc and added a heatsink. I'm waiting for a new handlebar, levers and calipers...to be continued. IMG_20180615_103539.jpgIMG_20180615_103607.jpgIMG_20180615_103628.jpgIMG_20180615_103649.jpgIMG_20180615_103701.jpgIMG_20180615_103709.jpg
 
Vagos said:
I tried to make it as clean looking as possible. I used a pvc pipe to hide the excess cables. I also had a problem with the PAS, not having enough space to fit the plastic disc and the metal ring with the sensor, but I found a way. I drilled the enclosure for the esc and added a heatsink. I'm waiting for a new handlebar, levers and calipers...to be continued. View attachment 22714View attachment 22715View attachment 22716View attachment 22717View attachment 22718View attachment 22719
Click to expand...

That is one serious looking controller with cooling fins! What's motor brand? Is it a kit that comes with the combo (motor/battery/controller/PAS hardware) ?
 
Mark Peralta said:
That is one serious looking controller with cooling fins! What's motor brand? Is it a kit that comes with the combo (motor/battery/controller/PAS hardware) ?
Click to expand...
Yeah I went a little overboard with the cooling system! The motors brand is Shengyi.
The kit had everything, including the 10.4ah battery with samsung sells.
 
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