Hi, I'm David. Greetings from central Alabama.
I've been working on an old beach cruiser bike for the past month or so. It was my pit bike in my racing days. Been gathering dust for years, as some old injuries were keeping me from pedaling any real distance. Saw the hub drive kits, and a plan was born. I've built racing motorcycles for years, so installing the kit was a breeze.
Going for a vintage sort of boardtrack racer look. Kind of crude right now. It has a W.E. 36volt brushless kit. Started out with the battery pack on the flimsy back rack. One ride with that heavy battery pack wiggling back and forth on the rack convinced me all that weight needed a lower centor of gravity. With the current mods, it's a blast to ride. Hits about 21mph on the flats. Pretty good since, I won't blow away in a storm! Got it up to 28mph on a down hill/tail wind test ride last week.
Let me know what you think. Here's a photo:
Later,
David,
I would say you hit the mark, good looking job, nice clean install. Here's hoping you have many great miles on the old pit bike which you might rename Phoenix. After all you did raise it back from the dust. LOL
Grandpa Chas S.
I agree it looks good. I am curious about placing the controller way in the back like that. That location means long cable runs to the rear and then all the way to the front again. I have my controller ziptied to the frame with some spongy shelf liner between controller & frame.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Thanks guys.
I've been doing some work on it during our rare Alabama snow storm. Have not had a chance to get a better photo. I relocated the main cable under the battery pack. I did this because I need to remove the battery back for the bike to fit on my rack and be properly balanced. My rack clamps to the top frame rail. Also less weight swinging around behind the car. When I moved the battery pack lower on the frame, I had to get a 12" power wire extension from the trailer section of the local auto parts store. I left the controller on the back so I wouldn't have to mess with bundling up the main cable. The controller sits on a 1/2" pad of high density foam and is zip tied to the rack. I bought an engine a while back for one of my vintage Harley race bikes and the guy packed the crate with lots of it. Seems to work fine and the on/off switch is easy to find. Used to race Grand Prix motorcycles at tracks like Daytona way back when. Lots of high speeds, heat, vibration, and an ocassional not so soft landing. Learned early on electronic control boxes need vibration damping and air flow to keep them cool. In my racing days they were both expensive and delicate.