Simply Red

[OCD]

Hi All:
I've been working on this one for a couple of months now and it's at the point where it's mostly just the electrical hookups, brake cables, front fender and a few other details, so I thought I'd post up some pics. My first e-bike was a cheap eBay kit that looked like this and I ran the crap out of it for three years before it finally died. After the first year I scrapped the 4x12v SLAs and bought a 48v LiFePo4 pack which I still use today. It was okay for getting around, but I wanted something safer, with better brakes, handling and bit more attitude.


So I built this:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Wow! Great work and a massive improvement over the first bike!
A little pin-striping or lettering on the battery box would really finish it nicely!

Luke.

 

[deven_science]

Very good work. The frame and form are very cool.

 

[DJ Bill]

Very nice.. I have a friend who wants to convert a bike to electric....Where would you recommend he looks for parts, etc... At the moment he is attempting to gear down a lawn mower starter and battery setup, which I don't think will work at all.
That is a beautiful job. A little gold leaf and some striping and it will look like it is really an old ride..

 

[OCD]

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I've been in touch with an artist friend of mine to see about some pinstriping. You don't have to take a chance and order your kit from China like I did with my first one. I've had quite good service from Golden Motor.ca and Gary's a lot closer to home for us living here in North America. The cost of e-power is mostly up front (roughly $1k with 20a 48v LiFePo4 battery) and then you get years of service with practically no upkeep costs except for the pennies it cost to charge. They say for a car to be as cheap to run as an ebike it would have to get 1800 miles to the gallon.

 

[sensor]

Welcome back! Looks great and any new pics of the air ride bike you did years ago?!?

 

[OCD]

It's still hanging on the wall in my workshop, never did get the leaks out of the air system and have since robbed the brake calipers for this build. I may yet finish that one after my woody tear drop travel trailer is done.

 

[OCD]

Just a quick update: The electric drive is now operational and I've managed to work out most of the bugs. There are still a few things to do like constructing the head/tail lights, adjust the brakes, plus some other wiring and detail work. For now I've decided to change out the double crown fork as I was having trouble getting the 8 inch rotor to line up and then re-dish the wheel to centre, the couple of inches travel helps smooth out the ride considerably. I loved the look but unfortunately there's not enough room for a 3" tire on the suspension fork, maybe a Fat Frank or Hookworm would fit. The 1500 watt 45 amp controller works great so far, about the same top speed but a bit more torque for the hills.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Good looking bike!

Luke.

 

[ralphy]

It's still hanging on the wall in my workshop, never did get the leaks out of the air system and have since robbed the brake calipers for this build. I may yet finish that one after my woody tear drop travel trailer is done.


RAD!!! you must be a fun dad / grandpa to be hanging around with!! \m/\m/

 

[Araya51]

It's still hanging on the wall in my workshop, never did get the leaks out of the air system and have since robbed the brake calipers for this build. I may yet finish that one after my woody tear drop travel trailer is done.

is there a build thread on this bike.?
I LIKE IT.!!!!
I might consider building something like it...