theGoPedal
100 mW
I told my lady that I wanted to build an e-bike and the first thing she said was, "sounds good, where's my e-bike?" So I thought, cool, instead of one bike I'll build two! I'd start with hers, make it a low powered system and learn as I go. Plus, the donor bike was already sitting in my garage.
She bought a Schwinn Jaguar cruiser bike from Target a few years ago to ride on the weekends, but never did end up riding it much. It's been collecting dust, mostly. I though it would be a good candidate for a conversion because of its condition, the steel frame, 7 speeds and v-brakes.
The drivetrain is an Amped Bikes geared rear motor kit I got on closeout from an ES member for a good price. The kit came with a small motor (don't know the manufacturer, someone here probably does), a tiny controller, thumb throttle, brake levers and a on-off switch.
For batteries I'm using 12s5p K2 26650EV LiFePO4 purchased from ES member shinyballs. He was selling 22s so I went ahead and bought all of them with the intention of eventually getting a few more cells and making two 12s packs. The cells were already assembled in a variety of configurations, 4s, 2s and 1s bricks, which gave me lots of different options for mounting the battery. All I had to do was solder on some connectors.
To mount the battery, I settled on a mid-frame mount. The nice thing about the ladies frame is the large space to mount a battery
.
I made my bracket out of a piece of quarter inch abs plastic. It's a kitchen cutting board I got at Big Lots for a few bucks. I got this idea from an ES thread but I can't remember which one. I didn't bookmark it but thanks to whomever had this idea first. I mounted it to the frame with some conduit clips I got at the hardware store. These were nice because I could bend them to the exact size I needed. I wrapped the clips with some shrink wrap so they wouldn't scratch the frame.
View attachment 9
The next step was to make a bag to hold the batteries. I wanted to make a custom bag that would look good and fit snugly in the bracket. Luckily, my lady knows her way around a sewing machine and was able to help me. We used cordura nylon (backback material) and a heavy duty zipper. I put a plastic grommet in the rear of the bag for the power line and the front of the bag has an opening for the charge plug.
To attach the bag to the bracket, I was originally planning to use velcro straps, but I wasn't happy with the look of that, so I searched for another option. Eventually I decided to use heavy-duty marine snaps. In a stroke of luck, the snap studs came with a surface-mount option. They could perform double duty holding the bag to the bracket and the bracket to the frame. The bag is quite secure and I'm very pleased with how this turned out.
To complete the bike I added or upgraded quite a few things. I added a heavy-duty dual kickstand, chrome fenders and changed the handlebars to 9" risers. I swapped out the front end as well, adding a new wheel, suspension fork and BB5 brake. Lastly, I got a used Cycle Analyst from my neighbor (ES member geetarboy).
So how does she ride? I don't have much to compare with, but I think she rides great! Putting the battery in the middle really stabilizes her. On a smooth road, the extra weight makes her feel like a Cadillac. On 12s LiFePO4 she's not going to win many races, but for my purposes she'll do just fine. She cruises at about 20 mph on a flat which is plenty fast enough for my lady. The acceleration is weak, but I was expecting that on 12s. It certainly helps to pedal when getting started. The new fork, while not expensive by any means, really takes the edge off the bumps in the road.
My lady loves it and I had a great time building it.
She bought a Schwinn Jaguar cruiser bike from Target a few years ago to ride on the weekends, but never did end up riding it much. It's been collecting dust, mostly. I though it would be a good candidate for a conversion because of its condition, the steel frame, 7 speeds and v-brakes.
The drivetrain is an Amped Bikes geared rear motor kit I got on closeout from an ES member for a good price. The kit came with a small motor (don't know the manufacturer, someone here probably does), a tiny controller, thumb throttle, brake levers and a on-off switch.
For batteries I'm using 12s5p K2 26650EV LiFePO4 purchased from ES member shinyballs. He was selling 22s so I went ahead and bought all of them with the intention of eventually getting a few more cells and making two 12s packs. The cells were already assembled in a variety of configurations, 4s, 2s and 1s bricks, which gave me lots of different options for mounting the battery. All I had to do was solder on some connectors.
To mount the battery, I settled on a mid-frame mount. The nice thing about the ladies frame is the large space to mount a battery
. I made my bracket out of a piece of quarter inch abs plastic. It's a kitchen cutting board I got at Big Lots for a few bucks. I got this idea from an ES thread but I can't remember which one. I didn't bookmark it but thanks to whomever had this idea first. I mounted it to the frame with some conduit clips I got at the hardware store. These were nice because I could bend them to the exact size I needed. I wrapped the clips with some shrink wrap so they wouldn't scratch the frame.
View attachment 9The next step was to make a bag to hold the batteries. I wanted to make a custom bag that would look good and fit snugly in the bracket. Luckily, my lady knows her way around a sewing machine and was able to help me. We used cordura nylon (backback material) and a heavy duty zipper. I put a plastic grommet in the rear of the bag for the power line and the front of the bag has an opening for the charge plug.
To attach the bag to the bracket, I was originally planning to use velcro straps, but I wasn't happy with the look of that, so I searched for another option. Eventually I decided to use heavy-duty marine snaps. In a stroke of luck, the snap studs came with a surface-mount option. They could perform double duty holding the bag to the bracket and the bracket to the frame. The bag is quite secure and I'm very pleased with how this turned out.
To complete the bike I added or upgraded quite a few things. I added a heavy-duty dual kickstand, chrome fenders and changed the handlebars to 9" risers. I swapped out the front end as well, adding a new wheel, suspension fork and BB5 brake. Lastly, I got a used Cycle Analyst from my neighbor (ES member geetarboy).
So how does she ride? I don't have much to compare with, but I think she rides great! Putting the battery in the middle really stabilizes her. On a smooth road, the extra weight makes her feel like a Cadillac. On 12s LiFePO4 she's not going to win many races, but for my purposes she'll do just fine. She cruises at about 20 mph on a flat which is plenty fast enough for my lady. The acceleration is weak, but I was expecting that on 12s. It certainly helps to pedal when getting started. The new fork, while not expensive by any means, really takes the edge off the bumps in the road.
My lady loves it and I had a great time building it.
