my electric bicycle

[paul]

this was my first motorized bicycle. got it on ebay and not sure who makes it or anything else. it reminds me of the wicked witches bicycle on the wizard of oz lol. it is 36 volt and cruises on flat ground around 15mph. you do have to peddle assist on any kind of hill. i let company ride it for i like the gasoline powered bike alot more

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[Andyinchville1]

That is a wild looking bike....How far can you go on a charge?
Andrew

 

[paul]

farthest i have gone was 25 miles and still had battery left

 

[iRide Customs]

That thing is sweet! Is that a passenger seat pad on the back in front of the box?

 

[paul]

yes and lots of people have ridden on it. the first thing my grandaughter wants to do when she gets here is for me to take her for a ride on the electric bicycle. i have had adults on it also and seemed to do fine

 

[deacon]

I built two electric bikes. I actually prefer them except for the range thing. Both were friction drive made with inexpensive scooter motors. No controller for me, just a simple household on off switch. I used the motor like a pulse jet. On to assist or cruise, off to slow down. It worked really well but the battery range problem haunted me. Yes i did have to peddle on the hills but even that was doable while comfortable seated with the assist from the engine.

At this time I keep one for a spare it has two 250 watt scooter motors against the rear wheel. One under the seat and one behind it. I use one for small hills and to cruise and kick the other in on larger hills. I can get about five miles range on two garden tractor batteries pulled in a trailer behind me.

 

[paul]

deacon why not a household switch that has adjustment like the ones that you can slowley brighten or dim the lights with. i believe that is how mine works the throtlle controls the amount of electricity that goes to the motor. dimmer switch they call them and come in dials or regular on off switch type or slide

 

[deacon]

I tried one of those but in my case the switch was old and didnt work at all with the 24 volts. I wasn't sure if the voltage had to be higher to get past the resistor or if the switch itself was bad. I'll have to give that another try. Especially now that they have those low voltage dimmers out for halogen light. It might end my need for a controller for my next electric project.

 

[paul]

awesome. can't wait to see photos of your creations. the first bike i put togather when i fired up the motor i felt like i was a teenager again. their is nothing like making your own ride

 

[deacon]

a lot has changed since these two images. I built new and better trailers and The little blue bike is now gas.

 

[paul]

very nice. i like the trailers. they could be set up to put grocery bags and stuff on also. i need to make a trailer for mine. i like going to store with it but hard coming home if i get many items

 

[deacon]

Yes the new trailers are built from pvc pipe and kiddie bikes from the thrift shop. about ten bucks worth of parts.

 

[Norman]

Deacon
I like your el. bikes and if they come out with a battery that will charge in say 5 to 10 min. and last say 100 miles then I'll jump on a electric. I'm collecting solar panels from work that are good but being thrown away because they are obsolete.
Cruiser
If you could mount a gas engine on that where it would be hidden and still have the el. that would be supper cool in my book and a little solar panel on the back to keep the batteries topped off. There I go again.
Norman

 

[deacon]

Heck I was planning to put a gas engine in the trailer to charge the batteries since they are better for that than driving a bike.

Maybe from one of those model airplanes rofl

 

[Ilikeabikea]

Deacon, I like those elec. bikes. I really like your innovative trailer idea. You da man...................

 

[deacon]

If I could just find a low cost high amp battery, I might have a great little errand runner. Fifteen miles an hour to run to the bank or the store would be more than enough. Just the darn batteries are too expensive for the power supply amounts. Carrying them on the little trailer seems to be the way to go with the battery thing. It's just the cost issue for me.

 

[Ilikeabikea]

You ever thought about a deep cycle marine battery. They are pretty high amp and made to be charged and discharged. They are a little expensive though. I think the last one I bought was $70.00 at Wally World..................

 

[deacon]

It crossed my mind, but It has to be 24volts so its two of them. would cost More than a gasoline engine. You would still have a range problem even these friction drives drain 20 to 30 amps . Best i can figure you divide the amps of the battery by 8 (they say six but it has not been my experience) to get amp hours. My lawn tractor battery ([email protected]) 180 amps are about 25 amp hours... range at 30amps would be about 3/4 hour at 10mph. About a 7 mile range. Last time I ran 2 of the motors to get me up the hills. One 20amp and one 30amp motor. It drained in five miles. I was trying to run just elect not much pedal power.

I think running it as one thirty amp or two 20 amp as I have it set up now will help a little. If I do a lot more pedaling, I think it might do a little better still. Actually today I am going to test it one more time with the new large but light weight framed (former) mountain bike. Thought I would see what it would do with just a 30amp motor and a lot of pedal power. It has a larger front drive sprocket and seems to zing along pretty good.

I have one run laid out that pretty much tells me if it has enough juice to run my short errands. One day I might go with a little better battery if I have to replace these. I'm thinking really cheap heavy amp auto battery since I use the trailer anyway. Just hate to chuck the perfectly good 180 amps that I have three off. (Thought for a while I could run 36volter)

More than you ever wanted to know about cheap batteries. If anyone knows more about these things please correct me. What I have learned is mostly trial and error stuff and might be completely wrong.