Monster (build thread, Lots of pics, Bike Porn included)

Tire slime works, but only up to a point.

Patches_zpsff708786.jpg


I'm done with motorcycle tubes. they didn't work out. So this is a bicycle tube, patches from one change. Slime works well while the tube is pressing against the inside of the tire. Not so well when the tube pulls away from the tire. 9 patches covering 11 big holes, but there are many more pin prick sized holes in that tube. They sweat green blood after a few hours outside of the tire.

Tubes with Schrader valves for fatbikes are hard to find. I've managed to track down 2 and have them ordered, but that will take time. Until then, this one holds air on the bike well enough.
 
Drunkskunk said:
@100volts+ 135mm. I went narrow to keep the chain line simple.

@Rix and John. Ouch. I'm running a ~30" OD right now. Smaller might not be a good thing.

Missed this, I didn't realize you were running such a large diameter tire. Damn 30 inches aint small.

Rick
 
Bare Naked Motor! :p
Sexy Beast bares all! :oops:
Watch as she shows you whats inside! :shock:
Big Black Hubby shows all! .... ok, WTF was I thinking with that one.... :roll:

I took my bike on vacation, but had some hall trouble while I was down there. The motor would start bucking like a dead hall or blown FET right at 10mph, but was fine going slower. I did the usual checks and tests, but didn't have the time or tools to look into it too far.

When I got home, I decided to open the thing up and see what was going on. At first glance the motor was clean and perfect. all cables looked fine except for a tiny scuff in the insulation near the wire exit. I couldn't find an issue. Everything tested clean. the motor and controller worked As an afterthought I had added a $5 USB microscope to some dib bid ebay order and hadn't used it in a while.I decided to give the scuff a closer exam. Turned out to be a partial break in the hall wire. it would still conduct, but not well enough at higher speeds.

But that wasn't all. while the inside of the motor was as clean and pure as a virgin's twa... something, both bearings were dead. one was rough, the other was totally frozen. It was an easy fix, but these were suppose to be Japanese bearings.

Everything together now and the problem is solved. I even remembered to put my temp probe in, this time. been meaning to do that for a year.


With that solved I began to work on the programming. I'd pulled the power back while getting the tires sorted out. The Old Innova/Surly just couldn't take the power. This latest Vee Rubber Sterling has been holding up great. It also gets awesome grip. All around an awesome tire, except it sounds like a swarm of angry hornets going down the road.
The dual Surly Larrys had large blocks set wide apart, and the bike sounded like a bomber going down the road. pretty much exactly like this: SOUND. Bombers sound way cooler than angry hornets.


Unfortunately, My old PC died, along with all my programing notes and templates. I have no idea what I was running at.

I made a wild guess, set it at 60 battery amps and 100 phase, and figured that would be backing off and I would work it back up slowly. I guessed wrong. :D I'd forgot how much fun it is to have the wheel come up on it's own. :mrgreen: Apparently I'd backed the power off a lot more than I remembered last summer.

No good ride videos lately. Most of my rides have been at tourist speeds, which is fun to ride but boring to watch, or fast, but in suburban traffic. the a$$ end of a minivan in traffic is also boring to watch. Anything else I've done on the bike, I wouldn't want proof of on video. :twisted:

So anyway, Pics.
And Uhh, yeah. measurements, for those of you who are in to that sort of thing.

nakedhub_zpsd32b8100.jpg



nakedhubtwo_zps48e27bc4.jpg

42mm stator

Nakedhubmagnets_zpsb4596e0e.jpg

43mm magnets

Still0005_zps75de10e8.png

The Damaged Hall under cheap @ss USB microscope.


.
 
I that where your short is? Was it shorting on your frame? Your stator looks so clean and fresh. As far as bearings go, I haven't been impressed with the Japanese NSK Units. Back in the day with my 5403, I replaced the Chinese units with NSKs, the NSK had some fitment play on the axle, so I replaced them with some KMC Chinese units, worked better, the 5404 that Dlogic worked over for me had SKF units pressed into them, very nice bearing for sure, fit was tight with no play on the axle. I tried getting SKF units here in the States to replace my 5403 and 5405 with, couldn't find them any where. A bearing retailer up in Boise sold me some Axis bearings, he said they are on par with SKF units. They will be going in my next 5404 when I get that motor in. What bearings did you end up going with?

Rick
 

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Well DS, looks like you are up and running again, I would have to say the company that makes bearings for Toyota is a top notch. I had a Toyota with 289000 miles on it, never had to replace the wheel bearings, or the throw out bearing when I put a new clutch in it. That's saying a lot.


Allex, you should replace your hub motor bearings with the SKF units, even if your bearings are good, you will notice a difference.

Rick
 
More story and videos to come, but I recently took a trip down near Austin, and had the bike with me.

the short story is I pushed the bike to the limits available and found the bike performed well. 31% grade climbs and rock strewn trails were no match for it. Mossy riverbeds and riding trials style on car sized boulders, however...

More on that later. Here's a test video. Nothing too fancy, although the trail is far steeper than it looks, and some of those rock shelves I go up are to steep to have walked up.

[youtube]QcmHvSJKLaw[/youtube]
 
Nice Vid DC, rocks are hard on stuff. Shows how well you engineered your ride. Thanks for posting the video. BTW, I was looking at your stator and hub pics, did you remove and reglue the magnets?
 
I'd posted these two vids elsewhere, but I'm adding them to the collection here.

The first is playing around on some seriously steep roads in Austin. 29% and 31% grades. The bike did fine, it wasn't even breaking a sweat. I never went fuull throttle up Jester, which was the 29% road. I wish I'd had now, but the scenery up there is distracting. none showed up when the camera was rolling, but every female jogger in Austin must know about Jester. :mrgreen:

Playing on Beaufort was better. it's a grooved road, and holding traction above 35 was nearly imposable. the back end kept trying to walk out on me, and the front wheel chirped a few times like it was trying to wash out. So I kept the speed under that both up and down hill. The up side is with the long wheelbase, There is a lot of room between starting to lose control, and actually losing controls. its easy to hold this bike on the limit

Later I had this thing at a park where they have a bunch of car and table sized boulders laying around. I'm not very good at Trials bike style riding, but it looked like a fun place to practice.
The long wheelbase hurts my breakover angles, but other than that, the bike rocked on the rocks. Until I found one really sharp one. I ended up taking the walk of shame back to the hotel. Luckily, Austin is a bike town, and the 357th bike shop I contacted had a fatbike tube (number slightly exaggerated by.. 350 or so) So I got to ride more.

One of the rides left me in a parking lot of a BBQ joint when the Google map car decided to visit. No idea if the bike is going to show up on street view or not, but I'm still watching.

I pulled up next to a guy at a light on a 150cc scooter bike thing. we talked through the light about bikes, and when the light turned green, I jumped on the throttle. I hadn't been paying attention to the new Camaro beside us, but he also jumped on the throttle. It was a one sided race. I turned into the hotel parking lot 100 yards up the road, the Camaro was just catching me. In fairness, I was much faster on the throttle than the car, so I had a lead anyway, but still, it was fun. The scooter bike was probably still in the intersection.

I also discovered new ways to blister the tires. While the inside casing is still fine, the outside sidewalls of the rear tire began to blister and fall off. I can see the threads in dime size patches in several places. So I've backed the bike down to 7000 watts for now. It can handle more, but the tires last longer with less.

[youtube]ZzAsLGhC7TE[/youtube]

[youtube]5JPDF1V7Brg[/youtube]

 
Yah your 5404 is happy on 24s. What are you getting for top speed? Seems like you broke 40MPH on 18s if I recall correctly. Great vids. Any close to going to a 19x1.85 with the 3.5 SR241 on the rear. Those tires are about 4 inches wide not inflated. Kind of heavy though. 10 pounds without tube. Thats not confirmed though.

Rick
 
LOL. You may convince me one day on those MC tires, but 19" is just to small. 21, 22" might work. Its the whole ~30" OD that kills the 19" wheels.

Top speed? I'm not sayin' yet. I have a few more tweaks to do before I try to set a top speed. But, in the vid, the black and white part at the beginning where I'm chasing the truck on the freeway, you can see on the CA it hits 49. That's not impressive, what is impressive is if you watch the voltage. that piece of video was shot at the end of the day, the battery was near dead, and I was bouncing around the LVC hitting 49mph. That stretch of road looks down hill in the video, but it's a section of HWY 360 going up hill from the river. So 49 up hill on a dead battery. :mrgreen:
 
Impresseive Indeed, dead battery, bouncing off LVC still hitting 49. Okay will weight for final answer, but looks like you are in the 60MPH club. Yes at 1.6x21 rim running the 2.75-21 SR241, will give you almost 28 inches. Food for thought.


Rick
 
Time for some updates. My Bike needs a new battery, a new freewheel, new tires, and a lot of general maintenance.

I had the bike out in the piney woods of east Texas last week. It was an awesome time, and I got to rip down some tight Texas trail full of sand, and pine cones. But after 2 years, the bike is showing some wear. I've also had a few minor issues with the design that need fixing.

The worst is the wire routing to the rear of the bike. Twice now I've cut the phase wires while landing on a log. Last week I didn't notice until I hit the throttle and had the phase wires short. That was an electrifying experience :mrgreen: No harm done, though.

So among general maintenance and minor repairs, I have a new White Industries Trials ENO freewheel ordered. it uses 6 pawls instead of 3, so maybe it will last longer than the ACS crossfire I'd been using.

But the biggest news is the tires. When I designed the bike, the Surly Endomorph and Larry were the only 2 tires readily available. at 3.8" wide, they were considered super fat. Now, they are considered skinny in the world of Fatbikes. Time to step up my game. I've ordered a Surly Bud and a Big Fat Larry. 4.8" tires that should fit, probably. Every way I could measure the bike says they will fit, based on Surly's published numbers. We'll see.

The Surly regular Larry I've had on the front has served me well. it's still in fair shape but getting worn down for a front tire. I've been amazed time and time again on how well this tire hooks up. for such a miniscule tread design it manages to grip the trail like a set of claws and hold the front end down even when the back end is skidding around. The current back tire is a one-off Sterling 4.25" made by Vee Rubber. It has plenty of traction, even more than the Vee Mission it replaced, but the small knobs are able to keep up with the power and weight I'm hitting them with.

So for for the front, I'm just going with an American sized Larry, Same tread pattern, but up-sized. The rear I chose the Surly Bud. while it was designed as a front tire, it has a thick center block section that should work well on the street and under braking. Forward traction shouldn't be an issue, but the side grip should help in cornering.


I'll get pics when the parts start arriving. It feels weird not having the bike up and running.
 
DS running a 4.8" on the rear, check your chain line between the free wheel and the chain ring, you may run into clearance issues with the chaing being far enough out from the side of the rear side portion of the tire. Nothing that can't be negated with a free wheel hub spacer and some aluminum spacers on between the chain ring spider and chain ring. What kind of clearance with the 3.8 to do you have now. with the 4.8s you should gain 1/2 inche in width off the center of the tire on each side.
 
Yeah, it's going to be tight. My current tire is 103mm actual measurement on the rear. Surly says the Bud will be 112mm on the same rim. The hub is 135mm, meaning 11.5mm per side. Luckily the chain is as far over as I can get it already, and the measurements say it will clear. if it doesn't I can off set the wheel a little, or add a guide to move the chain out a bit around the tire. I hope, anyway. My main concern right now is the frame. I don't mind cutting and welding a little on it if I need to, but then having to repaint it would suck. :mrgreen:
 
Yes indeed it would suck to repaing refinish a partial. Hopefully that can be avoided. This is a neat video BTW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcmHvSJKLaw&feature=player_embedded
 
Tires Arrived today, and they fit! :mrgreen: 4" tire monster bike just became a 5" tire monster bike!

No freewheel yet. USPS tracking said it should have arrived Wednesday, and is in Maine right now for some reason. So I can't ride it. No pics either. It was way too hot to even think about cameras today.

Chain clears fine, but the tread on the rear tire is so aggressive that any swinging of the chain and the tire will grab it. I'll need to make a guard to keep them apart, but it looks like I have a good 8mm space to play with.
 
Sweet DS, glad it worked, with those big tires, you may get some additional mileage out of them as well.
 
More mileage would be welcome, but I'll be happy if it just opens up a few more places I can ride it.

Still no pics. Yesterday I went out to take a pic of the old tire next to the new ones. Since these tubes are hard to get, I reused the front one. But that meant I would need to use a non Slimed tube to mount the old tire on another rim if I didn't pull all the thorns out. So I started pulling out thorns.
45 minutes later, I was still pulling out thorns as the sun when down and dusk settled in. Too dark for pics. In hind sight, I wish I had saved the thorns, or at least filmed it. No one will ever believe I had that many thorns in a tire that still held air. :mrgreen:
 
And..... No pics yet. I got a couple buried in some luggage, and some video too!

In short, 5" Fatties transformed this bike. It sounds like a small thing, but it made as much difference in the ride as going from 2.5 to the original 4"

There are some trade offs. handling is more bus like, tire pressures are more critical, and I have to watch that I don't roll off the tread when pushing it in a corner.

But the advantages.... I can now ride on pea gravel as if it were cobblestone. I can ride across mud that others would have trouble pushing their bike through. I can tackle the sugar sand of Florida's coast pulling just 2.9 amps at 8mph, where most people give up even trying to push a bicycle across it.

So I spent last week on the coast, getting drunk at beach bars chasing seagulls with the bike. Saw some sharks, saw some Bikini bottoms, saw the bottom of a few pitchers of beer. I even spotted a few Ebikes. It was all good. :mrgreen:

Pics and vid coming soon I hope.
 
Drunkskunk said:
And..... No pics yet. I got a couple buried in some luggage, and some video too!

In short, 5" Fatties transformed this bike. It sounds like a small thing, but it made as much difference in the ride as going from 2.5 to the original 4"

There are some trade offs. handling is more bus like, tire pressures are more critical, and I have to watch that I don't roll off the tread when pushing it in a corner.

But the advantages.... I can now ride on pea gravel as if it were cobblestone. I can ride across mud that others would have trouble pushing their bike through. I can tackle the sugar sand of Florida's coast pulling just 2.9 amps at 8mph, where most people give up even trying to push a bicycle across it.

So I spent last week on the coast, getting drunk at beach bars chasing seagulls with the bike. Saw some sharks, saw some Bikini bottoms, saw the bottom of a few pitchers of beer. I even spotted a few Ebikes. It was all good. :mrgreen:

Pics and vid coming soon I hope.

FUQN EPIC!!! cant way to see some pics. Glad the big tires are working out. Being able to stay on top of sand is much better than sinking in.
 
Long over due update. I got hit by a Durango a week after that last post, and wasn't moving too swiftly for a while. I'm mostly unhurt, and the bike mostly survived. I'd tested the frame originally by running over it with a Durango. I guess it needed to be retested? :roll:

Anyway, no idea where the pics I promised are now, but here's a video of the new tires flying over sand so soft that most people wouldn't even try to push a normal bicycle across. 5" is the only way to go!

[youtube]Cy5Fi3qSB-Q[/youtube]
 
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