I ran some numbers for different battery options and based range on 60Wh/km. Let me know if anything looks horribly wrong. The cost I’ve used for the Leaf batteries is probably way too low as I can’t even find any in Australia!
Also the motor arrived today and nervously checked to make sure the custom axle fits into the swingarm and thankfully it does! Next steps are to install the brake and work out an adapter plate to attach the bike’s original brake rotor to the motor. Also need to make up some blocks to hold the axle in the swingarm and some kind of bracket to hold all of this so I can do some bench testing.
Received the bike last week and started removing the ICE related bits that I won't be needing. One thing that I didn't expect to find was the coolant runs through the frame of the bike.
I’m definitely interested in selling the engine but I was planning on holding onto it until I finish the project. Do you need one straight away or can wait?
can wait as many projects on the go, will be out of way for next 5 weeks anyway so no urgency. blew last motor at gunnedah drags in april last year.
Shame you can't screw the axles into the blocks, counter screw each end to stop the axle turning when the blocks are mounted in the swingarm. Your swingarm position/geometry might also affect ride and handling during acceleration and braking e.g. if the rear of the bike rises during acceleration and drops under braking (I'm assuming you're running a rear shock).
I guess I could have screwed the axles into the blocks but I’m not sure that would be strong enough to resist the amount of torque during acceleration and regenerative braking. Also could the axle get locked in the thread by getting screwed in too tight? At the moment the axle has flat areas that go into slots in the blocks to stop them from spinning. Regarding swingarm position/geometry, I’m using the original swingarm and suspension, and the axle will be in the same position as it was before. Can you see any issues doing this given it will now be a hub motor?
In my excitement to get started, I completely forgot to weigh the front and back to get the weight distribution of the original bike before taking it apart So after putting everything except the seat and fairings back on and picking up a couple of bathroom scales from Bunnings, I now have the numbers. Front: 69.0 kg Rear: 71.4 kg
No. The hub motor may be a bit heavier than the FZR wheel, but you would have to be a very good rider to notice much difference.
Hahahaha well there no chance of that at this stage ... maybe one day when I’ve got a few more kms under my belt I’ll weigh the rear wheel when I take it off to see what the difference is as the hub motor is quite heavy at 20kgs
At 20kgs it will have an effect on the rear suspension as it is all unsprung weight... and generally people are trying to remove unsprung weight. You may find you need to change the rear shock to enable better control of bump and rebound settings but... see how it all goes first.
Yup agreed. In deciding whether to use a motor mounted in the frame and using a chain vs a hub motor I knew that was one of the downsides. Like you said I’ll get it all going first then see if I need to adjust/change anything. Is there a well known rear shock conversion for this bike?
I struggled trying to get the controller to do the angle identification setup and control the motor but got there in the end. I did swap the positions of the hall sensor A and C wires in the connector so they matched the controller connector side. That didn't seem to fix it straight away but after running the setup step and few more times it eventually worked. Whenever the angle identification setup finishes it puts out a buzzer alarm code 3,2 which is for internal reset which isn't very intuitive. It might have been working a bit earlier as I didn't test the throttle every time it finished, thinking it hadn't worked because of the alarm!