Blunderbuss

Here is a shout out for Tannus Armour for off road riding. I used to get regular punctures from hawthorn needles, my record was three on one ride ☹, so I went to tubeless and that reduced things but not eliminated it. I then got two punctures from exposed sharp flints (baked into the hard clay soil) which put a small slash in the tyre that no amount of sealant was going to sort that out. So in desperation I got a pair of Tannus Armour and in the last year have had 1 puncture from a very long tough hawthorn. The biggest advantage to me has been that I can run any tyre I want, so I now have wet weather (High Roller) and dry weather (Rekon) setup that I use – basically I can choose the tyre that is best for my conditions. The overall weight gain was 100g per wheel when compared with tubeless, and I pick up more mud than that on a run so that does not make a difference. Yes they cost £30 each, but I am still using the tyre with the flint slashes which I would have had to replace and I like having the tyres I want. I have not noticed any difference in rolling resistance (all my riding is off road) and I run the pressures at 15psi on the front and 20psi on the rear, I had no problems putting them on/in, it probably added 30 seconds to changing a tyre. The Tannus has been the solution for me.

When I saw the conversion that peter.c had done on the zobop I was very smitten, and as I was going to do an full suspension bike next that made my mind up. So a few months down the line I am at stage that makes me feel it was the right thing to do – I love it . All the mechanics are done and I have run it for a month with the battery in my rucksack, the next stage would be to build a battery. The fitting of the BBS02 was easy (actually it was a bit disappointing that it involved no grinding, drilling, chiselling or hammering) it slots straight in. The gear change cable is sheathed all the way so there was nothing to get in the way of the motor. With the lekkie the chain lined up nicely in the middle of the cassette. I have uprated the discs to 203mm on the front and 180mm on the back and the stopping power is good, but I think it could be better, maybe need a twin pot. I did try it at first without the gear change sensor – it most certainly needed one, the BBS02 comes with a dedicated connector for it, so that sits under the chainstay now. The only area that caused me some problems was the gearing, going from a 32 chainring on a 1x11 to the 42 Lekkie really pushed the main gearing to high for my off road use, I was often on the lowest one (this is not a power issue its because on some of the tight windy bits of track you need to go slow!) but that has been solved with a 49T wolf tooth that slots straight on (you get an 18T to replace the 17 and 19 so that it maintains a good spread). With the lekkie bolted straight on there is 5mm of clearance from the chainstay, but this could be increased with a few washers. Having the battery in a rucksack has not been the pain I though it would, the difference in weight is no more that me before and after Christmas!, and having the bike lighter (about 18KG) makes it a joy ride. So I am not 100% sure that I am going to mount it on the bike, also hosing the bike down is easier with no batter parts on it – see how it goes. I have got it up to 39.6mph but its not comfortable over 30mph (nor am I ) and that is not where it lives it life, my average speed on a 3 hour ride is nearly a third of that (all off road). The FS has exceed my expectations (I had not ridden one before) and whereas I had a suntour thudbuster on my Carrera this is an order of magnitude better (I know that is also because it is a Centre Drive so the weight is in the middle as well). I have done enough miles to make some comparisons with the geared hub and to be fair the best conclusion is that any comparison is fairly meaningless (a geared hub hardtail Vs a Centre Drive Full Suspension) I actually love both bikes, the carrera setup with its fat knobblies and 35amp controller feels like it could plough fields, it just carves through any amount of mud, it goes where you point it and will give me 1500w when needed, whereas the zobop will zip round corners and has a very smooth ride that is not phased by ploughed fields and ruts. Next project maybe a road bike!

No offence mean't a mistake, for which i apologise - but i am no boy either!

I have done a quick mock up and looking at the layout the nickel strips will be a different length - is that bad thing?; a to g and c to e = 45mm b to h and d to f = 30mm If so as another option could i not use a bit of nickel sheet/foil that would cover the whole of the eight batteries in each S, like what KirstinS shows in her post (https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/hear-shrink-large-for-whole-packs.33604/) the holes/gaps look like they are just to align the nickel but it covers all 8 ends.

I have just spent 30 mins giving the copper strips a salt and vinegar bath to clean them up - i will use some old cells and do a test build of #5 at the weekend.

I like the H strip as it makes things very easy, and if it is double stacked it increases the capacity anyway. I can always do the second layer in the opposite (180 degree) direction so it forms multiple paths. Or if i go the copper way i have a bag full of these from a building job (12mm wide 15cm long and 1mm thick) which should do the trick. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yvens-Decroupet-Copper-Tingles-Roofing/dp/B01N5VRU10/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1547558905&sr=8-4&keywords=copper%2Bstrip&th=1

Its for a BBS02 750w 48v using 10A cells (https://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/18650-size/lg-inr18650m36-3600mah-10a.html), I would have preferred a 15a cell but this job is prioritising distance over power. Every good job starts with a jig so i am up for this I can double up the Nickel X to allow the 10a battery to behave as it will be only a little extra effort. Good point about the wider bus dissipating heat quicker, it also helps with packaging up once complete a it keeps the overall thickness of the build down.

That makes sense, I have some of that H strip left over from a previous job and 1.5mm twin and earth has a 20a rating which would be fine (and it is insulated). One thought i have also had is about grouping the batteries in squares of 4 (red squares) and then joining them (blue dotted lines) with double thickness nickel strip, that would make it easy to do odd shapes.

I have got a tight space to fit a 13S4P into and have been messing around with layouts for a while and i think this is my best option. I have two thoughts on connecting S11 to S12, one is to put an extra thick layer of insulation over the ends of the cells in S10 and S9 so i can lay nickle strip between S11a and S12a etc - or to use a decent gauge wire which is already insulated and solder that to a piece of nickel, and then spot weld the nickel to the battery? The batteries in the picture are for illustration only

Update and conclusion. I checked with an alignment tool and it was 22mm off when measured 180 degrees apart (top and bottom) and 5mm off left to right , so i straightened the hanger so it was level all round and it did not improve the indexing on the Altus. I then changed to a Deore and it works perfectly.

I took out and cleaned/oiled the inner wire as i though that could well be the issue as it is problem indexing both ways and any form of snagging would cause that, but no. I have also just "popped" the old 11/32 back on and it indexed fine so I could just be going beyond the design capability of the Altus - but i am going to check the alignment before doing anything else as that sounds good practice whatever. Halfords have the Deore at £28.99

I got time to try without the extender to see, but in my setup the idler gear doesn't clear the 40 tooth - although it did work better on 4,5 and 6!! I have the alignment tool on order so that is the next thing (thanks Charliefox), but as it has problems indexing in both directions i'm not sure this is the problem; but I want the tool anyway. I tried to make one following some good youtube builds, but the thread on the hanger is not something i could find a bolt or threaded bar to fit - it is a very fine pitch so that project failed very early Having messed around with the Altus a bit more it seems as if it just needs a little more "push" to get the next gear to engage - maybe the spring/components inside of it is just not good enough as Laser Man said.

I don't think the chain line is an issue because it is no different from how the bike is sold from Halfords, (whilst the diameter of the gears has changed the location has not) - but the extender could be a very different issue, because it was in the box I just fitted it!!! It is supposed to make sure that the derailleur clears the bigger diameter of the 34 and 40 gears (corresponding to 28 and 30 on the stock) but i never checked if it would clear without . Will be doing that next - thank you.

Yes it is a 9 gear, the front 32 is the middle so across the back 11 to 40 it produces the least bad alignment (for gears 4,5,6 it is almost straight in line), so i am hoping of the options i have it should not be any worse than the bikes original setup. The bent mech is certainly a possibility that i will look at, and that extender will also get some attention now.

a more thorough check has just found itself at number one on the list! Was that as a result of an impact?