Vespa PX125 conversion

For those interested, the weight of the scooter is now 212 pounds, around 100kg. Original weight of the p125X was 240 pounds. So I am lighter by 28 pounds. Top speed on the gas motor was 86kph, or 53mph, basically the same as mine. HP was 8, mine is around 15, but apples to oranges as the electric bike far out accelerates the gas bike.

In other news, I installed the LED signal bulbs, so they are good to go, and added some trim, and found a mirror for it. I will wait to post more photos until all the trim is on it.
 
JimVonBaden said:
For those interested, the weight of the scooter is now 212 pounds, around 100kg. Original weight of the p125X was 240 pounds. So I am lighter by 28 pounds. Top speed on the gas motor was 86kph, or 53mph, basically the same as mine. HP was 8, mine is around 15, but apples to oranges as the electric bike far out accelerates the gas bike.

In other news, I installed the LED signal bulbs, so they are good to go, and added some trim, and found a mirror for it. I will wait to post more photos until all the trim is on it.
Click to expand...
Incredibly well done! Enjoy your fruits of labor JimVonBaden 👍
 
Seat prop and battery cover done:









Thinking about putting this rack back on, but I am undecided. It is functional, but not very aesthetically pleasing.

 
@JimVonBaden

This is one of the most interesting treads I have seen, you sir have done one hell of a job, enjoy the fruits of your hard work.
Thank you for sharing it with us, the end result looks stunning.
I just came across this tread and couldn't stop reading it until the end.
I wish you happy trails.
 
AguassissiM said:
@JimVonBaden

This is one of the most interesting treads I have seen, you sir have done one hell of a job, enjoy the fruits of your hard work.
Thank you for sharing it with us, the end result looks stunning.
I just came across this tread and couldn't stop reading it until the end.
I wish you happy trails.
Click to expand...
Wow, thanks, I appreciate the comments!

I expect it will be a while before I am done tweaking on it, but the major stuff is done.
 
@JimVonBaden
I fully understand the importance of tweaking it to your personal liking as well as making sure of getting the best possible performance of all components working together in harmony.
Last year my fat ebike had a catastrophic melt down inside the controller, managed to take it apart and temporarily fix it, unfortunately some of the traces were blown of the board and the controller as well as the display had to be replaced.
Long story short I am still in the process of tweaking the new system to be as efficient as possible, due to some unforeseen life issues everything was put on hold till this spring and hopefully I will be able to get started on the project soon...
Best of luck to you Jim, keep us posted on the progress.
 
Basically done. Added trim on the front, fixed a disconnected wire, cleaned it up and installed the volt/load gauge.












Tomorrow I plan on a long ride to test range and endurance.
 
So, successful ride, and here are the stats:

94% charge:


Starting miles, 17144.5


End miles: 17169.2


Total miles: 24.7

End charge 38%.


Moving time, 57 minutes, total time 1:21 minutes, with an average moving speed of 27 mph, and a top speed of 62mph.

None of that tells the whole story. First, it was all in town with stop and go traffic, with one short freeway ride (top speed run of 1.5 miles). The bike was perfect the whole time. Took off quickly, accelerated briskly, and easily kept up with traffic from 35-50 mph. At not time did I feel like traffic was outrunning me, and many times I outran it. It was a total joy to ride. Good handling, and plenty of acceleration.

What makes the test not realistic, was heavy Sunday DC traffic, with a lot of stopping and starting, with nearly full throttle each time. The bike weighs 210 pounds, I weigh 275, so this stopping and starting was hard on the battery. If I were to take it on back roads and leisurely riding, I am sure my miles would easily double. I was watching the amp gauge and noted that I hit 150 amps several times, and during acceleration I was generally over 100 amps.

Next weekend I will take it on some backroads out of the city, with far fewer stops and road speed limits around 45. I am confident I can get easily 50 miles out of it!

Here is why I do not have a GPS log to prove the ride. It happened 2 miles from home when I hit a big bump and it jumped off the bike, then got run over. :oops:


Start and stop of my amp gauge. For some reason it defaults to 100ah. I need to find a way to reset it.

Before:


After:


Interestingly, there appeared no degradation of performance as the battery got lower. The top speed run was done just a couple of miles before the crash of the GPS.
 
Wow, this is so cool! Had me hooked for the entire thread. Such a beautiful rebuild, and impressive performance too! Sounds like an absolute blast to zip around on.
 
So, out of town all week and I was itching to go ride. Beautiful 70° and sunny!

Started the baseline with my new, old, GPS, properly secured this time.




I took local roads out 16 miles, with the speed limits 40-45, I was doing that and more, easily keeping up with traffic, but there was too much traffic to do a speed run. I did hit 52mph at one point.

When I stopped I checked my battery and was like oops!


That may be pushing it.

I turned around and headed back, when traffic cleared up. On a slight uphill slope I went for top speed. Managed 60.2mph. Not bad with volts down to 74V.

This bike is just a blast to ride, and therefor I was unable to keep my wrist out of it, and was riding hard right from the beginning.

12 miles later I found my range when I ride it hard.


Note that I rode for 55 min, with on time of 1:16 minutes, and an average speed of 30.3. Like I said, I was dogging it.

Problem is, the bike refuses to go when I hit 5% battery! 😢


The other problem is, my battery monitor is not accurate:

The voltage is right, amps are right, but Amp hours and percentages are off. I can't seem to reset them correctly.

Result?



Total bike miles. Now at 17198, or 64 electric miles.


I need to do a little more tweaking on the controller. I also need to contain myself and see if I can ride more sedately for a distance run.
 
I'm pretty confident that I could ride 40mph for a solid 45+ miles. My issue is a lead wrist. I do have a 3 poll switch that I can hook up (I wired it but left it unhooked) that will moderate my power. I noticed I am climbing up to near 200 amps under hard acceleration, usually going uphill. If I tone it down, I would do much better.

This is definitely a city bike. The current charger takes 6-7 hours using 4 amps and 110V. The battery would not allow a Tesla style charge. The BMS isn't designed for it. I can use a 10 amp charger, and been good in about 3 hours, but it is hard on the battery to use 10 amps all the time. Slower charging helps prolong the battery life. I am seriously considering another battery. I can fit it under the right cowl, which is now empty.

Oh, I forgot, I get up to 32 amps in regen, and barely need the brakes. That is set at 20%. Takes some getting used to though.
 
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Vespa people will see it.



I also adjusted the caliper on the brake rotor to "hopefully" eliminate the low speed brake howl I have.
 
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