reikiman's blog

Recently I noticed some motorcycles w/ approx 100 lb battery packs are having the same range as I'm getting with the 220 lb pack on my Lectra. Namely 45 miles/hr and up to 10 miles range. Last weekend I showed the Lectra to a knowledgeable e-motorcycle builder and he thought I should be getting better range. So I'm wondering what's up with the range.

If I'm careful and don't hit the throttle real hard .. I can get 11-12 miles range. Hit the throttle hard, and the range is much less.

I rode my Lectra to work today and had the most bizarre ride home.

It started before I took off -- two of my coworkers were in the parking lot having seen the bike and they told me they'd spent the prior 1/2 hour going over all the details of the bike, and saying that Dave (me) would love to see the bike. So when I came towards them wearing a motorcycle jacket they broke into cheers and waving and saying what an awesome bike. Ohmygosh.

Today I got the fairing out and tried fitting it to the Lectra. Last week I measured things and drew pictures on paper, but this week it was made a little more real.

First.. this is what the fairing looks like, the picture was taken the day I picked it up. We loaded it on my motorcycle trailer and strapped it down sitting in the rail.

Today I studied the Fairing and the Lectra and am looking at ways to attach the Fairing to the bike. To remind y'all -- Along with my Lectra came a "full" fairing whose design was derived from a motorcycle which achieved 470 miles/gallon efficiency in a contest in the mid 1980's. The fairing is sold by Craig Vetter.. the idea is one way to achieve long(er) range is to increase the aerodynamic efficiency, and that link takes you to a page that shows approximately what I have and what I'm trying to do.

Phase 2 of my Lectra project is coming. Phase 2? Read back in my blog in previous Lectra Conversion Diary entries for more details. In Phase 2 I have a full fairing which is meant to make a shell around the entire motorcycle and make it extremely aerodynamic. The idea is to explore vehicle efficiency as a way to increase range.

One of my vehicles is a three wheel motorcycle...

I got it 1 1/2 yrs ago through an ebay auction, meaning I did not build the thing. I started to register it last year but during that process the thing stopped working. So for the last 9 months it's been sitting idle while I've focussed on the Lectra. It's been this big white elephant sitting in the driveway to walk past and occasionally think about and get frustrated. I tried several times to get it running but.. no luck.

I wanted to ride the Lectra over to the EAA meeting... y'know, show it off, etc. ...but... On my way over the chain broke.

I've had a couple instances where I go to take off and the chain slips off the sprocket and there's no power. It's very surprising when that happens 'cause I'm accustomed to this bike having lots of get up and go power, and when this happens it's zero. It's happened twice, the last time two days ago on my way to work.

One of my coworkers has his last day at work today - and he's one who has been very interested in EV's and following my progress on the Lectra conversion. That makes today the last day he could easily see the Lectra, so I rode it in today. Um, gosh, it's 45 degrees out with dense fog ... and for example my helmet kept fogging up, and at every stop I had to be a manual windshield wiper, wiping off the fog with my hands. But I made it in.

The question I've been working with the last couple weeks - other than Holiday activities that is - has been what to do for the dashboard on the Lectra. The Lectra design has a piece of molded plastic which kinda sorta maybe resembles in an odd way the gas tank in a gas motorcycle. If you squint your eyes just the right way, that is. It woulda been obvious to reuse that piece to cover that section of the bike, but I've been looking at a different idea.

Today I installed some of the gauges on the Lectra. I don't quite like how these came out so I'll probably be redoing it later. I have a spedometer, a volt meter, and an ammeter. The last two are analog gauges which came with the bike.