In January I changed work sites and although there is a nice bike room to park in, Simply Red turned out to be longer than the bike room was wide! Knowing I wasn't making many friends due to the space it took up (totally didn't fit in the wall racks) I decided to try a few new things. I knew it had to be shorter, plus I've never built a bike with anything but round tube and spurred on by a comment on Endless Sphere about how e-bikes are looking more like science experiments and less like bicycles these days, I thought I'd try my hand at something a bit more angular and 'Mad Max' looking than most of my builds.
I never sketched it out, just made it up as I went along and it kept morphing from what I envisioned as I built.
The original plan was to mount both batteries in the frame triangle with the controller under the rear rack. Then I thought "why not make the rear rack part of the frame?" Later I found that although both batteries fit as planned, you couldn't insert the key in one as the frame was in the way...Doh! Time to rethink....
First time on it's wheels. I'm running a Golden Motor Pro 901 motor, 3000 watt 80 amp controller and two Golden Motor 48 volt 10 amp battery packs to supply enough juice.
You can see I used 1" x 1/2" rectangular tube for the upper frame and chainstays. Originally I planned round tube for the chainstays which would have interfered with the chain line if connected to the lower front section. Normally I build stretched cruisers, I'm not used to building bikes this short.
Basically finished here. I've added a Cycle Analyst V3 to monitor electrical things, employed the unused wooden front fender from Red for the rear wheel, Avid BB7 brakes front/rear and a voltage step down to run the 12 volt LED tail and headlights. The nearly vertical seat post looks a bit awkward to me, but originally it gave me room to put both batteries up front (darn key switch anyway). I may make a black laid back post as the seat doesn't move back as it moves up. Sometimes I envy those who can design something on a computer and have a CNC machine do most of the work, but that doesn't speak Hot Rod to me. Top speed on 48 volts (the controller can take up to 84 volts) is 54.6 km/hr with a range of about 40 km. I've got lights to mount and a few more details to sort out including a plush air fork I may put on to try.
I never sketched it out, just made it up as I went along and it kept morphing from what I envisioned as I built.
The original plan was to mount both batteries in the frame triangle with the controller under the rear rack. Then I thought "why not make the rear rack part of the frame?" Later I found that although both batteries fit as planned, you couldn't insert the key in one as the frame was in the way...Doh! Time to rethink....
First time on it's wheels. I'm running a Golden Motor Pro 901 motor, 3000 watt 80 amp controller and two Golden Motor 48 volt 10 amp battery packs to supply enough juice.
You can see I used 1" x 1/2" rectangular tube for the upper frame and chainstays. Originally I planned round tube for the chainstays which would have interfered with the chain line if connected to the lower front section. Normally I build stretched cruisers, I'm not used to building bikes this short.
Basically finished here. I've added a Cycle Analyst V3 to monitor electrical things, employed the unused wooden front fender from Red for the rear wheel, Avid BB7 brakes front/rear and a voltage step down to run the 12 volt LED tail and headlights. The nearly vertical seat post looks a bit awkward to me, but originally it gave me room to put both batteries up front (darn key switch anyway). I may make a black laid back post as the seat doesn't move back as it moves up. Sometimes I envy those who can design something on a computer and have a CNC machine do most of the work, but that doesn't speak Hot Rod to me. Top speed on 48 volts (the controller can take up to 84 volts) is 54.6 km/hr with a range of about 40 km. I've got lights to mount and a few more details to sort out including a plush air fork I may put on to try.
I can't decide whether that's beautiful or hideous. 
