![]() It seemed as though the bike would now simply evolve, as various parameters nudged it (or restricted it) in differing directions.Įventually, armed with a design that seemed to make sense, it was time to start welding. The best thing about this wheel was that it was very wide, able to take the large rear tyre that I was set on using, so I snapped it up and incorporated it into my new design. I was a great fan of cast wheels, having previously used them on my Stealth bike, and with my new mid-drive motor ordered, they were an option again here. ![]() Apparently it had originated from a fat-tyred production mountain bike, sold liveried as ‘Lamborghini’, although I doubted just how much input the car designer had ever had in it! I took a few basic measurements to get me started, then began laying out a design, first on my drawing board, then full-size on an old door, tailoring the frame to suit my own personal dimensions.Ībout this time, I chanced upon an unusual 26in cast wheel, offered for sale on Ebay. I was lucky to be allowed to ride this bike a few times on our regular ‘Wednesday Wheel-out’ outings along Bournemouth seafront, and I found it very comfortable and smooth, although the high ape-hanger bars did make my already-fragile back ache a bit. Built from scratch from pieces of an old trampoline frame, it had great lines and had been ridden on some epic long trips in France and the Netherlands. However, within our local bike group, there was one bike that I did like, built by Nick Payne and usually ridden by his wife Debbie. This suggested a low-rider of some sort, but it wasn’t a style that immediately appealed to me. I’d already built a radical e-chopper, a classic e-Indian, the ultimate off-road e-Marin (now sold) and the everyday, do-anything e-Stealth (all detailed elsewhere on my website), so what was left to do? I just knew that it had to have a low seat height and be easy to get on and off lessons learned from previous builds, and from riding other borrowed bikes. (I only ever use Ping LiFePO4 batteries now, which I order directly from China all the others I’ve ever used have failed prematurely!) Nevertheless, I had no other expensive vices and the money from previous bike sales was burning the proverbial hole in my pocket, so why not just go for it, eh? After one last long think, I put my two orders in – and the build was officially on!Īt this point, I was still unsure exactly what form the new bike would take. A new 48v would double the start-up costs of any build, as the basic BBSHD motor package would cost over £400, and a decent battery maybe another £300. To use it, I would have to step up to a 48v battery, rather than swap my 36v around from bike to bike as required, as I had done previously. ![]() ![]() I had originally shied away from it, as there had been some whispers online about its reliability soon after its launch, but a few years down the line, it was now firmly established as a great motor. I had been so impressed with the 500w Bafang BBS02 that I retro-fitted to my Stealth bike, but I was also aware that the company made a more powerful version, the 1000w BBSHD. My previous e-bikes had all been 36v, using either hub or mid-drives. ![]() With my Harley chopper just back on the road, and the rest of my classic motorcycle fleet recently sold, I had no desire for another motorcycle (well, for a while, anyway!), but there was always room for another e-bike, surely? In the summer of 2019, I started to get that old familiar feeling again, that need to build another bike. ![]()
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