kgb
1 µW
Hi all, first post so bear with me.
BACKGROUND:
I'm a reasonably fit racing cyclist with experience working in bike shops so mechanic work is no problem and I have all the bike specific tools on hand. I'm a high school science teacher with some knowledge of electronics although, TBH, it's probably my weakest area.
I've built my first ebike with two purposes in mind:
1. Commuting - 52km round trip, mostly flat roads and shared paths. Alternatives are motorcycle or normal bicycle, which I have been alternating between for the last 3 years.
2. Motor-paced cycle training - as in, I lead on the ebike and run paced sessions for other riders with sprint drills (eg them sprinting to overtake me etc).
THE BIKE:
The bike I've built is based on a steel framed, single speed, flat bar road bike. Based on that donor, I have since built a new rear wheel with a Nexus 3 speed hub and added a basic Cyclone mid-drive kit from Luna Cycle. No PAS etc. 52V battery with 14Ah which gives me enough juice to make the commute with some pedalling input. I tried it with virtually no pedalling effort last week and it drained the battery about 2km short of home. With the 3 speed hub, the bike will top out at ~58km/h on the flat.
THE PROBLEM:
The bike I wanted (and have ended up with) for motor pacing is good. The bike I have built is not so good for commuting - as expected it's just way too fast, 60km/h is just stupid on shared paths and is asking for trouble from the cops if I go that fast on the street. This is definitely a "problem" I was expecting and I can ride it safely as it is - but I know I can make it better/easier/nicer to commute on. The throttle is a half grip, twist throttle and is super twitchy with this much power. When cruising along and trying to hold partial throttle, small bumps are enough to make it jerk around. I've been riding various motorbikes for many years now so it's not an issue of persisting and "getting used to it"; the high power/torque and low weight of the ebike combine with this throttle to just make it annoying to use.
While I'm aware of people's opinions about ebikes with throttle only being equivalent to a moped, I'd like to have the option of being able to commute to work with absolute minimal pedalling, in my work clothes, without arriving sweating buckets. If I can do this, it's another day I can leave the motorbike at home.
SOLUTIONS:
1. A throttle with a longer turn/wrap action would allow better control but I'm not aware of any and have spent some time searching already. Unless I start buying throttles to test and see, I don't think this option will work.
2. Throttle Tamer, as formerly produced by a forum member - appear to be no longer available.
3. Cycle Analyst. This is what I'm leaning towards as the easiest and quickest solution. Ideally I'd set the CA (or whatever other option) so that I could run the bike with full throttle giving me around 35-40km/h on the flat. I think this is a good cruising speed for the open stretches.
QUESTIONS:
1. What method of limiting/restriction. My understanding is that I can either set a limit by wheel speed or by current. Speed limiting would allow me more juice to maintain speed up hills - but honestly there aren't too many. Would speed limiting have a sharp cut off once I hit the limit? I'd like it to be as smooth to ride as possible. I'm thinking current limiting might be better. It would extend the range by a more consistent amount, I think and would help to smooth out the throttle action a bit (ie full range of throttle could go from 0V-3V instead of 0V-5V)
2. Which CA do I need? V2 or V3? I don't care about logging any data, monitoring anything during the ride. I purely want to modify/limit the response to tame the beast. I'd also like to switch it back to full power easily. Ideally I'd have a low power for a legal setting and maybe tooling around to the shops, mid power for the 50km commute and full power for motor paced training. Actually, altering the throttle ramp up to make smoother launches would be nice as well - optional extra.
3. What am I forgetting? Am I misunderstanding anything?
TL;DR
Need to tame a 52V Cyclone mid drive, thinking of using a CA to control power settings via current. Will this work, which CA do I need?
TIA for taking the time to read my post and offer any advice!
BACKGROUND:
I'm a reasonably fit racing cyclist with experience working in bike shops so mechanic work is no problem and I have all the bike specific tools on hand. I'm a high school science teacher with some knowledge of electronics although, TBH, it's probably my weakest area.
I've built my first ebike with two purposes in mind:
1. Commuting - 52km round trip, mostly flat roads and shared paths. Alternatives are motorcycle or normal bicycle, which I have been alternating between for the last 3 years.
2. Motor-paced cycle training - as in, I lead on the ebike and run paced sessions for other riders with sprint drills (eg them sprinting to overtake me etc).
THE BIKE:
The bike I've built is based on a steel framed, single speed, flat bar road bike. Based on that donor, I have since built a new rear wheel with a Nexus 3 speed hub and added a basic Cyclone mid-drive kit from Luna Cycle. No PAS etc. 52V battery with 14Ah which gives me enough juice to make the commute with some pedalling input. I tried it with virtually no pedalling effort last week and it drained the battery about 2km short of home. With the 3 speed hub, the bike will top out at ~58km/h on the flat.
THE PROBLEM:
The bike I wanted (and have ended up with) for motor pacing is good. The bike I have built is not so good for commuting - as expected it's just way too fast, 60km/h is just stupid on shared paths and is asking for trouble from the cops if I go that fast on the street. This is definitely a "problem" I was expecting and I can ride it safely as it is - but I know I can make it better/easier/nicer to commute on. The throttle is a half grip, twist throttle and is super twitchy with this much power. When cruising along and trying to hold partial throttle, small bumps are enough to make it jerk around. I've been riding various motorbikes for many years now so it's not an issue of persisting and "getting used to it"; the high power/torque and low weight of the ebike combine with this throttle to just make it annoying to use.
While I'm aware of people's opinions about ebikes with throttle only being equivalent to a moped, I'd like to have the option of being able to commute to work with absolute minimal pedalling, in my work clothes, without arriving sweating buckets. If I can do this, it's another day I can leave the motorbike at home.
SOLUTIONS:
1. A throttle with a longer turn/wrap action would allow better control but I'm not aware of any and have spent some time searching already. Unless I start buying throttles to test and see, I don't think this option will work.
2. Throttle Tamer, as formerly produced by a forum member - appear to be no longer available.
3. Cycle Analyst. This is what I'm leaning towards as the easiest and quickest solution. Ideally I'd set the CA (or whatever other option) so that I could run the bike with full throttle giving me around 35-40km/h on the flat. I think this is a good cruising speed for the open stretches.
QUESTIONS:
1. What method of limiting/restriction. My understanding is that I can either set a limit by wheel speed or by current. Speed limiting would allow me more juice to maintain speed up hills - but honestly there aren't too many. Would speed limiting have a sharp cut off once I hit the limit? I'd like it to be as smooth to ride as possible. I'm thinking current limiting might be better. It would extend the range by a more consistent amount, I think and would help to smooth out the throttle action a bit (ie full range of throttle could go from 0V-3V instead of 0V-5V)
2. Which CA do I need? V2 or V3? I don't care about logging any data, monitoring anything during the ride. I purely want to modify/limit the response to tame the beast. I'd also like to switch it back to full power easily. Ideally I'd have a low power for a legal setting and maybe tooling around to the shops, mid power for the 50km commute and full power for motor paced training. Actually, altering the throttle ramp up to make smoother launches would be nice as well - optional extra.
3. What am I forgetting? Am I misunderstanding anything?
TL;DR
Need to tame a 52V Cyclone mid drive, thinking of using a CA to control power settings via current. Will this work, which CA do I need?
TIA for taking the time to read my post and offer any advice!
