Cyclone 500w on BikeE

[Ypedal]

http://www.ypedal.com/Cyclone.htm

Plenty of pictures.. dialupers beware !!

I tell ya right now.. installing a hub motor kit is a walk in the park compared to a cyclone install !

[ngocthach1130]

will the crank be okay since the axle is longer? I jump curb and deal with pot holes everyday so sometime i stand on the crank to absorb the shock. Will it stand up to the beating?

[Ypedal]

The axle is a solid piece of thick metal. i'd be amazed if it ever snapped.. Jumping curbs i'd be more worried about the mounting bracket for the motor than the axle.

[docnjoj]

I did lace up my wifes front 16" wheel for her Bike-e with the Crystalyte 408 brushed and havent had to touch it for almost 5 years! We ride almost daily, and it has never caused a bit of problem! I hope your Cyclone works out, but IMHO front wheel drive is the way to go with this bike! Its also completely silent! Best of luck!
otherDoc

[joystix2]

YPedal, So what do you think of the Cyclone? I remember Jondoh did one a while back. I remember he had all sorts of trouble with it. When I tested it it rode fine but I like the simplicity of the hub motors. Let us know some specs on it with speed and range?

Ric

[jondoh]

The problem with the cyclone is with the freewheel. It gets torn apart by the torque of the motor. The rest of the system works well. No problems really.

[recumbent]

Ypedal,

Thanks for posting this, the step by step pic's are great.

Gotta monitor this post for the test ride review, and noise level comparrison if possible.

The front fairing (similar to mine) has one draw-back and that is noise deflection. It works like a radar dish catching (and deflecting) sound from the front brakes and motor. Not too bad, but noticably louder. Keeps the rider much warmer on chilly mornings, and the bugs just bounce off over your head, Thwack! and you know you hit a june bug or bee.

[Ypedal]

No road test yet, but it's close.

We have a minor problem with crowded handlbars.. not enough room for

-brake lever
-twist shifter
-twist throttle
-grip
-bar end ( holding the polycarb fairing)

So i have to make a stub below the handlebars so i can move the shifter below along with the CA meter this machine will need ( as it will be borrowing a few of my LiFe packs !! )

Or retrofit the cyclone with a thumb throttle.

I tested the drive system in the kitchen, and yes... i agree.. the fairing amplifies the db's from the motor.. i'm hoping that it's not as " loud " when outside in the elements.. will know shortly.

Stay tuned for more as it progresses. !

[Dee Jay]

FOCK . . . first an Evox, now BikeE ? ? ?

I'm not into sports but I think this is as close to a sporting event as I'll ever get. *rubbing hands*

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

J

[Dee Jay]

The axle is a solid piece of thick metal. i'd be amazed if it ever snapped.. Jumping curbs i'd be more worried about the mounting bracket for the motor than the axle.

Yeah, I'm not diggin the motor mount myself. I imagine bolting it through on my frame somehow as opposed to clamping it to the frame..

J

[ngocthach1130]

You could switch to rapid fire shifter and brake combination from Shimano. Only about 27 bucks. They lessen the cluttering quite a bit.

[Ypedal]

http://www.ypedal.com/Cyclone2.htm

A bit more progress to report.. finally got a " test ride " .. not much distance tho..

[recumbent]

Looks like the project is going together just fine, Ypedal.

It's Fun to watch our favorite "east coast ebike engineer" tackle the obstacles one by one, with ease.

Your "skate board chain alignment wheel" is exactly the same as on my recumbent bike, and after 1,000 km's it still works fine.

Keep up the good work. I bet the owner is getting antsy to ride also, but don't forget about us, we want the play by play scoop also on how this system works...please- and- thankyou

[lawsonuw]

Just curious why the motor is mounted so close to the cranks? If it was mounted back along the frame the stock cartridge bottom bracket would be usable. hm... The motor would start pulling the lower section of chain up into the upper chain line. Still looks like the motor would clear the rider's heels before the two sides of the chain hit.

Marty

[Ypedal]

http://www.ypedal.com/Cyclone3.htm

Some more progress today.

Lawsonuw : I think that by mounting the motor as close to the front chainring as possible, I get the least amount of flex between the motor and the cranks by reducing the number of links in between. It also gets me as many teeth on the drive sproket of the motor as possible.

A few more installs like this and i'll get the hang of it, but it's no hub motor install that fo sho.

[Miles]

Lawsonuw : I think that by mounting the motor as close to the front chainring as possible, I get the least amount of flex between the motor and the cranks by reducing the number of links in between. It also gets me as many teeth on the drive sproket of the motor as possible.
.

I'm not sure why you think this is important?

I agree with Marty - bring the motor back towards the seat. The chain has enough lateral flexibility that you can deflect it to take the lower run above the upper run, if necessary.

The Cyclone kit's use of ridiculously long bottom axles is a crass compromise in order to use stock motors....

[Ypedal]

Alright now... just got back from my 1st real test ride on the cyclone Bike-E...

Chain issue = solved. The extra bracket supports have done their job well.

Sound = anoying.. in contrast to a hub motor ( even the ezee geared hub is way more quiet ) Not horrible, but definately not silent, and amplified by the fairing i think.. I'd get used to it but having spent 100's of hours on hub motors you really can't beat the db level of a gearless brushless motor.

Efficiency = Jury still out.. needs more data and testing.

Throttle control is important here, the 500w controller will peak at 40 amps.. and will draw 20 + easily.. at 24v you see your amp/hours go by real quick.. my street is a gengle incline that the ezee motor can climb on 200w, at a crawl speed ( average walking pace ) and my 72v norco can do it just as well with a 409 in a 20" at 200w or so.. The cyclone will do it at 200w as well but would be a slow walk.

Top gear, full out, at 500 to 700w, felt like aprox 45 km/h + but i will GPS that and report back by tomorrow.

But for the moment, everything held on, no squeaks, no chain skips, I need to clean and oil the chain, pump the tires a notch, and adjust the brakes.. then another test run before i give out numbers.

[Lenk42602]

Y,

I looked on your site and could not find your gearing setup. What are the tooth sizes on your rear 8 spd and internal 3 spd hub?

Len

[Ypedal]

Happy Canada Day !!!!!

[Ypedal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY2tF8jtTSU

[Ypedal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq9eFVcbFAY

[recumbent]

Nice video of the ebike test, thanks.

We can hear you changing gears, is it necesary to turn off throttle or just ease-up a bit.

Does it bog down in top gear? which are the best gears to use on the bike?

[Ypedal]

This bike has an 8 speed deraileur and a 3 speed internal hub.

The internal hub can be shifted from a dead stop, and in addition to that, can be damaged by shifting under load..

Unlike the deraileur that requires the chain to be moving when shifting.

I find that leaving it on " 5,6,7 " on the rear cluster, and using the wide ratio hub works best so far.

[ngocthach1130]

What voltage is it running on? Seem pretty slow in one of those video. Make me reconsidering my purchase. I just got my 650W kit today. Boy is that controller huge. I was expecting something along the size of those Yiyun or Crystalyte.

[Pete]

On the plus side, the massive controller does not even get warm even after an hour of serious flogging on 24v

Word from Cyclone is you can run the 650w controller on 36v.