the e-bike life....

After blowing a fuse on my fast pusher bike yesterday, I decided I needed to try it on a 26" bike with gears. So today I went to the thrift store. They had a big sale on Monday so most of the bikes were gone. I had expected it and planed to buy a cheap one any way.

I picked up a columbia racer ten speed. It has to be old but well cared for. All the running gear was a mess but not rusty.

I don't like those thin wheels so I changed them for some I had laying around. I keep all the mountain bike and coaster wheels when I scrap out a bike so I have plenty. The bike had that screwball racing bike handle bar. That had to go. I have a pretty neat suspension fork but it wouldn't fit. Too bad I really wanted to use that. I took the handlebar off the goose neck. I wanted to use a bmx type handlebar but I couldn't get it through the goose neck. I wanted to keep the goose because it has the shifters on it. I wanted to try to save what I could.

I used a mountain bike handle bar one of the almost straight ones. I used a couple of salvaged brake levers and cables. I was able to use the brake wheel calipers.

I also popped the skinny back wheel out and put a mountain bike rear wheel with six gear cassette. I switched my bell coaster style seat over to it as well. I tested it and made some adjustments. One was I had to scrounge around for a small tire to fit in the small fork. I had one fortunately.

Then I made a mount for the push motor. I might make a couple of changes to the mount tomorrow then again I might not. Tomorrow I need to attach the battery holders and wire the bike then test ride it with power. I already have pedal tested it. I have no idea how those riders know what gear they were in. There is no click stop on that bike just constant movement of through the gears.

Anyway that was today's project.

Since this I put a coaster handlebar on the bike and I like it a lot better. My knees don't seem to hit the handlebars now.
 
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Gee whiz I wrote this long post and it got lost. The condensed version is I bought a cheap, make that really cheap, Columbia ten speed racer today. I switched both wheels for wheels from a mountain bike. I hate those skinny wheels.

I switched the handlebars and brake levers. I had all the parts laying around. In other words I used the frame. What I ended up with was a low weight 12 speed bike with better stability for me.

I rebuilt the frame from the fast pusher which I blew the fuse in on a steep hill. I'm hoping this bike will prevent that in the future. If not I can switch back to the 80 tooth sprocket and still get more speed from this bike since I can use a higher gear with it. And the larger rear wheel also gives me more speed over the 20" I have been running.

Since my balance is better, I'm not as shaky as I was when I first started riding again. I seem to do okay on the taller bikes now. So tomorrow I mount the batteries and wire it up and I't should be good to go.
 
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I spent two days building and testing the new bike with the gears and fast pusher motor. The monster is trying to kill me. I was starting on the test track and hed it wound out, just as I was about to make a left turn onto my first hill a car came into view I tried to slow down and forgot to turn off the motor. I couldn't turn the bike either. So I was off the road before i got that hoss turned off. I stopped safely enough just gave me pause.

After trying all day to get it lined up perfectly, because otherwise it is almost impossible to control, I have decided to convert that one to friction drive. At least with friction drive the bike rides like a bike.

What I am going to do is mount the whole thing over and touching the rear wheel. I will have a 12 inch wheel running on top of my 26inch wheel. That mutha might just hum. Or not. I am going to put a smooth 26" tire on the rear and see what she ill do.

That's tomorrow's project.
 
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I had a good nights sleep and went at that bike again. This time I went back to the most basic design that always works and guess what. It still does.

The 80tooth sprocket bike is not nearly as sensitive as the 55 tooth one. I shortened everything up. Go it adjusted then I bolted and spot welded everything in place. This one won't fold up so it has to stay in the shed all alone but it's a tough lil guy.

Even with the big wheels it blows fuses. I tried to use the motor to help me start and it blew another fuse. This one really has to be moving to engage the motor. Not just a little I think it has to be moving about as fast and i could walk before I can get the motor safely to engage. But man when it runs it just sings.
 
Well I upped the fuse to a 40amp model. It didn't blow and I took the bike up some of the hills that did blow the 30amp. Since then I also up graded the bike to a 26incher. It's one I cobbled together from a $8 columbia racing bike frame and a bunch of parts I had laying about. It's a little taller than I like, but it seemed to do the trick. When I pedal it keeps the speed up a little more. I used the mountain bike wheels so I could get just the right gear ratio. Now that I have it, I hope it wont move. It seems to work pretty well.

The bike was one of the really old ten speeds to begin with so it had the shifters with no clicks. I messed with it a couple of days then just set the chain where I thought it should go and move the derailleur till it looked straight. It was the only way to keep the chain from slipping around. I had to move it a few times to get it right but now it seems I have found the right gear combination.

The gears and the fuse seem to have done the trick. I have a couple of throttles from various sources but all my controllers stopped working for some reason. I have ordered one on ebay. I thought, since the last bike I built is so fast, I probably need a throttle to keep it from going too fast in the turns. So that is the next upgrade.

The bike with the 80 or 90 tooth sprocket doesn't need a throttle. It can be run with the motor on all the time. except for when I stop.
 
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How fickle we bike builders are. I loved my 1st push trailer. After I built the first higher speed model I kept one of the slower ones to ride to the park about a mile away. My reasoning was that if anyone stole it while I was walking they wouldn't get a lot of my time or money.

Well I rode it today for the first time since getting the faster bike perfected. It was slow and I had a hard time deciding when to pedal assist. The bigger bike's gearing kicks in sooner. I also have to pedal the fast bike sooner because if it gets too slow I'm afraid it will blow the fuse. The slow one however seems to crawl along with no problem at all.

I'm not ready to junk it yet, but I am ready to think about junking it.
 
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yes the bloody thing was trying to kill me. I moved the slow pusher motor to a different bike. I did it because it had a larger chain ring than the slow pusher bike. I wanted to set up a better gear ratio. I really should put the motor on as 26inch geared bike. The gears don't have to work well, just give me some options.

I put the motor on one of the old twenty inchers with the big front wheel. Off i go to test it. That darn Bike tries to put me in the ditch a dozen time. I switched out the front end. I ended up with a 24inch wheel in a suspension front end. That solved the problem. I ran that bike with a hub motor without any major problems. It seems the pusher had enough downward presser on the rear wheel that the light in the front 26 incher front wheel made the bike very very unstable.

I also added a 20 geared rear wheel. I set the chain on the second smallest gear. It gives me a little quicker pickup of the pedals. Tomorrow I will give it a thorough test. It seems that I ran the small batteries dry while testing it today. They are all charged now and ready to go but I'm not.
 
Today I fried my slow pusher motor. That motor has been locking up for sometime but I didn't know what it was. I thought it was the chain binding when I tried to push it out of the shed. It could have been that but It was always free when I put the power to it. I think maybe that motor is why the bike seems so much slower. Well that and the sprocket on the rear wheel that is twice as large as the one on the quick pusher.

Anyway here is a question for today so listen up you ebikers. If I run a 450 watt motor with a 350 watt controller what will it do.

1. run at less than full power.
2. Burn up the controller.
3. Something else even more horrifying
 
I just recieved email from currie,100.00 off on conversion unit.This includes rear wheel.motor,rack,battery everything you need to build the ebike-----FREE SHIPPING all for 299.95.HD
 
Now thats about in line with the ebike at wallymart. With the kit you can put it on a better bike with suspension. Sounds like a much better kit deal than the hub I bought last winter.

My wheels I have been buying from ebay that were on the currie 350 gt scooter come with the 80 or 90 tooth sprocket. That is fine but the 55 tooth is much faster and still pulls the hills with very little help. The problem with switching them out is there is no freewheel. The sprocket is pressed onto the hub it appears.

I just ordered a 55tooth sprocket, I just have to try something. I'm going to center the smaller sprocket onto the larger one which is now pressed onto the wheel. Then I am going to use the holes in the smaller sprocket to drill the bigger sprocket. Once it is drilled I will put a washer or two between the two sprockets and give it a try. Sounds like another learning experience.
 
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today i retested two controllers I have had laying around both were as dead as my lovelife. I think I remember crossing the battery leads. Oh well I have one on the way and a second I am bidding on. I am only using them to try to get a handle on the fuse blowing problem. I probably don't need them at all. I raised the fuse size and stopped the problem with the blowing but I kinda want to be able to control the speed on hills so that I can pedal some to save the batteries as well.

Anyway I'll let you know if I find any difference in the performance.
 
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My 450 watt engine arrived today. I think I am going to install it without the controller until one arrives. I can't stand the suspense. I want to know how it will do on the hills. The new smaller sprocket should arrive early next week.
 
I got the controller for the 350 watt engine today. I had been running it like a pulse jet just on full throttle and off. For the most part that really is all one needs. You have to be a little careful but it will work.

I got the controller to see what the difference really is. You know me I love to test things for myself. So here is the verdict. I like the throttle control. I run it wide open a lot of the time so it isn't much difference that way. Where it does make a difference is where you just want to run it as a pedal assist kind of thing. I ran a test mile with it as a pedal assist and it was very very doable. Not to mention it is a more consistent pedal response. I also had the bike set to the highest gears so I got a good workout.

I got the controller cheap from china somethinglike 16 bucks total so it was worth the experiment. I also have one on the way for the new 450 watt build.

The next thing I am going to buy for the 350 watt bike is a full suspension bike frame. The converted racing bike I used for the latest build is way too hard to control on these rough roads around here. Where is all that road building we were promised as part of the stimulus package.

Ps the fast sprocket arrived. I need to go to home depot for some bolts with screwdriver heads the hex are too thick.
 
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Okay I tried to put a controller on the new 450 watt motor. I could never get the controller to work but then I discovered after wiring it directly to the motor that I had a continuity problem all along. I can probably make it work tomorrow. I tested it on my small red 20" bike. It runs nice even without a controller. I think the no controller is the way for me to go. I screw them up too often to be honest.

I rode the 350 with controller and throttle to home depot today. It ran very well so I have no objection to controllers but I'm just not that sure of the value on bike motors. Don't get me wrong I like the bike with one, but I'm just not sure they are worth the effort on a DIY build.

Since the 20" has a coaster wheel on the rear, I never could keep the speed up as I do on my DIY ebike built on a converted racer frame. So I went to the thrift store and picked up a 24" huffy stone mountain 2 bike. The wire pull v brake are shot so bad that I can't get them adjusted. I am going to change them out tomorrow for the caliper type. I already got rid of the silly mt bike handlebars. My knees bang those things.

Once I get this one ready to go, I have to strip out the excess bikes I have laying around. Shop is littered with bikes. I thought each was one that was going to do it, but didn't. Most of the failures I paid under ten bucks for so I had some fun tearing them up now it's time to move on.
 
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OH yeah something you might find interesting. I got in a 55 tooth sprocket. I didn't want to build a whole wheel thing when I had one with a 80 or 90 tooth sprocket. What i did was to drill four holes in the sprocket which was pressed onto the wheel I bought. I took my rotozip and grinder to it. When I finished the 55 tooth had plenty of clearance and was setup pretty much in line for the motor. So now I know how to do it. I have one more wheel but no motor mount. I might just buy a super large motor and make my own mount.
 
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On my blog about the ebike life I am writing a novel about an old man seeing the world with only an ebike and a travel trailer..... To find out how he gets from place to place you have to read the blog.

No politics I promise.
 
I also rechecked the controller today and found that it is most likely a bad throttle. It has the required voltage going to the throttle but nothing comes out of the controller when the throttle is moved. The controller was supposed to be new, so I'm thinking that the throttle was smoked. Anyway I have bought a new one from TNC it should be here first of next week. About the right time for me to buy a decent seat from Wally mart.

I changed the rear tired on the bike today and didn't get everything tight before I tried to ride it. When I started it the chain kept coming off. Then a wire burned up for some reason, I thing it was a frame short. Anyway all that is fixed now. It runs just fine without the controller but what the heck It's only a couple of bucks to add the throttle and light this puppy up. I still dont think I need a throttle but it's something else to do to it.
 
Some images of the new pusher. The flat handlebars get in my way so I put on some larger ones. I had to move the shifters or put on new cable, so I moved them.

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The bike frame is a 24" stone mountain II by huffy. The brakes were those V all wire things. I never could get them adjusted so I replaced them with caliper brakes. The shifters got moved using the end pieces from the original bars. The front wheel was bent so I switched it for one I had. The darn seat cost me as much as the bike but it will probably last longer. The motor is a 450 watt at the moment it has no controller but I will probably add one this week.


I have a new idea for a bike but it's a little scary. These scooter motors run at 2600 rpm more or less. I'm kicking around custom fitting a small bike sprocket to the motor then using a child's rear coaster wheel as a pusher wheel. I could either use the kind of mount I am using now if I can find one, or mount the motor right to the trailer.

Without the reducer gear the motor will pull just as hard as it can which may or may not be any faster but the rear sprocket is smaller on a coaster bike and the motor sprocket will be larger so it should run much faster top end if I can get it going with pedal aid to reach top speed.
 
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