Extreme Hill Climber Fat Tire MTB Project.

[commuter ebikes]

20T Vuelta USA 58mm BCD aluminum chainring:

[commuter ebikes]

This handy tool holds the chain in place while you do your thing:

[commuter ebikes]

I have Master Links on my SRAM chains, and the hand tools made for such eliminate a lot of frustration:

[commuter ebikes]

Following safety, reliability and performance, my next highest priority is hiding my electronics. Here is what I am trying to hide and the battery box that hides it:

[commuter ebikes]

I have finished everything except installing the panniers, controller, trunk bag, CA, wiring and wire looming:

[commuter ebikes]

Installing the battery boxes took a lot longer than I thought. I had to get them in just the right position for maximum concealment. I have Delrin backing plates on these frames because the steel pannier mounting strap (part of the frame) is on the outside of the bike which makes it hard to get to the nuts. The Delrin backing plate places the nuts in full view and provides easy access with the open end wrench. I trimmed all of the Delrin backing plates as much as possible in order to reduce weight.

I also had to make an attachment to the battery box which keeps the box from possibly pushing in the Singleator. I used a black knob.

I have crashed on bikes before and pushed in the derailleur; this puts a strain on the derailleur hanger.

[commuter ebikes]

The task of ordering custom wide axles is a long process. I feel like I am asking a favor of Zelena Vozila, and I feel lucky that they are accommodating me. I can't help but realize how much easier a mid drive motor would be, having to only deal with the bottom bracket width.

I am just sitting down down to standardize my Lyen Mark 2 controllers so that all controllers, 3-speed switches, CAs, throttles and e-brakes can be used on any of my four ebikes. The controllers have some white Molex-style connectors that I am not crazy about; I prefer JST-SM connectors.

Among other reasons, I want to standardize all of the electrical components and wiring for ease of troubleshooting. I have often exploited the "remove and replace" shortcut to identify faulty parts.

[commuter ebikes]

I had one of these all wired up for testing on Monday, but I was too busy/afraid to test it until today. After I made one adjustment to the settings, it tested a-okay.

The setting that I changed was the "Number of Poles" (that is, motor poles) in the CA V3. I completely redid the wiring (which took a long time!), and part of that was converting my CA from a spoke magnet/sensor to the method where the speed is calculated by the CA using the motor RPM, which is why I had to input the number of poles. This Cromotor, like a QS Motor, has 26 poles.

When I first tested the bike, it ran like crap. I was alarmed, and when I went in the settings for Number of Poles in the CA, the default was 1. I input 26 and all is well.

Like I said, I was afraid to test it. I imagined all kinds of problems that I would have, beginning with no electrical or motor power. I was ready and willing to call in my guru to save me. Frankly, I am surprised that it tested a-okay, but I was so careful with every single solder joint.

The pedaling spins out at 6 mph, but the motor is a beast. I have the current limited to 30A in the 72V system. I need my ebikes to at least sort of ride like a bike rather than a motorcycle.

Here is a picture from Test Day:

[commuter ebikes]

In order to finish this bike, I need to route the wires neatly, install the trunk bag and panniers, and put on wire looming.

This is one of my two low geared bikes. They are both fixies with 26.52 gear inches with the pedaling spinning out at 6 mph.

I have two high geared bikes. They are both 5-speeds with 169.62 gear inches in the tallest gear and 68.91 gear inches in the granny gear. The pedaling spins out at 45.5 mph in the tallest gear and 15.6 mph in the granny gear.

[commuter ebikes]

I am so relieved that the second bike worked when I tested it, but I had to mess with the Hall sensor wires to get it going.

Way back when this motor was first wired up, precrimped connectors were used and they have random colors. I guess the electronics technician was in a hurry and he wired blue wires to green wires on the connector. Same quagmire on the controller end.

This is not good, of course, because I wanted to connect blue to blue, green to green, and yellow to yellow. It got so confusing that I had to make this 5-pin jumper cable connector which made it easy to test different color combos:

[commuter ebikes]

The precrimped connectors https://www.allelectronics.com/item/...w/leads/1.html are so reliable, but one has to use colored heat shrink tubing to keep the colors straight!

See the brown wire in the picture? One has to put green heat shrink tubing to completely cover the brown (in the case of a Hall sensor wire).

[commuter ebikes]

I was also alarmed that my regenerative braking was not working at first. I switched in a different harness, but still no regen. I remembered that regen doesn't hardly work at all with a fully charged battery, so I went for a long ride hoping to discharge the battery a little and get the regen to work. I was so happy when it kicked in. Once the battery was discharged a little, I had very strong regen which I like because I hate buying and changing brake pads.

[commuter ebikes]

At this point, I still have my 5-pin jumper cable in there. This is not a permanent solution, of course. That 5-pin jumper cable is for the tool box.

I will have to wire new color matching connectors all the way from the motor to the controller, and I am almost out of small green heat shrink tubing. I used it all covering the brown wires on the precrimped connectors.

[calfee20]

I was also alarmed that my regenerative braking was not working at first. I switched in a different harness, but still no regen. I remembered that regen doesn't hardly work at all with a fully charged battery, so I went for a long ride hoping to discharge the battery a little and get the regen to work. I was so happy when it kicked in. Once the battery was discharged a little, I had very strong regen which I like because I hate buying and changing brake pads.

So when does your regen kick in and is it proportional? Or do you program a certain amount of regen? I am getting ready to wire my first DD bike and the regen setup seems to be what I am thinking about most. I see you use a Cycle analyst. So how does the hook up go? One long wire from the CA to the controller and then all of the handle bar controls and the PAS sensor to the CA?

[Harold]

You may want to look at the RST Renegade fat bike fork. Comparable to the Bluto and alot less. I see them on ebay in the $350-400 range occassionally. I have one on my Diamondback with a Surly 4.8 for the snow.