Newbie with a LOT of questions

[steveseviltwin]

I'm new to this so bare with me. I'm planning on building a deltawolf with an electric moter That if my calculations are right would do 70 mph. tops. This of coarse is just theraretical as I don't see the wheels not folding. So my first question is, Is there any reason that the gladiator wheels would not work? I realise that this will reduce the top speed but thats ok. The second questoin is which would be better. A starter moter that has been modified per a post I saw the other day , or a wheelchair moter? I will be using an 18 speed mountain bike for my gears and the only real problem is going the be the moter speed controler. Thanks for any advice that you send my way.

[ggriffin924]

I'm new to this so bare with me. I'm planning on building a deltawolf with an electric moter That if my calculations are right would do 70 mph. tops. This of coarse is just theraretical as I don't see the wheels not folding. So my first question is, Is there any reason that the gladiator wheels would not work? I realise that this will reduce the top speed but thats ok. The second questoin is which would be better. A starter moter that has been modified per a post I saw the other day , or a wheelchair moter? I will be using an 18 speed mountain bike for my gears and the only real problem is going the be the moter speed controler. Thanks for any advice that you send my way.

I don't believe anything that would do close to 70 mph would be legal as a moped. You would have to register it as a motorcycle for that I would believe. How big a motor are you putting on the thing? I'm currently building the hubs for mine, and at 3.5 inches wide with a double walled rim they seem very sturdy, for whatever torque my legs can put on them, not sure about the electric however. For a stronger wheel you might want to :eek: consider going with a 24 inch or 20 inch rear, with more spokes.

-Griffin-

[theDude]

You are never going to hit 70 with a starter motor. Ar least, not without a huge run-up or a nice downhill run. You will need about 15KW of motor to get performance about equal to a 250cc motorcycle at up to 70mph. Neither a starter motor nor a wheelchair motor is going to cut it. You are going to be looking at around 75 pounds worth of motor and at least twice that in batteries. Here's a list of some of the motor manufacturers: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/4214/links.html#EV%20Parts . In comparison, a 750 watt hub motor can push a 26" bike up to about 20 mph.

[Sparky]

also, a standard bicycle freehub cant handle more than a human amount of torque. like 1/4 horsepower. something tells me if you try to push one with enough power to go 70 something is going to explode.

the world record for pedal powered speed is 81mph. but that was a full-bodied race only recumbent 2 wheeler, and he had a 5 mile stretch to get to that speed.

actually, i think the gladiator wheels would be weaker. they use the same spokes, but have alot more mass and wind resistance to deal with.

48 spoke 20 inch wheels might be the strongest. i think for sure the strongest for lateral forces, which is another thing to consider.

[AtomicZombie]

Hello.

Starter motors are the last motor you should ever consider using for anything but... starting your car! Even if somehow you managed to add real bearings to the shaft, adapt a sprocket, rewind the motor, and add liquid cooling, your range would be about once around the block with a new battery.

The other end of the motor scale is a wheelchair motor. Now you have about 10x less power, so your top speed with the larger ones (250 watts) might be about half the speed of normal pedaling speed.

If you have the budget, consider a hubmotor kit. If not, look for a permanent magnet motor with no less than 600 watts. You will also need a massive gear reductions system using multiple jackshafts of a single rear sprocket about 16 inches in diameter.

As for speed, I am going to give my trike designs a top rated speed of no more than 30 MPH. Any faster than that and you will run a real risk of folding a wheel around a corner, especially with the extra weight of the hardware.

If you want to keep up or pass city traffic, you need to build with motorcycle parts.

Brad

[rykoala]

If you want to keep up or pass city traffic, you need to build with motorcycle parts.
Brad

Good advice! Steveseviltwin, Listen to this guy. He knows what he's talking about.

[gbbwolf]

My first impression is someone's calculator is broken think that decimal place didn't show up I.E. 7MPH not 70MPH.

No possible way for a starter motor to hit 70 mph, ever crank a starter motor for 3 mins and then try and touch it.

Even if you did get it to go 70 mph you would eat 20 battery's just to make it go Maybe and I stress MAYBE 3 miles.

Someone has been watching too many you tube videos where they do crazy chit with starter motors, weed whackers, and other motor's.

What those videos don't show you is that it lasted maybe 5 minutes.

Go ride an electric or even gas powered moped, strip it down and see what top speed you can get from it.

I had a 150cc scooter it would run dang close to 70 mph.

150cc = Horsepower(hp) 9.4hp/7500rpm: Max Torque : 8.5n.m/4000rpm

So someone translate that into what size electric motor he would need to run 70 mph I am not good with electric motor stuff.

Figure that one out in an electric motor then figure out how many battery's you will need to make it run for at least an hr.

Cost factor will exceed final result I am sure.

IMAO = IN MY ASININE OPINION.

Nelson

[theDude]

9.4 hp is just over 7KW

[steveseviltwin]

Thanks for the input. I realise that I didn't add that my calculations assumed that I was going to use the same moter as the sparky minibike or that my gear ratio was 3.4285571429, (rounded up to 3.5 for conveniance ). The starter moter/wheelchair moter was an idea because they are easyer foer me to come by, and I failed to take their RPM's into account.

[SirJoey]

Personally, I'm expecting my Kyoto Cruiser to be the first to break the sound barrier.

Listen for the BOOM!

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif