DIY Electric Motorcycle

[Speedtospare]

Vlad

Yes its going to be road legal. If I use the li-ion batteries it will be much lighter than stock. All signal lights will be made by myself out of focused 8-10 mm led. I have some test units working already. The headlight will be a problem. LED's dont project really far, I will worry about that later. I will need a flash controller for the led's.

Zacm7 : thanks I will call envy after I get the frame painted and the motor mounted.

Inreb: the HP is very misleading. Some people have the Etek-R motor running 72V and achieving over 120 kms/hr although there distance is only about 12-15 miles. I will run 48V max whick kills acceleration and add more batteries in parallel to give me longer run times.

Kri$han : I was thinking about a CVT but decided against if for now due to my limited budget. Some poeple have basically taken the stock motor removed the head and rods leaving and left the crank in place. Then the electric motor is attached to the crank via a chain and sprocket. They retain there factory gear box. Neat idea but it adds weight and the low gears are not needed due to the extra torque of the electric motor. It also limits battery space.

[Vlad]

Yes its going to be road legal. If I use the li-ion batteries it will be much lighter than stock.

Nice. I wonder how much good Li-ion batteries are going to cost.

I will need a flash controller for the led's.

That shouldn't be a problem. I don't even think they make mechanical (impendance dependent) turn signal controllers any more.

[Speedtospare]

[QUOTE=Vlad;1126697]Nice. I wonder how much good Li-ion batteries are going to cost.



Almost 80 bucks for twelve A123 3.3V 2300 mA cells. Expensive.

If anyones 36V dewalt Li-ion pack stops working I will buy it off of them. They use the same cells in the drills.

[mandwer]

What kWh rating are you shooting for?
Is a 72 tooth sprocket really the way to go? I would have thought that you would decrease number of teeth for more top end. Or are you ditching the transmission to?

[Speedtospare]

What kWh rating are you shooting for?
Is a 72 tooth sprocket really the way to go? I would have thought that you would decrease number of teeth for more top end. Or are you ditching the transmission to?

Yep, the transmission is gone as well. Single Gear, but I can rig it up so it has reverse, but its still the same gear lol.

[Kri$han]

Kri$han : I was thinking about a CVT but decided against if for now due to my limited budget. Some poeple have basically taken the stock motor removed the head and rods leaving and left the crank in place. Then the electric motor is attached to the crank via a chain and sprocket. They retain there factory gear box. Neat idea but it adds weight and the low gears are not needed due to the extra torque of the electric motor. It also limits battery space.

Neat indeed... so, I take it you're not going to do that, or are you?

Would you be interested in fabrication plans (machining and assembly details) for a low-power CVT, used in University SAE Baja competition?

I *might* be able to get my hands on a set of plans from my university days. Two of my close friends fron Waterloo championed the UW Baja car in 2006.

[Speedtospare]

Neat indeed... so, I take it you're not going to do that, or are you?

Would you be interested in fabrication plans (machining and assembly details) for a low-power CVT, used in University SAE Baja competition?

I *might* be able to get my hands on a set of plans from my university days. Two of my close friends fron Waterloo championed the UW Baja car in 2006.

Thanks but that would put me way over budget. I found out with past project that its just best to keep it simple and get the thing running. Modding later is easier.

[Speedtospare]

OK, small update and some pics. I managed to get a few hours of work done tonight while the kids watched a movie. I have the kids all weekend so there won't be any work completed over the weekend.

There is some slight surface rust and a ton of grease and crud. Good news, no leaking fork seals (yeah!) but it will need tires.

I am debating on disassembling the whole bike to paint the frame. This is a budget build so every penny counts. Hmm black or silver frame.

The bike is so light I can almost pick it up. The sock weight was 495 lbs. I'm not sure if that was dry or wet.

Here is the bike is stock trim.





After an hour and a half we have a partially stripped bike. Thats right! she's a bucket.

[Speedtospare]

After the kids went to bed I decided to test make an LED signal light. I use the rear signal marker from my 06 1000RR soldiered up some 8mm amber LED's, wires, resistors, and drilled a few holes for mounting. Keep in mind this was more of a test than anything. I have some 10mm LED's with a more focused beam that I cam going to try. For the 10mm LED's I am going to make a flat mounting surface so they aim straight back.

The pictures don't so it justice, its much bright than it looks.

[Vlad]

Nice work with turn signals. However, unless you plan to put in Luxeon LEDs you'll be better off with a plug in solution like this:



Comes down to ~$5 a bulb, free shipping and no duty, from here.

[Speedtospare]

Where's the fun in that? I can build brighter ones than those if need be. Mine cost me about 19 cents to make lol.