I have been reading tons of material both here on the sphere and elsewhere. I'm insanly interested in anything electric driven (with batteries that is) and own a Danish (!) produced vintage electric car, the CityEl/CityCom - but that is a different story. I do have some semi-good electronic/mechanical skills and I have built one other e-bike before, for a family member. It was a standard 700C bike with an ampedbike kit and a 36V 15AH ping battery. Is does app. 40 kph on flat ground and has 50+ km of range; according to the family member. I guess that includes some pedal assist.
Now back to my own build. I plan to upgrade this 10+ years old MTB:
- Donor bike
- Univega1.jpg (61.04 KiB) Viewed 378 times
I would like to end up with a Sports Utility Bike/commuter with room for 4-5 bags of groceries and for a very short part of the commute (1,5 km) also my two kids (to/from daycare). I need to be able to commute 35-40 km to work, re-charge at work in 6-8 hours, and drive another 35-40 km to get back home. It will not be an everyday commuter, maybe something like every second or third day on average. I am aiming for 40-50 kph on flat ground. Do have a couple of hills here and there - I don't mind having to pedal assist on those or going really slow as the majority of the distance is pretty flat.
My plan is to go with this set-up:
- Xtracycle the donerbike - to get the cargo capacity for groceries and kids.
- 16s/48V LifePo4 battery. Considering either Ping 20AH - or build my own Headway 12-15AH battery. A lot of pros/cons for both to consider.
- Install discbrakes on the Xtracycle frame. Upgrade front fork to one with suspension + disc brakes. No way I'm running with that weight and speed on V-levers!
- Use the rearwheel kit from Ampedbikes. Have been pretty impressed with the quality from that other build... Still un-decided between thumb or twist throttle...
- Get two of those nice torque arms from Ampedbikes also. Used them before, they are pretty heavy duty and very adjustable I think.
- Hoping that the controller from Amped will keep cool enough feeding it 48V. Have been reading about several folks doing it. If it fries (I know I'll loose my warranty) I will upgrade to something more powerfull (yet sensible) any recommendations if I have to go down that road?
- Get a CA
- And build my own battery box that is ideal for away-from-bike charging (at work).
II'll order the Xtracycle Freeloader and the hub motor kit within the next few days, so if you think I'm about to build a total disaster please shout at me! It will only make me happy to get your input or thoughts! I think I kind of have all the knowlegde I need - "think" being the key-word here
Should also mention that this will not be a hyper-quick build as time seems to be my biggest constraint theese days. But I promise I will keep this thread updated when ever progress is happening - now it is my turn to give something back to this awesome forum!
Would like to thank you all for the great threads I have been reading here!
Viking
). But I need to secure my racks to the frame somehow to weatherproof them and to make sure my load (the kids) stay attached to the bike... I would probably go with the idea of using and old bicycle hose sleeved over the connection points to weatherproof it and then add some double seatpost clamps on top of that to hold the racks in place. Have found an aluminium clamp that costs 7$ a piece - that would save me more than 100$!! (if it works out).
