E-motorizing Terra trike Rambler (ressurected thread)

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New, Improved post:

So, I've been an avid 2 wheel biker since I was a kid, took my road bike with me when I was in the army, and have ridden 2 wheels most of my life. That said, life and various misadventures (I have had significant injuries to both a shoulder and an ankle) have taken their toll and I just don't ride anymore. I have gone through the rebuld/improvement/update phase a couple times on my old bikes, but my 300lb ass just can't hack it anymore. I work too much and have more excuses than a busload of teenagers about why I can't get in shape, but it all boils down to everything hurts. Every time I have tried to get back in shape in the last 5 years, I have ended up over-doing things and ending up barely able to stand the next day week.

Then COVID destroyed everything and my workload doubled and then got bigger yet, so I was coming home from work with no motivation to do anything while my co-workers were "working from home" and doing things like posting on facebook about cleaning their gutters or remodeling their basement. Now all of my co-workers are required to be back in the office (whining all the way) and my workload has relaxed a bit and I am running out of excuses for why I cannot finish this project and get back to losing weight and getting in better shape. I have had a couple of friends pass away lately, and one guy was the same age as me, so this is no longer a theoretical "I'll get to it someday" kinda problem, I need to get on this. But none of that is the point of this thread.

The point of this thread is I traded for a trike a while back, - a Terratrike Rambler and it solved many of my issues, but one significant issue that remains is that I live on a hill, have quite an incline even on my driveway, and I managed to exhaust myself on more than one occasion to the point where I couldn't make it back up my driveway at home, or even stand up. So, I decided to electrify this trike so no matter how hard I overdid things, I could always get home. I looked up GRIN in canada and bought one of their geared hub motors (TDCM IGH) and what I thought was enough kit to make my trike go on its own (to get me home when I went out riding). That was probably a mistake, because I had nothing but problems and nothing ever fit right (or in some cases at all), so I was back to no trike since it is still all taken apart in my garage. In hindsight, I should have just purchased a different electric trike (that would actually work) but I am stubborn and stupid, and I don't want to waste the time and effort I already put into this. Plus, I know my own personality well enough that when I have tried to buy my way out of problems, it rarely goes as planned.

SO, the point of this thread is twofold. First, I need motivation to do this, I need to cut double digits off of my BMI, and I am not coordinated enough to do crossfit anymore. Second, I know I will need specific help getting this trike back together, and I am hoping I can ask questions here when I run into individual problems and get some actual help. So, I am resurrecting my thread, and restarting on this project.

Original post from 2016:
New guy here, both to ebikes and to my trike.

Small history: 2 wheel guy from way back, always had regular bikes. Broke my ankle badly a couple of years back, then moved to a new house that is in a chip-seal road subdivision. That combination of crappy roads and general purpose nervousness on 2 wheels left me to coming up with every reason on the planet not to ride. Then I traded my way into a TerraTrike Rambler a couple of months ago. That fixed all of my bad road skitishness but since it's a trike, I can no longer use my prodigious mass to power up hills... The same day I brought the trike home I found the e-bike kit terratrike rambler video on youtube... then I re-found you guys and remembered my login. Somehow I expect this is going to be an expensive journey.

So, now I have this tadpole, and I think I want to add a motor for times when I run out of steam. I am mainly using this bike as a way to get into better shape, but I am bad about judging how much gas is left in MY tank, so I have found myself completely worn out, having trouble standing and miles from home. Compounding this is the fact that I have a gob of fairly steep hills right around my house, which makes the end of the ride a monster.

The first issue I see is that I have the internally geared 8 speed hub that I would prefer to keep because my primary purpose for this *IS* to pedal it, not to just zoom around. The good news is I am not wanting to set any speed records. I do, however require much torque, as I am still over 275 and have hills to contend with. My LBS wants to install a hub motor and turn my trike into a single speed, but I want to be able to have gears and pedal normally. I considered adding a front derailleur and a 3 gear crank, and that might work with a straight hub motor, but I am worried it won't give me enough range of gearing.

Overall I am quite mechanically inclined, but I don't know anything about ebike tech (yet) so I am trying to avoid any gotchas or "oh, you should have bought "X" instead of "Y" type of false starts. I have no frame of reference to know if I want 500 watts or 5000.

I have some ideas on what I want (feel free to poke holes in any of my assumptions)
Mid drive, with Battery and motor mounted between my butt and the back tire, since my CG is already high. I do have a rack, though if necessary.
Regeneration on pedaling or braking?
Would using a common drill battery or four simplify my charging in addition to making my power source much more durable? Would I be able to pull enough power out of them to be practical?
I don't like the idea of the pusher trailer for many reasons.

Anyway, Hi, my name is Barry, and I have a problem...
 
Last edited:
Hi Barry, welcome back to the forum.

Where are you located, what kind of budget are you working with, and how steep (% grade) are your hills?

I made my own mid drive on two Terra Trikes, a Rover and a Path, using a hub motor mounted behind the seat. Last year I put a Bafang 48V 500W BBS02 out on the boom of a Performer tadpole trike. any of these trikes will haul my 200 pounds up a 20% grade. The Terra Trikes both use a NuVinci and the Performer has a standard 9 speed derailleur.

Two years ago I put a regular bike together for my sister, using a Bafang 48V 500W BBS02 and a Nexus 8 IGH. She loves the bike, and has a 20% grade to get up.

If I had your trike I would keep the 8 speed IGH and put a BBS02 on it. One issue that might not work out is if the boom is quite long and has too much flex. My Performer has a long aluminum boom, but it is quite a large diameter and has virtually no flex.
 
Hello, I am in the middle of flatland Illinois, but I managed to find a house on a hill...
I would love to say that the budget is unimportant, but then there is reality... At this point, however, I think I am more trying to get a feel for the components. If one kit is going to be $1000 and another is $4000, I will make a judgement at that point if the $4000 kit is really $3000 better than the $1000 kit.

I have seen the crank motors but I am not sure I want to put that much weight that far out. I am already considering a bumper of some type so when I brake hard I don't pole vault...

I will look up your bikes when I am on a regular PC, thanks.
 
The BBSHD mid drive is another option, with a heavy trike it might handle the heat and torque load better. It is basically an improved heavy duty BBS02. One issue with both BBS02 and BBSHD is they replace the front chainring and only provide a single ring, but I think that's par for the course on the Rambler. The BBS02 is about 7 pounds heavier than the parts it replaces, and the BBSHD is about 10 pounds heavier, if that is an issue. Folks have put both of these drives on this type of trike, so it must not be a major problem.
 
This may seem like a dumb question but do I have to mount the mid drive motor on the boom, or can they be mounted behind my seat like the hub motors on Rassy's tadpoles?
 
Even if you could come up with a bottom bracket mount for the mid-drive it probably wouldn't be a very good solution. To start with, it's more expensive than a small hub motor or some other basic motor. Then, the built in PAS of a BBS02 or equivalent wouldn't work at all since you wouldn't be turning the BBS02 crank when you pedal. Then the built in crank freewheel would not be active and when you run the motor your pedals would always turn, which would require you to install a freewheeling crank out on the boom. And a good freewheeling crank that uses a White Industries UNO (from Sick Bike Parts) costs about $100.

So basically you would just be getting a motor, controller, and reduction gears by using the BBS02 that way.

I'll repeat myself by saying I would just go ahead and put a BBS02 or similar out on the boom and try it out. Then, if you didn't like it for some reason you could always put the BBS02 on another bike. Yeah, I don't really mind spending someone else's money. :D
 
If you want a hub motor while retaining internal gearing, ebikes.ca make a hub motor with built-in internal hub gear: http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/ebike-parts/motors/igh-305.html
I would be weary of using a powerful mid-drive motor with the 8 speed hub gear, such hub gears are not designed to handle the torque which such a motor can put through them and I doubt it would last long before the internals of your 8 speed hub disintegrated.
 
Alright! now that is what I am talking about! That site was a little technical for my current level of knowledge, for example, it specified a 1/8 chain, I assume because it is different, but a quick trip to Google has only taught me that alot of people complain about terratrike switching chain types even within models. The good news is that whatever the spec of the rear is, I ought to be able to just swap my front sprocket to match, buy 10 feet of chain and have at it, since I don't have any derailleurs to deal with.

The down side is that if I am not buying a "kit" I am going to have to pick individual parts and figure out what goes with what... :shock:
 
leew said:
If you want a hub motor while retaining internal gearing, ebikes.ca make a hub motor with built-in internal hub gear: http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/ebike-parts/motors/igh-305.html
I would be weary of using a powerful mid-drive motor with the 8 speed hub gear, such hub gears are not designed to handle the torque which such a motor can put through them and I doubt it would last long before the internals of your 8 speed hub disintegrated.

This seems like the hot ticket so far, but since it comes as only one part of a puzzle, I think I will need some more help... :D
I had done some research on the rest of the stuff, but I have noticed that almost all of the links I had saved from here are now dead. So, would someone care to post a bit of a roadmap for me, here in my thread, that I can follow? Just a basic if you buy that, you will need this, this, and this to make it work... If I was going to buy an integrated kit, the hope is that it would come with a good set of instructions, but since I will be assembling it myself, I would hate to screw up something simple because I didn't know something that was otherwise common knowledge. Thanks.
 
http://terratrike.com/ttforum/discussion/2836/promised-pics#latest

I'm currently in process of mounting a Bafang BBS02 as a powered jackshaft on my long wheelbase recumbent, inspired by Elrique64. I have both a Schlumpf Speed Drive and an SRAM Dual Drive that I want to keep on the bike. Here's my Bafang with both chainrings: a 46T to drive the SRAM and a 24T mounted on the same freewheel used by Elrique64 to take input from the Schlumpf. Both the freewheel and the 24T chainring came from Cyclone on Taiwan.

27615131703_d50359f1df_b.jpg
 
You know, some times LIFE happens and gets all up in the way of everything. I managed to not ride my trike at all last year... not even once.

However, I am now in a position to make this work, I think (and start riding). I have decided to go forward with this http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-kits/tdcm-igh/tdcm-igh-kit-advanced-pas.html, but I could use a bit of guidance on what individual options to choose and why. I will try to be as specific as possible, but feel free to call me out on any bad/stupid assumptions. Also, if there are any suggestions that I do not cover here, let me know, please.

First off, I am sticking with a 20" wheel, since the front end is low enough already, and then I only have to carry one spare tube. Thus I am going with the 395 motor as recommended for the 20" wheel.

For the Controller, I seem to have my choice of a 25A or 35A 36-48v controller or the Grin Phaseruner 90V 40A for an extra $170
I know more A is better here, so I am at least going to get the C4835-GR but what I don't know is if the Phaserunner is enough better to justify the extra $170. It seems like it gets me the ability to use alot more V which seems to correspond to more speed. Since I am more concerned with endurance (a 50 mph eTrike would probably kill me) it seems like it might me prudent to just pony up the $5 for the 35A and call it good.

The V3 Cycle Analyst seems to be my only choice, so there it is.

I do not know if I need or want a Auxiliary Input (for changing presets or limits) or which one to choose.

I also do not know what Pedal Sensor Type I need or want. Part of this choice is going to be determined by my crankset and bottom bracket size, but I cant seem to get reliable info off the interwebs about what size is on my bike, and I am not entirely sure exactly what I need to be measuring, so if someone could help me with exactly what I need to measure to get the right size, that would be awesome.

Next up is my Throttle Choice. This is going to be tricky, because I currently have the 8 speed grip shifter on the right. I would prefer to operate the throttle with my right hand, but I think that limits me to the lever. There is alot of "will this work with that?" going on and I am hoping that I am not the first to do this so someone can point me in the right direction.

I think eBrake Levers for Regen seem like a great idea but the stock brake levers include a parking brake function that I would like to retain if possible. I also have 2 levers, one for my left wheel , one for the right, which further complicates things. Can I wire 2 Pull Tripwire, Universal Ebrake Sensor for Mechanical Levers in parallel so even if I only squeeze one brake lever the regen still works? As far as the parking brake, worst case, I suppose I could just use velcro on the lever to lock my wheels in place...

My bike currently has no rear brake at all, and AFAIK does not even have bosses to add one, so I think the rear brake option is out (except for the regen function)

Do I need a Cable for Motor Temperature Sensing, I mean it seems cheap enough, and I assume its required for some of the functions of the V3 Cycle Analyst to work..

The Statorade Injection seems like a no-brainer, so again, is there any reason I would not get this??

Last, I need to select a battery system. For this I think I am going to go for as many Ah as I can get (Endurance over top speed) but I would like to be able to fast charge it, and I would like to have the ability to leave the battery plugged in after charging to a charger that is smart enough to maintain the battery without cooking it.

So, that is where I am at, please help spend my $$.
 
Just to be different, I'm going to suggest something fairly easy and cheap.

Rear geared hub motor kit, yes, with derailleur.

Why don't you need to keep your IGH? Cuz you will put it in high gear and leave it there forever. The cheapest funkiest shittiest derailleur on earth will be fine.

If you did live in the rocky mountains, or west Virginia/Pennsylvania hills, then you would want the mid drive.

Re the battery, I had mine plugged in to a smart enough charger. And forgot about it, and went to bed. If you plan to leave it charging overnight, do it outside.

I don't want to scare the shit out of you, but I trusted my "safe" battery. I'll never do it again.
 
Make yourself a " Battery Bunker "

If always kept outside and charged outside, old large non working propane BBQ that is 15 or more feet away from anything else could work .
( without the propane canister anywhere near by )

or

Make a good one using Concrete Retaining Wall Blocks, and 12 inch by 12 inch by 1 1/2 inch Paver Blocks, and even some 2.5 inch thick bricks.

And to add to others comments, a rear hub for you will be good enough for what you want to to and much more simple , the one you linked to is good ...
http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-kits/tdcm-igh/tdcm-igh-kit-advanced-pas.html

Grin can even build / lace up the rim for you as well.
 
I get what you say about the battery, I have had a RC hobby lithium go up on me, so I get that there is a LOT of stored energy there, especially since these are WAY bigger. That is one of the arguments for using drill batteries despite the lower overall performance and higher cost is the comparative safety in charging. That said, I have an ammo can and concrete block set up that has survived 2 RC battery pops so far, a wide open space of bare cement upon which to charge this. I can also use a timer on the outlet itself if needed, but I pretty much can not babysit this.
 
barrysuperhawk said:
My bike currently has no rear brake at all, and AFAIK does not even have bosses to add one, so I think the rear brake option is out (except for the regen function)
There's various posts and threads about adding rear brakes to frames that don't have them; mostly by clamping on a U-brace that has bosses on it. Look thru my posts to find a number of those. (at least one in the last few weeks).

Last, I need to select a battery system. For this I think I am going to go for as many Ah as I can get (Endurance over top speed)
Total Wh is actually the measure of "endurance" / capacity, so a high voltage pack of lower Ah can be the same capacity / range as a low voltage pack fo higher Ah.

The thing that the pack must be able to do is supply the A that the controller demands both at peak and constant loads (accelerations, hill climbing), with minimal voltage sag (which indicates losses due to cell heating/etc, and also means less watts to the motor).

So you need enough Ah so that the pack's C-rate x Ah = > A demand by controller.

To guesstimate range, you need a guesstimate of Wh/mile for your trike on the terrain and riding and wind conditions you expect at the speeds you'll ride at. Then mulitply that Wh/mile by the number of miles you know you *must* get, and add a margin of some percentage for bad weather (high headwinds, etc) and detours due to whatever, and for pack aging over time (so even when it's a few years down the line you don't end up with insufficient range).



but I would like to be able to fast charge it, and I would like to have the ability to leave the battery plugged in after charging to a charger that is smart enough to maintain the battery without cooking it.
If you want really super fast charging, LTO (lithium titanate) is your best bet. There's a number of threads about such cells.

Otherwise there's quite a variation for the charging rates of various cell chemistries, brands and types.


As for protecting the pack during charge, it's really up to the BMS for the pack, not the charger, for typical ebike-sized packs. (it can be different for much larger packs in big EVs) If the BMS is like common ebike types, it's onboard charge / discharge FETs will disconnect the pack from the charger as needed. If it's more like the big EV types, then either it commands the charger to shutdown / startup when needed, or it uses a contactor to connect/disconnect it rather than onboard FETs.
 
My fire was caused by the cheapest possible shitty cells I think. Better stuff much less likely to go off.

My experience is still far from typical, even the shit cells start fires very seldom. The catch 22 is that if it is in your house, and you have the luck I did, you get to have the house burn down.

So for me, Its battery bunker from now on. I am using the smoke damaged kitchen stove for mine.
 
I'm the Elrique64 that was referenced earlier. And I'm also the Elrique64 people know from the TerraTrike forums.

I have a BBS02 motor mounted as a jackshaft on my Rover with a Nexus-8 IGH for rear gearing. I put the BBS02 in as a jackshaft because I have a Schlumph HSD on the front cranks. I had to manufacture a sprocket setup on the motor's pedal shaft to give me pedal assist, just as @amwassil did on his build. This works great, for my application.

I find I'm not using the high side of the HSD as often as I did prior to putting the motor on the trike. Because I'm not using it as often, I may just move the motor completely. We'll see with a few more hundred miles on the whole thing, though....

IMO, the only effective way to motorize a recumbent trike is with a crank replacement motor, such as the Bafang BBS02, BBSHD or Tongsheng TSDZ2. Yes, other systems can be used, but a lot of these other systems are used for different things than what the OP has stated are his goals.

His goals are: Better hill climbing. Help getting "home". Maintaining his existing IGH gearing. And last but not least, weight loss. The same goals I had when I started building my own eFreedom....

My research led me to these forums, (Among others. BROL was helpful, too.) where I found that hub motors weren't what I was looking for.

The bottom line is simple. It's YOUR money, not mine or anyone else's on these forums. BUT if it WERE MY money it would be a BBSHD replacing the front crank with hall brake sensors and an IGH gear shift sensor. It would be the color display for the BBSHD and a 20AH+ battery pack bolted to TerraTrike's Lowrider Rack. Rounding the whole thing out with a few appropriate cable extensions to make sure everything fits where it needs to fit and that's the build. And it would cost under $1800 for the entire system, mounted and ready to go.

YMMV.....
 
I don't agree with the prescription for a BBS02 with a Shimano Nexus 8 on this trike. I think it is a shitty solution. I've got 19000 happy miles on a great rear hub motor (9 Continent) on my Actionbent/Performer trike that I put together in 2012. Slapped on a 7 speed freewheel onto it. I think those mid-drives are flaky and its not a good idea to have that mass on the boom. My old 9C motor isn't even geared, but it is nice and quiet and will get me up the biggest hills when I am a 15 gear inches on my bottom gear. Any old hub motor on that trike, minus the Nexus, add triple front, will get you nice low gear inches, and easily enough torque. I would 3x7 with rear hub motor, the more reliable the better, which is why I chose a direct drive/non-geared motor type. Quiet peaceful capable riding. All you need is a throttle, a Cycleanalyst, a controller, and a hub motor - make sure it fits! and overbuild the torque arm solution. Justin would agree with me, I think, if you read his theories about hubmotor vs mid-drive. The elegance of hubmotor location wins. I hate this Goterdamerung of the hub motor as the mid-drives ascend...a thousand bucks and you've got a great trike that you will LOVE, and you won't have to worry all the time...about it working.
Easy enough to get a torqueyer motor if you really want to, but I prefer peaceful quiet riding. Don't drink the Bafang coolaid especially on the end of an aluminum boom.
 
I agree. If my only choice was on the boom, I would do without. As far as the mid-drive, it seems a much more involved solution than I was wanting. With the TDCM IGH, I replace my rear tire, do a little wiring and off I go, no muss no fuss. Remember, I am not after ultimate performance or even the go-cart effect. I intend to loose weight and cardio indoors sucks. What I am doing is building a backup plan, that no matter how much I overdo it, will get me home. That said, I expect it to be fun zooming around, and using the pedal assist will give me alot more range to enjoy the riding, and, if I am being honest, I am sure that once I get this working I won't want to "waste" my investment by not using it... :D
 
chvidgov.bc.ca said:
I don't agree with the prescription for a BBS02 with a Shimano Nexus 8 on this trike. I think it is a shitty solution. I've got 19000 happy miles on a great rear hub motor (9 Continent) on my Actionbent/Performer trike that I put together in 2012. Slapped on a 7 speed freewheel onto it. I think those mid-drives are flaky and its not a good idea to have that mass on the boom. My old 9C motor isn't even geared, but it is nice and quiet and will get me up the biggest hills when I am a 15 gear inches on my bottom gear. Any old hub motor on that trike, minus the Nexus, add triple front, will get you nice low gear inches, and easily enough torque. I would 3x7 with rear hub motor, the more reliable the better, which is why I chose a direct drive/non-geared motor type. Quiet peaceful capable riding. All you need is a throttle, a Cycleanalyst, a controller, and a hub motor - make sure it fits! and overbuild the torque arm solution. Justin would agree with me, I think, if you read his theories about hubmotor vs mid-drive. The elegance of hubmotor location wins. I hate this Goterdamerung of the hub motor as the mid-drives ascend...a thousand bucks and you've got a great trike that you will LOVE, and you won't have to worry all the time...about it working.
Easy enough to get a torqueyer motor if you really want to, but I prefer peaceful quiet riding. Don't drink the Bafang coolaid especially on the end of an aluminum boom.

I wish I had read something like this before I drank the koolaid! I went with the BBS02 a couple of years ago because everyone was saying how great it was. It did give plenty of power on our tandem trike but it made shifting more of a hassle and wore out the chain much faster. Our tandem uses the equivalent of 5 regular chains, so replacements are not cheap. Just for fun, I tried an inexpensive 1000w hub motor. It was so much simpler and nicer. I would have saved hundreds of dollars if I would have went that route first and I'd have been much happier.
 
Small update, I have decided to go with a Patterson 2 speed crank, so I will have 10 forward speeds available, plus the happy switch. I also picked up three 5.0Ah EGO batteries to power this monstrosity... Now I just have to actually get the motor and figure out how to get this all assembled and working...
 
Erp... Sorry to interrupt... but... Rambler EVO? ("Electric Vehicle Option") maybe...

RamblerEVO1.jpg


"Falco 750W 5 Phase Motor"...

Seen here:
http://www.terratrike.com/evo.php
 
I noticed that, but Dat Price Tho... I wish it had come out 2 years ago. I asked my LBS about it and was told that he would only offer me $300-400 trade in on one of those, AND I had to be paid in full before he would order it. I don't really blame them, but I guess they REALLY don't want used trike trades.
 
Small update, parts are purchased and on the bench, and the trike is apart. Pictures incoming
 
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