Light Electric Vehicle #1...
Part #2...
There
was considerable sitting , pondering and looking at the original unit before
resolved to make the first cut.
Once
underway and I knew that there would be no reversing of the procedure and things
went quite smooth.
The
scooter is completely stripped at this point and ready to start courting the
bike toward a long term union.
The
bike similarly has been reduced to it's most basic components.
With
the 2 (two) main constituents of the project ready, it took very little time to
determine how I wanted them to join.
The
rear section of the bike is intertwined with the front frame of the scooter with
some cutting and grinding.
The
seat post is re-located to the front fork support of the scooter.
Everything
is liberally welded from the top, bottom and each side.
After
fitting the typical "Ass-Hatchet" bike seat I quickly returned to the
original scooter seat with the arm-rests removed.
The
seat post was cut shorter and shorter until I had it as shown to the left.
The
handle bars were scavenged from yet another donor bike.
The
original decking was returned and the electronics re-connected for some basic
testing.
The
over-all feel of the unit is super comfortable, which is a great match to the
laid-back look of the rig.
I did
install a bike computer/speedometer unit and have measured 13.6Km/h as the top
speed on level ground.
After
logging a couple of Km's around the farm I've found that the electronics definitely
needs upgrading, as the unit is really labouring to make it up our steep
driveway.
The
original scooter frame also will need to be re-enforced as it has a slight flex
or bounce given the leverage of forward shift in weight.
Initially
I was going to re-paint it over the next few weeks but will wait to see whether
I end-up with either a 36V or a 48V controller set-up, as that will dictate how
the battery bed will be framed, and ultimately how I'll mount a utility box on
the rear.