I electrified my recumbent bike... Much fun :)

[hiremichaelreid]

I've been absent from PriusChat lately to work on my latest project:

I electrified my recumbent bike... It's a blast !


Here's my project thread on another site: Endless-sphere.com • View topic - E-Cumbent Vision R40: 80v*30a, Xlyt 404, 20", C7220PF

I spent about $800 Canadian on Lithium Manganese batteries, about 3600 watts peak capability and over 600 real measured watt-hours. Good for 60 kilometers if I keep the speeds down and don't have too many hills to climb.

Motor was $270, controller and two throttles were $175.

I figure a nice entry level system with two batts (12 mile range) and one charger would cost about $280 + $95 + $15 + $250 = $640 Canadian plus perhaps $60 of misc parts for total of $700, if anyone else wants to consider such a conversion. Add $110 for every extra 6 miles range, if you stick to 15-20 MPH. I did it myself (no labor charges or markups on pre-packaged) and knew almost nothing about bike mechanics 4 weeks ago.

Will be taking my 2 kids in a trailer for fun days through the bike paths and parks here on the Ottawa River and in Gatineau Hills. Did that last weekend with foot power alone, and 50 KM did me in; now I have electric power

I figure I could get the bike to 80 KMH (50 MPH, if I was crazy) but 20-30-40 KMH at most is plenty for me.

Laws here in Ontario and Quebec allow me to ride this without licence or insurance up to 20 MPH and 500 watts on motor. AND I can ride on the NCC bike paths, but only up to 12.5 MPH.


Now I just gotta fix the flat I got from a massive pothole riding in the dark early this AM.

[qbee42]

I'd like to do this with our Double Vision recumbent tandem. We love the tandem, but there are hills in every possible direction, and hill climbing is not a strength for recumbent bicycles, let alone recumbent tandems. Electric power would give us enough of a boost to take the curse out of all those hills. The extra weight won't make much difference on the flat, and downhill....YEEEEHAAAA.

Tom

[hiremichaelreid]

Originally Posted by qbee42

I'd like to do this with our Double Vision recumbent tandem. We love the tandem, but there are hills in every possible direction, and hill climbing is not a strength for recumbent bicycles, let alone recumbent tandems. Electric power would give us enough of a boost to take the curse out of all those hills. The extra weight won't make much difference on the flat, and downhill....YEEEEHAAAA.

Tom

Do it ! If you have the cash and time...

Yes, precisely, I don't mind pedalling, but the hills are killer, especially 10% and up inclines. That said, I haven't pedalled much since going electric.


When I mentioned hills, most people recommended geared motors which are more expensive and noisier and can't do regen braking. But I went with direct drive hub motor and it's working very well IMO. I can still get up 10% hills, although at about 7-8 MPH without pedalling with 40 volts (2 batteries), but it DOES drain the battery quickly. I think a geared motor might have better efficiency on hills and thus you could get better range with geared if you have a lot of steep hills to climb. For me, generally, the steep hills are relatively few.

[qbee42]

So, from your pictures, it looks like the hub motor is installed on the front wheel. Is this correct? That would make installation much easier. Did you buy a new wheel with the hub installed, or rework the existing wheel?

We have a lot of hills, but they tend to be fairly short. Nothing in this area is higher than a few hundred feet of vertical elevation.

I like the concept of regeneration. Many of our hills have stops at the bottom, and it kills me to waste all of that hard earned energy. On occasion we have coasted to 44 mph going downhill.

Tom

[hiremichaelreid]

Originally Posted by qbee42

So, from your pictures, it looks like the hub motor is installed on the front wheel. Is this correct? That would make installation much easier. Did you buy a new wheel with the hub installed, or rework the existing wheel?

We have a lot of hills, but they tend to be fairly short. Nothing in this area is higher than a few hundred feet of vertical elevation.

I like the concept of regeneration. Many of our hills have stops at the bottom, and it kills me to waste all of that hard earned energy. On occasion we have coasted to 44 mph going downhill.

Tom

Yes, that's right; front wheel hubs are much easier to install. Rear hubs have more space issues and would have required a 7 speed freewheel and re-vamping of my shifting mechanisms. Front gives me better weight distribution front to back, but I need weight on the front for traction.

Front vs. rear wheel is much like cars. Front is more practical, but rear often gives some better performance (not much).

If you look closely you may see four 10mm wrenches and two 21 or 22mm wrenches. Two of the 10mm are just spaces for the "lawyer lips". The next two 10mm are "torque arms" to ensure accel and braking torque doesn't mess up my dropouts. This is a "jury rig" but seems to work OK and adds to the "gear head" look.


I bought a hub motor with the wheel installed. Most are sold this way, but you CAN get motor separately, Much easier for this bike mech newbie. I may learn "wheel lacing" later. Wheel is about 1.5" wide, original was under 1" wide, so I needed a new wheel and tire anyway, and it's easier to re-convert back to regular bike if I want.


I also dearly desire regen, like on my Prius, but just electric braking with the electric going to waste heat would be an improvement too. (And once batts are fully charged you want to dump the energy anyway (like Prius), or risk overcharging your batteries.

Some of the latest controllers do regen, with varying degrees of success. Justin from ebikes.ca is doing a cross Canada e-bike run and has a new experimental controller that if I recall, gives him about 10% added range.

I may build my own e-braking solution. Heck, a big amp switch across the 3 motor leads should work well, except that it's maximum braking with no variable control. Smooth variable braking, and good battery regen are just arriving now it seems, although clunkier solutions are out there now.

[Godiva]

Why would you want to go 20 mph? I can see it if you're commuting. But if you're just riding for pleasure, you'll miss all of the scenery. Isn't that the point in a relaxing bike ride?

[hiremichaelreid]

Originally Posted by Godiva

Why would you want to go 20 mph? I can see it if you're commuting. But if you're just riding for pleasure, you'll miss all of the scenery. Isn't that the point in a relaxing bike ride?

20 MPH is about the MAXIMUM I usually go. I DO go slower, but the bike falls over under 3 MPH or so... Do we walk at 0.1 MPH just to enjoy the walk more ? That would be a bit tedious.

When I take my kids for fun rides, I may target about 10-15 MPH to increase the scenery quotient, increase the range, and stay a bit safer. But heck, they enjoy speed and wind too !

Yes, scenery and relaxation are wonderful and it's #1 reason I ride. Performance is fun too, and my bike is more fun than my previous 320+ HP sports car, given that I rarely pushed the performance abilities of that car.

My biking preference is late night, and at that time, their is often little scenery to see.

I'm doing range tests, also, and trying out my 18 mile work commute. I WILL be commuting at least occasionally with this bike, but for fun, not to save money, and certainly not to save time.

[hyo silver]

Originally Posted by Godiva

Why would you want to go 20 mph?..

Here's where our interests diverge. I'd like to take a streamlined, fully enclosed recumbent to the top of the steepest, longest mountain pass I can find, point it straight downhill, and try for a hundred and twenty. My fastest so far on a standard touring bike loaded with gear is about 70. Cyclissimo! (To cycle as fast as possible)

[perryma]

I'd like to do this (electrify) to my stationary exercise bike.

[snijd]

I also electrified my bike, an upright Raleigh, with a 550W Heinzmann hub. It has enough power, but the battery life isn't all that great. I'd love to replace the NiCads with something lighter and with greater capacity. Could probably swap in some NiMH solder-tab D cells, but then the charger might need to be replaced. Heinzmann offers this as a retrofit. How big are the lithium-manganese batteries, and how do you charge them?

People seem to think this is the lazy man's way, but I just rode faster, and still arrived sweaty when I was commuting with this setup. I'll probably resume commuting with it next week, now that I have a convenient workplace again--through residential streets, and down and back up a big hill. If only I had regenerative braking...