jonescg's NEW electric racebike BUILD thread!

[jonescg]

Well I just bought myself two honking great 200 W soldering irons. I need to get some solid copper round and make a big hammer head for it. These chisel tips just aren't big enough I don't think.

On the bike front, I have made final payment but need to wait until my funds replenish and I can afford to get it shipped over to the West. Then I need to save even more funds and keep going until about the end of the year if I want a decent electric conversion

[Nuts&Volts]

But then Kyle hacked up an MV F4!

Fabricating a new rear subframe for the Wave' makes sense to fit it neatly and preserve the original.

Have you seen EV Drives' remy-core offerings?

Crash knobs sound good, but I'm confident you'll keep the rubber side down

The F4 wasn't being used and we haven't hacked it up too much

Those EV Drives are just too heavy for a motorcycle and cost more than an EVO or YASA offering which in turn are 50lbs+ lighter

[jonescg]

Woohoo! Happy Easter everyone!

My good news; the trackbike is being picked up in Melbourne on Monday and should be in my hot little hands by the 17th of April Only $740 one way! Fortunately it's going to be crated by the company, so there's one less thing for me to worry about.

Can't wait!!!

[Jay64]

Awesome! Looking forward to the beauty "coming home".

[grindz145]

Looking forward to some donor bike pr0n

[jonescg]

Dammit! Why does Perth have to remain stuck in the 80s? My track bike has arrived in Perth, but it's sitting at the depot and can't be picked up on the weekend - cause they don't even open on Saturdays! I have to wait out a whole sunny weekend without my new bike!

The trucking company is called White Line Transport You'd think it would have been much speedier service

[SplinterOz]

Just to let you know Danny did a 1:15.6 at Wakefield. And Danny only won because Jason pulled his lanyard.

[jonescg]

SPEWIN!!!!

Oh man! Poor Jase must feel like a clown! I listened to the audio and it was close all race.

Really wish I was there

[jonescg]

Looking forward to some donor bike pr0n

Finally she is in my hands . Alas I had to get back to work as soon as I could, but rest assured this evening she's going to get some street time









Oh, and my soldering irons finally arrived. Cheap and cheerful Chinese... crap




It came with wire capable of handling about a 0.5 amp current... Not sure I'm cool with that, but I can find a better lead.

[SplinterOz]

Love the bike!!! Not so sure about the soldering irons.

[voicecoils]

bike looks awesome!

to kick things off you can draw a texta strikeout line through 'fuel' on the exhaust

[jonescg]

OK so today being ANZAC day I had some time to take it out for a quiet run up the street. Since this is an electric bike build thread, I won't bore you with details of the awesome power the ICE puts out But suffice to say it's a ball tearer. And torque! Man, for a petrol engine on a bike this thing has oodles of low-down torque! A friend of mine was telling me he's got a buddy who does clubman racing at Wanneroo and just leaves it in fourth the whole time - no need to change gears. Sure it's bouncing off the limiter for a while down the straight, but it's the right gear to be in when taking turn 7

As for comfort, the bike is surprisingly comfortable for a race bike. The rear sets are going to take some getting used to, since most bikes I've ridden have lower pegs. I doubt that I'll be scraping pegs with my mad skills, but I think I get off the bike enough to not have any problems. I scrape a knee on the Blackbird around turn one, so this thing should be fine

Oh, and I fixed the soldering irons so they run decent sized wire and plug into AU/NZ sockets.... Cheesus do they get hot. 400 W of copper melting brute force I will use the two of them together to melt the tinned 3 mm bars down onto the cell tabs, and making the pack-to-pack series connections for the race bike. I think I will leave the wedge tips on it - a safe way to limit the amount of heat going into the blocks. As always, have the ice water and some sponge handy for when you're done soldering.

Can't wait for my first trackday on the oil burner. Not until June though Man I wish we had another racetrack near Perth. Wanneroo is always booked out from arsehole to breakfast. I might need to start doing some clubman racing just to get my track time up.

[Jay64]

I doubt that I'll be scraping pegs with my mad skills, but I think I get off the bike enough to not have any problems. I scrape a knee on the Blackbird around turn one, so this thing should be fine

Sounds to me like you can carry more corner speed going in.

[jonescg]

I could always carry more corner speed going into turn one

[jonescg]

I took the tank off and had a look at the belly-pan since I need to lock-wire the sump plug for any racing this year. While the tank was off, I looked at it with a measuring tape and lo and behold, there was a marked change in the size of the frame from 2004 to 2005.

I am going to have to get creative with my battery packs Dammit! There is barely 300 mm x 250 mm inside this frame! The 2004 frame I measured up would fit a 320 mm x 320 mm square with room to spare.

So I need to make my packs even more modular so they can fit on the sides rather than through the top...

[jonescg]

I just paid for my first opportunity to test the oil-burner at Wanneroo raceway. D-grade racing! What better way to get to know a brand new 170 hp race bike than to mix it up with a bunch of D-grade racers

I have a pair of paddock stands on their way, tyre warmers ready to go, a 15 litre fuel can, new leathers should show up early next week. The only thing missing is a motor vehicle to carry me and the bike up to Wanneroo. D'OH! The only problem with having a non-road registered trackbike.

If I can do 71 seconds on a 250 kg blackbird with road tyres, I reckon sub 69s should be broadly achievable even for me. Lap one turn one race one... watch out


On the elctric bike front, I have been thinking of ways which I can get more room out of a bike. The AFM140 is actually a very narrow motor, so there is still the prospect of replacing the swingarm with a 'hollow pivot' arrangement. Then the back of a '07 GSXR frame can be hacked to fit this in, and move the suspension to sit above the motor.

I gather this stuff is the domain of smarter folks than I, but I also know that running a jackshaft to the drive sprocket is pretty complicated and wasteful, and uses up all the available battery space.



If I was to get this fabricated, how can I get it done in the cheapest yet lightest way possible? Laser cutting? Milling? Both? The bends and curves won't be easy.

[Rodney64]

I could give you a lift to Wanneroo if it's on the weekend

[jonescg]

That's be sweet! Do you have a trailer? I have asked a friend (George) to see if he can help me and he hasn't got back yet. He will be at the AEVA meeting on Tuesday night so I can ask him again then.

I just drained the oil so I could drill a hole in the sump plug for securing it, cause sump plugs always unwind themselves ...

Man electric bikes are a lot of trouble, but once they are working they are a lot less hassle than an oil burner.

[Rodney64]

I have a van VW. What weekend is it

[jonescg]

Nice! It's on Sunday the 20th of May. Details are here: www.mcrcwa.com.au
Either way, would be great if you could come up. There's always a bit of tight racing going on

[jonescg]

So I have been thinking long and hard about this next race bike, and how no matter what chassis I try and fit out, it will still let me down somehow. I thought I should probably start by redesigning elements of the donor bike to suit my needs, and one by one, replace the ill-fitting parts with bespoke parts. I figure if I build a bike from an existing chassis design it will cost me more in the long run, since I will need to build a third bike to satisfy my desire for the perfect build

Like the swingarm. If I was to mount an AFM140 in a GSXR chassis, it would occupy almost the entire lower half of the frame. Until batteries pack 300 Wh/kg, that's a lot of space I really wish I had access to. So If I can do away with the need for a jackshaft I could mount the motor inside the swingarm pivot point. Well, not completely concentric like a Bimota, but pretty close. Then the swingarm pivot would be just behind the front drive sprocket. The shock would go in line with the upper bars on the swingarm and attach just the other side of the motor. Pretty close to the seat actually. The motor would need to be attached using a couple of 8 mm plates either side and these would be fixed to the frame (not shown).





I dread to think what making this from billet aluminium would cost, but I would also seek to cut lightening honeycomb patterns in the bars to reduce the weight. I'm also trying to find a way of getting it built in the cheapest way possible - three pieces which bolt together? Welded? Any CNC specialists here?

[jonescg]

Well it's not an advance on the e-moto plans, but it is a start. I finally got my leather race suit! $800 and not without much acrimony to get it... Still, they fit me like a glove.



Happy Chris!


My first trackday on the oil burner is this Sunday! I will be busy sorting crap on Saturday, but the weather is holding out for me and Sunday looks like a winner

[deVries]

Mate, you look crikey sharp as the Black Knight. Wholly cow batman! (Battman too!)

[jonescg]

Super excited!!!

Race day tomorrow on the oil burner. A good friend loaned me his car and trailer, so I'm sorted for the day. Even threw a couple of chairs in for resting the legs between sessions. I have two goals - smash my personal best of 1:11.507 around Barbagallo, and secondly, to not come off It's going to be a bit tough with 23 other novice and D grade racers, but oh well. What better way to learn! Come on up if any Perthites are interested.

Chris

[Rodney64]

What time is your first race