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E-bike E-xperiences?
Jakedata writes "I am in the process of building my first e-bike. I intend to use it to commute to work a couple times a week, weather permitting. I can only assume that many members of the /. crowd are already riding e-bikes and would be only too happy to share their experiences. I am looking at a very affordable e-bike conversion kit from Golden Island Machinery. They offer a 36 volt lead-acid battery pack for it, but I am concerned that it will be too heavy. Rabbit tool has a selection of components and power options but they are pretty pricy. So, is Golden Motor's kit any good? Is lead acid OK to start off with? Does someone want to donate a direct-conversion methanol fuel cell to the project?"
This thing has a top speed of 36km/h and 50km distance. I'd say it would come in handy to complement your peddling when the wind is not in your favor.
Though I would have liked to have seen it hooked up to the derailleur as the motor specs says it has 'high torque'.
I can usually maintain 35km/h effortlessly, but with this beast 45km/h could be the crusing speed if peddling and motoring can go hand in hand.
Wouldn't go any faster on a pedal bike, leave that to the stunt people.
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
Something like a Trek or Cannondale.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
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when I was employed (oh so long ago...) I biked to work 2-3 times a week, about 12 miles each way. Screw the e-bike, get the real thing. Peddling your ass that distance will get you in great shape. On top of that, I find cycling a lot less stressful than driving, it's relaxing really.
Why methanol? Wouldn't an ethanol fuel cell be better, because then you could share a drink with it?
but jokes aside, does anyone know of advantages of methanol over ethanol fuel cells?
Have you considered buying an E-Bike? Something like the Sharper Image One... http://store.yahoo.com/sharperimage-best/si791.htm l
$1000
http://seanism.com/
Once I was riding my bike to high-school and some jerk dumped their coke on me as they drove by. True Story. Had I been riding an e-bike, I might have been electrocuted.
TODO: come up with a clever sig
When I was a young geek of 9, I got my ham radio license.
I tricked my bike out with an old 2M radio bolted to the handlebars, 6V golf cart battery under the seat, and a whip antenna attached to the frame, down by the rear axle, running up like one of those flags
More than doubled the bike's weight. I was, however, the kid with a real mobile rig.
I only really talked to my parents with it, but it was still cool. And ultra-geeky.
Hehe
Do you really mean 35km/h on average? For how long? That is almost as good as a professional cyclist can get...
I've been riding a GoMotorboard 1500X that I got refurbished for $150 (down from $300 retail). It really does go 15MPH for about 10-15mi on flat, paved streets on a charge. Small hills (30 degrees) slow it to a crawl and eat the battery, but it keeps chugging, though the rises in Manhattan and most of Brooklyn are no problem. And the regenerative braking seems to work, albeit at much less than 100% efficiency. I've had some battery charging problems, but I got a couple replacements that I can now carry charged, extending its roundtrip charge life to up to 45mi or so. Best of all, it snaps down into a 25lb package over my shoulder, so 10 minute walks from subways are now 3-5 minutes. And it's really fun whizzing around nearly silently. But I wish it had inflatable (less efficient) tires, because the ride over any roughness, including sidewalk seams, can be too much. And quits immediately if the drivewheel gets even a little wet. Worth it.
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make install -not war
I think you might get into trouble for operating a motorized vehicle without the proper license or registration. Since you stated that you want to commute to work, why not get a scooter? You can ride legally on all of the same roads as a car can and not have to worry about cars passing (and nearly hitting) you on busy streets while on a bicycle.
I ride a motorcycle to work and it is the funnest thing! I blow past all of the cars and cut in front of everyone at stop lights.
If it were me, I'd dump the lead-acid cells and use Li-Poly (Lithium Polymer).
Sure they're more expensive but they're much, much lighter due to their greater power density (hence a lot easier to pedal when you're not using the batteries).
Just make sure you use a real Li-Poly charger otherwise they could go bang.
But Grandpa, why did you need more than one gear? It was uphill both ways back then, wasn't it?
I use a Velomobile to get to work and back (http://www.velomobiel.nl/). It is fast and wether proof. (and there is a lot of nasty wheter over here in the Netherlands.
Nyh
Why don't you help this guy instead of giving him advice he's not asking for?
I can't believe how pessimistic this slashdot crowd can be. Some guy wants to work on a new project to replace his car and all anyone can do is call him a fat ass.
What do you know about the kit that was linked in the article? It seems that this kit powers your front wheel, while you power the back with a stadard pedal arrangement. That's something I haven't seen in an ebike before. Would you be limited to going the fastest that the motor/gearbox in the front wheel can move, or would you be able to add your pedal power and the electric motor to move at a greater pace? I obviously see the potential for greater acceleration and easier to maintain speed while going uphill, etc, but I'd like to be able cruise at a high speed for longish distances. Or, alternatively, add a little extra speed to my cruising for long durations.
The battery, I agree looks pretty hefty, I'll be interested to see what the /. crowd comes up with on that. Does the "power braker" = a regenerative braking system, or is it some sort of power assited brake to help you slow down at higher speeds and with the extra weight?
Two words people: MO-PED. Yah... it's already been invented. You can pick one up from the neighborhood kids for about 50 bucks.
A hungry man will tell you anything if you give him a cookie.
!
If you can shower at work, it's easier, but it's also very possible to take it a little easy on the way in to work and not show up smelling. Then you get the option of hammering it on the way home or just taking it easy. :)
Good luck with whichever way you decide to get to work -- far better than hauling a 3000lb steel beast to and fro every day!
The poor guy asks for advice building an e-bike, and 50% of the +3 comments are "Why don't you just peddle (you lazy f*ck)?" Because I'm sure that thought NEVER CROSSED HIS MIND. Ever.
Why not just peddle the bike.
This doesn't help the environment. It increases the use of batteries. Add some more acid to the compost heap.
Reminds me of an article I read a while back about the proliferation of "e-bikes" in China and how ironic it was that China was being so much more environmentally aware than us stupid Americans.
I couldn't help but think that those e-bikes were most likely replacing "regular" bikes as opposed to getting people out of their cars. So instead of reducing emissions, they were adding a bunch of lead-acid batteries that need to be charged and that would eventually go to landfills.
Of course in the poster's case, he probably would be getting out of a car, so he would be making an improvement, just not as much as if he did all the pedalling himslef. Hmmm, what affect would all the extra CO2 from the heavy breathing have?
i dont know how many comments ive see that say something like "why dont you just peddle the bike and forget about the e-bike stuff"
..."
making jokes about being Tubby and this and that..
this is a common (but unfortunate) attitude i often find in the OSS community at large (bad pun, i know)
the question is NOT "what do you think about e-bikes" or "do you like the idea of
the question is about how to build one regardless of your opinion on the matter.
i often encounter this attitude in IRC aswell somebody asks a question about how to use a program and people say things like "what you are trying to do is stupid, you shouldnt be doing that at all, instead you should " rather than helping the person do what it is they are asking about in the first place.
point is: if you dont have something constructive to say that helps the person asking the question they are posing to you, butt out and let people who are actually interested in the specific topic in question to help add productive comments to the thread.
I thought he was talking about making a bike that
distributed WiFi... like this:
http://www.magicbike.net/
I read half the discussions about being a fat ass before
I realized what the hell was going on...
that'll teach me not to follow the links.
Why not add gadgets to a regular bike? Like say a Palm Pilot or a GPS? That would, IMO make it an E-bike. If you are looking for an electric bike, then why not build an electric motorbike or perhaps a scooter?
I mean, having a bike and NOT moving it under your own power (Kinetic or Potential energy here) really defeats the purpose.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
It's more predictably sunny here, so people can bike or walk more, I guess.
I live in the Netherlands, the weather sucks all the time, it's either raining and/or cold, or it's too warm/humid (happens a few days each year, rest of the time it's cold and raining), still we have more bicycles than people here, and no one wears a helmet. ofcourse, it's as flat as a pancake out here, so no crazy downhill speeds.
I think the reason bikes are so popular down here is that it's just too crowded for cars, and the distances are relatively short.
It's also probably the only country where it's perfectly normal to pick up your date on a bike.
Check out
http://www.wildernessenergy.com
They have a nice kit. But if you want better quality, for about $160 more you can get the Go Hub kit from:
http://www.largoscooters.com/stealthkits.html
Also here is a great site for reports on EBikes:
http://www.visforvoltage.com
http://www.beauty-fly.com/cpzs.asp
http://www.biliqi.com.cn/cpjs01.htm
http://www.cnqianjiale.com/c-chanpin1.htm
After getting into BattleBots years ago, I decided to reduce my commute to college (before I graduated) by building an electric scooter out of "spare" parts. It's not an e-bike from the standpoint that I didn't want to have to input any energy into the system myself (i.e. the motors had to do all the work). For cost and simplicity reasons, I chose to go with SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries and a couple of overvolted motors. With the proper timing, I achieved a flat speed of 16.5 MPH on two 1HP motors. With 64Ah (@12V) of Pb-acid chemistry onboard (this weighed a whopping 50 pounds), I had a maximum range (tested on all terrain including large hills) of just over 12 miles.
:-)
That's what I did and perhaps you can learn from what I would have done differently. First off, I would have used NiMh batteries. This would have cut the weight in more than half and also would have allowed me to customize the pack more both in shape and capacity (I only needed to go 9 miles in a day). The only downside to this was the charge time. SLA batteries are pretty indestructible and I could charge the full 64Ah in around an hour. With NiMh, you're talking about several hours or less if you don't mind compromising lifespan (with the right charger you could charge the same capacity in NiMh in the same time if you didn't mind getting only ~100 charges out of your packs). If I had the cash, I would probably use the high capacity, high discharge Li-Ion batteries from PowerStream (http://www.powerstream.com/LL.htm) as they would be incredibly light (~10 pounds for the same capacity).
As far as the motors went, I was fairly satisfied with the power output, but would have liked more. If you compare it to a car (~100HP for ~2000 pounds), you should have ~10-15HP available for the same performance. Now with electric motors, due to their differing torque curves (in comparison to internal combustion engines), you can achieve similar results from significantly less overall horsepower, but I still would have preferred having 3-6HP on my project.
Of course, if you go with high output motors, you need a speed controller capable of handling the current. And if you go with the Li-Ion batts, you need a fairly expensive charger.
You can take a look at some basic pics of my scooter at:
http://sloviper.com/hobbies/scooter/index.html
A good place for parts is:
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/
Cheap Ni-Mh batteries can be found at:
http://www.batteryspace.com/
I have used them in BattleBots before and they hold up decently, almost as well as the "expensive" ones from http://www.battlepack.com/
If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me. I love discussing this sort of thing and have had tons of experience.
In theory, theory always works in practice. In practice, theory rarely works. <><
Why not make an iBike? It would be slightly more expensive, but much sleeker and more stylish.
What we really need is a ten day waiting period and a background check before you can buy a congressman.
I wish these existed when I was younger. So cool!
http://www.hokeyspokes.com/
I can't wait to have kids so i can buy them stuff like this
You could install one of these on a BikeE (Google cache of related pages) and be the first kid on the block to have an EbikeBikeE!
I was coming down out of the mountains last year and got stuck behind some flatlander doing 35-40 mph around the curves. On that road it's all curves. The funny thing was, there was a bicycle behind him and the guy on the bike was tailgating the flatlander.
FYI, not all vehicles handle curves the same, nor do all tires. Also, many people don't want to feel the centrifugal force while going around the corner, or have everything in the back shift to the other side of the vehicle.
Is it the car commercials that creates the race-car mentality in most people? Is it the long commutes to work? What? Its amazing how irate people can become when you do "only" 5 mph over the speed limit. Or when you slow down on a curvy road so that your stopping distance is less then your field of vision. Speaking of stopping distance, its amazing how many people think that a 20 year old pickup, fully loaded, with trailer, will stop as quickly as a compact car. At least, that's what I'm assume they are thinking, why else would they pull out right in front of me?
Slow down.
-- My hovercraft is full of eels.
I tricked my bike out with an old 2M radio bolted to the handlebars, 6V golf cart battery under the seat, and a whip antenna attached to the frame, down by the rear axle, running up like one of those flags
I have worked at three bike shops as a mechanic. One in the country, one in the city, and one in Sweden. At EACH AND EVERYONE, I have had at least one customer who had welded, screwed, or zip-tied a HAM or CB-type radio to their bicycle. I would like an explaination you sick HAM bastards! Why do you have to demand a better word for "weird"???
...there are already dozens of comments saying "Why don't you peddle your bike to work you lazy bastard".
It's PEDAL, not peddle! Peddling is marketing. Pedaling is using your feet on the pedals of a bicycle.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
...when the same comment was made over and over we modded them Redundant.
That being said... in your day did the people at work like smelling the sweat of someone who has just biked to work?
Someone has already pointed this out, so I'm being redundant, but there are two sides to everything. Maybe the person doesn't want to smell like a wet dog when he gets to work. I'm sure there is some cycling involved, but the point is to keep it to a minimum. Quit judging him. I bet you drive to work, likely an SUV.
Get your Unix fortune now!
I was seduced by the idEa of an Ebike about 18 months ago.
I bought an Aprilia enjoy ebike.
This was not a Harley, but was certainly a fat and useless hog.
What a dog!!! about 4 (four!!!) km range going up and down hills here in Sydney.
So...I did what some other reader here suggested...bought myself a super duper light mountain bike, stuck some thin style phat boy kevlar tyres...pump'D them to 100 psi.
Man! You don't need a motor.
Float like a butterfly instead of riding the Hog.
Get a real bike. Should fuel cells...or flying cars ever emerge..then pigs too might fly.
Hi, I would avoid trying to deal with Golden Island Motor directly for ordering a single conversion kit, they don't do the english/communicating thing very well and the cost to wire transfer and ship just one hub motor will exceed the listed kit price considerably. You can get very similar value hub motors that are distributed locally through http://www.wildernessenergy.com/ and http://www.evsolutions.net/, a supplier of the http://www.crystalyte.com/. These are all direct drive motors, no gears to wear out and perfectly silent, but also fairly heavy for their power output.
I've also ordered reasonably cheap hub motors from http://www.elebike.com.tw/. They have an interesting selection including some internally geared models, and are quick to respond to queries.
Good Batteries continue to be the biggest hurdle for DIY e-bike experimenters because even though there are tons of asian companies that reportedly make them for cheap, there are simply no local suppliers. If you don't mind trying to import from China, some companies to check out:
1 http://www.peacebay.com/,
2 http://http//www.hyperbattery.com,
3 http://splendidbattery.com/,
4 http://www.gmbattery.com/,
5 http://www.thunder-sky.com/en/index.htm
Personally haven't ordered from 1 or 2 yet, 3 has very reasonably priced lithium polymer ($.82/watt-hour) and NiMH ($.40/w-hr) packs and will sell in individual qunatities. My favorite so far are the prismatic NiMH packs from 4, GMBattery, because you can access each individual cell and restack them easily. Finally there is the infamous thundersky who have lithium-ion batteries for less than most companies' NiMH. Their old 10Ah 36V setup had no protection circuitry and a few problems, but their new 20Ah 36V ebike pack looks a bit more reputable. Note that the 24V 4Ah NiMH packs from batteryspace.com that someone recomended are GARBAGE. Ours turned out to have only 2.6 Ah capacity and couldn't deliver more than about 5 amps. If you buy from batteryspace, be sure to get the 30Amp high rate pack.
Lead acid isn't really that bad if you're generally doing ~20km ish trips so you can get away with lower capacity pack. NiMH has about twice the energy density, and Lithium packs are 2-3 times better than NiMH.
I see a lot of people here have misconceptions about ebikes and exercise. I find I pedal as hard or harder riding an assisted bicycle than a regular bike. The difference is that I move at 42km/hr instead of 26, I don't slow down on the hills, and no matter how hard I work I don't get sweaty because the breeze at those speeds is so strong. This is a much overlooked fact of ebiking, the wind keeps you cool and dry.
Justin Lemire-ElmoreJust wait for Steve Jobs to get his hands on it - slap on a coat of bright white paint and market it as an iBike...
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and hellava lot cheaper too!
I'm a perfectionist but I'm trying to cut back.
It's also probably the only country where it's perfectly normal to pick up your date on a bike.
I love it. In far too many countries (and I include specifically the UK and USA) your percieved status is almost solely defined by the cost of your car.
BugBear (whose bikes are worth more than his car)
Ignorance is curable. Stupid is forever.
This is a geek site. You're a geek, I'm a geek, we're all...
As a geek you need body activity because sitting behind the screen just doesn't get you any. So get yourself a regular/racing/mountain bike.
Within a couple of weeks you notice a better condition and an increasing average speed. And, if you really need to, you can add a cardio/speedometer to increase the geeky factor.
As a real geek you could also get into the details of bike training. The different body types and their specialties, the different goals in training (muscle building, endurance, agility, fat burning etc...), the food to take etc, etc...
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
I have been biking to work now for almost a year. I've long since gotten in shape, and I have no problems with hills or smelling at work (just change cloths, it takes 1 minuet).
But there are days I just don't feel upto it. Seriously. Sometimes I just didn't get enough sleep, sometimes I'm sick (though rarely thanx to all that regular exercise), and sometimes I'm bruised from falling off my bike. So some times I'm just not capable of putting out that much effort.
It would be nice to have something that could pick up the slack. "Help" pedal as it were so that I can still ride my bike, even when I don't have the energy. There may be days when I don't have the energy to ride, but there is never a day that I don't want to ride.
That and for longer inter-city trips, some kind help would also be good.
But batteries don't have any where near the power density for longer intercity trips. And the system ways so much that it's more of a burden than a help on daily commutes. (since most days you won't need it)
I know I'll get flaimed for it, but what about a small petrol/gas motor? Easy to refule, there often made light weight, and have the power to make a real difference in both scenarios.
I would rather be ashes than dust!
Just wait for Steve Jobs to get his hands on it - slap on a coat of bright white paint and market it as an iBike...
Then 5 years later, Michael Dell will slap a black coat of paint on it and sell it as the Dell Despairon Bike 4800.
It will run Microsoft Bike OS 2009, which will stop every 5 miles until you to get off and clear the super large mutated viruses off the spokes.
A project a friend of mine was involved in a project that designed and built a hybrid pedal-electric bike with regenerative capabilities. Only down side is that it doesn't use a hub motor, so there's more to mount on the bike than just the batteries and control module.
t m
http://www.iit.edu/~ipro315/Fall2003/Calendar.h
They got a sweet frame donated from Santa Cruz because they sponsor my friend in triathalons and bike races. I don't know if the project is currently operating, but if you'd like to know more, I can put you in touch with the people from the project. Just drop me an email.
"I threw up my hands in disgust and wondered if it had been such a good idea to have eaten my hands in the first place."
You know,
/. type of stuff.
when I read the subject and frontpage bit, i thought he was building a bike, that took care of his email needs, and had a build in laptop, and other geeky
It turns out however to be the other kind of E (lectric iso lectronic)
Have you considered a moped type bike ?
Not to mention over here in the Netherlands you are ridiculed when riding a 'Spartamet', which is a bike with an additional small electrical motor, unless yer 60+ or something :)
Also, the Netherlands is probably the only country where on a Saturday evening in the major cities you expect to leave yer home with a bike and return home with another one ('stealing' bikes is the national pass-time)...
I have been considering the e-bike idea (when my office moves to the far end of the city next spring). I haven't done alot of shopping yet but one of the best add-on units I've seen so far seems to be the BionX system http://www.eps-system.com/en/ . The one bike shop guy that I talked to said it was a very smooth system (compared to a Giant Lafree that he bought earlier). But it is a little expensive. :(
been updated in quite a while, but http://www.eruditium.org/cmefford/
Does someone want to donate a direct-conversion methanol fuel cell to the project?
If you're interested in throwing a lot of money (yours or someone else's) into the project, you're better off going with an advanced battery chemistry, like lithium ion or nimh. The fuel cell battery charger you pointed to delivers 50 watts. This would not be acceptable for moving a bike down the road, for the same reason that fuel cells are not [yet] acceptable for moving cars -- they require too much mass to generate enough power. At 6kg (without fuel) this fuel cell has a specific power of a little over 4 w/kg. Lithium ion can give over 350-400 w/kg, especially if packaged in large cells. And though specific energy is very high, lithium ion is actually considered fairly crappy in terms of power output, compared with other battery chemistries.
MetricMind's lithium ion batteries are sized for a car, but their specs are useful as an example:
http://metricmind.com/battery.htm
And unless it runs on pure hydrogen, it emits exhaust. It's a little cleaner than a combustion engine, it's quiet, and a little more efficient (compared to burning the methanol and generating the electricity conventionally), but right now, batteries are just a better solution.
I've recently had a chance to try out the WaveCrest TidalForce bike, powered by NiMH batteries. At 750W (approx 1HP), it's a pretty fun ride:
http://tidalforce.com/
Okay, personally speaking I like the feeling of getting into a curve, especially if I know the area very well.
Maybe 10 years or so ago there was a stretch of road where I grew up that was very very winding. THe cool thing was that there was a long straight away (~2km long) where you could see who entered the "track", if you drove slowly there the guy in front of you made it wonderfully up the side of the hill before you entered the "maze". So we had those little "races" where we timed ourselves on how long it took to get from the bottom to the top, I think I topped it out at ~70km/h average on a really twisty and windy course.
Reality is: Most speed limits are set at a pace that allows even the worst drivers to navigate carefully, and knowing the limits of your car does not only come in handy when you try to "race" but also when you have to swerve around obstacles or get into an emergency situation.
EVERY new car I owned I ended up going to a parking lot within the first week and litterally drove the car to a point where I lost control and skitted / spun out.
Why? Because I wanted to know how far I can push it without losing control, this came handy more than once when I had all of the sudden an obstacle on the road that I had to swerve around or break (breaking is not always the safest option, depending on road condition and what's going on behind you).
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
I had the DX kit from ZAP for several years when I was at college in San Francisco. I had a number of interesting experiences.
I opted for the dual battery kit because the claims of distance on a charge were optimistic by about a factor of two. I'm sure if you were on some ultralight bike riding on perfectly flat roads at low speed you could achieve the rated numbers, but in the real world cranking up twin peaks with both you and the motors straining for all you're worth it was alot shorter.
The motor will become less efficient as it heats up. It will heat up as it has to provide more torque, so it will usually quit right on the steepest hill in your journey about the time you've become too tired to pedal the heavy bike without it. Then you'll walk the rest of the way up.
If you have a friction drive like the zap kit did, where the motor drives the wheel via a roller that rides on the tire, it will be useless anytime the tire is wet, dusty, or you're going up a hill where it produces significant resistance. The solution I found to this was to install an extra gear shift on the handlebars, and run a line down the frame to a point opposite the motor. Then ran the cable to a convenient mounting hole in the motor casing so that when I pulled the lever the motor would be pulled into the tire. This let me keep traction in any condition, even snow. I showed this to some people from zap, and they thought it was great. But not great enough to put in their kits apparently. I also designed a roller that worked kind of like a thick spring that could change diameter with pressure so using this you could change gear ratios, but that never went anywhere either. If anyone wants the design to work on building it, let me know.
It won't electrocute you or short out in the rain, even in El Nino, even if you're stupid and go out in El Nino and get drenched. Your brakes however, will fail when they're hydroplaning on your rims as you careen down into the Noe valley at breakneck speeds.
Bike thieves will still steal your bike despite the fact they don't have the charger for it. Either that or someone will steal your battery and headlight and smash them in the street for no good reason. Kryptonite locks will not save you, it'll still be stolen even in broad daylight at a busy mall. I gave up after losing 2 bikes.
If you have to transport it a long distance, like to another state, don't ship it, fly with it. Most airlines have a flat $50 bike fee, just get a bike box from the local bike shop and pack it. Pack your batteries seperately in your luggage on top, so you can show them to the people at the counter in the airport before they check your bag. Lead acid gel cells are safe for commercial airline trainsport, and will likely have this printed on the batteries themselves, as mine did.
If you use the bike every day expect to replace your batteries every year or two, as they'll wear out.
Beware of other cyclists, alot of them will be mad at you for "cheating".
You'll hear lots of interesting things about better technologies, such as improved lithium ion batteries, and small fuel cells which are always "just around the corner". I waited and searched for 5 years to get either one. Even when they actually demonstrated a bike with the same kit as mine running on a li battery with half the weight and 6 times the range, they wouldn't sell it to me. They went on to make $450 laptop batteries instead and refused to license the tech to anyone interested in other applications and refused to build any other size or shape batteries unless you wanted like 100,000 units. As for the fuel cells, saw one on a bike too. But they were always experimental and "Oh we'll have this out in 2 years." It won't happen anytime soon.
You'll also hear about new and improved electric vehicles that are
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
Ah yes, well the mountain run is also littered with routinely-ignored signs that say "Slower vehicles use turn-outs." If I recall correctly, failure to do so can result in a citation if you you have more than 3 cars on your back bumper. There are plenty of places where the turn-outs are visible with plenty of stopping distance for even the most ancient of vehicles, and yet 14-car lines are a regular sight up there. Usually someone in a rented brand-new Pontiac sedan at the front of the line, too.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I can usually maintain 35km/h effortlessly, but with this beast 45km/h could be the crusing speed if peddling and motoring can go hand in hand.
Wouldn't go any faster on a pedal bike, leave that to the stunt people.
Really?
What kind of bike are you on? You should be plenty stable up to 40mph (~65km/h). I hit that on almost every ride I go on (I live at the bottom of a few rather large hills, every ride I do ends in a steep decent). Hell 3 weeks ago I was on a 70 mile ride, and I went down a long ~10% grade, I hit 54mph (~87km/h) I didn't feel the least bit unstable until about 50mph, and it was still quite managable the whole way. The pro's in europe routinly break 100km/h coming down mountains.
And I ride a rather cheap 2002 Giant OCR2 (~$800), I have been told that high speed handling is one of the places where the expensive bikes actually do much better.
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Here is a "best of breed" you can dream about. http://www.tidalforce.com/
Check out the Yahoo discussion groups. Also, importing a "one-of" from China has proven very difficult. You might be better off getting one of the zapbikes kits.
If you burn more than you eat you will lose weight.
I burned ~6000 Calories this weekend running and biking. You gonna tell me that doing that all the time is not going to make me lose weight?
Also you left something out of your equation, the number of calories/lean pound/day you burn can be increased by doing cardio. Doing both cardio and weight training is the best way to lose weight. I lift for 1.5 hours twice a week, bike 1-2 times a week for 2-6 hours, and run 3-5 times a week for 1-3 hours. I am losing weight on a 5000 calorie a day diet, mostly comprised of complex carbs. You think I could lose wieght eating that much on just lifting 3 hours a week?
Cardio is good for working your heart but it won't make you lose weight.
The stupidity of this statment is obvious to anyone who has ever attended a post race party. Most runners are freakishly skinny, and eat like horses.
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
http://www.electricvehiclesnw.com/
Electic Bikes Northwest has some good information as well as a movie of one of the bikes climbing a serious hill. They seem to favor the kind of e-bikes that are activated by peddling. Something about the drive being about to provide power through the gears as opposed to a fixed gear ratio.
Every wrong attempt discarded is a step forward - T. Edison
At ZVO, we tackled that series of problems and created an e-bike that's light (39 lb.), easy to pedal and uses whatever gearing is currently on the bike -- from derailleurs to hub transmissions. As a result, we have a bike that will do over 35 MPH and climb hills, as well, without pedaling, but encourages dual drive modality -- pedal with motor assist -- for the most daunting hills while you're training.
http://www.zvoinc.com/
We don't think powering a bike is sacrilegeous. Anything that gets more people out among other folks and encourages a sense of community is a good thing. Anything that relieves road congestion is a good thing. Anything that encourages excercising more than the right foot is a good thing.
I've been biking about an hour a day during my lunch break for the last few months. I've managed to lose over 20 pounds as a result - even on a steady diet of pizza, steak & cheese subs, and Mountain Dew. I feel better, look better (according to my wife), and have more energy than before I started biking. Get an e-bike if you must, but do yourself a favor and ride under your own power as much as possible.
I used two EV Warrior surplus motors at 24 volts and managed to go about 30 km/h. The shafts both connected to a friction roller with a one way clutch built in. The idea was that you could still peddal the bike without driving the motors.
I mounted the motors to an unused set of brake mounts (my bike has two, presumable to support different types of brakes). I used rope and turnbuckles to get some tension between the roller and the wheel.
What I discovered is friction drives aren't that great. I peeled more rubber off the wheel onto the roller than anything else. Even though it had a one way clutch it was still difficult to peddal. I also didn't have a controller which meant full power when you turned it on. This worked well when you're already going 20 km/h, but from a dead stop was a little rough.
The bike is a lot heavier with the batteries. But it was still a fun project.
I have also been looking for awhile. I'd like to compare notes with what you have found privately to aid both of us in a decision w/o all the flames and tangents. -K
as somebody who just spent a large part of yesterday stuck behind a car very similar to the one the parent mentioned, i must say that i have no problem being behind somebody who is not going around the corners at the posted speed limit. however, ifyou are going to drive down the entire mountain at 10 mph below the posted speed, you could at least have the courtesy to use the slow vehicle pullouts provided every few miles specifically for those drivers. personally, i'm starting to believe that police should give out tickets for people going under the speed limit not using the slow vehicle pullouts, and the amount of the ticket would be the same amount as a speeding ticket would be for going he same number of miles per hour over the speed limit as the driver in question is going under the speed limit. that or maybe a ticket for not using the pullout when you have more than 7 cars backed up behind you.
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?