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Home Brew / EV Chopper in HD Big Twin Frame
« on: September 27, 2021, 02:11:22 AM »
Hello All,
Im in San Francisco and have been working on motorcycles and building choppers for a decade or so. I have recently gotten pretty obsessed about the idea of trying to build an electric chopper that actually looks and feels right, something at least the more open minded members of the chopper crowd could dig on. I also am interested in the idea of a motor and battery setup that could be "Swapped" with a big twin driveline to encourage more EV chopper builds. So here I am!
The piece that hooked me in was that with a little bit of research I discovered that it at least seems that a Zero 75-7 (not sure about 75-10) will fit between the motor mounts for a harley big twin motor and is close at least, to the space and form that a Harley bottom end would be. I found a full Zero 75-7 driveline on facebook marketplace for $3500 bucks and am considering picking it up, but know so little at this stage so don't know if this is a better approach than just doing all the components separately. PLEASE let me know what you think.
As for the battery pack and the rest of the build - my ideas are as follows - i need to learn a lot more to know what will and won't work, and welcome ANY good resources, critiques or ideas at this stage:
- Work with a hardtailed harley big twin frame - this means whatever solutions I come up with should work in any big twin frame up to the 2000's and serve as a swap for everything from Knuckle's to Evos.
- Potentially 2 Battery Packs. Primary Pack could sit where cylinder heads go and oriented roughly as a "V" or fan above the motor. I am interested in using aluminum plates to simulate motor fins, but structurally to house and cool the battery pack. I am not entirely sure how the reality of building this pack would play out so starting to read up there, but seems possible? Second location could be where a chopper oil tank typically sits behind the motor and above the transmission. THis could also have batteries or a controller and could potentially have louvers for cooling.
- other electrical components and charger to go in gas tank. Probably a friscoed sportster tank. Charger under gas cap.
- Thoughtfully flow cabling and other components to make sense but don't try to hide the fact that it's an ebike.
- Perhaps cast motor plates for mounting to frame and add other cast housings to elevate the styling and make it feel more motor- like / flow.
- Run a transmission with an open belt, probably a traditional harley 4 speed. Not sure if this is a terrible idea, but i think the feel/sound of a transmission is nice and if the gearing could help or mike riding feel more kinetic it could be interesting.
Please let me know your thoughts and I'm excited to learn from you all and get into this exciting new world.
Thanks ,
Swen
Im in San Francisco and have been working on motorcycles and building choppers for a decade or so. I have recently gotten pretty obsessed about the idea of trying to build an electric chopper that actually looks and feels right, something at least the more open minded members of the chopper crowd could dig on. I also am interested in the idea of a motor and battery setup that could be "Swapped" with a big twin driveline to encourage more EV chopper builds. So here I am!
The piece that hooked me in was that with a little bit of research I discovered that it at least seems that a Zero 75-7 (not sure about 75-10) will fit between the motor mounts for a harley big twin motor and is close at least, to the space and form that a Harley bottom end would be. I found a full Zero 75-7 driveline on facebook marketplace for $3500 bucks and am considering picking it up, but know so little at this stage so don't know if this is a better approach than just doing all the components separately. PLEASE let me know what you think.
As for the battery pack and the rest of the build - my ideas are as follows - i need to learn a lot more to know what will and won't work, and welcome ANY good resources, critiques or ideas at this stage:
- Work with a hardtailed harley big twin frame - this means whatever solutions I come up with should work in any big twin frame up to the 2000's and serve as a swap for everything from Knuckle's to Evos.
- Potentially 2 Battery Packs. Primary Pack could sit where cylinder heads go and oriented roughly as a "V" or fan above the motor. I am interested in using aluminum plates to simulate motor fins, but structurally to house and cool the battery pack. I am not entirely sure how the reality of building this pack would play out so starting to read up there, but seems possible? Second location could be where a chopper oil tank typically sits behind the motor and above the transmission. THis could also have batteries or a controller and could potentially have louvers for cooling.
- other electrical components and charger to go in gas tank. Probably a friscoed sportster tank. Charger under gas cap.
- Thoughtfully flow cabling and other components to make sense but don't try to hide the fact that it's an ebike.
- Perhaps cast motor plates for mounting to frame and add other cast housings to elevate the styling and make it feel more motor- like / flow.
- Run a transmission with an open belt, probably a traditional harley 4 speed. Not sure if this is a terrible idea, but i think the feel/sound of a transmission is nice and if the gearing could help or mike riding feel more kinetic it could be interesting.
Please let me know your thoughts and I'm excited to learn from you all and get into this exciting new world.
Thanks ,
Swen