Nervagon's Directionless, and Doomed Build

[nervagon]

I read and reread the manual, but the chain guide I ordered from Bikee didn’t fit out of the box. The frame-facing side of the chain had zero clearance and just wedged against the inner piece of the guard. The cog could not spin at all. I had to file down the 2 posts that attach to the motor housing. Not sure what happened, but I had no other option but to modify the guard.

 

[nervagon]

Chain guard, torque arm/pulley, and HXR crankset installed. Zero Q-offset, and Q-factor is 185. A stance that should be very comfortable for me.

 

[Zambam]

Looking great! How much did the additional mounting hardware add to the weight? When will be the first test ride?

 

[nervagon]

Looking great! How much did the additional mounting hardware add to the weight? When will be the first test ride?

Thanks. The mounting hardware is all aluminum (except for the bolts), and it doesn't add any meaningful weight. It wasn't heavy enough in my hand to want to weigh it on the scale. Certainly worth the addition weight IMO to have a truly secure motor. Still though, I will be cutting off the excess bolt ends on the clamp to remove unnecessary grams.

I still need to replace the ancient components on this bike. Bars, grips, saddle, brakes, shifter, derailleur, cassette... and that involves internal routing too. The second generation of this bike, The Kona Shield (also discontinued), had a removable cable routing shield that ran the length of the downtube making it perfect for ebike conversions.

 

[neptronix]

Parts arrived!
Well packed and smells fresh from machining

This time we have metal BB cups and 123mm measured width instead of the 135mm w/some kind of plastic cups sent to me in the original kit. I like it.

Lightest bike guys are also very generous with spacers

 

[nervagon]

Parts arrived!
Well packed and smells fresh from machining

This time we have metal BB cups and 123mm measured width instead of the 135mm w/some kind of plastic cups sent to me in the original kit. I like it.

Lightest bike guys are also very generous with spacers

View attachment 348481

Their shipping is very fast to the LA area.

My bottom bracket cups from them were a very, very soft steel. My new stainless cups are night and day more rigid. I still think it's weird you have to use all those spacers to stabilize the chainring, but square-taper just kind of sucks.

 

[neptronix]

Honestly, i'm OK with it, i'll never stand on the pedals. Unsure if i need the pedal spacers at all.

 

[nervagon]

I think I also got the 123mm spindle from them, and it felt crazy wide for a non-boost bike.

 

[neptronix]

Oops, sorry, i mean to post on the other thread.
OK to nuke this sub-discussion so your thread stays clean?

 

[nervagon]

It's fine, I don't mind. Don't worry about it.

 

[nervagon]

Just boring cable guide mods.



Front derailleur cable guide delete.



Fully sleeved cable guide mod. Shift cable housing didn’t reach the new handlebars, so I needed to mod the cable guides on the frame to run a new fully sleeved cable housing.

 

[nervagon]

Unfortunately, I have to further modify the Bikee chain guard. In the largest 50t cassette cog, the inside of the chain rubs against the chain guard support. I’ll need to bust out the file again. This chain guide is poorly designed, and a pain in the ass.

 

[nervagon]

 

[nervagon]

I routed the rear brake line up the seat stay and into the internal frame port for the now deleted front derailleur.


This allowed me to use the old disk brake internal routing for the display and accessories cable. It just makes sense because this cable port is right next to the plugs on the motor.


Even the superhero cable with all the extra connections is merely the size of a regular bike cable, so it is easily internally routed.

 

[nervagon]

It also freed up the lower stay for just the wheel sensor.

 

[nervagon]

This will be my first time using TPU tubes to counteract the heavy schwalbe marathon plus tires. I used the zip tie trick to mount the marathons this time, and it is so much easier to mount this notoriously annoying to mount tire.

 

[nervagon]

Finally, the chain guard is fixed!



Box three prime 9 drive train installed and tuned. I suspect my derailleur hanger might be bent inwards because I have some rubbing in second and 3rd gear that I can’t correct. I wish I had that hanger alignment tool.

 

[neptronix]

Congrats on getting this far! Those rear gears are awesome!

 

[amberwolf]

I wish I had that hanger alignment tool.

This one? :lol:

 

[Zambam]

View attachment 348685

This will be my first time using TPU tubes to counteract the heavy schwalbe marathon plus tires. I used the zip tie trick to mount the marathons this time, and it is so much easier to mount this notoriously annoying to mount tire.

Please provide feedback on TPU tubes after you put some miles on them. Any pics / videos of zip tie trick?

 

[rivers]

You decided to not use the rear guide pulley?

 

[nervagon]

Please provide feedback on TPU tubes after you put some miles on them. Any pics / videos of zip tie trick?

Basically just zip tie to hold your progress. Marathons are so stiff that they need to be held in place.

 

[nervagon]

You decided to not use the rear guide pulley?

Bikee says there is no drag with the motor off. That is not the case with my motor. There is crazy drag. Adding another pulley will just introduce more drag and lost watts. The rear chainring pulley becomes essential for the medium and long mounts, because the further out the motor from the BB, the fewer chainring teeth will be engaged.

I’m actually kind of frustrated by the drag. I was expecting a system that freely pedaled without the motor running. I recall Bikee saying that it’s just a rubber seal causing it, but my BB bearing outer dust caps have a rubber seal and they don’t drag like this.

 

[amberwolf]

Maybe their sealing is done by making the seal much too large for the gap, so it is really squished by the parts it's between, and the resulting friction made very high.

And maybe they used a really sticky rubber, instead of something harder / less frictional.

Either of these should be "fixed" by rotating the part(s) contacting the seal enough times, so that it wears the seal away.

 

[nervagon]

I plan to keep my battery pack in the large trunk bag bolted to the rear rack. So it makes sense to run the battery cables up the rear of the seat tube. I don't have a lot of daylight between the tire and the seat tube, so I decided against sloppily running the wire up with zip ties or stick on cable guides. I designed this bespoke battery cable channel in blender. Doing a test print in PETG.