thundercamel said:
It looks fine, you'll get used to it. Glad to hear that the performance is so good!
Thanks. I think I'm used to it now and like how it looks, in a sort of function over form way. After a couple of weeks on this post, I've managed to tune out most of the bounce by adjusting the pre-load, and learning curve to stay seated or unweight the seat based different the situation was pretty quick.
Because it's been making me want to ride further, or further than I've been riding since my crash a few months ago, I'm now noticing all the other ergonomic related issues I need to solve. I've realized that the extra weight of these ebikes, crashes take more toll on the bike. First, the switch to the flatter bar was a fail. The height/rise of the flatter bar is OK, but there isn't enough sweep to keep my wrists comfortable. The other bar was bent in my crash so that's getting tossed. New bar ordered and received for installation this weekend.
Also, I've been having problems with my injured knee and not understanding why it wasn't healing. I'd been riding a lot of throttle only because of it. But, now it's strong enough to ride, so when I took a longer ride, I figured out that my left pedal was bent big time. Put on new pedals which feel great, but after a week my knee is so much better that I could now detect that the crank arm was bent too. I wouldn't have been able to detect that when my leg was so messed up. New crank arm ordered and to be installed next week.
Lastly, I'd like to lower the seat another 1/4", but it's at minimum now. But, I'm using a 30mm to 27.2mm adapter, and after some thought, and testing, I believe I can modify the adapter to get the post down the extra 1/4".
I'm going to get these things taken care of this weekend (except for the crank arm), and hopefully clean up the snarl of wires as well. Feels so good to be pedaling again.
Next major evolution: I'm 90% decided on my next major upgrades in order to try out higher voltages; which are the sine wave Infineon 36v-72v controller from Grin and a CA3. Still researching, but I think the combo is flexible enough to experiment with adding different numbers of lipo packs in series with my 52 volt battery without encountering LVC/HVC issues, which I assume are programmable settings. $385 with the additional cables. Then dipping my toes into the lipo world will probably cost a couple hundred bucks to start with, so I'm looking at decent investment, so I don't want to get it wrong.
EDIT: 8-3-19 Crank replaced and no more wobble! Lowered the seat post and now it feels perfect. Traded out handlebars for better sweep, and have them slightly pointed lower like motorcycle cafe style bars. Super comfortable now without looking like big beach cruiser bars. The cockpit and cable routing are much cleaner now. Also changed out the throttle to one with no display, lights, or switches, which got rid of more clutter.
I needed a bell, so I got a set of knock offs of the "Knog Oi" bell, but I had to get 6 of them, but 6 cost 2/3 of what one of the original cost. Gave a couple away and have a few spare in case the knock off breaks. Really compact, but loud too.
The sweep feels so good on my wrists.
Cable rerouted to the left side of the bike, which will eventually be covered by the battery shroud later. I still need to pull more cable forward, so I can bundle them better. I'm also looking for another mirror, since the sweep of the bars make my current mirror difficult to adjust.
The bell blends right in, between the brake lever and throttle housing:
EDIT: 8-5-19 Got around to fine tuning my Thudbuster this weekend. I ended up replacing one of the two medium elastomers with a shortened firm one in order to tune out the bounce, and also lower the seat a bit (lessen the travel). I used my drill press and a razor blade for the job, which ended up making a fairly clean cut:
Tested by taking my bike trail riding, which was the first trail ride on the Crazy Bob tires. The trail/climb had lots of ruts and about 17%, and I did most of the climb seated. The post worked great under those conditions, and the tires had decent traction too.
08/11/1 - My chainring guard arrived yesterday. No more greasy pant legs. Told my wife I was going out to get donuts this morning, like most Sundays. I started riding down the hill, but decided to ride up first instead. The weather was perfect for riding, clear, but not to warm. I started off with about 54V, not full, but enough to putt around a bit. I decided to keep riding up, climbing about 600 ft total, looping around on the streets.
Rode back down the hill and followed the path at the bottom toward the donut shop, but once I got to the street, I decided to ride straight for a few more miles, and pick up the donuts on the way back. Ended up riding over to the UC Berkeley campus and rode around there a while. Even though the campus is hilly, the ADA access makes sure there are ramps to each level, so nice for bikes too. I ended up riding behind the campus, and up into the hills. I was huffing a little on the second climb up, since I was trying to save battery for the way home. I was at 52 volts at that point, since I got some good regen from the last descent. The top of that hill was about 800 ft. I turned around at the top and regen'd down, again through the campus. Just over 50 volts now, so still a decent amount of power left.
At that point, I could follow the lower path back, and just have a small climb back up to my house, or I could take the high road, which would be a lot more scenic. I decided to climb the hill again. This road had a few more bikers; actually several, and a lot descending down. I passed a bunch going up, but I was pedaling hard since I was seeing my voltage sag down as low as 47 volts. Stopped at a small resting place just below the top of the hill to feel the motor and controller. Motor was warm but not hot; controller was barely over the ambient temperature.
I rode along the winding road along the ridge and stopped to take another break to enjoy the view and sit in the shade.
Those stairs in the background are the railroad tie kind, maybe 35 of them with a couple of curves. Perfect first test for my fork, to see how the coil springs behave. I have rebound in the middle of the range and same with compression. I think if the fork didn't have as much control as it does, it would have been a little hairy where the stairs curve. It was like a bucking bronco, but controlled, and not like a hobby horse. The crazy bobs had a enough cushion in the rear, since they're landing on dirt in between steps. I didn't check to see how much travel I was getting, but my guess is it wasn't the full 160mm.
Rode down the hill to my house and pulled into my driveway 25 miles later, realizing I forgot the donuts! Ended up having to make it up, going for a giant hamburger run, with fries and pie of course. I felt like I earned the calories :thumb:
Here are the three routes I took climbing up the hillside during today's ride. The first two are only the steeper sections, since most of the rest of the climbing is less than 7%, which doesn't seem to heat up the motor or controller much. The third,less steep climb, is the only one that I saw other bikes riding up.
I stopped half way up at the botanical gardens to check the motor on this climb. It wasn't hot, but I took a rest looking around before second half. The hill hits 20% for short sections near the top, so I think it was probably a good idea to let the motor cool.
This seems like a very popular ride up the hill with lots of bikes, probably because it's only a 7.5%-8% grade.
08-12-19 The mirror that worked so perfectly with my old handlebars just can't adapt to the new sweep angle. I ended up ordering a cheap pair of bar end mirrors off of Amazon which arrived today. They are really heavy. I don't care so much about adding weight to my bike, but adding a pound to the end of one side of my handlebars is another thing. Still, the mirror itself is kind of nice, with decent viewing area. Realizing that neither mirror was going to work, I could either send the new one back, or....
donor mirrors:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009R96YK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07338S7LL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Update: using the franken-mirror for a week, I had to make a small tweak to the metal bracket, adding two bends. That allows the mirror to sit forward and lower, which provides a better angle. Another benefit is that it took out the vibration that blurred the image when going over bumps.
08-18-19 Did a morning ride before it got to warm out, and decided to go down the hill and to the bay. Ended up at a place called the Albany Bulb, which is a little peninsula that juts out into the bay and has some trails to putt around on. The trails are bumpy so there are mainly hikers and people walking their dogs, but fewer bikes.
I figured out that the 2.35" tires aren't fat enough for soft sand. I rode through some for about 30 yards before bogging down. I had to walk it back to more solid ground.
Much more at home on the rocky stuff.
Some nice views from the hills on the peninsula.
The Bulb is known for the sculptures and artwork scattered all around.
Riding on the flats along the bay, and a few small hills didn't satisfy my hill climbing desires, so I rode up Albany Hill on my way back. I went up in the steeper direction up the hill and was pulling over 2kw all the way up while pedaling pretty hard. Motor was warm at the top, where I took a break before heading home, 24 miles total, and a ton of battery still left.
08-25-19 I finally ordered Statorade last night, so I plan to add it and do some other mods next weekend. Too lazy to do any real before and after testing, but I decided to ride up the hill from below my house up to the top of the ridge, so a 650 ft elevation climb all at one time. The route is just over 2 miles, 7-8% average, 12-17% in the steeper segments. I maintained over 15 mph most of the way, and pedaled pretty hard, hoping nothing would melt; so under 20 minutes total, pulling over 1000 watts the whole time, and 1200-1700+ watts on the steeper sections.
I was a little nervous, even though the Grin simulator doesn't have my motor, modeling several with similar characteristics seem to indicate I could be close to the meltdown limit by the time I got to the top. Motor and controller were warm to the touch at the top, but they survived, so I'm expecting with Statorade, I'll feel a lot more heat transferred to the motor case. My legs are killing me this morning.
View attachment 7