The new life of a budget mountain bike, turning into an electric train
My name is Eugene, I am a student of the Belarusian State University of Transport. I always scratched my hands to do everything myself, as soon as the first breakdowns of my first mountain bike appeared, albeit a very budget one. It was a Stels Navigator 610.
In August 2014 it was boring, there was money, and I decided to google the topic of electric bicycles. After watching videos and other materials on the Internet, I realized how I would lend myself in August. In Minsk, I found a store that sells conversion kits.
For immodest (I already understood) $ 530 a set was bought:
Given the fact that the motor-wheel (front) is already assembled, it was decided to fit the rim from the front wheel into the rear hub, since the rear rim has been corrected more than once from eights and other things. In addition, he decided to refuse gears, that is, instead of a ratchet with stars, he twisted a freewheel (a ratchet with one star). There were three reasons for this.
And here it would be possible to begin, but there is one more point concerning appearance. The original paint on the bike was already scratched and looked very bad.
There was no time and money for high-quality repainting (that was August), so a simple plan was invented, which then seemed very cool to me. So, I just bought a sticker album and, having previously degreased the frame, covered it with stickers. And then, even from above, this case was filled with varnish from a spray can. It looked quite even to myself, I liked it. Unfortunately, photos of the assembly process were not preserved, so I will try to describe in a simple way.
So, on the finished frame with a fork, the rear wheel is installed, the front motor-wheel is inserted into the ears of the fork. By the way, that part of the axis that is inserted into the ears of the plug has a non-circular cross section. In the photo you can see.
Well, then the carriage is installed, before twisting, a ring with a pedal assistance sensor (PAS) is put on it.
Brake handles, control panel, throttle, grips (steering wheel pads that you hold while riding) are hung on the steering wheel. The holes for the battery holder are screwed onto the battery mount. For the controller, a small handbag was taken from a friend, who was hanged on the joint of the seat and longitudinal upper pipes.
We install brakes and other elements such as steps, mirrors, etc. Particular attention should be paid to the assembly of the rear wheel chain drive. Then there was the problem of chain tension. This bike has “point” dropouts:
Their trick is that the axis of the sleeve is installed in only one position, it cannot be moved, thereby pulling the chain. If you leave the chain loose, then just at certain speeds it will fly off the star. Therefore, it was decided to return the old switch and take it up so that it holds the chain in the position of a single star.
All this was done in one day, started at 10 in the morning and finished by seven in the evening. The first test - the bike rides itself ... Indescribable emotions.
Then I decided to go to the city to try it on the pavement, well, then there was an embarrassment. Literally on the first "speed bump" all the electrics go out and I stay only with the pedals.
The first thought is contacts, a quick check - everything seems to be fine. We hung around for five minutes and it all worked again ... We go further, drive two kilometers in the city center, exit from the curb and again it. Repeat the operations in a circle, everything works. This day there wasn’t anymore, but the sediment, of course, remained. For two weeks everything was fine, but the next morning, on the way to the university, this problem again occurred. We sorted out all the contacts on the controller, cleaned them, looked at the plug to the battery, it aroused suspicion ... Everything was fine with it, it phoned at any bend of the wire.
As a result, the most likely reason for this behavior was found - a fuse in the battery. It is inserted into the capsule, and the capsule with it is already twisted into the battery case itself. The fuse rings, but for some reason does not work. Put a jumper around it - it worked and until the end of the season I saw no more problems. There’s a paradox of some kind. Already in April 2015 I found the reason, everything turned out to be corny simple. The capsule into which the fuse was inserted was slightly longer than the fuse itself, so sometimes it simply lost contact with the capsule body. This could be the end of the story, but there will be a new life ahead of the hastily made electric bike.
In April it got warmer, and I started to ride it again. May came, new problems appeared that motivated me to make the electric bike again, taking into account all the mistakes.
The following did not suit me / broke in it:
So, the session was handed over, the last time I traveled on it in the city in early July, and with pleasure began to disassemble it. I had a lot of work to do.
What had to be done:
To order:
What had to be ordered was ordered, and while all this flew to me, another work was going on.
The most important thing was to make the chain tensioner, and I really wanted it to be as compact as possible and not catch the eye. There were ready-made options from overseas online stores, but the toad choked on giving the cost of an acceptable switch for a simple mechanism. I disassembled the old switch and took out a spring from it, which worked not for tension / compression, but for torsion. That was what I needed. From a steel plate I cut a bar that would be worn on the former axis of the switch, and at the other end of which would be a long bolt, on which a plastic wheel was wound, which would pull the chain.
Further, he simply brought it to the necessary form and prepared it for painting.
He simplified the system of leading stars to one star, since other stars were not needed. Just drilled rivets and left one middle star with the connecting rod.
I couldn’t decide on the design for a long time, I wanted something not typical, like all bicycles. From the colors I knew what I needed: blue, black and red. As a result, inspired by several bicycles, I decided to paint the frame in sky blue, and the pants and crown of the fork - in bright red. Wheels (rims, spokes, bushing and motor), connecting rods and an aluminum battery case were painted black. A good man taught me the painting technique and how to use a spray gun on my fork.
It took three days to bring the frame to a condition that it could be primed. The hardest thing was to get rid of the sticky glue from the stickers.
The frame had to be matted, and all chips and micro dents should be smoothed as much as possible.
Primed. After drying, the frame is again sanded with water to make it smooth.
After that, a layer of blue paint is applied. In order to avoid the appearance of smudges, he made a very fine and weak spraying, it took a long time to paint, but without smudges.
Well, the final layer is varnish. The varnish solution was with a hardener and a solvent. At this stage, some difficulties arose. It was not easy to achieve a smooth surface of the varnish, it was a little "rough", to put it simply - not a mirror, but not everywhere. Somewhere went too far with a dusting and smudges went. After drying, the smudges had to be cut off, again sanding that place and gently applying varnish. Other parts were painted in parallel with the frame, and these were connecting rods, a newly made chain tensioner, wheels (the area under the v-brake was sealed with masking tape), brake mechanisms (v-brake) ... everything was black.
During all this time I already managed to buy a beautiful red shirt with brake cables, found new tires on our market for great money, which looked exactly the way I wanted, which I was very happy about.
Before assembling the fork, the old grease was removed from it and a new one was applied. Visibly revived after this operation. By the way, its springiness directly depends on temperature. Given the fact that the plug is from the budget category, it has the simplest design possible. Just two springs in the legs and that’s it. No locks, adjustments, nothing. So, at a temperature of up to 10 ° C it is quite tight, but in the summer at 25 ° C and higher it is just super.
Came a new steering wheel, take-out, box for the controller, grips, accelerator handle. All parts in place that need to be painted can be assembled.
In principle, the assembly process was not much different from what it was a year ago, but I said that I want to shorten the wires. There were 4 wires on the steering wheel, two on each side (left brake + control panel and right brake + accelerator handle). To restore aesthetic beauty, I purchased thermocambrics and pulled the four wires that go to the steering wheel into two cambrics (however, it was not without oil). Next, the wires coming from the steering wheel and the motor are inserted into one large common cambric of blue color (which would not be noticeable), which was already approaching the carriage, and from there the wires were already going to the box with the controller.
In the photo below (the old version, it doesn’t matter now) you can see how much wiring fits the controller, despite the fact that in each black wire from two to 7 wiring is still inside.
And each had to be cut to the desired length, soldered and insulated. Work, I say, is not for the faint of heart, because you can’t put all the wires on the table, they are already connected with the great, so everything was soldered almost “on the knee”, that is, on weight, bent into three dooms.
Of course, before everything was hidden, the circuit was checked, everything worked, so you can hide it in a box.
Well, then the coolest moments. I liked the look very much, it became much more convenient and more beautiful, the steering wheel is pleasant, I adjusted it for myself, the grips are very cool, you get high from the ride.
Of course, for another two days, something was being adjusted, tuned, etc., but in the end it turned out to be a very cool electric bike, which I decided to briefly call now an electric train. I would never have thought that a budget mountain bike would receive not even a second, but a third life, and even in that form.
A little later, I found a good Exito bike workshop in my city, where I was weighed in an electric train. Many asked for an approximate weight. Well, by eye, I gave her about 20-25 kg. It turned out exactly 20. For an electric bike, these are excellent numbers.
I will answer frequently asked questions: “What speed does it develop?”, “How much is enough?”, “Why do you need this?”
The maximum speed is limited by the controller - 27 km / h. And it really is at a maximum battery charge of 27 km / h. Some craftsmen remove the software limitation, but this causes high battery loads, which significantly shortens its service life.
How much is enough: it all depends on the riding style. When using only the motor, without pedaling, it is enough for 20 km. But this is at temperatures from 0 ° C to 10 ° C. Just when it's warm outside, I already pedal and mileage immediately increases. Maximum I drove on it for 46 km with pedaling, despite the fact that he had not yet been set "to zero". Otherwise, there are a lot of factors on which mileage on one battery depends. In the summer it turns out 25-40 km. As a rule, I can’t wait until he completely sits down. I use the electric train as a transport, not a pleasure bike.
It can be traveled far and fast, while with minimal effort, no more than walking, which you don’t sweat from - you will accordingly come to study / work in good condition.
I am a full-time student. At the time of purchase of the conversion kit, it was summer before the first year. In this state of affairs, I can’t afford to spend big money on such projects, so I tried to observe the edge of stinting / scattering money. I have already said that a box with all the equipment cost $ 530, and if my memory serves me right, then after updating the stickers it cost me about $ 80, which I consider to be quite a good result.
And a little more about the cost of the kit. In the fall of 2015 I met a man in his city who also rides an electric bike. In short, this kit can be bought twice as cheap in Chernigov, Ukraine, which I simply did not know about before. I myself am from the city of Gomel, Belarus. Just when I decided on this purchase, I looked at prices on the same ali, which turned out to be more expensive in places than they were sold in Minsk. Therefore, I chose the simplest option - to buy it in Minsk. In other matters, I do not regret anything, for me this is creativity.
PS: In the future, I really want to make a custom electric cruiser with a powerful engine that would take the bar at 60 km / h. There are plenty of similar projects on the Internet, and from there I draw such ideas. Thanks to everyone who read to the end.
Background
Gradually gaining experience, I learned to repair various components and mechanisms, but after 3 years of riding I realized that with my loads it was great, he outlived himself. New spare parts lived less than the original ones, constant repair was needed, but there was simply no desire to spend money on good parts, this is still a budget bike. It was decided to buy a new bike with more serious attachments for more specific tasks - to drive around the city in comfort. They became Fuji Crosstown 1.1, but this post will not be about him. While I was driving the new Fuji, I brought the Stels to the point that it would be possible to go somewhere on it, but you definitely won’t get the joy of driving. And so he stood for a year and a half, periodically he was taken somewhere to travel once.
New life is the beginning
In August 2014 it was boring, there was money, and I decided to google the topic of electric bicycles. After watching videos and other materials on the Internet, I realized how I would lend myself in August. In Minsk, I found a store that sells conversion kits.
For immodest (I already understood) $ 530 a set was bought:
- 36V 350W electric motor, knitted into a 26 '' rim
- The control unit of the entire system (in other words, brains)
- Battery 10 Ah * at 36 V
- Rotation sensor on the carriage shaft (for pedaling assistance system)
- Accelerator handle
- Brake levers with integrated breakers (turn off the motor when braking)
- The control panel of the entire system (on / off, selection of pedaling assistance mode, speed, battery charge)
Given the fact that the motor-wheel (front) is already assembled, it was decided to fit the rim from the front wheel into the rear hub, since the rear rim has been corrected more than once from eights and other things. In addition, he decided to refuse gears, that is, instead of a ratchet with stars, he twisted a freewheel (a ratchet with one star). There were three reasons for this.
- The rattle during the rotation of the wheel “floated”, in other words, somewhere it was deformed.
- The switch was no longer able to function properly
- When a motor appeared in a bicycle, the sense of having several gear ratios simply disappeared.
And here it would be possible to begin, but there is one more point concerning appearance. The original paint on the bike was already scratched and looked very bad.
There was no time and money for high-quality repainting (that was August), so a simple plan was invented, which then seemed very cool to me. So, I just bought a sticker album and, having previously degreased the frame, covered it with stickers. And then, even from above, this case was filled with varnish from a spray can. It looked quite even to myself, I liked it. Unfortunately, photos of the assembly process were not preserved, so I will try to describe in a simple way.
Assembly
So, on the finished frame with a fork, the rear wheel is installed, the front motor-wheel is inserted into the ears of the fork. By the way, that part of the axis that is inserted into the ears of the plug has a non-circular cross section. In the photo you can see.
Well, then the carriage is installed, before twisting, a ring with a pedal assistance sensor (PAS) is put on it.
Brake handles, control panel, throttle, grips (steering wheel pads that you hold while riding) are hung on the steering wheel. The holes for the battery holder are screwed onto the battery mount. For the controller, a small handbag was taken from a friend, who was hanged on the joint of the seat and longitudinal upper pipes.
We install brakes and other elements such as steps, mirrors, etc. Particular attention should be paid to the assembly of the rear wheel chain drive. Then there was the problem of chain tension. This bike has “point” dropouts:
Their trick is that the axis of the sleeve is installed in only one position, it cannot be moved, thereby pulling the chain. If you leave the chain loose, then just at certain speeds it will fly off the star. Therefore, it was decided to return the old switch and take it up so that it holds the chain in the position of a single star.
All this was done in one day, started at 10 in the morning and finished by seven in the evening. The first test - the bike rides itself ... Indescribable emotions.
Then I decided to go to the city to try it on the pavement, well, then there was an embarrassment. Literally on the first "speed bump" all the electrics go out and I stay only with the pedals.
The first thought is contacts, a quick check - everything seems to be fine. We hung around for five minutes and it all worked again ... We go further, drive two kilometers in the city center, exit from the curb and again it. Repeat the operations in a circle, everything works. This day there wasn’t anymore, but the sediment, of course, remained. For two weeks everything was fine, but the next morning, on the way to the university, this problem again occurred. We sorted out all the contacts on the controller, cleaned them, looked at the plug to the battery, it aroused suspicion ... Everything was fine with it, it phoned at any bend of the wire.
As a result, the most likely reason for this behavior was found - a fuse in the battery. It is inserted into the capsule, and the capsule with it is already twisted into the battery case itself. The fuse rings, but for some reason does not work. Put a jumper around it - it worked and until the end of the season I saw no more problems. There’s a paradox of some kind. Already in April 2015 I found the reason, everything turned out to be corny simple. The capsule into which the fuse was inserted was slightly longer than the fuse itself, so sometimes it simply lost contact with the capsule body. This could be the end of the story, but there will be a new life ahead of the hastily made electric bike.
In April it got warmer, and I started to ride it again. May came, new problems appeared that motivated me to make the electric bike again, taking into account all the mistakes.
The following did not suit me / broke in it:
- Appearance. He really disliked me, it was too "collective-farm" and clumsy with stickers.
- A pile of black ugly wires wound around the frame
- Inconvenient accelerator handle. If you hold it in the maximum position for a long time, your hand gets tired.
- The former speed switch began to constantly break down, thereby dropping the chain from the star.
- Order tired of the original cheap takeaway and steering wheel with a lift. I wanted to put the stem in a slightly different shape with angle adjustment, and the steering wheel is straight.
- Established influenza turned out to be a stupidly hard piece of rubber, which, after exits from curbs and driving through bumps, began to hurt hands.
- The star system strained, there were three of them in the original, connected by rivets, despite the fact that only one was used.
- They demanded replacement of the shirt of brake crossings.
- The plug was already getting no, she needed cleaning and lubrication.
- I wanted a wide slick tire, I really wanted to.
New Life - Continued
So, the session was handed over, the last time I traveled on it in the city in early July, and with pleasure began to disassemble it. I had a lot of work to do.
What had to be done:
- Come up with a new design
- Repaint the frame, plug and other details
- Sort out the plug
- Solve the chain tensioner problem
- Buy new shirts with cables
- Buy new tires
- Shorten all wires to the required length so that they do not have to be wound again somewhere
- Put it all back together
To order:
- Stem
- Steering wheel
- Grips
- Neat box for the controller
- New trigger type accelerator handle
What had to be ordered was ordered, and while all this flew to me, another work was going on.
The most important thing was to make the chain tensioner, and I really wanted it to be as compact as possible and not catch the eye. There were ready-made options from overseas online stores, but the toad choked on giving the cost of an acceptable switch for a simple mechanism. I disassembled the old switch and took out a spring from it, which worked not for tension / compression, but for torsion. That was what I needed. From a steel plate I cut a bar that would be worn on the former axis of the switch, and at the other end of which would be a long bolt, on which a plastic wheel was wound, which would pull the chain.
Further, he simply brought it to the necessary form and prepared it for painting.
He simplified the system of leading stars to one star, since other stars were not needed. Just drilled rivets and left one middle star with the connecting rod.
I couldn’t decide on the design for a long time, I wanted something not typical, like all bicycles. From the colors I knew what I needed: blue, black and red. As a result, inspired by several bicycles, I decided to paint the frame in sky blue, and the pants and crown of the fork - in bright red. Wheels (rims, spokes, bushing and motor), connecting rods and an aluminum battery case were painted black. A good man taught me the painting technique and how to use a spray gun on my fork.
It took three days to bring the frame to a condition that it could be primed. The hardest thing was to get rid of the sticky glue from the stickers.
The frame had to be matted, and all chips and micro dents should be smoothed as much as possible.
Primed. After drying, the frame is again sanded with water to make it smooth.
After that, a layer of blue paint is applied. In order to avoid the appearance of smudges, he made a very fine and weak spraying, it took a long time to paint, but without smudges.
Well, the final layer is varnish. The varnish solution was with a hardener and a solvent. At this stage, some difficulties arose. It was not easy to achieve a smooth surface of the varnish, it was a little "rough", to put it simply - not a mirror, but not everywhere. Somewhere went too far with a dusting and smudges went. After drying, the smudges had to be cut off, again sanding that place and gently applying varnish. Other parts were painted in parallel with the frame, and these were connecting rods, a newly made chain tensioner, wheels (the area under the v-brake was sealed with masking tape), brake mechanisms (v-brake) ... everything was black.
During all this time I already managed to buy a beautiful red shirt with brake cables, found new tires on our market for great money, which looked exactly the way I wanted, which I was very happy about.
Before assembling the fork, the old grease was removed from it and a new one was applied. Visibly revived after this operation. By the way, its springiness directly depends on temperature. Given the fact that the plug is from the budget category, it has the simplest design possible. Just two springs in the legs and that’s it. No locks, adjustments, nothing. So, at a temperature of up to 10 ° C it is quite tight, but in the summer at 25 ° C and higher it is just super.
Came a new steering wheel, take-out, box for the controller, grips, accelerator handle. All parts in place that need to be painted can be assembled.
In principle, the assembly process was not much different from what it was a year ago, but I said that I want to shorten the wires. There were 4 wires on the steering wheel, two on each side (left brake + control panel and right brake + accelerator handle). To restore aesthetic beauty, I purchased thermocambrics and pulled the four wires that go to the steering wheel into two cambrics (however, it was not without oil). Next, the wires coming from the steering wheel and the motor are inserted into one large common cambric of blue color (which would not be noticeable), which was already approaching the carriage, and from there the wires were already going to the box with the controller.
In the photo below (the old version, it doesn’t matter now) you can see how much wiring fits the controller, despite the fact that in each black wire from two to 7 wiring is still inside.
And each had to be cut to the desired length, soldered and insulated. Work, I say, is not for the faint of heart, because you can’t put all the wires on the table, they are already connected with the great, so everything was soldered almost “on the knee”, that is, on weight, bent into three dooms.
Of course, before everything was hidden, the circuit was checked, everything worked, so you can hide it in a box.
Well, then the coolest moments. I liked the look very much, it became much more convenient and more beautiful, the steering wheel is pleasant, I adjusted it for myself, the grips are very cool, you get high from the ride.
Of course, for another two days, something was being adjusted, tuned, etc., but in the end it turned out to be a very cool electric bike, which I decided to briefly call now an electric train. I would never have thought that a budget mountain bike would receive not even a second, but a third life, and even in that form.
A little later, I found a good Exito bike workshop in my city, where I was weighed in an electric train. Many asked for an approximate weight. Well, by eye, I gave her about 20-25 kg. It turned out exactly 20. For an electric bike, these are excellent numbers.
A little on the characteristics
I will answer frequently asked questions: “What speed does it develop?”, “How much is enough?”, “Why do you need this?”
The maximum speed is limited by the controller - 27 km / h. And it really is at a maximum battery charge of 27 km / h. Some craftsmen remove the software limitation, but this causes high battery loads, which significantly shortens its service life.
How much is enough: it all depends on the riding style. When using only the motor, without pedaling, it is enough for 20 km. But this is at temperatures from 0 ° C to 10 ° C. Just when it's warm outside, I already pedal and mileage immediately increases. Maximum I drove on it for 46 km with pedaling, despite the fact that he had not yet been set "to zero". Otherwise, there are a lot of factors on which mileage on one battery depends. In the summer it turns out 25-40 km. As a rule, I can’t wait until he completely sits down. I use the electric train as a transport, not a pleasure bike.
It can be traveled far and fast, while with minimal effort, no more than walking, which you don’t sweat from - you will accordingly come to study / work in good condition.
A little about the project budget
I am a full-time student. At the time of purchase of the conversion kit, it was summer before the first year. In this state of affairs, I can’t afford to spend big money on such projects, so I tried to observe the edge of stinting / scattering money. I have already said that a box with all the equipment cost $ 530, and if my memory serves me right, then after updating the stickers it cost me about $ 80, which I consider to be quite a good result.
And a little more about the cost of the kit. In the fall of 2015 I met a man in his city who also rides an electric bike. In short, this kit can be bought twice as cheap in Chernigov, Ukraine, which I simply did not know about before. I myself am from the city of Gomel, Belarus. Just when I decided on this purchase, I looked at prices on the same ali, which turned out to be more expensive in places than they were sold in Minsk. Therefore, I chose the simplest option - to buy it in Minsk. In other matters, I do not regret anything, for me this is creativity.
PS: In the future, I really want to make a custom electric cruiser with a powerful engine that would take the bar at 60 km / h. There are plenty of similar projects on the Internet, and from there I draw such ideas. Thanks to everyone who read to the end.