Powerchair Motors for Bikes...Brushless this time

I used to run CrazyBike2 on brushed powerchair motors with right angle reduction gearboxes, and that was ok, with the only real problem being the repeated chain and sprocket mangling from the incredible torque I could get out of them, and misalignment problems I had due to frame twisting (because of said torque).

Well, now I've got a *brushless* powerchair motor, direct drive rather than gear reduced, to try out.  This thread on Endless Sphere documents my exploration, modification, and testing of that motor, and will eventually show it's first tests on CrazyBike2, and it's later testing on the bike it's intended to be one of the various experimental power sources for. 

That bike is not yet named, and isn't finished yet due primarily to not having a reliably-working welder anymore, and secondarily from not having enough time to do everything yet.  There's a thread on it's evolution over on Endless Sphere, showing it's current progress.   The main thing I needed from this frame was stiffness, to prevent the flexing and twisting issues I had with CrazyBike2 with chain-drive motor power, whcih I still have issues with when carrying heavy cargo.  It'll use a mid-mounted NuVinci 171 developer's kit with autoshifting for a "transmission", to help keep power usage down (although it might not actually make it any more efficient due to the losses the NuVinci itself incurs internally). 

Also, to start it out from beginning as a full-suspension, since CrazyBike2 has broken lots of rear wheels while loaded down because of unavoidable bumps, potholes, and road debris, which shouldnt' cause such problems on a suspended wheel.  It will also use a motorcycle (Suzuki dirtbike, acually) rear wheel, which will take a lot more abuse than the bicycle wheels I have used so far.  I just need a good narrow "slick" tire for it, as the wide knobby it has now isn't really suitable for my purposes.

That's my update for now, hopefully I can keep coming back and adding info to the blog more frequently--but if you are a reader of it, and need more, I tend to post on at least one of my project threads on Endless Sphere ebike forums every day, and sometimes on several of them. 

Endless Sphere Forums Now Safe and Independent

Thanks to many people, including Justin of Grin Technologies at http://ebikes.ca for putting up the necessary money and negotiation time, the Endless Sphere forums are now safe from the takeover (see previous post) and are now independent, and will become hopefully self-sufficient in the coming months.

Justin's Summary Letter thread


If you look me up as Amberwolf on there, you'll see where my various builds I started here on this blog have gone, how they have progressed, and the new things I've started:

Day Glo Avenger

CrazyBike2

CrazyBike2's Replacement

My new trailer from a dog kennel and wheelchair parts

Hostile Takeover at Endless Sphere Ebike/EV Forums

It is still in the process of going on, so there is still a chance to save the best Ebike/EV forum on the planet.

If you're already a member there, come by and read and then voice your opinion in this thread:

Hostile Takeover at Endless Sphere

If you're not a member yet, come on by, read lots of stuff for a while (it'll take a few weeks or months to really grasp how big this site's member contributions really are, and how helpful the members can be).

Then see if you think it'd be best left as it is, or run as a for-profit ad-based site instead of the self-evolving community of helpful people and information resource that it is right now.

What's the hullabaloo about? Well, members have created the content and community there over several years by helping each other out, by publishing their ideas and spending their precious time detailing their work and assisting the work of others. The new owner wants to put ads on there, that among other things would essentially turn all that work into ad-bait (rather like the content of this blog is ad-bait for Google's Adsense and whatnot, unfortunately).

We don't agree with that. At all.

I've started using that logo on my posts, signature, etc., to represent the idea that what we do is not for that purpose--it's freely given but not to earn money from, even indirectly.

Certainly not for all the sleazy vendors that will end up with ads plastered all over the forum, who will get traffic to their sites and purchases made by people that were lured to them by our hard work and content and helpfulness, when none of what we did was for that purpose.


It's not about the money--it's about the idea.



If you look me up as Amberwolf on there, you'll see where my various builds I started here on this blog have gone, how they have progressed, and the new things I've started:

Day Glo Avenger

CrazyBike2

CrazyBike2's Replacement

My new trailer from a dog kennel and wheelchair parts