Following are the results of my first foray into electric bikedom. Hope you learn/enjoy from it.
In short…. I am 110% thrilled.. Truly, the finished bike it’s capabilities, and the experiences that it made, and makes possible are beyond my expectations and imagination.
I started on this e-bike build project because my left knee is wearing out. I don’t want to stop riding, and I don’t want to get a knee replacement….yet J
I am 60 yrs. old. I enjoy outdoor activities. Especially, skiing, hiking, biking, camping, etc. All things that require happy knees.
About a month ago I was riding up the long grade to work and my knee started talking to me.. It was not happy, and was saying things that I will not repeat here. So, I started looking into bikes that could provide some assist up the hills.
I was encouraged when I found the Luna Cycle web page with links to rider blogs and articles about the technology, issues and limitations.. Super helpful and informative. Several other knowledgeable suppliers out there, but Luna-Cycle has made the endeavor affordable, and offers lots of great products and guidance. They truly are leaders in the field of e-bike development and riding.
After pawing through a bunch of blogs and articles, I decided on the following goals.
1. To twist a famous phrase… I wanted it to be “About the bikeâ€. I.e.… The bike needed to be comfortable and fun to ride without a battery or motor.
2. The bike needed to be good for commuting on paved trails and streets as well as on moderately rough off-road trails… Not super technical stuff, but trails in the woods that we have around our home in Redmond, Wa.
3. I wanted the bike to be stealthy… Not so obviously an e-bike
I decided to convert my wife’s bike first, so that she could run circles around me first… but as I started into the project, my wife wisely suggested that I convert my bike first J
So here’s the short story on my first E-bike build
It was clear to me pretty quickly that my current bike (a 1986 10 speed road bike) was not going to fill the bill. People in the know about e-bikes just frowned and shook their heads when I told them that I wanted to add a motor to my bike… So I heeded their warnings and started looking for a good bike to build on. I decided on the Kona Splice for the following reasons:
1. The frame geometry fit my body geometry better than anything else out there.
2. The Splice would handle 2†wide tires for off-road and load bearing.
3. Solid, well gusseted frame.
4. Lots of “braze-onsâ€
5. 29†wheels. (my pref.)
6. I got a great deal from my friend Greg at Eastside Ski and Sport.
Once I got the bike, I changed/added the following to make it into the bike that I really wanted to ride.
· Swapped out the relatively low-end front forks that came on the Splice for Suntour Epixon with remote lockout. (I wanted the lockout and air adjustable forks that were not too heavy or expensive… best I could find for ~$200 and so far, I’m very happy with them)
· 29x2.0 Continental Contact Safety System tires… These are awesome.. smooth in the middle for quiet ride and low rolling resistance, and knobby on the sides for grip when making turns in dirt or sinking into mud / gravel. I think of them as the bike tire equivalent of a “mullet†All business up front and all party on the sides and back. J
· 65cm Planet Bike fenders (Added 1.5†nylon wire clamps to the front forks to enable mounting fenders) We have LOTS of rain in Seattle. Commuting without fenders is a very wet proposition.
· Blackburn rear rack (Tried four, yes four racks before I settled on this one. Not perfect, but solid and high quality mounting system and hardware)
· Planet bike A.R.S. Classic seat (Ahhh…)
· Ergon GP-2 grips (You must try these.. Huge difference in hand comfort. Took about four adjustments to get them in the right position. Once there.. Really nice)
With all of the bike mods done I rode it around and adjusted grips and seat to get things comfortable.. At this point I was really encouraged because the bike was really fun to ride. (Goal #1)
Then I got on with the e-conversion..
I bought a 750 watt mid drive kit from Luna Cycle and “Lekie Bling Ring†straight away. Based on the blogs that I read, the Bafang mid drive is a bit over geared with a 46T chain ring. We live in the Seattle area….â€Hills r Us†so I just spent the money for the 42 tooth ring up front.
Contrary to popular practice and advice. I decided not to go with the biggest battery I could because
1. I plan to peddle a lot, so I did not think that I would need super battery capacity.
2. A really big battery would compromise my goals. I wanted stealth and off-road capability.
3. Big batteries cost more $$
4. Since I was going to peddle a lot… I wanted my water bottle on the down tube !
I ended up using an 11.5AH 52V rectangular pack that would fit against my vertical frame member. It was relatively light weight, (goodness for off-road), I believed it would have the range I needed for my daily commute or jaunts into the woods.. and if we were going long distance, a second pack could be stashed in my rack bag as a spare tank. (PS… I was right about the range… Rode hard on and off-road for 40 miles in two days on one charge with plenty of power left in the pack.
A few other things that I did to help me reach my bike goals…
I heat formed a three sided battery “cage†out of 0.125†ABS and mounted it to the water bottle cage braze-ons on the vertical frame tube.
I wrapped the battery in ¼†closed cell foam, than put it in a bag that I found on Amazon, that miraculously was the perfect size for the padded battery. I also put a piece of stiff white foam in the bag under the bottom of the pack to cushion where the weight of the pack is sitting on the bottom bracket.
(this white foam was gleaned from the packaging that Luna Cycle used to send me the battery) BTW… Very well packaged for shipment by LunaJ
A simple snap-clasp strap that came with the bag is used to hold the battery into its’s cage.
Happily, this setup performed flawlessly throughout a reasonably rough day of trail riding.
I made small brake handle hoods out of aluminum for mounting the Bafang power cutout safety switches
I also found some very nifty (an inexpensive) cable trough that helped make my bike to not look like a Christmas tree all wrapped in wires.
I made a bunch of motor spacers out of various thickness of aluminum so that I could optimize chain alignment and chain stay clearance. (turns out that I could have just bought these from Luna Cycle J) But since I did it… all you need is some aluminum sheet, two hole saws (one for the inner diameter and one for the outer diameter), a vice and a block of hardwood to make these. I ended up with near perfect chain alignment from the front chain ring to my center gear on the rear cluster. In use, shifting is very very smooth. I love the power interrupt switch for shifting. The operation is absolutely perfect, and I have yet to throw the chain.
Again, after riding on flats and hills in dirt, gravel, shale and commuting to work on my e-bike for the first time…. I am thrilled ! (Goal #2 accomplished)
My boss at work came into my office this morning, looked at my bike and said… “I thought you were going to build and electric bike?â€
Riding up the Hwy 520 grade to work (it’s a separate bike trail) I passed multiple strong riders on very nice bikes… At the stop light at the top of the hill, one of them asked me how the Hell I could climb like that. I smiled and said: “It’s all about the bike†(Goal #3 accomplished)
This bike is a terrain flattener, range extender, time saver and opportunity creator.
I can’t wait to build a bike for my wife so that we can experience the trails together. She is an adventurer and will absolutely love this.
Special thanks again to my wife for supporting my three week e- build obsession !..or was it four weeks ? , and to:
· Eric and team at Luna Cycle
· Greg and team at Eastside Ski & Sport.
· Cliff at Lekkie
I'll post some photos later.
In short…. I am 110% thrilled.. Truly, the finished bike it’s capabilities, and the experiences that it made, and makes possible are beyond my expectations and imagination.
I started on this e-bike build project because my left knee is wearing out. I don’t want to stop riding, and I don’t want to get a knee replacement….yet J
I am 60 yrs. old. I enjoy outdoor activities. Especially, skiing, hiking, biking, camping, etc. All things that require happy knees.
About a month ago I was riding up the long grade to work and my knee started talking to me.. It was not happy, and was saying things that I will not repeat here. So, I started looking into bikes that could provide some assist up the hills.
I was encouraged when I found the Luna Cycle web page with links to rider blogs and articles about the technology, issues and limitations.. Super helpful and informative. Several other knowledgeable suppliers out there, but Luna-Cycle has made the endeavor affordable, and offers lots of great products and guidance. They truly are leaders in the field of e-bike development and riding.
After pawing through a bunch of blogs and articles, I decided on the following goals.
1. To twist a famous phrase… I wanted it to be “About the bikeâ€. I.e.… The bike needed to be comfortable and fun to ride without a battery or motor.
2. The bike needed to be good for commuting on paved trails and streets as well as on moderately rough off-road trails… Not super technical stuff, but trails in the woods that we have around our home in Redmond, Wa.
3. I wanted the bike to be stealthy… Not so obviously an e-bike
I decided to convert my wife’s bike first, so that she could run circles around me first… but as I started into the project, my wife wisely suggested that I convert my bike first J
So here’s the short story on my first E-bike build
It was clear to me pretty quickly that my current bike (a 1986 10 speed road bike) was not going to fill the bill. People in the know about e-bikes just frowned and shook their heads when I told them that I wanted to add a motor to my bike… So I heeded their warnings and started looking for a good bike to build on. I decided on the Kona Splice for the following reasons:
1. The frame geometry fit my body geometry better than anything else out there.
2. The Splice would handle 2†wide tires for off-road and load bearing.
3. Solid, well gusseted frame.
4. Lots of “braze-onsâ€
5. 29†wheels. (my pref.)
6. I got a great deal from my friend Greg at Eastside Ski and Sport.
Once I got the bike, I changed/added the following to make it into the bike that I really wanted to ride.
· Swapped out the relatively low-end front forks that came on the Splice for Suntour Epixon with remote lockout. (I wanted the lockout and air adjustable forks that were not too heavy or expensive… best I could find for ~$200 and so far, I’m very happy with them)
· 29x2.0 Continental Contact Safety System tires… These are awesome.. smooth in the middle for quiet ride and low rolling resistance, and knobby on the sides for grip when making turns in dirt or sinking into mud / gravel. I think of them as the bike tire equivalent of a “mullet†All business up front and all party on the sides and back. J
· 65cm Planet Bike fenders (Added 1.5†nylon wire clamps to the front forks to enable mounting fenders) We have LOTS of rain in Seattle. Commuting without fenders is a very wet proposition.
· Blackburn rear rack (Tried four, yes four racks before I settled on this one. Not perfect, but solid and high quality mounting system and hardware)
· Planet bike A.R.S. Classic seat (Ahhh…)
· Ergon GP-2 grips (You must try these.. Huge difference in hand comfort. Took about four adjustments to get them in the right position. Once there.. Really nice)
With all of the bike mods done I rode it around and adjusted grips and seat to get things comfortable.. At this point I was really encouraged because the bike was really fun to ride. (Goal #1)
Then I got on with the e-conversion..
I bought a 750 watt mid drive kit from Luna Cycle and “Lekie Bling Ring†straight away. Based on the blogs that I read, the Bafang mid drive is a bit over geared with a 46T chain ring. We live in the Seattle area….â€Hills r Us†so I just spent the money for the 42 tooth ring up front.
Contrary to popular practice and advice. I decided not to go with the biggest battery I could because
1. I plan to peddle a lot, so I did not think that I would need super battery capacity.
2. A really big battery would compromise my goals. I wanted stealth and off-road capability.
3. Big batteries cost more $$
4. Since I was going to peddle a lot… I wanted my water bottle on the down tube !
I ended up using an 11.5AH 52V rectangular pack that would fit against my vertical frame member. It was relatively light weight, (goodness for off-road), I believed it would have the range I needed for my daily commute or jaunts into the woods.. and if we were going long distance, a second pack could be stashed in my rack bag as a spare tank. (PS… I was right about the range… Rode hard on and off-road for 40 miles in two days on one charge with plenty of power left in the pack.
A few other things that I did to help me reach my bike goals…
I heat formed a three sided battery “cage†out of 0.125†ABS and mounted it to the water bottle cage braze-ons on the vertical frame tube.
I wrapped the battery in ¼†closed cell foam, than put it in a bag that I found on Amazon, that miraculously was the perfect size for the padded battery. I also put a piece of stiff white foam in the bag under the bottom of the pack to cushion where the weight of the pack is sitting on the bottom bracket.
(this white foam was gleaned from the packaging that Luna Cycle used to send me the battery) BTW… Very well packaged for shipment by LunaJ
A simple snap-clasp strap that came with the bag is used to hold the battery into its’s cage.
Happily, this setup performed flawlessly throughout a reasonably rough day of trail riding.
I made small brake handle hoods out of aluminum for mounting the Bafang power cutout safety switches
I also found some very nifty (an inexpensive) cable trough that helped make my bike to not look like a Christmas tree all wrapped in wires.
I made a bunch of motor spacers out of various thickness of aluminum so that I could optimize chain alignment and chain stay clearance. (turns out that I could have just bought these from Luna Cycle J) But since I did it… all you need is some aluminum sheet, two hole saws (one for the inner diameter and one for the outer diameter), a vice and a block of hardwood to make these. I ended up with near perfect chain alignment from the front chain ring to my center gear on the rear cluster. In use, shifting is very very smooth. I love the power interrupt switch for shifting. The operation is absolutely perfect, and I have yet to throw the chain.
Again, after riding on flats and hills in dirt, gravel, shale and commuting to work on my e-bike for the first time…. I am thrilled ! (Goal #2 accomplished)
My boss at work came into my office this morning, looked at my bike and said… “I thought you were going to build and electric bike?â€
Riding up the Hwy 520 grade to work (it’s a separate bike trail) I passed multiple strong riders on very nice bikes… At the stop light at the top of the hill, one of them asked me how the Hell I could climb like that. I smiled and said: “It’s all about the bike†(Goal #3 accomplished)
This bike is a terrain flattener, range extender, time saver and opportunity creator.
I can’t wait to build a bike for my wife so that we can experience the trails together. She is an adventurer and will absolutely love this.
Special thanks again to my wife for supporting my three week e- build obsession !..or was it four weeks ? , and to:
· Eric and team at Luna Cycle
· Greg and team at Eastside Ski & Sport.
· Cliff at Lekkie
I'll post some photos later.
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