Vector Light Frame - Any others I should consider?

cbr shadow

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Feb 14, 2012
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339
Location
Daly City, CA -USA
I'm likely going to take on building an ebike and am looking at my options. It seems the Vector Light frame is a good way to go. Here are my requirements:

- 13 mile, mostly flat commute
- 40-45mph top speed on flat sections
- Full suspension
- I'm not a fabricator, so the build needs to be simple enough that a 'regular' guy w/ basic tools and bike tools can assemble it
- Needs to look somewhat like a mountain bike rather than a dirt bike. If someone sees a Vector Light they may think it's just a beefy downhill mountain bike. If someone sees me on a Sur-Ron or a Stealth Bomber they'll know right away that it's a high powered ebike.
- Simple battery charging. I built an ebike years ago and dealt with charging Lipo batteries and balancing etc. I'd like to just plug it in and walk away at work.
- I can charge at work every day in a secure area inside the building. I'll also charge at home of course.

How much battery can I fit into a Vector light? Is it possible in that frame to have enough batteries to do 40-45mph top speeds and a range of say 15-20 miles of mixed riding (not all 45mph)?

Is assembly simple enough for the vector light? If I buy that frame can I buy standard fork, rear suspension etc without having to do any fabrication?

What other frames should I be looking at?
 
Vector light sounds pretty perfect for your requirements.
Next is figuring out how much power you need to reach your required top speed, for 45mph that'll be around 4000w peak.
After that it's matching the motor kv with wheel size, and your battery voltage.
You'll find yourself needing maybe two types of specialty tools, one for the bottom bracket and one for the heatset, go to your local bike shop and ask them to use their tools/do the install for a small fee (if they're nice they won't charge you at all). Except for those two you'll get by with an adjustable wrench, a set of allen keys and a screwdriver.
Good luck
 
BDamari said:
Vector light sounds pretty perfect for your requirements.
Next is figuring out how much power you need to reach your required top speed, for 45mph that'll be around 4000w peak.
After that it's matching the motor kv with wheel size, and your battery voltage.
You'll find yourself needing maybe two types of specialty tools, one for the bottom bracket and one for the heatset, go to your local bike shop and ask them to use their tools/do the install for a small fee (if they're nice they won't charge you at all). Except for those two you'll get by with an adjustable wrench, a set of allen keys and a screwdriver.
Good luck

Thanks for the response.
You mentioned the 4000w peak: What motor options do I have? Are there pretty standard "kits" that I could do?
In order to get 4000w peak and the speeds I need I'll have to get a substantial voltage, correct? With my need for high voltage and limited battery space in that frame, how many aH can I expect to get?

What's a good source for a battery? I'd like a BMS built in if possible so that it's "plug and play" but I believe the shape would need to be custom to fit in the Vector Light compartment, right?

Thanks!
 
It really depends on how much money and effort you're willing to spend.
For the motor, a solid choice would be the MXUS 3K turbo v3. it's a little overkill but a great motor that doesn't cost much more than the mid-range power motors, order one laced onto a wheel to speed up the build process, it might not match your front wheel though.
Since you're gonna have to get a custom-built battery for the thin frame, consider buying one straight from vector together with the frame. You'll have to ditch lipos since you don't have much space, and you'll need the better energy density of cylindrical cells. Don't worry about plug and play because every cylindrical cell battery is equipped with a BMS nowadays. I can't vouch for any Alibaba/aliexpress batteries, they're either good-ish or they burn your house down. I heard em3ev makes great batteries, I don't know if they make custom ones though.
The prebuilt bike that vector sells using the light frame has a 72v 1kwh battery, so around 13ish Ah, which is great for your range requirements.
 
BDamari said:
It really depends on how much money and effort you're willing to spend.
For the motor, a solid choice would be the MXUS 3K turbo v3. it's a little overkill but a great motor that doesn't cost much more than the mid-range power motors, order one laced onto a wheel to speed up the build process, it might not match your front wheel though.
Since you're gonna have to get a custom-built battery for the thin frame, consider buying one straight from vector together with the frame. You'll have to ditch lipos since you don't have much space, and you'll need the better energy density of cylindrical cells. Don't worry about plug and play because every cylindrical cell battery is equipped with a BMS nowadays. I can't vouch for any Alibaba/aliexpress batteries, they're either good-ish or they burn your house down. I heard em3ev makes great batteries, I don't know if they make custom ones though.
The prebuilt bike that vector sells using the light frame has a 72v 1kwh battery, so around 13ish Ah, which is great for your range requirements.

Thank you for the response! This was helpful.
Weirdly I don't see the option on Vector's website to buy a battery with the frame. That sure would make things easier though. Do you know if this is an option that I'm just not seeing on their site?
Assuming I went with the above recommendation for the battery + MXUS 3k Turbo V3, what controller options are there? Do these motors and controllers usually come with all of the needed wiring? I ask because my previous ebike required a custom harness.

Is there a preferred/trusted vendor where I should buy the motor built into a wheel?
Is the width of the motor vs dropouts on the bike frame something I should look into, or is this standard?
 
cbr shadow said:
Thank you for the response! This was helpful.
Weirdly I don't see the option on Vector's website to buy a battery with the frame. That sure would make things easier though. Do you know if this is an option that I'm just not seeing on their site?
Assuming I went with the above recommendation for the battery + MXUS 3k Turbo V3, what controller options are there? Do these motors and controllers usually come with all of the needed wiring? I ask because my previous ebike required a custom harness.

Is there a preferred/trusted vendor where I should buy the motor built into a wheel?
Is the width of the motor vs dropouts on the bike frame something I should look into, or is this standard?
For the motor just search for an aliexpress listing with good reviews, that should do the trick.
You should contact Vector about buying a battery even if it's not on their website, I'm sure they'll be happy to take your money ;)
The controller should have matching connectors for the motor and hall sensors, but for the throttle, switches, lights, etc you will most likely need to cut and solder some wires together, that's the sucky part of going custom.
Controllers range in price and quality a lot, maybe you'll find a mxus 3k kit with controller throttle and everything but the controllers usually are pretty crap with these kits, make your motor noisy and have relatively low efficiency.
If you want a really good controller for your power level I can recommend the Grin Phaserunner and the ASI BAC855.
They're a hassle to program but the performance is unmatched.
 
FYI when I put in an order for Vector Light two weeks ago, one week later vendor emailed me saying they could not fill it as they did not have any to ship.
I then contacted the manufacturer (https://eleek.com.ua/en/item/tovar-11-2-1-1-1-1/) and they are not shipping them either.
So I moved on and went with an aluminum MTB hard-tail frame.
 
It looks like they have a fully built option with the Vector Light frame called "Storm" which is offered in mid-drive OR rear hub.
https://vectorebike.com/bikes/vector-storm

How would their rear hub setup differ from the MXUS 3k Turbo V3? It's easiest of course to just buy the Storm and not mess with programming controllers and getting things setup, but I'd like to know what I'd be giving up by buying the assembled bike.

It looks like I'd be giving up some top speed with this motor based on what they're saying is the top speed (30mph). Is this due to the winding of the motor? Does this mean it will be more torquey?

Thanks for any insight
 
Actually it looks like they don't ship the Storm (Fully built Vector Light frame) to the US at all, and the Vector Light frame isn't even available. Argh.
 
I am also doing a similar build but was wondering if this frame fit the BBSHD, does any one know if it will fit?

Looks like they have the 02 in one of their frames on the site, but can't tell.
 
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