Brooklyn Cruiser - Everyday Bike Stealth Build

[majornelson]

I've been riding what I have now come to think of as my heavy duty trekking bike for a little over a month and loving it. (Trek DS8.4 with disc brakes, Mac 8T, cell_man 48v triangle battery, CA v3- 60+ range and over 30 mph if I want it). Great fun and highly recommended. I have over 700+ miles on the bike for July.

But, I wanted a more stealthy, light-weight commuter for my five mile round trip commute and finally ordered a Brooklyn Cruiser 7 speed (internal). Sort of like what the Aussie's call a pub bike, I think. It arrived at my LBS this past week and is ready for my pickup. I plan to put a light weight motor on the front (Bafang K5 or Cute 100) with 48v lipo at 5 AH. I really like these dutch style, steel framed bikes for casual biking.

I'm trying to model the bike on the Faraday Porteur which I think is absolutely gorgeous but underpowered (also $3,500 and not available until December- a kickstarter project). The other inspiration was Kepler's Ultimate Commuter bike (which is absolutely fantastic!)

The motor on my bike will be very small and less than 5 lbs. on the front wheel. The rear has an internal Shimano Nexus 7 speed so I can't swap it out. I'll put the 48v 5 AH battery pack in a seat bag off the seat (current thinking). This is a small pack and will weigh in at around 3.5 lbs. Still looking at placement options for the controller...

It won't pack the punch of my trekking (Mac 500W) setup and will be more of an "assist" than twist and go but I think I'll like it. I'd love to eventually get the throttle handled by a PAS sensor that goes on the BB and automatically kicks in when you peddle. That way I can eliminate the thumb throttle all together. I've attached a picture of the bike. (I also have the wooden crate for the rear that I may or may not use.) Note that I will always bike without socks just like George Hahn (pictured in the photo) in NYC. I think I will also dress more natty…

Finally, I have not shared with my wife yet that I have purchased a new bike. My buddy told me that the ideal number of bikes is one less than a divorce… which he has calculated to be 26.

Anyway, I'll post some build pictures as I complete it. Although it's not the high-octance kind of stuff, if I can pull off stealth, around 40 lbs and some decent assist on a practical everyday bike for a short commute all will be good!

Brooklyn Cruiser:



PS In case there is any question, that is *not* me in the photo!

 

[The fingers]

Looks like a smooth pedaler, but I like thick socks to keep my ankle bone from inadvertently banging into the crankarm. :lol:

 

[melodious]

I needed to upgrade my repertoire of my ohso classy plastic milk crate carton and get a real wooden box like yours.

+1 on style

 

[Tinto]

That is the nicest pub bike I've ever seen

Usually a pub bike would be recovered by a discerning eye during council bulk rubbish collection, propped up between a broken office chair and a cracked aquarium. The sort of bike you aren't too crushed about going missing when you walk out of the pub. If a human is 50-75% water, the pub bike is easily 75% rust.

Yours is several leagues above that - perhaps a bit more cigar-lounge than pub.
I'm looking forward to seeing this take form, I like your inspiration from the faraday.

 

[majornelson]

It's been almost a month but I finally got everything together this weekend... Turns out parts from China sometimes do take time for delivery! My kit was delayed from greenbikekit.com due to Typhoon Utor... who would've thought it.

With much help from this forum, I installed a Cute Q100 201 rpm front wheel motor and two 6S, 5AH in series (so 12S @ 44 volts) batteries. My bike is PAS only, which is great as I'm only looking for a little assist on a couple of modest hills (dripping in perspiration is not a good look at my office ).

I struggled with the PAS install until I realized it needed to go on the drive side *and* I needed to disassemble the bottom bracket to attach the sensor. I hate obvious things that I miss!

I ended up using a wooden crate (from Brooklyn Cruisers) on my rear rack to house both the battery and controller. Gives the bike a complete retro look (IMHO) while hiding my rats nest of wires, battery and controller. They're all strapped to the box now but I plan on building a wood door hatch to hide them in the next couple of weeks.

I like the Q100 for this build. It provides a decent level of assist and doesn't add much weight or bulk to the bike. On my maiden voyage, I averaged about 16 mph and got 19 miles on my 5 AH Lipo battery. Not bad...Here's the link (I stopped a number of times - actually I stopped more than I rode!):

http://cyclemeter.com/cf31e7e64ecfb850/Cycle-20130908-1458?r=e

I also have a Bafang SWXK5 that I had planned to test with the exact same setup (used the same controller, etc.) as it would be a simple matter of swapping out the front wheel (and moving the tire ). Haven't done that yet. It is a little bigger and heavier then the Q100 but my gut is that is has more power. Just don't think i need it for this bike.

Things I like about the Q100:

- Lightweight and low power works perfectly for a front wheel drive bike.
- PAS works reasonably well give that the whole kit was pretty inexpensive.
- At speed, motor noise is slight.
- Stealthy!
- Enough torque to smooth out modest hills.
- No speed demon but competent.
- Love the little controller. Easy to hide and doesn't take up much space.

Disadvantages:

- Some of the greenbikekit.com cables were pretty short.
- Growls at low speeds under stress.
- PAS is pretty basic. If you have it set to high at start, it will surge.
- I wish I could switch the PAS level without having to fumble with the LED display buttons. I think the Faraday Porteur team got it right with their very stylish position switch.

Before and after pics in the next couple of posts.

 

[majornelson]

Before pictures:

Bike with a canvas barrel bag attached.


Bike with Brooklyn Cruisers wooden crate on rear rack.


(Not certain why this won't place inline... You have to click on the attachment.)
Bike on my Park stand. It's pretty hot in the garage this time of year...

 

[majornelson]

Build complete (everything except for the wooden battery case, which goes inside of the crate):

 

[majornelson]

I'll post additional pictures of the battery box once complete...

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Very clean, stealthy build; the wooden box is retro-cool and supports the stealth theme. Very Nice.

 

[majornelson]

RoadWrinkle,

Thanks! Now we don't have the great weather that a place like, well Hawaii does, but it does make my 2.5 mile morning commute something I look forward to.

As Tinto pointed out, it's really not a pub bike, but I still like the idea in concept.

Best.

 

[The fingers]

I really like the chrome centerstand. 8)

 

[majornelson]

The fingers,

Well, I've been riding *with* socks (despite my initial statement) while waiting for the parts... best outcome- no ankle bone damage so far!

And the two legged stand is standard with this bike. Nice touch and very convenient...

Thanks.

 

[d8veh]

I like the look of the box, but it's very bad for handling like that. If you could reduce the height, you could get it much closer to the seat-post, which will make it handle much better.

If you have the four wire LED display, you can use a three position switch to replace it.

The red wire carries battery voltage to the display. When you switch it on, it latches on and sends the battery voltage back down the blue wire to power the controller. This function can be replaced with any low current on/off switch. Without anything else connected, you get the lowest level of PAS, and, if you had a throttle, it would work normally.

The PAS buttons send fixed voltage t the controller:
level 1 PAS 1V
level 2 PAS 2v
Level 3 PAS 3v
6km 4V.

You could make a simple voltage divider taking 5v from the throttle and the 0v from the now redundant black wire, or use the throttle black 0v. Fix three resistors in a line between the 0v and 5vin the sequence 2K, 1K and 2K. Take a tap from between the first two resistors to one side of a three position switch, and a tap from between the other two to the other side of the switch, Then connect the green wire to the middle pin of the switch. This will then give 2v with the switch in the left position (level 2), 3v in the right position (level 3) and 0v in the middle position (level 1). I can draw it out for you if that's not easy to understand. This switch would be perfect:
http://www.bmsbattery.com/ebike-parts/53-three-speed-switch-kit.html

 

[majornelson]

I have that switch!

The handling really hasn't changed since I added both the box and then placed the batteries in it. Probably a total of 5 lbs on the rear rack. And it's a pretty upright bike...

But I will move things around just to check.

 

[majornelson]

I noticed that when I set the LED assist level to HIGH and then pressed the plus button one more time, all of the LED lights lit up and the assist felt like WOT. Have you seen this behavior?

I have a pretty casual ride to work and its 2.5 miles (almost all on neighborhood roads). I find that I use the low or med setting the most. I reserve the High for a couple of hills.

Anyway, I'll study the switch I have. I wish I could find a sleek solution like on the Faraday. Most of the Chinese parts for ebikes look pretty cheap...

 

[friendly1uk]

You could put a bit of capping over the wires, and secure it with silicone sealant. Perhaps some sort of half round like a pipe cut lengthways.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51064&p=755386&hilit=capping&sid=98a75b4f59c3df5e5e621dea0b98ab29#p755386

 

[majornelson]

Great idea. I remember that Kepler did that on his stealth build. I'll have to look into where I can get the CF tubing...

 

[majornelson]

friendlyUK1,

Is that handlebar tape on your rear frame? I like it...

 

[maurtis]

Super clean stealth build, I love it! Looks phenomenal.

 

[majornelson]

Thanks!

 

[zaphod911]

Sort of like what the Aussie's call a pub bike, I think.

In Berlin we call them neighborhood pickles. Dont ask why... They usually look more like this:

 

[majornelson]

I like it! Make a great front wheel conversion candidate...

Looks pretty safe too. Lights and the front and back... wheel lights. Great bikes to ride home from the pub if you're... pickled?

 

[chas58]

All bikes in Germany come outfitted with those safety features. Its the law (an exception is made for a light weight race bike). You even have to have a dyno driven light - technically you can be fined for having a battery powered LED light instead of a dyno driven light (you would think this law would have to change to keep up with technology).

 

[majornelson]

Funny.

I received a ticket this summer in Rehoboth Beach, DE for riding a bike without a headlight. $37.90 which turned out to be a $5 fine, $32.90 processing fee. Go figure. :?