Rassy's Two Wheel Recumbent

[Rassy]

I know, I have said repeatedly how much I love my recumbent Trike. And around town and going up and down the hill to my house it is great. But after joining my brother and buddies for a 30 mile segment along the highway (the were riding from Astoria, Oregon to Brookings, Oregon), I got the bug for a two wheel bike again, with just one track (each of the five tires on the trike and trailer has its own track). The two wheel bike will make it easier to avoid trash on the shoulder, and allow me to ride about a foot closer to the pavement edge. At the end of their trip my brother offered me his old Bob trailer that has a hard side tote, so he can get a newer lighter one with the soft side bag.

So a new project begins. I located a 2001 Vision LWB USS Recumbent for $500 on Craigs List. The original owner was selling for health reasons and included about $500 worth of extra parts, including both the original and a set of custom wheels.

For starters, I am just completing stretching the bike out about 1/2 foot to fit me. Then I have to learn to ride it. When I told my brother that shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks, he had a good laugh and said two months would be doing good. He rides a SWB Burley Recumbent, so he probably is right, but it does give me a good challenge.

 

[Rassy]

The Vision will be unchanged, except for the throttle cable going back to the Bob trailer. Should be real stealthy. Important when riding with the Lycras. But I plan to quit telling them I have an electric motor!

The fork on the Bob trailer is too narrow for a motor, so it will be replaced with an old steel MB fork. I already have a WE BD36 that will be built into a 20" wheel when I locate the wheel and spokes. Sent an e-mail to Werelectrified (WE online dealer) to see if they will supply them. I also have the rest of the kit, including SLA batteries. Worry about better batteries later.

Special thanks to Joystix2 for the idea of using the WorkMate as a bike rack.

 

[fechter]

Cool. You can hide a ton of batteries in that trailer.

 

[Eric G]

Good luck with this next project Rassy,it's looking good.
Are you going to run with 36 or 48 volts?I know you've been wanting to try 48v but were unsure your 36v controller could handle the extra voltage.I've wondered the same of my 36v/25amp controller.

Eric

 

[Rassy]

fechter said:

Cool. You can hide a ton of batteries in that trailer.

Could! I have about 80 pounds of SLA batteries in the two wheel trailer behind the trike. But they are balanced fore and aft and add no weight to the trike, whereas the Bob trailer distributes about half its weight to the rear wheel of the bike. Instead, I hope to upgrade to 36V 20AH of a better lighter chemistry. Already told my wife that the battery upgrade was going to cost more than the entire initial project.

Eric G said:

Are you going to run with 36 or 48 volts?

I will continue to use my trike at home and the bike on trips where I haul it there and back, so I don't need the power to climb my 15 to 20% hill. The 20" wheel will push it about 20MPH which is enough to keep up with the pedal only guys. However, it would be fun to try 48V and other than needing to eliminate the wire to the throttle LED's I don't know yet if the older WE brushed 36V 35A controller can handle 48V.

 

[Rassy]

Completed the initial project today. Too late for a good test, but seems to work pretty good in the driveway. If the rain stays away tomorrow, I'll run it a couple of miles to get a better feel for it. No reply yet from WE on getting a 20" rim and set of spokes. So I used the front wheel off the trike (and put the original wheel back on the trike). Now I am trying to decide whether to retain 3 36V motors on the trike or 2 48V motors. I will post my dilemma in the technical section.

 

[TylerDurden]

That is sweet.

I'm sagging a Century next week... that would make the perfect bike-sag.

 

[Rassy]

Real test was super

The power wheel did spin a little on some loose gravel going up about a 10 to 15% grade. But I was pedaling also and no problem. Any additional load in the trailler will just help with traction.

TylerDurden said:

I'm sagging a Century next week... that would make the perfect bike-sag.

Right on! My goal is to replace the SLA with enough fast charging chemistry to do a Century with minimal pedaling. I told my brother before I got this rig that I would sag for them next year. Now they will all have to take turns driving the van (On long multiday runs), so that I can ride also.

 

[xyster]

TylerDurden said:

I'm sagging a Century next week... that would make the perfect bike-sag.

Right on! My goal is to replace the SLA with enough fast charging chemistry to do a Century with minimal pedaling. I told my brother before I got this rig that I would sag for them next year. Now they will all have to take turns driving the van (On long multiday runs), so that I can ride also.

Unaware of that lingo, here I thought TD was just being a dirty old man again.

 

[TylerDurden]

TylerDurden said:

I'm sagging a Century next week... that would make the perfect bike-sag.

Right on! My goal is to replace the SLA with enough fast charging chemistry to do a Century with minimal pedaling. I told my brother before I got this rig that I would sag for them next year. Now they will all have to take turns driving the van (On long multiday runs), so that I can ride also.

Unaware of that lingo, here I thought TD was just being a dirty old man again.

That would be "shag", baby.

I was thinking that the van could charge my emoli packs while I ride. (I'd have to swap packs a few times.)

 

[gwsaltspring]

Hi Rassy;

I'm very interested in your Ibex build.

I'm not very familiar with the WE BD36 motors.

Do you know how it compares with the C-Lyte 4 series?

(or who around these parts might be able to tell me)

 

[Rassy]

Hi again gwsaltspring. I just responded to your post about a commercially available BOB conversion:

http://www.e-ride.ca/Electric_Bikes/Electric_conversion_trailer.htm

For starters, my build used an older YAK with no suspension. This model used a continuous center tube from the hitch to the fork. So all I had to do was cut off the old fork and shim and bolt in the MB fork. It ended up very solid and I don't expect any problems in this area.

I don't know how the brushed WE motors compare to others. My checking around over a year ago, before finding this forum, indicated the WE BD36's were both cheaper and more powerful than their BL36 motors. Since I needed to climb a steep hill that's what I chose.

I am now running the trike with 2 motors at 48V and the bike with one motor at 48V. I am still just running the bike around the neighborhood, but the trike motors at 48V definitely get warmer than they did at 36V. But it runs so much better than 2 motors at 36V and even slightly better than 3 motors at 36V, if my components can't take it I will upgrade as necessary using the resources available here.

Anyway, the recumbent with the BOB ended up pretty stealthy, so no more fessing up when this old guy pedals past the lycras on the hills.

 

[gwsaltspring]

Thanks for the reply!

I will do some more poking around about the C-lyte 406 comparison.

I have not seen that style of BOB trailer before, only the ones with the metal platform.

Do you have any pictures of the underside and your modifcation sequence?

There are a couple of the commercial rigs on island here, Saltspring Island, where I live and that is how I became aware of them.

I am curious as to your hill climbing ability with the BOB trailer though I believe you have said that you don't use it for going up and down your driveway.

Nice to have the different perspective to the PEV field.

 

[Rassy]

Greg, here are a couple of pictures showing the underside of my BOB trailer. The one picture shows the 16" wheel I cut off. If you look real close you can see the two bolts that hold the new fork to the original tube. When I ride in the neighborhood, I still have to climb the end of the hill, a short distance with a 15% to 20% grade. Since I am still mastering the recumbent, I am only successful riding up this stretch about half the time. But the power trailer is a definite help and I think once I figure out which gear to get started in, it will be a breeze to zip up this short section.

 

[Rassy]

Hauled the Vision to Portland last week-end and took a couple of rides with my brother, including one on a great trail between the airport and the Columbia river. Next time we'll hit the Springwater trail that runs along the Willamette river before heading out to the suburbs. Had a couple of little mirrors on my underseat steering bars that were too concave and too close to work good. Don't like helmet or eyeglass mirrors either, so I picked up a stem to fit the front fork and made a temporary bar from PVC (until I can find an aluminum one with the right shape, needs to clear my feet). Now with my favorite little Third Eye convex bar end mirrors I will know when it's safe to cross a street or ride next to someone, etc.

The motor at 48V worked great and didn't heat up at all. Of course I always pedal along with it, but didn't spare it much, and always used it to get going from a dead stop.