Feel The Hum Of Electricity Between Your Legs

Here’s a little eye candy for motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere. This is the newest iteration of [Julian’s] electric motorcycle. He obviously knows what he’s doing because everything fits into the frame in a way that is still very pleasing to the eye. But this is actually slimmed down from the original design. If you take a look a back at some of his older posts you’ll see that the four relatively small lithium batteries are a new addition.

The frame was designed to hold four lead-acid batteries. Those things really take up a lot of space and add considerable weight to the vehicle. His recent upgrade was also accompanied by a re-gearing that allows him to reach higher speeds (although he doesn’t say what the top speed actually is). You can’t really see it above, but [Julian] included a wooden insert where the tank on a gasoline motorcycle would have been. It houses control switches as well as a 48V voltmeter. It’s a fantastic finishing touch like the cherry on a sundae.

21 thoughts on “Feel The Hum Of Electricity Between Your Legs

  1. That is absolutely fantastic. I can’t believe we haven’t seen more of these, especially on the commercial side.

    Did I miss him mentioning the range?

    I wonder if moisture is an issue in the rain.

    1. Range is not tested yet. I drop .1v on each cell volts over ten miles of regular riding. I anticipate about 50miles or better from this arrangement of 48v@100AH cells.The motor can do about 300Amps, so on full juice without any regeneration on, I’d drain them out in 20 minutes.

      Alternatively I could keep a civil pace (under 100A) and go for an hour or so.

      As for top speed, my analog speedo is inaccurate but the GPS top speed I’ve hit is 56mph.

  2. He should do this next ot a Ninja as you can get carbon fiber rims and a lot of other CF parts to really lighten up the bike and reduce unsprung weight.

    Cool use of a old skool motorbike, but a lot of weight can be lost by using a modern aluminum bike frame and CF parts that are OTS.

  3. This is cool as hell. Now it’s time to doll it up with some chrome and some sublime paint. It was an original color on late 60’s – early 70’s Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars. Looks great on a Superbee and a Roadrunner.

  4. I just found out that you can recover bad phosphate cells, so maybe someone can use this to get cheap faulty large format cells and recover them for bike use.

    Seems that the “irreversible” discharge is not always so, there is a method to get them back.

  5. As much as I like the guy’s work and admire his skill, I would prefer not to sit atop a hunk of lithium batteries at high speed. Youtube what happens when they are punctured.

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