Giant Anthem X BMC V3

[tycreek]

I picked up another CL bike to host my extra ebike parts... A Giant Anthem X that weighs in at about 26lbs.

I previously had Ilia fit my BMC motor and controller to 26" wheels and a new CA. All good there!
Decided to try the LiteSkin Big Apples with this one.

I've had limited time to tinker with the new bike but managed to get the tires mounted and torque arms ready with a moment here and there this last week. The bike has been sitting upside-down for a couple weeks and can now stand on its own upside right. The tires are noticeably lower weight... though the rear wheel is sure heavy compared to the featherweight that was there. The Greenfield kickstand worked well before so I got another for this bike.

Only a small bit of grinding was needed to fit some torque arms.

I notice that the Anthem frame has considerably more tire room than the Trance did. On my trance, the fenders just barely fit. In fact the tire was just touching at the bottom so I cut out the lower section of the fender right before the bottom cross brace because with tire pressure above 30psi it would touch. I don't plan on this bike having fenders but they would certainly fit this Anthem better than the Trance.

This will probably go together slow...
I need to decide where to mount the controller and power up switches so I can start on the wires. I'm thinking low on the downtube by the peddles vs the rear seatpost location I use last. Haven't decided about lights yet ... have a MS and some extra Cree's for another lightweight headlight like I made for the Trance with maybe the DC/DC under the seat? Ah... long time off to worry about that I guess.

I'm thinking about removeing the triangle bag on my other bike and make my own smaller battery mount that will work on both bikes. The 50V Lipo has been working great and will just fit this slightly smaller frame in the right angle part of the triangle above the shock.

 

[NeezyDeezy]

If I ever got around to it, this would be the exact bike I'd build to replace my hard-tail 9C bike. Looks great so far.

 

[tycreek]

Finally took a day and finished solders and wrapped this bike up.
Decided to put everything into a trunk bag after several placements...

Spliced in 10awg wire and a step up for the 5 wire length too...

No place to hide the wires and they need a place to flex with the suspension.

So... now it's finally ready to be ridden!

I took it for a short ride and it works great! I'm certainly going to like this one better than my Trance.

The trunk bag has enough room for 3 paralleled 14s 10Ah batteries but that's over the rack's max capacity. The 3rd pack fits nicely in the triangle for the rare long distance ride. One pack works fine for daily commute and I'll add a 2nd in place of the foam spacer for days with errands too.

Time to see what it weighs. This is after a test ride with 1 battery and a stop to bump up the amp limit from 6A to 30A. It was the first power up and I had a little "aw crap" moment when it cut out right after I gave it a bit of juice. Sure glad it was only the CA limit!
Here's about 4lbs with a board to balance the bike on.

With the bike it's a hair over 51lbs so the net weight would be about 48lbs

 

[kfong]

After all the problems I went through with a rear rack setup on my BMC build. If you plan to do any trail riding. I would seriously relocate the batteries. If it's only a city bike, you should be ok as long as you avoid any large bumps. My rack total weight was only 10lbs, but I ride rather hard in the trails. First to go will be your clamp bolt.

 

[tycreek]

Thanks for the warning... and I hear ya! Though I figured the pin would be the weak link vs. the bolt ... hum... interesting. Well... I'm going to try this for awhile and hopefully I can notice some degree of loosening before it just snaps on me one day!

Many rides with dual batteries on my trance with the slightly weaker V-drop rack before deciding to wire this one up. My worst case is hitting speed bumps and drain washes and with dual batteries in my Trance's bag it has not slipped or showing any signs of issue yet. The street ride is quite smooth for the trunk and me... but I'll ponder some way to reenforce the rack if I ever attempt rougher terrain or just put the battery in the triangle.

 

[tycreek]

I found out real quick that the front wheel comes up and fast if I pop the throttle. I don't usually take off like that but had to find out if the front wheel comes up. Will have to set up my valet switch on this bike for sure, prior to letting somebody ride it. The CA's amp limit is set to 32 and my Trance is at 30.
[youtube]EYlRNF-vK74[/youtube]

 

[Racer_X]

Very nice build tycreek,
Good thing your in good shape one of those wheelies could really wreck your day if not careful.

 

[litespeed]

So what is your top speed and range?

Tom

 

[tycreek]

I've never tried a true long range test of this bike or my Trance ... but the electric parts are the same so I'd guess similar long run results. On my Trance I've ran at near 30mph for about 40mi with one short stop and the longest was just about 50mi at a very slow relaxed speed of other bikes making for an all day outing (didn't reset my CA so I can only guess the wh/mi was in the low teens). So... I don't know the range really, but it could be roughly calculated based on wh/mi and my consumption of 20-30wh/mi depending on how fast I go (3x ~52V 10Ah batteries). I've never hit LVC and don't usually use more than about 60% on any cycle.

I did however set my wheel-size and this morning, held the throttle open for a short span to see 41mph before I backed off. That's fast enough for me. The CA is set to limit at 32A because the 50A controller would certainly melt things pretty quick. This was done with just one 10Ah battery connected at about the 5mi mark into discharge (I stopped a mile or so into my commute to reset the CA).

I've not verified this CA wheel setting by GPS yet ... but it should be really close, because this is the same size tire as my GPS verified Trance.

<Edit> GPS verifies that this CA reading pictured, shows speed lower than actual... but not by much

 

[tycreek]

Update after a couple hundred miles...

Wow! I like to ride this bike! It just feels right... must remember to ease into the throttle on takeoff or lean far forward. The 30A CA limit, via Ilia's mod, is perfect. The 52t chainring and 11t freewheel is a nice match until near the upper speeds topping 40mph. The suspension is smooth and the bike simply handles great! One 14s0p 10Ah pack handles my daily commuting needs (9-10mi) with some juice to spare (hasn't hit LVC during the last sprint to the house even on my one battery w/200+cycles).

My throttle was sticking a bit and has been fine since I sprayed a little dry lube on it.

The controller got pretty warm on 100 degree days so I wrapped it (3 sides) in some lick'n stick heatsinks. I used 20 heatsinks that were $1 and just under 1.5" square with sticky-back already on them.

Bottom as positioned in the bag

Side & top

This layer of heatsinks either works or keeps me from feeling the heat? Previously the controller was at the point of uncomfortable to hold after a ride and now it just feels a little warm.

 

[Pure]

Nice build. Were did you find 14S 10 Ah LiPo?

 

[tycreek]

Nice build. Were did you find 14S 10 Ah LiPo?

Try http://ebikessf.com

 

[Pure]

Thanks for the link. A bit spendy but I guess not if you consider it looks like a complete solution.

Any remarks on how they perform?

 

[tycreek]

Well I'm not a battery expert ... I have however messed with many packs of different chemistries over the years. When I got the first one of these I was completely hooked and I sold on here, my very nice lightly used other bike packs. Promptly thereafter, my second was from another ES member, at the same time I ordered a 3rd one. Anyway... I run a 30A CA limit (nice match for battery & motor) but that doesn't prevent hitting much higher controller capable peaks.

In that CA picture the Vmin doesn't reflect the operation minimum because that gets set due to the preload resistor I use for startup. The Vmin is usually around 49-50V if I reset after powered up. The Amax is, I'm sure, very peak as my controller is 50A. I can feel the CA kick in to regulate current/throttle when I open it up and that means it must be pulling considerably more for a little bit. I end my daily ride at 52V and seldom see below 49V while riding unless I'm pulling full throttle past 60% discharge (very rare for me). Now please understand that when I hit full throttle I don't watch my CA much! When I do glance at it... it's mostly to note watts.

I would say that the pack is a perfect match for my BMC motor. For a current loving DD, 2 in parallel should handle the draw. I do 2 or 3 for more distance and then there's like zero voltage sag with my bikes. Sure I've tried RC packs ... yes the C rate rocks on those... but they're aPITA. IMO... what you save in $ you pay for in other ways... I really like the plug & play of these... it's priceless. Last year these were the lightest, smallest, plug & play battery pack I could find period. The only problem I had was right off the start with the early first charger (Ilia replaced it promptly). Super easy, trouble free, daily operation since.

I continue to charge in a dutch oven as a safety precaution.

I've nothing bad to say about these packs... they've worked great for me at all temperatures 33-105+ degrees ... my cold day ride limit is 33 so I don't know how a pack would perform below that temperature. They store a full charge for a long time so I'm ready to ride as soon as possible without worrying about perfect charge timing.

 

[Pure]

That's awesome, I love your charging solution of using the dutch oven.

For a current loving DD, 2 in parallel should handle the draw.

That's what I was thinking, but daum, that's over a grand for a 20Ah battery! BUT again, for a complete solution that doesn't seem so bad.