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.
Great job! Best looking electric bike conversion that I’ve seen!
Thanks, and FYI, my wife was the aesthetician! She picked paint and made the wood pieces.
Is that title really appropriate?
I don’t know…. it made me click :) That’s got to be a good thing, I was a little disappointed once I got here.
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.
There are actually quite a few electric bikes on the market now. The regular motorcycle magazines even do test rides and review them. Here’s a Popular Mechanics buyers’s guide for electric bikes:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/motorcycles/reviews/electric-motorcycles-buyers-guide
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.
Nice. now thats a green beauty.
It would be nice we could get some details on his motor, battery and controller model/mfr, as well as his gear ratio?
Ok, more detail..
300A Alltrax 4884 controller
SEPEX DC Motor by D&D out of syracuse, Ny
China hipoweer lithium batteries 3.2v each @100AH and 3-5C
gear ratio is 12T/60T or 1:5 ratio.
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.
I want one, even thought the title of the article sounds like a dildo ad. Also he should use the area of the former gas tank for storage.
former gas tank will house the charger, like it used to with the lead-acid pack…
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.
Something like this but with some chrome trim. http://duplicolor.com/success-stories/servlet/FileDownloadServlet?cmd=image&res=L&key=TwGhnqaGQG
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.
how much does it weight?
and what was the range on leadacid?
You forgot to mount a playing card to the fork, so as to recreate the Brrrrap sound of an I.C. engine…
Great job!
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.
LifePo4 is not as radically structured as some other Li chemistries and wont flame up if punctures, ruptured, overcharged, etc…
i gotta admit, with a stain on the floor like that it sure looks real….