Endless Sphere

@Chalo.... The problem is the Schwin frame does not even work with the standard 3 speed hub or a 5 speed hub. That is why I looked to my China retailers to find a 5 speed hub with extra long axles and heavy duty shifting. They are out there, just look.

I found 5 speed hubs in China supply who make the 2 common hubs and they offer them with longer axles than what is normally available in the US so it will work with Schwinn frames. The standard hubs by Schmano and Sturmey-Archer available in the US have too short an axle to work in the Schwinn frame...

BTW I have an account where I deal with China retailers. I can get heavy duty 5 speed hub with extra long axles for a reasonable price. These are used in pedal and motorized 3 wheel transports and taxi's. I think they are pretty proven, if not cheap.

Slow-co has a very interesting solution I did not think about. Going to have to look into that more.... I am afraid of the existing problem of torque on a standard shifter and chain set and rings. This seems to be an issue from what I have read about non-hub drives. And I would like to avoid it. Tha...

BTW, other than the Monarch fork, everything else on this build is working very reliably. The cheap voltage converter from ebay is still working great, does not get too hot and the LED bulbs help keep the draw down. With the OEM mountain bike fork, the bike has a more rigid feel, and I find I ride a...

I am thinking of building an e-trike from a Schwinn trike, and fitting it with a 5 speed hub driven by a non-hub motor for a small business pickup/delivery machine around town. It would have a tall (4 or 5 ft) light weight cargo box mounted in the rear to carry parts and clients computers. Maybe eve...

Have a Chinese 20Ah Lithium Ion battery in pvc jacket for about 4 or 5 months. Lately it seems to take longer to charge. And it seems to discharge a tad quicker than it used to. Does that have anything to do with the onset of winter and the temperatures going down to 30 or so overnight in the garage...

You may remember my retro ebike build used a Monarch reproduction fork. Well I have to say it did not hold up too well. One day I was carrying a back pack full of groceries, and one side bag was full too. The fork bent right at the crown. One or two welds broke on each side and the fork was sticking...

The Monarch fork is fine for a classic cruiser you want to build. But I found it sucks for an ebike. Too much linkage, too much play. Too hard to adjust all the pivot points even with lock nuts. I am going to pull the fork and replace it with the original fork. Everything is OK under 25 mph, over th...

BTW, was riding on a long flat stretch of smooth black top road and ran full throttle and was surprised to see the bike was doing a steady 27 mph. I had no cargo. Just me (190 lbs) and a bottle of water. This is the fastest the bike has gone on level ground. Maybe after 100 miles the bearings are br...

Easy. http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Bicycle-Sidecar/ http://www.steves-workshop.co.uk/vehicles/sidecar/sidecarbuild/sidecarbuild.htm http://www.instructables.com/id/Title-this-InstructableSIDECAR-BICYCLE/ http://makezine.com/projects/sidecar-for-bicycle/ Yeah, I already saw all those. Non...

Was thinking about building a side car that is large enough to carry an adult. Haven't found any for sale commercially. Seems they are all custom made. Any suggestions or plans?

The retro ebike is working very well. 48v battery, 1000watt rear wheel drive..... plus LED headlights and dual tail lights. Everything is cool. But lately I have been running the bike at well over 20 mph where before I have been keeping it under 12 mph to see how far I can go. Now I am impatient and...

I have been to Yellowstone. Unless you are very experienced, and carry lots of water and over night equipment, I would not go out. JHMHO.

BTW, After reading the reviews on Amazon about this kit it seems to be a common issue that after 100 miles or so the spokes need tightening. Guess its just an issue with this kit.

I dont understand what all the brau ha ha is all about with the spokes getting loose. I have read that a few other buyers experienced the same thing. I think its just a "break in" period thing that needs to be addressed as it happens. No need to re-spoke or get bigger, stronger rims or add...

I vote for Chalo's trailer. Just because its what I would do to haul big loads. But thats just me....

Try Granger.com industrial supply. Will send you a single nut if thats all you want.

Have been paying close attention to regeneration. Going down hill, I only pull the brake lever until the throttle (mine is a twist grip) does nothing, but the brake is not actually applied to the wheel. Once I learned this 'setting' I noticed a distinct drag caused by regeneration. Until this time I...

Dogman, Thanks for that info. Yes, the spokes do seem rather loose compared to regular bike spokes. So I only tightened them all a bit, but still loose enough that when you grab one with two fingers, its easy to push/pull the spoke and it bends easily. Does that seem right?

What??? How are you people hitting such high speeds? I have a 48v setup with a 1000 watt battery/rear wheel drive and me (190 lbs) alone can only reach 27 mph (43.5 kph). Guess you guys have some serious money invested in high tech motors and batteries????

May I add that if someone is planning to buy an ebike kit, that they make sure the bike they want to convert is fully functional. IE brakes, wheels (straight, spokes tight) brakes work, stem has ball bearings properly greased and adjusted, and shifters work properly. Many of these items can be repla...

I have two rigid side bags (pvc molded cheap motor cycle bags) and on top of the side bags I have a very big carry bag attached with Velcro tapes to the rear carrier. There must be at least 60 lbs or more when I go food shopping. Add that to the back pack on my back, and that pushes it up to about 8...

The ebike kit came with the hub motor laced to a double wall rim. It also has reinforcement rings where the spoke nuts come through the rim. I am sure this kit was designed to handle the torque that a 1000 watt motor can dish out. Also, the heavy gauge spokes are used to handle the torque of an ebik...

Thats for that info. I was not aware of the spoke stretch issue. I just went out and checked the spokes again, and they are far from being as tight as a standard spoke. But some were very loose. The rim is a heavy duty double wall rim with reinforcing rings on the spoke holes. I suspect some of the ...