Juicer 36 redux; 2nd gen stretch cruiser

This is the future home of the Juicer IV thread.

Mmm hmm.

I'll repost the removed pic in sequence.

MotorBicycleRacing said:

#62 You need to test that out on the track!

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Yeah Neil. Sorry I missed the last race. I will definitely get back to it, but right now I can't afford to crash the merch!

culvercityclassic said:

That looks interesting, I noticed one of your bikes in a motorcycle shop on Santa Monica Bl. Thought you might work there...guy at the counter was real cold when I asked about the bike.

I like what you are doing with your bikes...keep up the good work.

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Thanks man. Sorry you weren't treated right at T-Road. Some of these MC pricks can be real aloof if you ask them something they don't know anything about...(they put an oil-mat under the Juicer fer Christsake!).

I saw one of your bikes at the LB swap-meet. Looked at it for a long-time. I even posted a picture of it on my tumbler feed;

http://idontevenknower.tumblr.com/post/18593598901/so-cal-swap-meet-long-beach

...so it's official, we're both members of the mutual admiration society.

Okay, starting the thread in earnest now.

So, after a couple of Worksman-based 48v builds I realized it was time for Juicer to get back to its roots, and build a street-legal stretch. Remember the original Juicer 36?



There's a lot I still like about that bike, but there was also plenty of room for improvement. I still like the super-long wheelbase and the 3x24" rear tire with the 2.125x26" front. I'm keeping that conservative chopper stance as a starting point, but the seat was too low on that frame to pedal comfortably.

For the new 36v model I'm starting with a Micargi Royal frame. The Royal is a knock-off of the pricey Bassman bike made in Holland. I'm sure the Bassman has a higher build-quality, but if I sprang for that, I don't think I'd do much welding on it. The Royal, on the other hand, practically begs for modification. Check out the radical changes Predator303 made to his.

Like him, I immediately chucked the ape-hangers. Also I got rid of the ridiculous, red, 72 spoke wheels. The bike comes with a nice disk-ready fork, but the front hub does not accommodate a rotor (wtf?). So, with my new wheels the frame and fork look like this;



Bone structure is destiny, and methinks this is a good skeleton.

The Royal has a massive amount of space in the frame for your extra components, in this case, a motor, batteries and a jack-shaft. But being a stretch-cruiser, the bottom-bracket is well forward. I toyed with the idea of relocating it, but ultimately decided I didn't need to. The design I came up with would use the space fully without projecting out sideways as much as Juicer 1 did. Also, like the subsequent Juicers, the BB spindle, motor-output shaft, jack-shaft, and rear axles would all be on the same line. This prevents chain-line interference and is visually pleasing.



Okay, that's not a crazy amount of welding on the frame and I didn't have to section it anywhere. The jack-shaft mount on the seat-post tube is rigid, but even so, the position of the shaft's axle will be adjustable allowing the possibility of chain tensioning or a choice of different transmissions.



Oh yeah, check out my new center-stand. It's an elegant Swiss design. It's not the cheapest, but has great clearance and folds up on one side. I will go over the budgeted weight rating, but Archimedes tells me that if I cut the legs down a few inches I'm back in black.



After dropping in the components, the alignment looks good. Once again I am using a Currie type motor rated at 1000w. This time my jack-shaft is a Shimano automatic 2-speed Sram hub with an 18T sprocket welded on. My hope is that this will help me accelerate faster on the flats and climb my neighborhood's hills at slow speed.



The plan is to to use all the mounting holes on the motor, but so far, two are in the wind. In this photo I am bending a floating bracket to bridge the rear-facing hole and the jack-shaft axle (Bite marks? Yeah, I got 'em). The stability of this bracket will not depend on friction alone. The jack-shaft axle has flat sides which this slides on to. Also, I welded a strip to the back of this piece that keys into the rigid slot on the right jack-shaft mount. These features will resist any tortional force from the motor.

Here you can see the floating bracket in place as well as the cells in the usual "EV-Twin" shape. This time the "cylinders" are a flattened hexagon, making use of all the space and keeping a slim profile. Could this be the first Juicer to sport a chain-guard?



Not bloody likely. Man, all those sprockets and chain together gets me going. Daddy like!



Here you can see just how slim the power-plant is. No more pedaling with bowed legs! You can see the spindle poking out...I think it's 160mm. I got it from a fellow board-member here with a bundle of other items. If you sold it to me, speak up and let me know where you got it

paul said:

that is beyond beautiful. very nice work. i bet you are getting big time excited about this electric bicycle

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I am actually. It may end up being my best bike. To answer your other question, I have 12 15 amp hour cells in series giving 36v. These are the largest LiFePO4 cells available from Headway, and the same ones I used on Juicer 4. So with 36v and the 1000w motor, that's a potential 28amp draw, HOWEVER, I want this one to follow the letter of the CA vehicle code for motor-driven-cycles, so I am starting out with a 750w controller (you can see it in the corner of the sprocket and chain picture) which will bring my amperage down to about 21amps. BUT if it turns out to be too slow, I'll replace it with a 1000w controller.

Thanks for the comments, Paul, and representing eBikes on your logo!

paul said:

i am seriously considering taking a welding class at the collage here on island to build my own bike some day.

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I have always been envious of people who had power over metal. In anticipation of my first bike build, I took a welding class at the local junior college. I have to tell you, with just my welder and my angle grinder, I can do 9/10 of anything I want to do with metal and it is a great feeling. So I totally encourage you to take that class. It is especially important if you want to do TIG, which is harder than MIG, but generally stronger and more versatile.

DO IT!