Giant cruiser budget build

dequinox

10 kW
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
955
Location
Eugene, OR
This is just a build log for a budget bike.

So far the componentry is thus:

- Giant "Simple" Cruiser, pictured at the end: $55
- Go-plus FT444 kit on amazon... about $145
- Donated 48V LiFePO4 battery from an Angel Investor of sorts some years ago (Rassy).

If you see the photo you'll probably be thinking the color could use an adjustment... I think you're right. I thought about blasting it down and powder coating, but it would have to be a low-cure powder coat to prevent aging the aluminum. A lot of these bike frames from the 90's were a 70xx series. I may just use a 2K metallic paint on it with a decent mid-to-low gloss topcoat.

Other than that, I plan on a nexus 3 speed rear, some V-brakes on the front (this had the brake bosses on the fork already, part of the reason for the purchase), and a very simple layout for bars. I think I will go ahead and use the PAS system. I should pedal, that will encourage it. My hope is that this will translate from a fun project into a reliable commuter. I'll want to put it through its paces before relying on that though, because my job is 13 miles away.

I'll post some pictures when I get them transferred from my phone. The first series will be of the kit itself. More to come...

Man it's good to be building again... even if it is a simple project. :D
 

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dequinox said:
Go-plus FT444 kit on amazon... about $145

Do you have a link to that? (I tried "go-plus FT444" on amazon.co.uk & amazon.com without success.)
 
https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Conversion-Electric-Bicycle-Accessories/dp/B073XZF9FT

That one I think.

With the coaster brake, you have to use the front kit. Otherwise you'd have only the front brake. that can be done, but I'd advise keeping some kind of rear brake. Nothing wrong with front hub, provided there is a legit reason for it. Just slightly trickier to ride in wet, mud, or dirt.

Cruisers make great e bikes, but its much simpler for most, to start with a 7 speed cruiser, which usually comes with front and rear rim brakes. The extra cost for the 7 speed is generally not that much, $75 or so.

Nothing wrong with the nexus plan, assuming you get a brake in the hub. If not keep the original wheel, and look into a bigger front gear.
 
You're right on the link, that is the correct kit. I got it on sale.

I had plans to use a front kit for some time. This frame became available, and I noticed on the craigslist pics it had the bosses for front V-brakes, so I'll be ordering and installing a front V-brake.

I'll be keeping the rear coaster brake, or if I get desperate for that old MTB braking feel I'll install a caliper rim brake in the rear... it's a pain but there are ways to do it.

The inspiration for the Nexus format was my wife's ebike. It is a blue Sun cruiser with a hill-topper kit and a nexus 3 speed. It's a little clickety-clackety though... so I'm still undecided. I'd love to install a nuvinci, but that would dwarf the value of both the bike and the ebike kit! The 7 or 8 speed internally geared shimano hubs are an option as well, but again the value is high. Sturmy-archer ... same issue. I'm going to keep my eyes out for something used.

I kludged together the system and fired it up tonight... wow I may never go back to a non-hub drive! These hub motors are so quiet and powerful! Even this cheap kit has some serious kick at 48V.

dogman dan said:
https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Conversion-Electric-Bicycle-Accessories/dp/B073XZF9FT

That one I think.

With the coaster brake, you have to use the front kit. Otherwise you'd have only the front brake. that can be done, but I'd advise keeping some kind of rear brake. Nothing wrong with front hub, provided there is a legit reason for it. Just slightly trickier to ride in wet, mud, or dirt.

Cruisers make great e bikes, but its much simpler for most, to start with a 7 speed cruiser, which usually comes with front and rear rim brakes. The extra cost for the 7 speed is generally not that much, $75 or so.

Nothing wrong with the nexus plan, assuming you get a brake in the hub. If not keep the original wheel, and look into a bigger front gear.
 
Oh... questions for those in the know:

-Is there a way to apply regen braking on these ebay kit controllers? ...or does one need to spend the money and get a good controller from Grin, Lyen, or Kelly or the like?

-Who has good, cheap torque arms for a front motor? I'd need the hose-clamp kind or similar as my forks are thick and don't have accessory holes in the right places. I found a set on amazon, and could go with those, but thought I would ask first.

Also- what's the point of C-washers?
 
dequinox said:
Oh... questions for those in the know:

-Is there a way to apply regen braking on these ebay kit controllers? ...or does one need to spend the money and get a good controller from Grin, Lyen, or Kelly or the like?

-Who has good, cheap torque arms for a front motor? I'd need the hose-clamp kind or similar as my forks are thick and don't have accessory holes in the right places. I found a set on amazon, and could go with those, but thought I would ask first.

Also- what's the point of C-washers?
I am quite dubious of regen on cheap kits and I would double assume they don't do it unless specifically mentioned.

Any kit/seller where you can't add torque arms/hose-clamps into your order isn't a good sign of a decent seller.
 
If you post a very good clear picture of the controller board, one of the real geniuses here can tell you if it has a pad you can solder on wires to enable regen. Likely it does.

The c washer is needed because most bikes today have a small cup on the fork. This cup retains a nut and washer that got loose, but its made for a 10 mm size. You just changed your axle to 14 mm, and now your washer or nut is too big, leaving an air gap where the cup is. Just cranking down the nut can spread steel forks, and will crack alloy forks.

So you NEED THAT C WASHER, or something like one, to fill that gap. you can make your own, by grinding down a tabbed torque washer, make a c washer from ordinary washers, fill the gap with a welder, etc. You also should file your dropout notch 2 mm deeper, to get the axle center back where it would be with the 10 mm axle.

If you grind down that torque washer, it will be too weak to work as a torque arm anymore.

Then use a torque arm, since the c washer generally makes the tab on the torque washer fit poorly. :roll: Two very tight fitting torque arms will be needed if you do get regen going.

I'd thing very hard, before I put regen on the front wheel. I'd want a LOT more control over the amount of braking on a front wheel.
 
I agree, it is a nice color, but unfortunately up-close shots will reveal the paint is in miserable shape.

As an American person, I think your coffee is perfectly alright!

Lebowski said:
As a Dutch person I think orange is a perfectly alright color :D
 
At the time I wasn't looking for a "decent seller"... I was looking for a cheap product. These kits were made for larger dropouts like d-dan mentions, and they don't include torque arms for the price. They do include two uselessly cheap bags, but each supplier (especially in china) does what works for them, not necessarily their customer.

I will say, however, that for the money I am impressed with the quality so far. That goes especially for the motor/rim materials.

TheBeastie said:
I am quite dubious of regen on cheap kits and I would double assume they don't do it unless specifically mentioned.

Any kit/seller where you can't add torque arms/hose-clamps into your order isn't a good sign of a decent seller.
 
I'll need to pull apart the controller first, but when I tear down the "ad-hoc" build I just did last night I can post a photo.

OH so THAT'S how you deal with this:

dropout w retainer profile.jpg

I may have dealt with it like this:

View attachment 2 View attachment 1


Ooops....

:lol: I'm kidding, I've looked online for a good torque arm already. I'm thinking with the rest of the way I'm going with this build, that I'm going to fabricate some good robust torque arms that have a little style to them as well. Maybe something artistic. I'm almost leaning toward a slightly steampunk look to the thing... copper/brass colors or perhaps metallic grey, chrome and black. At any rate, if I do attempt regen it won't be for the power savings, it will be for the braking. It's like how Justin puts it: you aren't gaining efficiency so much as you are gaining in maintenance savings. With regen you don't wear out your brakes nearly as fast. I may even attempt to build an electric load dump with a separate "braking throttle".

I'm not sure I'm going to file the dropout deeper... it's already pretty small for this kind of power and i think if I file out more material I'm going to have to reinforce it w/ a little extra material and some welding. I'd rather not mess with the dropouts anyways, as I figure I'll get them uneven if I'm not careful. I think I can accomplish the same with a nice pair of torque arms that also tie into the accessory hole you see in the photo.

Thanks for your comments, they help a lot! Here's a dark, shitty shot of the kludge I rode around last night. Using some power poles that google earth puts at 0.05 miles apart, I timed the transit time between them at 5.25 seconds and estimated that the top speed was about 34mph. It's easily on par with my HIV build from way back when I started, and it's all quiet where that non-hub drive I put together was noisy and problematic.

KIMG0744.JPG
Don't worry, I'm putting a whitewall back on the front rim... and that crappy little cargo rack is going to go in favor of a custom metal & wood cargo rack.

dogman dan said:
If you post a very good clear picture of the controller board... ...I'd want a LOT more control over the amount of braking on a front wheel.
 
Ok the battery became suspect in the last couple days of recreational riding.

Puff the magic pouch cell decided to expand and rip some duct tape. These batteries I have are from 2008, so I'm completely surprised they work at all. The battery I resurrected first charged up ok, and ran the battery for probably 5 miles, then I decided to retire it for a tear-down and inspection.

This is what I got so far:

20Ah LiFePO4
KIMG0750.JPG

The wiring is a bit messy.
View attachment 6

The BMS, it looks like the builder tried to enhance it, but the soldering could use some cleanup.
KIMG0752.JPG

Overall the board looks pretty clean though.
KIMG0754.JPG

The bulge...
KIMG0755.JPG

Tearing into the cover tape caused some balance wires to pull loose. I think I've got the locations figured though.
KIMG0756.JPG

Puffed cells appear to mostly be on the exterior.
KIMG0759.JPG

I've been thinking I'd try de-puffing the critical cells, and then repackage this with stiff, flat endcaps and threaded clamping force. I have a few ideas how to acheive this and will post models as soon as I CAD them.

Turns out this bike is a 2002 Giant Simple. Stock photo below, I'll probably sketch out some ideas on it.
2002 Giant Simple.jpg
 
Looks like your bike is a bit older, and has the "lawyer lips" instead of the washer retaining cup common with stamped steel dropouts. You did the right thing to grind them off, now you don't need a C washer.

If you cut that dropout notch just a bit deeper, the torque washers might actually work, but unfortunately the forged dropouts do tend to bend easy, so it might not be enough to really substitute for a TA. But you are on the right track, since now you can crank down that nut so it does not loosen, or pry the dropout open from the pressure on an uneven surface.
 
Glad to know I'm not hosing myself by doing that. They didn't seem that important.

I won't need to worry about the torque washers, I'll be fabricating custom torque arms along with a lot of other stuff on this bike. I'm sketching out ideas already for the shape.



dogman dan said:
Looks like your bike is a bit older, and...surface.
 
That looks like a stylish TA. When I ran 4000w through a racing bike front hub, I welded a tab onto the fork that allowed me to bolt on a pair of stock front torque arms directly to the fork. But if you have a fender eylet on the fork, easy to fabricate a TA that bolts straight to that.

Amazing your ping type pouch cell pack lasted 9 years. But its done now I think. typical is more like 5-6 years max for that kind of battery. Average is 4 years.
 
Hi dequinox,

I am amazed that you still have those version one LiFeP04 batteries around! Little background, when Ping batteries came on the EBay market as one of the first viable turnkey alternatives to SLA it was difficult to win an auction and I ended up purchasing from "Anna". They were identical to Pings but probably seconds or knockoffs, one of the BMS units was faulty from day 1 and I replaced it. Longest ride I took with one of those batteries was 68 miles 9 years ago on a "Ride the Rogue" charity ride at Rogue River, Oregon. I used the throttle the entire way (except downhill coasts) along with pedaling. It took over 9 hours to recharge with a 2 amp charger so probably used about 19AH from the 20AH battery.

If you plan to work with those batteries some more I have a good V2.5 BMS on the shelf that you can have. PM me if interested. The V2.5 BMS has the 16 LEDs that make it easy to see that all cells are fully charged and balanced each time.
 
Rassy!!! It's so good to know you're still monitoring the 'sphere!

Thank you again for this set of batteries! They have been on the shelf for a very long time. I charged up #2 a few days ago, let it sit, and then put it on the bike and did some short rides in two days. I'd say maybe 5-6 miles.
They are both puff-tastic, but I'm going to try to salvage what I can. They saw literally no use from 2010 or so when I got them from you until now. Thanks for the history, and I'd love to get the BMS if you don't need it. I'll PM you.

Thanks! I also have a couple of cellogs laying around I may put on these to monitor cell voltage along with the BMS.

Oh and if I can't use these batteries at all, I have this going for me. The challenge there may be having a li-ion BMS that I trust. Fortunately the batteries themselves were cheap. I do have a couple chinese li-ion BMS boards, but I think they're 10s and I'd like to go 12. In fact, I need to go 12 as this is a 48v controller kit.

Rassy said:
Hi dequinox,... ... easy to see that all cells are fully charged and balanced each time.
 
On the battery note, I did find what I thought was a very interesting battery box on Aliexpress that I think I'll use as a base idea.

wood battery box.JPG

I especially like the display, USB port, and ATX power supply AC connection. I'd use a waterproof one though... waterproofing the rest of the box would be a bit challenging too, but I can figure it out.
 
FWIW, I've used basically the same fork style on CrazyBike2, with a 9C DD hub motor, and had terrible problems trying to keep the axle from spinning in the dropouts, even with a basic very short torque arm. The dropouts spread open and then even with the torque arm it would rock back and forth as I accelerated and braked.

So make sure that any torque arm you make is thick, so it contacts the most surface area possible of the axle flats.

Also make sure it connects to the fork along as much of the arm's length as you can, so it can't shift around at all.

If you are not using regen braking it isn't as big a deal, but if you use regen then it makes a great deal of difference whether you immobilize the axle completely or not.
 
Ok if there ever was a test case-for de-puffing cells, via AJ's or other methods online, this should be one.

16S4P 5Ah LiFePO4 pouch cells. I've done two batteries' worth in the last 2 weeks... so 128 punctures.

Most were sealed with hot melt glue, but about 32 were done with very thin CA glue... we'll see how that works out.

I'm now just on the cusp of fully recharging 2 packs from 2008:

KIMG0810.JPG
 
I'm about ready to install the V2.5 BMS that Rassy kindly donated. I'll be building a battery box around a single line stack of the cells in the photo above, and then putting the pressure on with plates and dog-screws.

Something like this:
 
All BMS experts... this is a ping-style V2.5 Lifepo4 bms and all lights were pulsing "on" except the ones shown after about 15 hours. Should I expect a full balance to take a couple days on a 9 year old battery pack? That was two days ago, and now 10/16 lights are on.

KIMG0891.JPG
 
Were the cells badly out of balance before you started the charge cycle? Once the charger goes into its balance phase the current is very low and it takes a long time for out of balance cells to reach full charge.

What I would do at this point is unhook the charger, let the LEDs turn off and check all the voltages. The only important ones are the six that didn't light up. Go ahead and report them here so we can see how far off they are.

Then hook the charger back up, leave it on for an hour or so, and repeat the voltage check.

After my daughter in law let her battery get way out of balance be not charging until all lights came on each time it took me a couple of weeks to get the battery properly charged again. That was about five years ago and the battery is still functioning okay.
 
I went out today and all but one light is fully lit on each "balancing pulse". I didn't have time to check cell voltage, but now that I know it can take several weeks I'm less concerned. I just didn't want to tear down the battery if I should wait longer for it to balance!

That was about five years ago and the battery is still functioning okay.
 
Sounds promising. I have had chargers that have their total voltage output drop a little, to the point that they have trouble bringing all the cells up to a voltate that lights all the LEDs. One clue here is your mention of "balance pulse" which I interpret as meaning the LEDs are blinking on and off. If the charger has a slightly higher voltage the LEDs will usually only blink a few times before they come on solid. Ping said I could adjust a pot inside the charger when this happens, but I just managed to destroy the charger completely when I tried.

One thing I often do when a Ping battery is out of balance is disconnect the charger, let all LEDs go out, and then reconnect the charger. This allows the charger to come on at full power for a short time, thus giving the low cells a bigger boost then they were getting during the balance portion (which is what is occurring when the light goes green and the fan turns off on the charger). Repeating this procedure a few times can result in bringing all cells up to the balance point a lot faster then just leaving the charger on, but of course requires hands on attention.

Be aware that the V2.5 BMS draws its operating current from just four of the batteries cells, so when you do follow on voltage testing of individual cells you will see these four cells drop voltage faster than the other 12 cells. This is also why you should either unplug the BMS during long storage periods or else do a periodic charge/balance about every two weeks or so.

I hope you get some good use out of those old cells after all the work you did to get to this point. :D
 
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