Electric Bike - WIP
Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48476919@N08/sets/72157623504149065/
I'm starting work on an electric bicycle. I put an ad on Craigslist last night for a bike in any shape - and ended up getting two bikes for $20 that are in pretty good shape. One is missing a pedal... but that's all.
One, which I'll be giving to my girlfriend (I want to convince her to have it motorized too :) ) and the other I'll be keeping for myself to buzz around town on.
The Mongoose bike in the pictures is the one I'll be keeping for myself.
It's made of aluminum, so I don't think I'll be able to weld to it... so I'll need to come up with some sort of bracket system to hold everything in place. I'll need to be creative about placement for the batteries too. Most bikes seem to have them in the middle of the frame, which as you can see is quite filled up. Maybe behind the handlebars? I'm not sure yet.
Anyway, I'll keep this post updated as time goes along. I'll probably get some rough sketches in Photoshop or something tomorrow. I'll get those posted too.
Here are the ideas of the parts that I need...
- Motor - Probably 24V, 2,500 RPM
- Motor controller - I want to try and build this myself
- Throttle - Nothing but a 10k pot with a spring-back handle.
- Gearing - I'll probably use some sort of belt, as I'm reading that chains get really noisy at high RPM
- Batteries - Probably lead-acid as they're cheap-cheap compared to other options
@ Thu, 2010-03-18 00:54
Motor
I got the new AllElectronics book today and here is a decent selection of motors for bikes.
Start here: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-1503/24VDC-450W-MOTOR-CLUTCH-15T-SPROCKET/1.html
and search for cat # DCM parts.
@ Wed, 2010-03-17 17:15
OK, please don't take this
OK, please don't take this the wrong way, but as an experienced cyclist, I can tell you that not only are those bicycles in terrible shape, but they were awful walmart bikes to begin with. Bicycles shouldn't be rusty! Replacing the rusty chain, cassete and chainrings will cost you more than the bike cost to begin with.
If you are doing this just for fun, no problem, do whatever you like. But if you plan on riding this thing more than once or twice, you are much much much better off spending $200 or so on an old used road bike, which will last forever.
@ Tue, 2010-03-16 18:02
Electric Motor
@ Tue, 2010-03-16 15:06
Thanks! I've seen a few
Thanks! I've seen a few conversion kits, but you're right, for this first one I want to go all out and put it together myself.
I keep seeing motors that fit right inside the wheel... which would be cool to have, but they seem a bit expensive. I suppose spending an extra $30 on a motor might be a good idea though, as you generally get what you pay for :)
@ Tue, 2010-03-16 10:29
cool
um oatley electronics have a bike conversion kithttp://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=776&osCsid=5d04f694c131806d32400d98770ea46f
but u probably want to build it your self so, the also have a motor driver kit and motors that would work