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  1. #1 Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    C-Moto Senior richardktm's Avatar
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    After two years of no motorbike riding in the city of Shenzhen i finally cracked.. aswell as my galaxy 250 which i use out of town, and my collection of bicycles i've final built an ebike. Design brief was a fast, safe, and light bike that is compact and easy to handle as it has to fit in lifts and buildings. A friend recently crashed an old and battered bog standard workers ebike, so i bought it from him still covered in blood.. yuk!! On first inspection it looked ok but in the light of day it was a total dog, bent bars, broken plastics and levers, siezed forks and a cracked frame. The batteries were new and the wheels and tyres were good so i threw away the rest and got to know my local ebike shops quite well. I was pleasantly suprised at how cheap parts are for these thinks and bought a new frame 100rmb.. new forks 100rmb.. and new battery casings 60rmb.. I put it together with 60v batteries, 60v control box and the 48v motor. I reckon it will do around 50klm/hr, about 20klms of full throttle riding stopping and starting between charges. I can lock both wheels on the brakes and it doesn't make a sound over bumps or potholes unlike most ebikes. Things still to do are a better seat and a crossbar to take out some of the flex in the frame.. i'm taking it to the local kart track in a couple of days with two friends, they both run 72v bikes with 1000watt motors, so i don't think I'll be winning the first shenzhen ebike GP. but maybe next time :) What do you guys think?? cheers rich
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  2. #2 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    C-Moto Guru Serpentza's Avatar
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    Mate.. Awesome.. what can I say... a bloody masterpiece of minimalist pikeaneering
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  3. #3 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    Love the nekkid hardtail look, though you'll not enjoy that so much when the rains start. Don't suppose it'll wheelie with all that battery weight up front, but be careful if you've got good front brakes. You just might endo!

    Are these bikes legal in Shenzhen? I thought they banned everything with two wheels and a motor.

    Ride safe!
    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  4. #4 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    C-Moto Guru
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    That looks really good, I especially like the handle bars. Off of a mountain bike? I might even pick up a bike like that for getting around in Suzhou.
    Did it originally come with pedals and a chain? It looks far too sensible for a Chinese Ebike. No ridiculous fairing and large wheels to handle bumps. Maybe it's just that it doesn't have a family of 5 riding it in your pictures.

    Please post some details about your friends' souped up Ebikes. I'm very interested in getting something like this myself.
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  5. #5 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
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    I think those rubber footpegs are going to slow you down...maybe get some fancy CNC ones instead .

    Nice bike.

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
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  6. #6 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    C-Moto Senior richardktm's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments guys, i'm getting quite confident on it now and its suprisingly fast around town. I'm not sure if its legal in Shenzhen, I think it should be under 20kg or something like that, but there are thousands of delivery guys using these things so i'm pleading ingnorance.
    I think a wheelie will be possible if i put my feet on the passenger footpegs. I saw some folding motocross pegs a while ago that i will put on as the rubber ones are sagging a bit under the stess of me jumping off kerbs!!
    Nuhaus: it did have all the horrible red plastics on it and pedals when I got it, i kept the rear rack just incase i need to move a double bed or a sofa in the future :) If you want to know anything about ebikes Serpentza is your man, he's been doing performace mods to ebikes for years in China.
    chinaV: nice to have you back sir, looking forward to the RR.Unfortunatly I don't think this thing will make it to your hoiuse on one charge.

    rich
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  7. #7 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Nice work rich, but you have to lose the grandma saddle, it's really killing the look! A mtb saddle would work well with the bars and doesn't have to cost that much.
    http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=3165121529

    Next i'd get as much of the fucker painted matt black as possible, starting with those forks, and then avoid ever touching it off anything ever again to avoid scratching it off.

    And then of course there's lots of CNC bling to make you go faster as chinaV mentioned. You could do worst than start with these grips which i installed on my ebike and immediately gave me a 75% boost in power.
    http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10613699145
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  8. #8 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    C-Moto Senior richardktm's Avatar
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    Nice grips Felix I will definitely get some, but the granny seat will have to stay for now.. I tried a slim well padded mtb seat for a ride but it was too painful as I couldn’t stand up quick enough for the bumps.
    I’ve seen a small café racer seat on line from a pit bike company, but I can’t find a pic of it now.. I will hinge it at the front and put some tailgate gas struts on the rear to give it a bit of give.
    I seem to be going through an industrial phase at the moment, which means I strip everything back to the bare minimum and spend more time riding and less time polishing.
    Check out my old specialized mtb, I stripped the paint off with an angle grinder, made it single speed and routed the cables through the frame2011-11-02_14-30-28_93 (800x449).jpg

    BTW felix I bought Motorola blur and I can’t register with motoblur.. how did you get round it??
    rich
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  9. #9 Re: Tough ebike for the city streets. 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Job! Angle grinder is the best way to finish off any project. Please tell me you succumb to fashion though and make it a fixed gear!

    For my motorola defy i didn't deal with motoblur at all, i got the guys at the shop to wipe it and install cyanogenmod 7 when i bought it. Good rom, good phone but not blown away by either.
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