I built an Xtracycle last summer in anticipation of Cleverchimp's re-release of the Stokemonkey. We were looking for something my partner could use to ferry our 3 y/o to preschool with on her way to work and she was not digging the San Francisco hills nor quite ready to put the 3 y/o on the back of either her Vespa or my Vectrix. Clevechimp sent me the kit last November and I bolted it right on. So far I am delighted with the whole thing. Photos available:
http://flickr.com/photos/ratwerks/sets/72157611038536301/
I'd be happy to answer any quesions people have, or lend a hand to anyone local wanting to build one for themselves.
-- JR
Hey, glad to see you join up! It was real nice talking with you at the SFEVA meeting last weekend.
I had looked at the stokemonkey design some time ago and something about it turned me off before. This design you show is a little different than I'd seen before. Obviously there is a chain going to both sides of the cranks. Did you have to completely replace the bottom bracket? Or only the cranks?
BTW your post reminds me of a video by Morgan @ cycle9 (a dealer in North Carolina) who also likes the long tail bikes. Maybe you saw this before? http://www.cycle9.com/blog/c9blog.php?id=30968517644719321 She did a faceoff comparing a couple BMC kits. These are hub motors with internal gearing.
I also have an xtracycle unit but it's currently not mounted on anything. I really miss it.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Nice- hilarious pic of ur E bike with an Xmas tree on the back lol!
Is that a 'Merr-E Xmas' ?! haha
Likewise, thanks for pointing me this way. I've already learned some things Vectrix that I did not know before.
I did not replace the bottom bracket, the Sugino tandem crank shipped with the kit uses the same standard square taper as the Sugino triple I already had on there. Since I've got some other bike projects going the original crank will find a good home. I've found that the gear range available on the Shimano Nexus 8 works fine on the big chainring in front (44, IIRC) so I pretty much never use the front derailer. I expect I'll be pretty happy to have access to those lower gears if I ever run the battery flat while out-and-about.
Potential upgrades may include a front disk, though I'd need to replace the fork and frankly I find modern rigid disk forks pretty ugly. I may also add the roller brake that came with the hub and connect it to a thumb shifter to use as a drag brake. My tandem had something like this and I found it a big help on long downhills.
I'll check out the cycle9 site now ...
-- JR
Vectrix 2007 > 5,000 miles
Stokemoney/Xtracycle 2008
I think this is an awesome set-up. I'm hearing from forums that the 9-continents motor has more poles and gets better range regardless of battery type due to better efficiency, it seems I could adapt one to a similar set-up.
I think the big question is...How much does the new Stokemonkey cost now, and how much does the new X-tracycle cost. I must confess I am jealous!
Xtracycle kit - http://store.xtracycle.com/_e/dept/02/Xtracycle_Conversion_Kits.htm
Stokemonkey - http://cleverchimp.com/ordering/form/
I started with a $100 used Rock Hopper and swapped in a Nexus 8 wheel I already had. I also "had" most of the other bits and bobs the replaced the stuff that came on the Rock Hopper. Point of all that being: you can spend as much or as as little over about $2500 as you like.
-- JR
Vectrix 2007 > 5,000 miles
Stokemoney/Xtracycle 2008
Just catching the electric bike train and am newbie here.
With the Stokemonkey on the xtracycle:
1. An internal hub gear set works ok ? I think that is the Shimano Nexus (similar to Rohloff).
2. The Stokemonkey demands you continue pedalling all the time if the motor is running - do you find any difficulty in the gear changes ?
3. How do you find it handles the hills ?
4. Seems more attractive in terms of cost ($2.5k) than the Optibike ($10k) ? But if you start adding the whole lot, frame , wheels, disc brakes, hub gears, Stokemonkey then maybe a bit more than $2.5k ?
5. Seems main differenc is the freewheel capability of the Optibike.
Rgds from Australia :-))
Houdini