Hybrid Electric Bicycles

[efusco]

Bob, are you intentionally leaving the rear view mirrors off? I find them darn helpful when riding on the road.

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by efusco

Bob, are you intentionally leaving the rear view mirrors off? I find them darn helpful when riding on the road.

I didn't see how they attached. There is a pin for the brake handles and another clamp for the light controls and throttle. I agree the rear view mirrors would be very useful but I just didn't see how they were supposed to attach.

IMHO, the 'Owner's Manual' is a bit sparse on details. I understand the original may be written in Chinese but having an illustrated parts break-down and schematic would be very useful. I feel like I need to take it apart and make my own documentation.

Overall, I'm not impressed with the instrumentation and technical data. There is no speedometer; no odometer; the battery charge level indicator has no engineering units; and no motor or electronics temperature. Also, when I brake, I feel a 'clunk' suggesting something is not as tight as it needs to be.

Still, it worked quite nicely on Sunday. Monday morning I had to pickup some stuff at Krogers, a mile away, and it worked perfectly for this short trip. In the past, I might have driven a 3,000 lb car over and back and now it is just the ebike and the dog on a leash.

I also see this as potentially a test rig for some of my refurbished, NHW11 batteries and other things I'm curious about.

Bob Wilson

[efusco]

Bob,
I'll send a copy of my instructions, apparently you didn't get them. There's a screw that holds brake clamp tight. The rear view mirror essentially replaces that...you take out the screw and replace it with the threaded mirror stem.
I thought the instructions were clear, but I'll take a few close ups for you if you want.

The clunk is NOT normal...I'd call or e-mail Jim Devine ASAP.

I agree that it would be nice to have a little speedometer and a more accurate SOC gauge...those 4 lights on the big dial thing are pretty lame.

It would be great if someone could hack the control box or something and develop a Scan Gauge type thing for this....but it's beyond my skill level.

[bwilson4web]

Excellent! BTW, I submitted my request to join the Yahoo group.

I would like to suggest we see if Jim would join. If he could post some of his technical materials there, we would all benefit.

When I get home, I plan to look carefully at the rear fender clearance with the rear tire. I hadn't noticed it until looking at the photos but it sure looks close. I didn't hear any rubbing but that doesn't really tell us anything.

As for vehicle instrumentation, this is something I enjoy doing. I'll try to build a couple of units and share what I put together.

Do you have any sort of laptop or portable electronics device (aka., PDA or otherwise?) For engineering studies, I tend to use a Macintosh laptop, which is not really the right type of 'operational display' unit. But I have some ideas for a microprocessor and an ordinary bicycle and electronic speedometer(s).

Once we get the Yahoo group going, we can collaborate without 'hijacking' a PriusChat thread.

Bob Wilson

[efusco]

Bob, the instructions are in the files at the Yahoo! site, just download from there. If you need them I'll still take more pix either this afternoon or tomorrow.

I have a PDA.

[efusco]

You're approved Bob!

[efusco]

A couple better shots of my e-bike:

[zenMachine]

I'm so jealous...

So do you tend to pedal more or use the electric motor more when you ride this thing? It looks kinda heavy. Is it?

[bwilson4web]

So far, I tend not to pedal. The control electronics detects pedal motion and that triggers and extra surge of power to the motor. So if you were laboring up a hill, it would provide some extra 'ommph' to reach the top.

I did have one strange case of riding back and noticing it seemed to be 'full on.' Apparently the pedals were 'turning' because I didn't have me feet on them as I was going down the road. The pedal motion triggered the extra ommph and it felt like it wanted to 'run away.' It took me two blocks to figure it out and hold the pedals motionless. When you apply the brakes, it cuts power 'RIGHT THEN.'

Just one of those weird things.

Bob Wilson

[efusco]

Originally Posted by zenMachine

I'm so jealous...

So do you tend to pedal more or use the electric motor more when you ride this thing? It looks kinda heavy. Is it?

I actually did a little write up about the techniques you can use and what I actually tend to use on my Yahoo! forum.

But it's interesting, I tend to find myself sort of hypermiling the thing. I start out pedaling to break the inertia from a stop and I pedal until I'm up to speed. At one point you're going fast enough that the motor is spinning faster than you can pedal so pedaling does no good...you're just spinning the pedals.

When you go up steeper hills the bike will slow down since the electric motor is not that powerful (400W I think) so I tend to pedal there...it helps maintain speed and is not difficult to pedal at all, even on the steepest of hills.

But for flat or downhill I don't bother pedalling...it's pointless to do so. I just use the twist throttle and ride it like a motor scooter.

It takes me about 8 minutes to go the 3 miles to my wife's office from my house...I do take short cuts through the high school and elementary parking lots to avoid the busier roads. It's a breeze and fun and fast. I highly recommend this thing if you live in an area where you could use it for short commutes (up to 5-6 miles or even longer if the roads are safe.)