DAMN Riders - No rules, Just ride!

It arrives the 15th, not the 16th. I am off on the 16th, though...

Laoch wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:32 pm

juddspaintballs wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:25 pm FedEx freight called me today to schedule delivery. June 15

Floggin Jed's new electric bike at Phil's place on 16 June

I can't promise at the moment. But I could most likely have a ride party on that Friday, June 18th.

Jeds new bike was in good hands and went everywhere at bucho's, bone stock. I have been riding mostly with my stock battery and for the most part, 60 volts and 100 amps is plenty peppy for almost all trails with a Nucular controller. I did hit a hard cutoff when i had the rear tire smothered on a steep hill and it caused a crash. The bms shut down for about 3-5 seconds, as best as i can tell. I guess i need to tweak my permissible battery amps a bit lower to avoid this glitch.

it was good to putt around on smdubs bike to check out his forks. i'm trying to convince myself that my moto forks are not worth the weight penalty i'm paying for them. for the first time, i bottomed them out over a good log at buchos. i measured my travel at 240 mm. Arent the big downhill forks 200 mm?

Yes. Fox, DVO, Rockshox Boxer, Manitou Dorado, Marzocchi Bomber, and I think even the Ohlins are all ~200mm.
Marzocchi did make the Super Monster T ages ago that was ~300mm. At ~6kg it prob weighed close to what some motorcycle forks do.

Longer travel forks would be nice to lift the bike and give it more ground clearance but I don't think they are necessary for bottoming/impact absorption. I've ridden bigger stuff on my 120mm mtb than the SurRon. People in the RedBull series jump MASSIVE stuff w/ 200mm travel. Its more about damping and spring rate progression than absolute travel. Longer travel forks can be made more plush though. The SurRon hangs on logs a lot more than the KTMs though. I would pick longer forks if I could (plus I'm long legged and don't mind the bike higher.) I can get over some stuff w/o hitting the Racespec bash plate but I'm not as skilled at wheelie-ing over logs as DaveJ yet. I just have to learn to send it...

Now that I have a 3rd ride mode on the surron via the Nuc dash buttons (thanks DaveJ for explaining that!) I'll probably tone one down a little. 400 phase amps is more than enough @ Phil's in Emmitburg. Also agree the big aftermarket battery isn't necessary as you don't get up to speed much there so max power isn't needed. Phil's was the first time I've really gotten to ride the SurRon in technical terrain w/ the new controller (Wife is always riding it when we go somewhere else.) I do think the throttle could ramp up a little faster though, so will program a curve to try out.

I think the biggest difference I noticed (elec vs gas) w/ it was in the rock gardens. When you let off the throttle thinking you can just coast over the last few it just.... stops. It weighs so little and with no engine idle speed to pull you through, the feel of momentum is totally different.

I ordered a Tusk engine kill button for $11 to wire up on my left handlebar to use as a reverse.


I still need to order and wire up a trials style magnetic wrist lanyard. I dropped it on its right side once @ Phil's and it pinned the throttle.

davej wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:04 pm Jeds new bike was in good hands and went everywhere at bucho's, bone stock. I have been riding mostly with my stock battery and for the most part, 60 volts and 100 amps is plenty peppy for almost all trails with a Nucular controller. I did hit a hard cutoff when i had the rear tire smothered on a steep hill and it caused a crash. The bms shut down for about 3-5 seconds, as best as i can tell. I guess i need to tweak my permissible battery amps a bit lower to avoid this glitch.

it was good to putt around on smdubs bike to check out his forks. i'm trying to convince myself that my moto forks are not worth the weight penalty i'm paying for them. for the first time, i bottomed them out over a good log at buchos. i measured my travel at 240 mm. Arent the big downhill forks 200 mm?

I went with the DVO's on mine with a 26 inch DH MTB tire/rim and couldn't be happier. Set the air for my weight and I have not bottomed them out yet and I have jumped some decent size ledges and such. The 26 incher rolls great over stuff and the front end is lite and wheelies easy and log hopping much easier. I had no issues at Phil's when I rode there. Almost even made it up the big hill climb down by the creek. I have decided to leave my controller stock for now, having alot of fun with it!

Calling smdub for assistance...

Being the holder of a pseudo-engineering degree in CompSci; and, possessing only enough knowledge to be dangerous about things of an electrical nature; I have a question about the headlight on my SurRon. The bike comes from the factory with no on/off switch on the headlight. It's on when the key is switched on and vice versa. A few of us have installed a headlight switch on our bikes to save a few milliamps during use and to enable stealth mode e-bike antics.

That being the case, is there a benefit to the BMS and/or battery to have this current draw all the time, even when the throttle is closed but the bike is on? Is there any disadvantage or undesirable effect of having the head light switched off with the key on and the throttle closed? I'm guessing not? It's pretty infrequent that the bike is on and the throttle is closed any who. It's just one of those things that make me go "hmmmm...."

Wes

I can't think of any problems. The headlight is run off the 12V dc/dc converter - which is still running. IIRC, That is what powers the brake lever switches, etc on the stock controller. Kiddo's Segway X160 doesn't have a headlight or taillight and it has the same dc/dc best I can tell.

FWIW, I finally bought all the parts for a belt to #216 chain conversion. I've ground off the end of one pin and pressed it out on the o-ring chain. I think I'll be able to shorten it but might need to make some half circular jaws and a chain holder to make it easier to undo the crimp. I've decided to buy a non-o-ring chain just so that isn't an impediment to the testing. I need to sketch out both sprocket adapters in cad and machine them. I need to buy a 5mm keyway broach.

smdub wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:21 pm I can't think of any problems. The headlight is run off the 12V dc/dc converter - which is still running. IIRC, That is what powers the brake lever switches, etc on the stock controller. Kiddo's Segway X160 doesn't have a headlight or taillight and it has the same dc/dc best I can tell.

FWIW, I finally bought all the parts for a belt to #216 chain conversion. I've ground off the end of one pin and pressed it out on the o-ring chain. I think I'll be able to shorten it but might need to make some half circular jaws and a chain holder to make it easier to undo the crimp. I've decided to buy a non-o-ring chain just so that isn't an impediment to the testing. I need to sketch out both sprocket adapters in cad and machine them. I need to buy a 5mm keyway broach.

Thanks! Good to know. I wondered if that small current draw was there to keep the battery/BMS "primed" to deliver instant power or some such. I guess not and that's what I get for thinking....

One of these is not like the others...
Rode about 10mi at Eagle Bay today before we succumbed to the heat/humidity.

Goldilocks situation in the making right there.

I'm guessing that conditions at eagle bay were either stagnant or stifling