One thousand Km!

[anotherkiwi]

Today I passed the one thousand kilometer mark. The ride was especially chosen for this milestone with lots (LOTS!) of hills and some fabulous scenery.



As an apetiser I rode the usual 11 k to the station. First course: from Zumaia to Deba is basically a climb to 260 metres that is about 10 km long followed by a 6 km descent with a stretch at 7%. Then main course... More steep hills.



But shorter I did some checking out of bars (from the outside!) and other important stuff like beaches etc. for when I go back with SWMBO. In Mitriku I went down to the port. On the way down I thought "you are never going to ride out of here" and effectively I pushed the bike all the way back to the top. Cool trick, I pushed the bike back up cobbled pedestrian streets to make it look like I was doing it on purpose

25+ kilometers there so 25+ kilometers back When I got back to the station in Zumaia I still had 35 volts showing on the LCD but I have learned that one does not go far on 35 V. So a total ride of 65 km or so with mostly ups (long) and downs (long too).

I tested the speed accuracy of the LCD the other day with my GPS. It seems to be almost spot on. A little mystery surrounds top speed - 58.4 on the LCD and 60.49 on the GPS but the averages are identical. And life is all about averages is it not?

Conclusions after 1,000 K? I love it! I need more Amp hours, a cheap no name battery capable of doing another 40 km at 20 kph average would do the trick. https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-battery/571-36v10ah-right-off-bottle-battery-pack-with-charger-battery.html with the controller in the base, I am still allergic to wires everywhere. My Samsung cells would be transfered to the same type of case. I need a new bottom bracket, tricky, the current one is epoxy glued into the frame... I have all the bits to upgrade the crankset etc. to lovely Shimano aluminium instead of plastic. This months investments are lights - the days are getting shorter, plastic pedals - I have had enough of cutting my shins on MTB metal ones.

The on to the Mk II pedelec build!

 

[anotherkiwi]

1000 miles, still going strong

Being an older kiwi I lived the change from imperial to metric so party time once again as I passed the thousand mile barrier this weekend!

Another 67 km from the full charge I think that I will ask father xmas for a 14.5 Amp 08 battery from BMS. Extra range at low assistance settings or extra power with the internal 18 Amp controller.

Brake pads are showing some wear, tyres are not! I am still very pleased with the Michelin City tyres and Schwalbe tubes - pumped them up for the third time since June last week!!!

Now that the days are shorter I am loving my B+M headlight. Oncoming cars dip before they come into view! And the feeling of security with the road lit correctly even for downhill speeds is wonderful.

I have to fix the gearing because now that I am fit I am spinning out at 37-38 kph on the flat and downhill. I have a bigger Shimano chainset waiting to be mounted but with my bottom bracket problems it is a major job to get the old one off.

Official LCD top speed is now 60.7 kph all the while feeling completely within my limits and in control thanks notably to the wonderful Magura hydraulic front brake. A little bit of suspension would be nice for my ageing bones...

Keep on pedelecing!

 

[anotherkiwi]

2000 k
The obligatory 2000 kilometre update:

- Today I am going to buy brake pads for the rear brake the brake lever is adjusted all the way out to the maximum.
- The battery only charges up to 41.5 V instead of the original 41.6 V
- The battery has restarted rattling in the holder. On inspection the locking tooth has seriously worn the plastic retainer, I will have to intervene there.
- Tyres like new still, they have been pumped up five times since June, they don't lose much air at all
- The 48 tooth Acera chainwheel is a real pleasure to use and the chain has only jumped once during a gear change since I installed it (not lubricated enough I think). Thanks to the well designed chainguard even that chain jump was not a problem!
- Average speed has increased 3 kph because of above chainwheel, especially around town

Projects:

- Remount front dérailleur as a "get home without motor" security and as a chain guide to stop chain jumping
- Change controller to one that outputs 16.5 - 17 Amps. Now that I am fit, assistance level 5 provides too much power but level 4 does not provide quite enough. A controller with 2 or 3 more Amps will help me be in the sweet spot for assistance at level 4 I hope. I hope that the controller will be in the battery holder so that I can get rid of the frame bag. A 08 battery with more capacity would be the ideal solution...

 

[flecc]

A little mystery surrounds top speed - 58.4 on the LCD and 60.49 on the GPS but the averages are identical.

With any transmission of energy onto a road through a tyre there will be a degree of slippage, either actual through minute losses of adhesion or the momentary points at which a tyre leaves road contact over ripples and bumps. Those differences sum to a gain in speed and distance over the actuals reached.

The average should also show a little gain, albeit rather less a percentage than that of the maximum speed, so that being identical might be odd. However if the brakes are used there is a reverse form of slippage occurring and that could cancel the gain under drive and account for the top speed and average difference appearing incompatible.

But taking everything into account, I'd expect the LCD to show more than the GPS so your readings are a little odd in that respect. Maybe it's just the known inaccuracy of GPS positioning at any spot reading that's at the root in such small errors.
.

 

[D8ve]

And lcd speed ratings are from wheel sensor where the radius is based on one tire size with set pressure and compression. Change pressure the radius will change and hence the recorded speed?
Oh and the refresh rates on gps and odo are probibaly different too.
Along with smoothing etc getting a precise top speed is not easy.

Still fun though as a strava 100kph club member.

 

[anotherkiwi]

2016 begins with an order to bmsbattery for the new controller.

I am getting the 20 A controller for the 09 bottle battery. I will set the max Amps to 17 from the LCD. The max speed setting will stay at 25 kph I just need a little more ooompf in certain conditions. I also hope that this controller is going to be watertight enough to mount directly on the frame getting rid of the unsightly frame bag. I will also have a second LCD-3 which I will open to try and waterproof to IP 67 (Basque Country rain season has arrived).

I also ordered a 12 magnet PAS to see if it helps fine tune PAS (it should help).

And some stuff in prevision of my next build: cut off button to use as clutch for gear changes, external speed sensor...

 

[anotherkiwi]

My little controller modification should work. I will cut the peak off the plastic cover and probably fill the hole with plywood (I don't have any carbon fibre in stock at the moment )which I will paint black. That will make it a nice discrete 1" high box which I will screw to the frame seat tube rivnut. It has to be a little higher than I would like because of a badly placed capacitor.


Power wires will get a new hole and be sealed in with silicone. PAS and controller wires will be soldered directly to the wires coming out of the controller and heat shrink protected. Everything I have has old style connectors not water tight Julet plugs. No more frame bag! And I have a controller that will do 15 -> 20 Amps which can be changed depending on whatever battery is on the bike. I have read that it is unwise to feed any more than 18 Amps to the Mxus motor so will limit to 16.5-17 A.

PAS: the twelve magnet PAS disk is surprising - start up is so much softer and thus the motor so much quieter that for a moment I thought it wasn't running! Only the Watt meter on the LCD told me the motor was drawing power. I kept the original PAS detector, I will fit the new one when I change my bottom bracket. In order to fit both I will have to remove the 28 tooth cog chainwheel for which I have no need anyway.

Besides putting the front derailleur back on and getting a two speed shifter these will be the final modifications to this bike - finished... Time to move on and build "Number Two", hey I just named a bike .

 

[anotherkiwi]

Coming up to 3000 km!

Servicing/cleaning is needed on the Magura hydraulic brake one side is sticking. It still brakes but the pad isn't retracted on releasing the lever.

Otherwise everything is working just fine.