Starting a CycleBully

[badcheese]

I'm surprised there haven't been any posts in this section in all of 2009! CycleBully is such a great concept: Turn any bike into an electric vehicle without modifying it, and as a bonus, gain cargo capacity. Count me in!

I picked up some full-suspension donor bikes from a friend's junk pile. One of them was born with 20" wheels, so the rear triangle is already the perfect size! That's assuming the triangle is strong enough. After all, the bike was presumably intended for a kid, so we'll see how it holds up with batteries and cargo. Fortunately, it will be trailing behind me, not supporting me, so if it breaks it will probably be an inconvenience rather than a disaster... I'll swap the shock with a larger one from one of the other two (26" wheel) bikes.

[One of the shocks I'm saving for the seat on my electric conversion vintage hardtail Triumph motorcycle. You heard me right. More on that when I get around to taking pics of the chassis.]

Lots of chopping and not much welding done yet, so I don't have pics of the CycleBully yet. My plan is to build it first as an unpowered trailer, which is still a useful thing, leaving room for the battery pack. Then, next time I replenish my bank account, I'll pick up a motor kit and batteries.

Are there any interesting new motor kits lately? Bargains to be had?

I plan to hitch it to the High Roller I'm building. I prefer not to weld a hitch to the HR frame. The seat post hitch for diamond frame bikes is brilliant: Strong, easy to attach, and no modifications to the bike. Does anyone have ideas about an elegant solution for hitching it to a HR? The obvious attachment point at the rear of a HR frame is the seatstays, but those are narrow tubing, and my HR will have its back brakes (V-brakes) mounted on the seatstays, so the hitch needs to avoid interfering with the brakes. If the seatstays are strong enough to take the load from the brakes, maybe they're strong enough for a trailer hitch. If I place the hitch above the caliper crossbar, almost where the stays meet the square tube of the seat frame, there should be enough strength and it might be out of the way of the V-brakes. The V-brakes I'm using are pretty short.

I'm also thinking about simpler ways to make the hitch hinge, without using wheel hubs. Wheel hubs seem like overkill, since the hinge doesn't need to spin constantly at a high rate the way a wheel does. A simpler hinge based on bushings instead of ball bearings ought to work fine. The demands on the hinge are more like the demands on the pivot of the rear suspension of a suspension bike, which uses bushings instead of ball bearings.

I'll post pics soon.

[GregLWB]

I'm surprised there haven't been any posts in this section in all of 2009! CycleBully is such a great concept: Turn any bike into an electric vehicle without modifying it, and as a bonus, gain cargo capacity. Count me in!

I'll post pics soon.

bc - I agree with you about the concept and this build is on my list. Like you my plan is to build it first as a trailer but ready to accept an electric motor as funds permit. My problem is all the folks I need to build bikes for first.:jester: The Mom-Ridian is done. Have to build a delta trike for my youngest daughter. Then a delta for my wifes' dad. Then a delta for my winter commuter. Also, I want to build the tandem. Man, I need to go take a nap!:jester:

I think for me the CB will have to be my winter project.

I am really looking forward to your build and pictures! I get so many ideas and ways to streamline my builds from the wealth of experiences we all share.

Greg

[Patrike]

Hmm - where did my last post go!!! Anyway - yah me to - thought it would be a popular build. I wanted to make a powered trailer longest time out of my Scott moter - then wanted to use the scott for the Kyoto - the trailer would not have the speed needed for the commuter meridian I think. The concept I like the most is the easy removal and your back to a regular bike without the extra weight and it can be attached to any of the builds you/we make.

For the hitch I was thinking of tube that a bolts can fit into if I can find tube that will not have any slack in it with the bolt. U don't need any bearings for something of this nature - the wear factor is nill due to the very little movement it will see -and a small amount of grease will do the trick. The last kid carrying trailer I had, had one of those spring type hitches -- always moving back and forth and messing up my momentum - hated it. Found it free, fixed up the wheel and sold it for 60$.

[John Lewis]

I built a power trailer way back. It is a great concept and works well. I made it a two wheel trailer driving on one wheel. I thought it would be more stable that way. 300W motor and 24V 18Ah. I used the spring connector idea from commercial trailers I'd seen. It works ok. There are some pictures of it somewhereon the forum dating back to a bit before the CycleBully. Ah here it is.

http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showpost.php?p=9806&postcount=13

John Lewis

[badcheese]

Finally had a chance to make a little progress. Because this rear triangle is from a bike with 20-inch wheels, it's already the perfect size. No need to cut and reweld. Down side: The short leg of the triangle is smaller than on a 26-inch bike, which puts the other end of the shock farther out on the boom, so I can't weld the tabs as close to the pivot as the plans call for. That reduces the leverage on the shock, so the suspension will be stiffer. I propped the boom on a step and stood on it (145 lbs), and it does compress, but just barely. This is a shock from an adult mountain bike. The kid-sized shock that came with this triangle is missing the big washer that holds one end of the spring. I'll find or make a replacement washer and see which shock I prefer. I could always use a fat low-pressure off-road tire on the wheel, but that would also mean more rolling resistance.

I welded the tabs without adding little shims between them and the shock, so the fit is too tight and it doesn't pivot easily. I guess I'll try filing a little bit off of the inside of each tab.

http://rickert-digital.com/atomic_zombie/cyclebully-1.jpg

[badcheese]

I haven't had time to work on this for a while, between finishing my High Roller and working. I'm getting closer to buying the motor now, and as I'm sure other people have noticed, it's not easy figuring out which motor to buy without breaking the bank.

BMC and Crystalite look great, but expensive.

Has anyone had experience with the motors from e-bikekit.com (http://e-bikekit.com/)? What about Golden Motor (http://goldenmotor.com/)?

Right now I'm leaning toward buying from e-bikekit.com.

[badcheese]

Reading more about Wilderness Energy, it looks like a good motor for the price.

I plan to use a 20 inch wheel, not only because that's what the plans call for, but also because I live in a very hilly area. In order to get decent speed, it seems reasonable to overvolt a 36v motor to 48v. I suppose this means I have to buy at least the controller separately, because a kit with a 36v motor naturally comes with a 36v controller, though another forum post mentions a Golden Motor integrated motor/controller package with a controller that will operate at a variety of voltages, but I haven't seen that package on GM's web site.

[badcheese]

I got a great price on a 600 watt WE BL-36 laced to a 20 inch wheel, with controller, throttle, etc., the whole kit minus batteries and charger: US$240 with free shipping and no sales tax. I haven't decided for sure what type of battery pack I'll use. If I use SLA, It's probably cheaper to get them from a local supplier instead of paying shipping.

I'm slowly making more progress on the frame and hitch. I'll post some more pictures soon.

[badcheese]

I'm also thinking about putting a center stand on the trailer. With the weight of the batteries and motor plus any cargo, it seems like it would be very handy to have a small but sturdy center stand that can be deployed, especially while loading or unloading cargo. It makes more sense to have the stand mounted on the trailer rather than on the bike because 1) The vast majority of the weight is in the trailer, and 2) The only time I would want a stand on the bike is when it's hitched to a trailer.

I'm making some sketches, but I'd love to hear if anyone else has done this. I'll post pics of whatever I come up with.

[badcheese]

If I had nothing better to do with US$375, I could buy this one:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/07/rolling-*******/

Here are some other examples:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Classic-Kickstand-Motorized-Bicycle-Wheel-Stand_W0QQitemZ320403360628QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20 090725?IMSfp=TL090725133001r15266
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=12511
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bipod-bicycle-stand-centre-steel/dp/B001LHRCCK

I'm sure I could make something or adapt an inexpensive one.

[badcheese]

That's ridiculous! The forum munges the first link because it has a word in it that means "donkey"!! Those asterisks ******* are supposed to say jack... um... I guess I can't say it. I'll get censored. It seems like a perfectly legitimate word to me, and more importantly, it's a legitimate link! Jack___ just means "donkey", right? The ONLY other meaning for the word is "a foolish person". True, that's not polite, but it's certainly not vulgar.

Ridiculous.

[Radical Brad]

Those damn computer robots!!
Brad

[badcheese]

That's pretty funny! I guess "damn" isn't on the blacklist, but JACKA55 is. Ha! I fooled it.

[KoolKat]

That's ridiculous! The forum munges the first link because it has a word in it that means "donkey"!! Those asterisks ******* are supposed to say jack... um... I guess I can't say it. I'll get censored. It seems like a perfectly legitimate word to me, and more importantly, it's a legitimate link! Jack___ just means "donkey", right? The ONLY other meaning for the word is "a foolish person". True, that's not polite, but it's certainly not vulgar.

Ridiculous.

ROFLMAO. The banned words databases are pretty funny. I'm assuming it's on the list because people tend to use it in a derogatory way. Makes sense. Did make me laugh, though! :cheesy:

[xanda2260]

That's pretty funny! I guess "damn" isn't on the blacklist, but JACKA55 is. Ha! I fooled it.

That would make a cool license plate...

[badcheese]

I finally had some spare time to finish my Cycle Bully... except for the electrification. It's just a passive trailer at the moment.

Here's the next issue: I need a way to keep the trailer stable while I'm loading and unloading it. My bike doesn't have a kickstand, and an ordinary side stand wouldn't work well for this much weight anyway. I'd like to add a center stand, but I want to mount it on the trailer itself instead of the bike, since I only need it when the trailer is hitched to it. I've seen some nice center stands for bicycles, but the trailer frame is too low for those. I need to make a stand that's extremely short, or I need to mount a factory-made stand at the front where the frame angles upward toward the hitch receiver so it can be high enough above the ground. Suggestions?

[PeterT]

BC,

Try and track down one of those old school stands that attached to both sides of the rear wheel, came in 26" & 27" from memory, and you pull the bike backwards onto the stands, with the rear wheel clear of the ground.

Then hack it to suit your trailer clearance!

This was a 26" stand, now it is a 20" stand
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/4165742392_15586b6cf1_m.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/4165742388_174d23c290_m.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2665/4165742386_1b64b5629c_m.jpg

PeterT

[badcheese]

Good tip, Peter! I was looking at that type of stand, but they were made for much larger wheels and it somehow didn't occur to me that it might be easy enough to modify for a smaller wheel.

[John Lewis]

badcheese,

Take a look at the dutch Bakfeits. The sort of stand that uses should be simple enough to do and very suitable. I think somebody on the forum did one. Have to try and find it and see if it has a stand.

John Lewis