I’m more ragging on the fact that this is an electric motorcycle/motocross built using bicycle parts.
I’d always assumed that a bicycle needed pedals…

That thing is dangerously overpowered.

Not sure if a helmet would have saved her elbow..

I think moving that fast on a bike is bitchin. Could’ve been a hater with that song until I realized that was a rather attractive lady riding the bike…

I wore the jacket because it was November, and it is the one I wear when riding my motorcycle, so I already had it on. as for the music… that’s all my dad’s. he took the video and did the editing. I don’t own a video camera, so I had to contract that part out ;)

I’m fairly sure that in most countries this would count as a moped, so you really shouldn’t use it on public roads. Apart from that it looks quite fun.

30mph is 50km/h, right? I go that fast on my bike, with a bit of a boost from gravity, all the time.

Still, wicked build. But it’s certainly not too fast, IMO.

Why don’t you just pedal?
It’s nice but it defeates the purpose of the bike.

Knobby tires are no good on paved surfaces. I’d put a street tire on the back wheel(or something less aggressive) unless this is strictly a trail bike. Same reason why dirt bikes are no good on streets.

Also, what’s with the frame? The seat looks particularly floaty.

Buckeyes rock!!!

As for the 30 MPH top speed, I used to be able to do that with only a small amount of help from gravity on a road. I could do 25mph on a flat for around a 1/2 mile. A road bike would have let me go much faster if i wanted to.

As for the build, I think the lack of working peddles is an issue, say the bike runs out of juice 2 miles from home? Well you could walk it, but i’d rather just peddle home, it’s easier than pushing a heavy ebike home. It looks like it was about $4000 in parts, i’m thinking a low end dirt bike would be about that used, and be a lot more fun.

grins in wry amusement at the 30Mph toss-off.

When I was building this, everyone said I should add pedals too. This really wasn’t the point of the project. I wanted something fast and fun for playing around off road. A dirt bike is cheaper and more powerful, but where’s the fun in that? I wanted to build electric to see if I could. Adding a separate drive train for pedal power would have made things more complicated than I wanted.

This is great, legal in the U.S.? no, but who cares? Gotta be heavy with all the batteries she packed into it, might have been better to use an old motorcycle frame, couple of hard knocks could break the frame, I how she goes for that next time, as long as it passes inspection (and assuming she can get the thing insured) she can plate it and drive it around the U.S. i wonder how long the battery life is?

Here in michigan i think that might be considered a motorcycle (no joking…)

IDK how the state rates electric bikes, but if you were to slap a 51cc motor on a regular pedal bike, its instantly a motorcycle, other wise <50cc is a moped.

That is pretty wicked though, i thought about building an electric bike but its way to expensive…

Maby this link will help some
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws

For better off-road performance, I would go to motocross components for the wheels/fork/shocks. Also a bigger battery. Electric motors pack a huge punch, but they are only as good as the batteries. The small cells I used were tedious to build into a pack. I would try to get larger cells next time. A123 makes a 20AH pouch style battery, but I don’t know where to get them. Other companies make similar products. You could try http://www.falconev.com they might be able to get higher capacity A123′s or equivalent

A123 cells seem pretty hard to get. Headway has 12Ah cylindricals that look pretty nice. They have mounting hardware so you can hold them securely, and screw terminals so you can connect them together with small bus bars.

I disagree with the laws on ebikes (in most areas) A lot of them were obviously written by people who know nothing about electric motors, and not much more about cycling in general.

I think if you’re riding like a jackass, you should get a ticket (motorized or not). If you’re riding nicely, it shouldn’t matter what your bike is capable of. (Just like a car)

My bike is considerably faster than this one (in top speed at least) but you would never know it if I didn’t tell you, since I ride within the legal limit any time I’m on public roads.

Hmmm…..
A woman who builds stuff.
Not just stuff cool stuff.
Rides motorcycles.
Isn’t afraid of some risk.
Sounds about perfect.
I don’t care if it’s legal or has pedals.
Doesn’t seem to be the point of the exercise.