Sur-Ron - New Mid drive Bike

[3DTOPO]

I just got back from a ride in 6" of powder. I shot a video and will share the youtube link once I get it cut.

 

[aspencreek]

Nice! That's one way to keep the motor cool!

 

[Allex]

Offroader, looks like you ordered one? I am sure you will find a ton pros and cons with the sur-ron.
New bikes comes with DNM shocks, personally I liked fastace rear shock better.
I notice that you have your brake setup all wrong on the hub bike.
The front brake should be on the right, just like on any motorcycle and scooter. It is the standard for a reason.
The rear brake should be on the left side, you cannot control the power to the rear wheel twisting the throttle on the right side and at the same time having rear brake on the same side. So during wheelies or not controlled ones, you twist throttle with your right hand and control the rear wheel with your left hand.

 

[madin88]

The front brake should be on the right, just like on any motorcycle and scooter. It is the standard for a reason.

+1
However, if you have the front brake on the left side you could do burnout's much easier :lol:

 

[skeetab5780]

The front brake should be on the right, just like on any motorcycle and scooter. It is the standard for a reason.

+1
However, if you have the front brake on the left side you could do burnout's much easier :lol:

This is personal preference and sort of region based. So i run front brake on left also. I doubt the majority of the people saying they have to be on the right actually do controlled wheelies anyway, they prob dont

Also just to clarify almost all motorcycles do not have a right hand rear brake, they are right side foot brake...completely different

 

[SlowCo]

Also just to clarify almost all motorcycles do not have a right hand brake, they are right foot brake...completely different

You might want to check that again...
Almost all scooters and motorcycles have the front brake on the right (not wrong :wink: ) side lever!
And if the left side lever isn't the rear brake but the clutch lever then there is a right side foot brake pedal.

Bicycles seem to have rear and front brake levers the other way around. So it seems logical for people who came from bicycles to ebikes to make or keep the front brake at the left lever. But all motorcycle riders are used to the front brake at the right side lever. And indeed for a good reason.

 

[macribs]

Offroader you will notice the difference between hub and mid, and you will be surprised by how much better a mid drive handles big dumps and whoops. As for moto front wheelor vs lighter bicycle front wheel many will say it is a big difference, for me not big enough to ride with bicycle wheel as they are more prone to flats and punctures.

Thumb throttle I don't get. I think it must be that you are now so used to it you can't imagine twist anymore? I ride with one or two fingers covering the front brake with twist throttle and it works in all situations, same as when riding motorcycles. I also find it is best not to clamp down to the handlebars, be loosy goosy on the handlebar all the time, especially when things get really messy with lots of rapid whoops. Clamp onto the bike using your feet and let the front wheel "live it own life" rather then fighting every movement of the wheel. Makes the ride more predictable and much smoother.

 

[derb]

Performance with the X controller

Idling full throttle ~ 0.8kW
Full throttle uphill ~ 4.5kW
Eco full throttle uphill ~ 2,9kW

Measured between full battery and controller. At the end of the battery life, the power goes down to 3.7kW linear. Depending on the state of charge of the battery.


I'm thinking of building a 16s4p extender battery with 3.5Ah Sanyo cells. Would then be about 800Wh in addition. This would give me a range of about 60km (38 miles), which is sufficient for most of my routes. Sure, more is always better, but that's how it would be quick and cheap to realize. I built a dummy to see where I can best attach the battery:






To protect the rear suspension and the belt, I have cut open an old Fatbike tube and attached between the tail light and swingarm. It reliably keeps the dirt away:



View attachment 4



I bought a small Garmin Edge 520 on the Black Friday Deals and am very happy with it. I have the Openmtbmap installed on the device and can drive so well self-created tracks. In addition, there is statistics for all the values ​​you can imagine:


View attachment 1

 

[Offroader]

If you add an extender battery of 16s4p and put it in parallel.

I believe this means it will take half the current load, and the 16s11p pack inside the bike will take the other half.

You will really be pushing those Sanyo cells at the peak discharge, which is 10 amps per cell. Since the bike only draws 4.5KW based on your measurements, I thought it was 6KW, you will be pulling around 80 amps so you may be OK but those Sanyo cells will be pushed to the max most of the time.

 

[aspencreek]

Well look what Santa just delivered... I didn't shake the box but I think there might be a new Sur Ron X in there!

 

[3DTOPO]

Well look what Santa just delivered... I didn't shake the box but I think there might be a new Sur Ron X in there!

Woohoo!!! Congratulations!

 

[aspencreek]

Well look what Santa just delivered... I didn't shake the box but I think there might be a new Sur Ron X in there!

Woohoo!!! Congratulations!

Thanks! After test riding yours I was sold.

 

[3DTOPO]

Well look what Santa just delivered... I didn't shake the box but I think there might be a new Sur Ron X in there!

Woohoo!!! Congratulations!

Thanks! After test riding yours I was sold.

Moohahaha

Enjoy! I don't think you will be disappointed at all!

 

[Offroader]

Nice, take some pics when you open the box.

When they deliver the box, can you by yourself easily pull it up the driveway inside the box?

 

[aspencreek]

Nice, take some pics when you open the box.

When they deliver the box, can you by yourself easily pull it up the driveway inside the box?

I can take pics of the unboxing if you'd like. Anything in particular you want see? As for the weight, it is listed with Fedex Freight as 140 or 150 lbs. Driver dropped it down on a lift gate and then we each grabbed an end and carried it up my steep driveway. Once in the garage on flat ground I could move it around by myself without too much trouble.

 

[macribs]

Well look what Santa just delivered... I didn't shake the box but I think there might be a new Sur Ron X in there!

Don't trust santa, he is old and grumpy. Could be a painting of a bowl of fruits. You need to squeeze the package, shake it good and take just a little peak inside the wrapping before you get too excited. :lol:

Not only was santa early this year, be brought the good stuff too. Enjoy your very first ride.

 

[derb]

If you add an extender battery of 16s4p and put it in parallel.

I believe this means it will take half the current load, and the 16s11p pack inside the bike will take the other half.

You will really be pushing those Sanyo cells at the peak discharge, which is 10 amps per cell. Since the bike only draws 4.5KW based on your measurements, I thought it was 6KW, you will be pulling around 80 amps so you may be OK but those Sanyo cells will be pushed to the max most of the time.

The range extender battery will be connected in parallel.
The current is divided between both batteries and depends on the internal resistance of the battery. The larger (more cells in parallel) the battery is constructed and the lower the resistance of the cells is, the more current is taken from this.

At 80A peak total, that's 20-30A from the extender and 50-60A from the stock battery. So max 7.5A peak per cell in the extender battery. And the cells can deliver 10A continuously, so everything ok.

 

[fechter]

If you put two identical batteries in parallel, then they would be close to 50/50 sharing the current load. With non-identical batteries, yes, it will depend on the internal resistance, or how much the cells sag under load. If you used the same saggy cells as the stock pack, then the sharing would be in proportion to the number of parallel cells. With better cells, the extender pack might try to give more than "its' share" of current. Having some extra resistance in the wiring might be a good thing there to keep the load in the healthy range.

I'm working on building an extender pack using a bunch of marginal cells I have lying around in my garage. These are unused cells, but not the latest or greatest (Panasonic CGR18650A).

I picked up a 16s, single port BMS for the extender. Once the voltages are matched and the packs connected, I plan to charge both packs at the same time with the stock charger.

 

[Offroader]

Yes makes sense. I would of course use a clamp on amp meter just to get an idea about how many amps you are drawing from the booster pack. Derb, If you do that report back on how the amps got divided between the packs.

 

[madin88]

Yes makes sense. I would of course use a clamp on amp meter just to get an idea about how many amps you are drawing from the booster pack. Derb, If you do that report back on how the amps got divided between the packs.

Ideally the booster pack should be made of same cells or cells with similar discharge curve.
Otherwise i am afraid there could flow current's back and forth within the two packs.
The amp meter should tell you what happens :thumb:

 

[Offroader]

Got my Sur Ron X version in orange up and running today.

The bike came with all the stickers on it which is fine with me because I wanted to put them on anyway.

 

[fechter]

Nice!

I bet it won't stay that clean for very long.
You'll probably need to crank up the spring on the rear shock as they compress it for shipping.

 

[Offroader]

Nice!

I bet it won't stay that clean for very long.
You'll probably need to crank up the spring on the rear shock as they compress it for shipping.

Nope, I was thinking the same thing.

I wanted to ask you, do you think it would be highly likely I can put an ebike thumb throttle on the bike? Do you think the controller takes the normal hall throttle voltages?

How easy would it be to figure out the wiring, would a voltage meter be enough?

Thanks.

I already started taking the bike off-road

 

[3DTOPO]

I wanted to ask you, do you think it would be highly likely I can put an ebike thumb throttle on the bike? Do you think the controller takes the normal hall throttle voltages?

How easy would it be to figure out the wiring, would a voltage meter be enough?

Congrats! First impressions?

The throttle is a standard motorbike using a co-axial cable. I guess it ultimately goes to a hall sensor, but not sure if you are aware the stock throttle is a cable.

 

[aspencreek]

Nice!

I bet it won't stay that clean for very long.
You'll probably need to crank up the spring on the rear shock as they compress it for shipping.

Any other suggestions for setting up the bike? Did you guys grease up axles? Just unboxed mine and getting it ready to ride.