I'd had my PowaByke Euro 6 for about 14 months when the Panasonic SLA's started to show signs of flagging. My wrists and tail end were fed up with the pounding they were taking on the daily ride to work (some of the shared pavements up the Eastern Road are really, really lumpy) so I decided to get a fully suspended mountain bike and transfer the electrics over.
Fortunately, the place where I work uses a huge amount of 12V, 12Ah batteries so we get them real cheap. I was paying £10 per battery by buying them from work. That's thirty quid per battery change. So, I bought three batteries and took them home. I had two weeks holiday and started the task of getting it all transferred.
I went to Halfords and bought an Appollo fully suspended mountain bike for £150 (about half the normal price). Some careful measurements and battery position trials later I had the layout that would fit within the triangle of the frame. It turned out to be a very tight fit indeed.
I had some 1/4" key metal in my workshop and a MIG welder so I started cutting up metal and welding a battery holder frame together. It wasn't long before it was ready. A tweak here and there and soon the holder was snuggly fitted on the bike.
I made some acrylic panels and sprayed them matt black to improve the look of this strange creature. I spent the next two days transfering the electrics across and fitting the full mudguards to the bike. Another benefit was I'd gone from a 6 speed bike to an 18 speed bike.
Unfortunately the motor cables were too short for me to get the control box onto the top of the frame so I taped it to the side. I fully intended to lengthen the motor wires and move the box to the top and spray it black but I just never got round to it.
There's a picture of the bike attached to this post that shows possibly one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever ridden (except it was darn heavy).
Of course, this is not going to happen to my Wisper
Fortunately, the place where I work uses a huge amount of 12V, 12Ah batteries so we get them real cheap. I was paying £10 per battery by buying them from work. That's thirty quid per battery change. So, I bought three batteries and took them home. I had two weeks holiday and started the task of getting it all transferred.
I went to Halfords and bought an Appollo fully suspended mountain bike for £150 (about half the normal price). Some careful measurements and battery position trials later I had the layout that would fit within the triangle of the frame. It turned out to be a very tight fit indeed.
I had some 1/4" key metal in my workshop and a MIG welder so I started cutting up metal and welding a battery holder frame together. It wasn't long before it was ready. A tweak here and there and soon the holder was snuggly fitted on the bike.
I made some acrylic panels and sprayed them matt black to improve the look of this strange creature. I spent the next two days transfering the electrics across and fitting the full mudguards to the bike. Another benefit was I'd gone from a 6 speed bike to an 18 speed bike.
Unfortunately the motor cables were too short for me to get the control box onto the top of the frame so I taped it to the side. I fully intended to lengthen the motor wires and move the box to the top and spray it black but I just never got round to it.
There's a picture of the bike attached to this post that shows possibly one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever ridden (except it was darn heavy).
Of course, this is not going to happen to my Wisper
