Hyena's e-bike builds (now with HD video)

[Hyena]

haha the zombie movie would be cool. I'm sure I've joked about this before, with 2 electric chainsaws strapped the the handlebar ends. Instant silent zombie eradicator

I've actually written a script for an ebike short film I want to make but like everything getting the time to do it is almost impossible. The story is basically a near future apocalypse where fossil fuels are suddenly exhausted without warning and the world grinds to a halt, society paralysed by their reliance on it and the cities infrastructure jammed with a billion tonnes of immovable cars, trucks and buses. Only those with ebikes can travel any sort of distances or negotiate the clogged cities and what remains of the govt after the worlds cities fall into chaos decide to send someone back in time to promote the wide spread uptake of ebikes before it's too late. His code name, Hyena. :wink: 8)

No news from the doctors yet, my appointment has been pushed back until this coming Monday afternoon. I've been waking with less back pain the last few days so I guess that's a good sign that things are slowly on the mend. It's been 2 months odd now so it's about time! My tail bone is still really sore and I still can't sit comfortably but I was told this would be the case for ~3 months.

 

[Rix]

Yah Jay, the tail bone, (Cocyx?) takes for ever to heal. I bet you will feel the injury for 6 months even though it probably wont hurt after 3. Good sign about your back starting to feel better, really good sign, glad to hear that amigo. Yah, I wish we could get together with about 6 1080p go pros and make a short film about your story line, I could play the part of the lost yankee that doesn't belong to any country and speaks english with a strange american accent.

 

[pendragon8000]

Yeah the movie idea is very cool.

I'm glad to hear your pain is reducing. Good luck mate.

 

[Architectonic]

His code name, Hyena. :wink: 8)

This "Hyena" will be acted by Mel Gibson right?

 

[Rix]

His code name, Hyena. :wink: 8)

This "Hyena" will be acted by Mel Gibson right?

Yep, or Tom Hardy

 

[Hyena]

This "Hyena" will be acted by Mel Gibson right?

haha ok fine, it's a mash up of terminator, mad max and BMX bandits
Mel Gibson is getting a bit old these days, I'll need to recruit a younger Aussie actor.
Chris Hemsworth has the credentials but I think casting Joel Edgerton is probably a more truthful likeness
Rix, I'll write you in a half robocop half judge dredd type role :lol:

In other news I had a surprise call from Slovenia last night and had a good chat with Mitja from Qulbix. Hopefully some interesting things happening soon

 

[Rix]

This "Hyena" will be acted by Mel Gibson right?

haha ok fine, it's a mash up of terminator, mad max and BMX bandits
Mel Gibson is getting a bit old these days, I'll need to recruit a younger Aussie actor.
Chris Hemsworth has the credentials but I think casting Joel Edgerton is probably a more truthful likeness
Rix, I'll write you in a half robocop half judge dredd type role :lol:

In other news I had a surprise call from Slovenia last night and had a good chat with Mitja from Qulbix. Hopefully some interesting things happening soon

Im there man!

 

[PRW]

In other news I had a surprise call from Slovenia last night and had a good chat with Mitja from Qulbix. Hopefully some interesting things happening soon

you're such a tease......

 

[Architectonic]

In other news I had a surprise call from Slovenia last night and had a good chat with Mitja from Qulbix. Hopefully some interesting things happening soon

you're such a tease......

Exactly!

 

[Hyena]

I'll have to work on my tease : delivery ratio

For those not on facebook here a few pics I've posted there over the last few days (didnt get around to resizing them for here)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10258427_699751790112106_7229193837480881186_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/1398363_698704000216885_5083825208119721647_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t31.0-8/1795865_697735150313770_2387157513574092505_o.jpg

 

[Rix]

Beautiful pics man, really love the quality, exposure slowed down a little?

 

[GCinDC]

yeah, great pics. i'm just not loving the kickstand in there. ruins the drama of the shot, IMO. you're a photoshop wiz, can't you stamp it out? here's a lame attempt:

better, no?

bike is like "WTF is going on here! Watch out!"

mud-guard mod is awesome.

how do you rate those forks, btw? i really need to get some.

and btw, i'm totally bummed about your bum. freakish nasty accident. you really gotta take it easy man. seriously.

best,

g

 

[Hyena]

Beautiful pics man, really love the quality, exposure slowed down a little?

Thanks man, photography was my hobby before I got into ebikes. SLRs and bashing around on ebikes dont really mix well but if I'm going out for a dedicated photo shoot I normally end up with some good results And yes these were long exposures, around 2 seconds from memory. I took a dozen or so shots to get the right combination of exposure length and just enough fill flash to make it look good. Too long and the headlight blew out the shot, too little and it was just a bright headlight spot and little else, too much flash and it lit up the floor and walls like it was in a office building and too little and you couldn't make out the bike features. All part of the fun

This was shot in that old abandoned tram shed where I got those cool photos of the fighter a year or so back. I have a heap more of the raptor too that I'll post shortly. It was late afternoon when I took that pic so it was almost completely dark inside the shed. I will try and go back earlier in the day so I can get some cool shots with the beams of yellow light coming through the rusted holes in the old roof.

yeah, great pics. i'm just not loving the kickstand in there. ruins the drama of the shot, IMO

Right you are! I actually photoshopped out the rear brake line running down the underside of the frame because it was annoying me (you'll notice it abruptly stop at the side cover now that I've mentioned it!) but I should have done the side stand too. I'll make a gallery of my fave shots when I get me new website live shortly so they'll all look good for there.

bike is like "WTF is going on here! Watch out!"

You know what I thought when I was setting up the shot ? :lol:

mud-guard mod is awesome.
how do you rate those forks, btw? i really need to get some.

Thanks. The forks are sweet, great bang for buck and seem to perform great for an ebike. I use these now on any raptors I build. Yeah they're a bit heavier than the lighter (and correspondingly more expensive!) downhill variants but for a heavy ebike I reckon you'd have to be a pretty technical / pro mountain biker to particularly fault them, and I'm certainly not that guy.

i'm totally bummed about your bum. freakish nasty accident. you really gotta take it easy man. seriously.

Thanks. My bum bum is a bummer. haha
Yeah, I'm taking it pretty easy now, hence more photos and less action video. But I'll get back to the videos shortly, albeit with a change of pace. I might try and do some more cinematic stuff. Or maybe find some keen youngsters I can outsource the daredevil stuff too :lol:

 

[Hyena]

So for those following my medical woes, I saw the specialist yesterday and got some relatively good news that apparently what ever damage I have is done and that it's not an active degenerative process. My bones are made of chalk but they're not getting any worse, so that's a plus. I'll start on antibody injections which will slow my bodies re-absoption of bone (a natural process) and hopefully boost up the bone strength a little. When I asked when I could safely ride my bike again he said I can probably expect to see results in 18 months so we'll look at it then. 18 months ?!

So, no more wheelies, doctors orders.
Sorry Doc!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10708486_701972046556747_5143326891313621741_o.jpg


Seriously though, silver linings and all that, I'm going to use my down time to push ahead with my own ebike design that I've been talking about forever. This means going more legit with the Hyena 'brand' which will be good and bad. As time permits I'm also going to offer to build the occasional turnkey bike. I normally don't do this as it's a pretty big time vampire but if people have the cash, who am I to deny them ebike supremacy

I have 2 raptors currently in the works, one for a guy in Qld, set up largely as an e-moto and will be primarily ridden offroad on a property.
The other is for a local Sydneysider who has me building up an all out pimp mobile with both go and show. It'll be rocking a 10kw power plant with some carbon fibre and yellow blingy bits to match the black and yellow paint scheme. Maybe even a transformers badge for this E-Bumblebee
Should be sweet and I'm looking forward to building it

 

[rhinejuice]

Glad to hear you are just getting old I am happy to offer my services to keep your bike and batteries working if you require some help. I will even pay for shipping costs to get it here! I am really quite a generous sort!

 

[Cowardlyduck]

Good news Jay. Glad to hear you'll be riding again properly soon...so no recumbent's in the mean time? :lol:

If I ever sell my Fighter, I may very well hit you up for a Raptor.

Cheers

 

[Rodney64]

This "Hyena" will be acted by Mel Gibson right?

haha ok fine, it's a mash up of terminator, mad max and BMX bandits
Mel Gibson is getting a bit old these days, I'll need to recruit a younger Aussie actor.
Chris Hemsworth has the credentials but I think casting Joel Edgerton is probably a more truthful likeness
Rix, I'll write you in a half robocop half judge dredd type role :lol:

In other news I had a surprise call from Slovenia last night and had a good chat with Mitja from Qulbix. Hopefully some interesting things happening soon

Is this one of the suprises

http://www.qulbix.com/index.php?option=com_djcatalog2&view=item&id=72%3Adropout-reinforcements&cid=11%3Aother-bike-components&Itemid=486#

 

[Rix]

Jay, so glad to hear that your med situation isn't as bad as you thought it was. Sometimes we take things for granted that we shouldn't and medical issue can really shake up someones life. 18 months will go quickly, especially since you will be fine tuning your frame design. I know we have discussed in lenght via PM on respective designs, and how hard it is to get a working proto going, and I also find it funny that you are going to give this another try, I have decided to do this as well. When I get my next attempt up and running, will send you pic.

 

[Hyena]

Glad to hear you are just getting old

Yeah I feel like I've been fed on from one of those alien / monster type creates from any number of sci fi shows that drain your life force and age you I'm 35 in the head but they've snatched 30 years from the rest of my body. Well chronologically I'm 35 in the head, those that have met me would probably argue that's quite an overestimate :lol:

I am happy to offer my services to keep your bike and batteries working if you require some help. I will even pay for shipping costs to get it here! I am really quite a generous sort!

Generous indeed. I think I'll leave it in the stable with my other e-ponies for now, don't want them to get sad and lonely

If I ever sell my Fighter, I may very well hit you up for a Raptor.

I'm happy to hook you up if the time comes mate. That said, as the mexican girl says, why not have both
Build up the raptor to be a destroyer of worlds with huge capacity and go the otherway with the fighter and make it light and nimble. Kepler was one of the first to do this with his fighter and while I didnt go quite that far with mine it's essentially how I have my blue specialized set up - with a 2kw geared motor, light small battery and single crown forks it's a very enjoyable tight, single track machine.

Is this one of the suprises

Not really, though it is nice to have Qulbix respond so rapidly to requests like these. I contacted them after my issues at the EV festival and asked if they could do the dropouts with a slot at the back to allow them to be more pinchy to hold the axle tighter and a month later I have a set on my door step.

Jay, so glad to hear that your med situation isn't as bad as you thought it was

Thanks mate. Yes things can go bad quickly and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, which I imagine is fairly normal for others in these circumstances.

18 months will go quickly, especially since you will be fine tuning your frame design

That's if I dont run out of cash first :lol: Part of my problem is I've been half doing this for so long that battery tech has changed now and the original plans and proto I had made up to suit lipo is now unsuitable for the 18650 packs I'll be using. The first proto is also crazy heavy and was more intended to sus out geometry but with the steerer wrong too I'm going to abandon the whole thing. It's a nice $1200 door stop currently :lol: I should hang it on the wall of my workshop to document the journey. That was something I found interesting when I visited the stealth factory, some of the old very early proto frames

 

[pendragon8000]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DNM-USD-8-Mountain-Downhill-Bike-Air-Fork-1-1-8-203mm-20mm-Axle-/301355159697?pt=AU_Sport_Cycling_Parts&hash=item462a2ad091

I keep looking at parts for a raptor build, even though i have amillion shit on my plate.
and its not THAT expensive to get started hey.. i found a dealer for shinko 244 or 241 2.75x21 for $100 per as well. and rims about the same .. and the new heavy duty lipo is being stocked in Aust for about $70 5ah 6s ... im angry but excited!
do you have a stock of those dnm forks? I know you said your no expert but they seem good, but im sceptical TBH. do you think they said stuff it as far as weight goes, so they could make someting that performs well for a low(er) price? BTW I prefer air forks and rear sus by far. so much more tune-able.

 

[Hyena]

I reckon that listing is probably a scam mate, 0 feedback, price too good to be true and free shipping too. Hopefully paypal would back you up but it'd still be a lot of stuffing around and delays with your money tied up getting it all sorted. I dont hav ea stock of the forks but will hopefully be sorting it shortly. If you want to put your name down on a set I'll make sure you get the first ones out the door. They won't be around that $280 mark though, that's below even bulk wholesale price if I bought like 50 of them.

Speak to dark knight, he imported a bunch of tyres recently and may have a few left over. Failing that the shinkos aren't the absolute last word in tyres - they're cheap and readily available for our friends in the US but they're not the only option.

What heavy duty lipo are you talking about ? Not the multistar ? I haven't tested any myself yet but apparently the C rating isnt up to scratch.
I've got a few 6S 16ah bricks sitting here that I'm going to use to rebuild the blue specialized. I was going to go 18S 16ah but it turns out the frame is a little shorter than I remembered so it'll only be 12S now.

 

[pendragon8000]

Yeah I thought the forks were too good to be true.

This heavy duty LiPo:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=56088

Chris P tested them to be similar performance to high c A-spec LiPo, heavyer but cheaper.

 

[Architectonic]

So what was that surprise? Qulbix are naming their next frame the "Hyena"? :lol:

Or they're selling motors now? Speculation abounds!

 

[lawsie]

Thanks to jay for all the help with my bike.
Here's what she initially looked like


Here is what she looks like now
Hopefully this works as I'm on my phone

 

[Rodney64]

Nice Lawsie, and how do you like the moto seat.