hi everyone,my names luke and im new to thw scene and gettinjg ready to do my first conversion and looking for some tips. I want to do a Triumph TR-6 conversion, but desided to start a bit smaller with my 81 Honda CB750 twincam. i seen jdh2550's thread already. His bike is older than mine and offers less space, so Im hoping to be able to fit more batteries. The goal is to acheave 50+mile range at a top speed of 70mph the acceleration is not important to me so high gearing will not bother me. Ive been reading up on coversion kits but its all greek to me. I am a certifed Vw expert tech, so I shouldn't have any problems with fabrication, wiring and the like... I've just never worked with DC motors and Controlers. any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
p.s. I'll try to get pictures up tomarrow
For a motorcycle conversion I suggest finding a copy of "The Secrets of el Ninja" or other booklets by John Bidwell. el Ninja is important as it goes through the generic steps of converting any motorcycle.
The http://evalbum.com is a good resource of existing conversions, plus gives contact info for most of 'em so you can ask questions. But some of us here have done conversions and can walk you through the electronics. It's pretty simple really.
Your speed and range goals might be tricky to meet. Just want to say that up front. You'll need to use lithium batteries.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
any idea on what motor and controller i should use also what would be the best voltage to use? was consiering a sidecart if need be. thanks
Welcome to V is for Voltage, Luke.
Yeah, if he means traveling one mile @ 70 mph, and then 49+ more @ 35-40, it's doable. But if he means traveling @ 70 mph for 50+ miles, my money is on him coming up far short of his goal. Anyway, here's the link to the El Ninja homepage: http://www.evdeals.com/BidwellSecrets.htm
BTW, Luke, I used to get between 30 & 32 mpg in my four door Mitsubishi Mirage (1.8L engine, 4-speed auto tranny) on the interstate. I drove like most of the people on the road, with one of the two pedals pressed to the floor at all times. Yeah, I'm exaggerating slightly, but sadly, not too much. Anyway, I discovered something called hypermiling. It involves accelerating slowly, and driving slightly below the speed limit, instead of as far above as your radar detector allows. I now get 46-47 mpg on the interstate, and it takes me 5-7 minutes longer to get from one side of Dallas to the other. Rush hour used to drive me crazy. Now every mile I drive during rush hour makes me smile more. Want to know why? At the 15-25 mph speeds on the Dallas freeways during rush hour, I get well over 60 mpg.
Do you remember those "Speed kills" commercials a few years back? If you had any idea how true that is for either fuel mileage or battery range, you'd be looking for ways to be able to drive slower, instead of looking for ways to drive faster.;)
edit: The Briggs & Stratton (no, seriously) eTek motor is by far the most popular for motorcycles. It's started to get hard to find now, though.
Robert
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thanks for the heads up. My every day car is a 2005 Cobalt SS/SC with mods (235 hp at the wheels) and with my dring habbets I get 41mpg high way but because of the gearing (4.62:1 first gear) I only get 23mpg around town. Im lookimg to get around 50 miles at 45mph but I would like to have the ablity to go on th highway. for the most part I would be using it the commute 20 miles each way though sub-urban streets. thanks for the motor tip. :)