ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

Great video. Rapped attention to the end. No download issues if you run 360 dpi.

Making your own motor, eh.

1. Tesla is avoiding (Chinese mined) rare earth magnets.
2. Go super high speed to get HP but low inertia to get acceleration. Betcha you might need a gear but not sure (speaking as a human factors psych) whether it should be low or as an overdrive. Nothing inherently wrong with gears, if thought through carefully. Not the best of ways to work, but given constraints, you might want to allow users to bump against safety limit sensors for heat or speed, provided the iimp-home mode wasn't dangerous if triggered while on the highway or in a curve.
3. A piece of sticky foam filter in the air intake: no maintenance if used in the city and if used on dirt, you are glad you installed a dirt filter, eh.

Just how can I get my hands on an S for a low price!!!! Nice companion to my BMW R1100S.

Good post. But not a system where you'd want to compromise safety in your skills are lacking.

Bleeding brakes takes some skill too, not that it takes more than one try to learn about wrenches, (avoid excessive force in tightening), bottles, bleed hoses, etc. Often a second bleeding, after some bubbles move up the lines overnight is needed.

Some kinds of pad grab better than others.

In my brief trial run, I found braking to be a quite new experience. Unless you have regenerative braking, you'll need to start with extra force due to the absence of IC engine braking. But then, final braking forces are less because the bike weighs less. So a different kind of lever modulation needed, starting harder but ending softer.

Interesting. Wish I knew more about motors.

I do have 44 years experience with shafties:

while I have seen a picture of a pretty sanitary shaft-drive installation (in one of those photobucket sites for electric vehicles), it seems pretty unfeasible. General geometry wrong, bevel gearing is less efficient, can't change drive ratio, weight, etc. Hard to beat old fashioned chains in this application.

Ben

All the buzz this week is from Brammo's highway bike. Some lessons?

1. The esthetic of a skinny mountain bicycle may not cut it with macho highway bikers. Not just image, but there's something beefy about the Brammo suggests durability. Brammo seems to know that. Along the same lines and reminiscent of the rear-engine car debate of years past, I don't feel safe riding with my nose over the front wheel, as with Zero.

2. Seems feasible to have good performance with no gear box.

3. Integrated, ground-up design seems to be the way to go.

4. Where's the market and/or where's the leadership: off road or on or pretty distinct segments?

5. The buzz has been big, extending favorably to my BMW sport-touring website. What does that mean?

Ben

I've been a biker for 49 years (we like to call them "seasons") and audio hobbiyist for longer and been only dreaming of EVs since early 80s.

There's a peculiar book titled "How to  build an electric motorcycle" which is only half crazy. The fellow is a Harley enthusiast and wanted to duplicate a Harley. For a lot of us, the old fashioned and gross Harley is like a bad joke and an electric Harley doubly so. So anything he says about biking is suspect, even if the extreme length he goes to in his quest is impressive. But the book might be helpful.

Yes, bikers hate unsprung weight because it destroys handling and makes it all but inconceivable to create a suspension that works. Sprung weight (not sure there even is such a term) is an inevitable result of the size and performance goals of the bike. Putting even a 30 pound motor in the wheel would be pretty extreme (like that Harley guy). Using both wheels might be feasible. How to do the brakes? A basic concept for bikes is to get as much weight as possible near the center of gravity and certainly as little in unsprung weight in the wheels.

On the other hand, the losses of chains and belts is moderate... and I say that as a shaft-drive believer (BMWs last 44 years). Moreover, you get flexibility and post-construction adjustability (and you can even change "gears" depending on the upcoming type of riding you have coming that week). Which brings me to something I've pondered hard.

With bikes, a constant development of HP has been through faster engine revs. Everything stays the same but you manage to spin faster. HP is torque times revs. And it is not easy to make an IC engine spin at 12,000 rpm like some Japanese mills. It ought to be a piece of cake to dynamically balance a brushless electric motor for that and greater speed. That's the way to go. Any reasons why not?

Sounds like your high frequency chopper is smart in the same way - and millions of compact power supplies suggest that too. I don't know what the scope for price cutting is on heavy motors, but for sure the rest of the electricals ought to be cheaper than I finding them.

Also your interest in a motor/controller with inherent sensing makes an awful lot of sense, substituting electronic sophistication for copper wires and sensor, etc.

I wish your town were closer to Toronto... I sure could use your help as I timidly move forward. And maybe vice versa.

Looks small like an electric clutch (superfluous on a bike, of course).

Hub motor brings simplicity but for "performance" riding, you don't want great gobs of unsprung weight spoiling the handling.

Like with IC engines, a motor which spins really fast delivers the mostest HP the bestest way. But a hub motor is limited in speed by highway speed limit (unless your wheels are tiny).

In as much as I'd like to put together a  street and highway-going Zero clone, I'd like to be clear on the licensing requirements. In my case, Ontario, the Nanny Province of Canada. Since no other jurisdiction is within double the driving range, I guess Ontario is it.

Any back-door path to registration through converting a registered IC bike?

Anybody know or know where I can look?

Actually, I plan to investigate this long enough to realize that buying a Zero is a better idea than DIY. But just in case.

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2. It makes plenty of noise, thankyouverymuch, and if someone gets in my way, I have a horn.  I actually like the idea of a turn signal noise because, mea culpa, I have found myself realizing that I've left my blinker on for blocks without realizing it. 
3. I coast a lot. The Brammo has no regen, and that's fine with me.  I do use my rear brake, but it's maybe a 70-30 proposition, front to rear. 
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How about the ergonomics of kickstands?  Do you have any thoughts about that?

Thanks for info. Some noise is needed like for idiot pedestrians using cellphones and blind pedestrians. Prolly not feasible to make "loud mufflers save lives" level of racket against car drivers.

Manufacturers who embrace complexity do a number of things with sidestands - some of which can be applied to electric bikes.

Some retract by themselves when you lift the pressure off them so that you aren't riding off into that left curve in the sunset with the stand down.

Some kill the engine if down when you kick into gear and/or have a complex logic related to neutral gear, cranking, and clutch lever.

Geometry has a lot to do with effectiveness as a stand on different surfaces, angles, etc. Some bikers carry empty pop cans as shoes for their ill-designed sidestand.

Good to be able to sense/see the sidestand when on the bike and to have a design that kicks easily up and down with your boot.

Sidestands and centerstands serve slightly different purposes and so are helpful on heavy oil-filled bikes. My guess is that an ebike should have a sidestand but also a garage-dwelling service centerstand when changing wheels and other servicing.

Ben, maybe not even worth 2-cents.