barrysuperhawk
1 mW
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2013
- Messages
- 19
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 nextday 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...
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
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...
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