Chain driven electric motors.

[Iron Yeti]

Hey dudes. I was wondering how effective chain driven electric bike motors were. Since I am using a Nuvinci hub and using a front hub motor is not exactly ideal I was thinking this might be an alternative. I am putting money away for a springtime purchase of a motor, controller, and batteries.

Any links with pictures, DIY tutorials, step by steps etc. and experiences would be awesome, plus types of motors used. Thanks dudes.

 

[pizark]

yeah.. i'd definitely be interested to know also. An electric motor with a nuvinci would be sweeeeet!

 

[GGoodrum]

I'm a big fan of the Cyclone 1000W setup, although the kit doesn't come with any instructions, and have the installation parts were useless. Nonetheless, the perfomance is amazing. I'm using it on a 20" Dahon Mariner, with a 48V 16s6p a123-based pack, and it has as much, or more, torque than the 5303/72V setp it replaced. I'm using it with a SA 3-speed hub, but the NuVinci would be a match made in heaven for this.

Here's the thread on my setup: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5297.

What I like about this kit is that electrically, at least, everything is pretty much plug'n play. The controller wires are much heavier gauge than on my Clyte setups, and the connectors are all unique, so there's no chance of a mis-connection.

I hit 55A peaks on this, which is about 2600-2700W. Combined with extra torque of the gearing, it is easily enough to get my generous butt up any hill around here. With a Clyte setup, to do the same, it requires a 72V 5303/5304 configuration and a controller modified to allow 60-70A.

The only downside is that it is quite a bit noisier than the hubmotor setups. When I get some time, I'm going to look into replacing the chaindrive from the motor to the front chainring with either a smaller pitch chain, or maybe with a belt drive.

-- Gary

 

[vanilla ice]

Wasn't there a guy who had dual freewheels on the rear hub.. thats cool, do that.

 

[pizark]

Is there such a thing as a crank motor?

closest thing i've heard of is that cyclone,... but a motor built into the bottom bracket or as part of the front chainring would be great. balance wise, weight would be nice; low and centered.

I would love a bike that used a Schlumpf (sp?) high speed crank and nuvinci rear hub,... but the thought of fork failure with a front wheel hub (at speed), freaks me out.

 

[pizark]

oh,... another option (albeit, an expensive one) may be the stokemonkey kit for the xtracycle. Can't remember the webpage, but just try googling it. I'd love to have this setup, except the xtracycle would make my bike a bit too big for my office cubicle.

 

[Iron Yeti]

So the suggestion is running it from either a second rear freewheel gear or from my crank?

I guess mounting it in the center triangle might be a possibility. There's not really the space for it anywhere else.

 

[Robbie Hatfield]

The Optibike has the motor imbedded in a special bottom bracket designed for the bike.

Robbie

 

[Iron Yeti]

The Optibike has the motor imbedded in a special bottom bracket designed for the bike.

Robbie

Doubtful I will scrap my current project and purchase a pre fab bike unless I win the lottery. I wonder if the motor will fit in the wedge right above my bottom bracket.

 

[ateene]

Here is my bike with cyclone 500W dual freewheel setup.

 

[GaryMedia]

I have a Cyclone 500W kit installed in the standard manner, and I like your topology better because it offers an opportunity to fix the chain alignment problem that I have. That mounting bracket for the motor looks like custom work!

Currently the front crank on my bike is much further from the centerline of the bike relative to the rear 2-3 gears on the cassette that I typically use. It seems that in using your strategy, I could get the rear chain loop closer to the centerline of the bike without any hassle with the front crank/bracket. It also seems that I'd have to reverse the rotation of the motor, and get the dual gear setup for the motor.

Where did you get the dual gears, and how do you reverse the rotation of the motor?

 

[ateene]

I got the motor with the dual-freewheel for cyclone-tw.com, and I did not need to reverse the motor. This bike has a fair bit of room between the front crank and the real wheel so it was fairly easy mount the motor. I used the motor mount that came with the motor which I attached to an aluminum adapter plate. The adapter plate is bolted to the kickstand support.