Hub motors, ebikes, and Xtracycles
06/05/08 00:58 Filed in: Store
We
are very low on stock of the electric bike products -
apparently there was some pent up demand around this
area.
However, we have a number of things on the way within the next few weeks, and most should be arriving by mid to late June, with some stragglers showing up in July. This includes Crystalyte kits, eZee kits, NiCad batteries, more LiFEPO4 batteries, and some custom Cycle 9 kits for electrifying your bike.
Unfortunately, the stock situation isn’t looking so good on the Xtracycle front. In the past week, we’ve sold all the stock we had of Xtracycle kits, including our demo! Not to fear, if you want to try an Xtracycle-equipped bike, we will have one of our personal bikes available in the store for test rides. However, the kits themselves aren’t expected to arrive until August at the earliest. The same is true for the Yuba Mundo (we have only 2 left, and they are sold out from the distributor until August), and the Big Dummy. Longtail bikes must be the rage. We do have waiting lists for all these items (except Yuba, since it is not sold out yet), so just drop us a line if you want to get on the list.
However, we have a number of things on the way within the next few weeks, and most should be arriving by mid to late June, with some stragglers showing up in July. This includes Crystalyte kits, eZee kits, NiCad batteries, more LiFEPO4 batteries, and some custom Cycle 9 kits for electrifying your bike.
Unfortunately, the stock situation isn’t looking so good on the Xtracycle front. In the past week, we’ve sold all the stock we had of Xtracycle kits, including our demo! Not to fear, if you want to try an Xtracycle-equipped bike, we will have one of our personal bikes available in the store for test rides. However, the kits themselves aren’t expected to arrive until August at the earliest. The same is true for the Yuba Mundo (we have only 2 left, and they are sold out from the distributor until August), and the Big Dummy. Longtail bikes must be the rage. We do have waiting lists for all these items (except Yuba, since it is not sold out yet), so just drop us a line if you want to get on the list.
Thanks to everyone who came out today
04/05/08 20:21 Filed in: Demo
Thanks to everyone who braved the rain today to try
out the electric and sports utility bicycles.
Johnny's is a fun place to spend
a bit of time, sipping some coffee, chatting
with the owner Ben, and enjoying a Guglhupf
pastry.
We have one of our bikes located at Johnny's for the next few weeks. This is a standard mountain bike, with the eZee kit and an Xtracycle Freeradical installed. Feel free to stop by to try it out! Also, if you enjoy music and enjoy bicycling, make sure to ask the owner Ben about his I-ride bicycle stereo. These are neat little stereos for your bike, to which you can attach your iPod or other favorite mp3 player. We have them in stock, in our online store. (If you're a local customer, the Paypal store may try to have you pay shipping, but we'll refund it).
We'll also be doing more electric and sports utility/cargo bicycle demos, including Earth Action Day on April 26.
Keep your eyes on this space for other demo dates and times.
We have one of our bikes located at Johnny's for the next few weeks. This is a standard mountain bike, with the eZee kit and an Xtracycle Freeradical installed. Feel free to stop by to try it out! Also, if you enjoy music and enjoy bicycling, make sure to ask the owner Ben about his I-ride bicycle stereo. These are neat little stereos for your bike, to which you can attach your iPod or other favorite mp3 player. We have them in stock, in our online store. (If you're a local customer, the Paypal store may try to have you pay shipping, but we'll refund it).
We'll also be doing more electric and sports utility/cargo bicycle demos, including Earth Action Day on April 26.
Keep your eyes on this space for other demo dates and times.
PHET LiFePO4 E-bike pack update
12/20/07 20:36
Here is a bit of additional information on the
LiFePO4 packs we'll be carrying. These are packs made
specifically for electric bikes by PHET (Phisiang
Industries) that make the highest quality C-coated
lithium iron phosphate (C-LiFePO4) cells available,
based on the Phostech chemistry. For pictures of the
packs, see this blog
post.
We have been testing the pack for about two weeks now, on our Xtracycle/Currie USPD high-power drive setup (600W+).
At an average 1C rate, the pack does appear to have the rated capacity of 7.5AH. This is just enough for a 15 mile trip with the loaded Xtracycle, in our moderately hilly area. When the pack voltage drops to about 25V, the battery management system will turn it off temporarily until voltage recovers.
The voltage curve on these is flat. They stay above 36V until about 7.1~7.2 AH of use. This is really nice in comparison to a lead acid, it allows use of nearly all the battery capacity. There is more information on the PHET batteries here (this is a large PDF file).
The charger is built very solidly. We haven't measured the efficiency yet, but we will do so and post here.
Earlier, we posted that there was a current limit at 20A. Based on conversations with the manufacturer and our own further testing, this isn't true. Instead, the BMS system is set up so that if cell voltage drops below around 2.5V/cell (maybe a bit less) it cuts out power for a few seconds until the voltage recovers. The only time this seems to happen is when we are accelerating uphill on the Xtracycle/Currie/BMC setup, which can easily drain 30A. We've tested at a relatively constant 20A current for 1 minute or more, and it doesn't seem to cut out.
About the only negative so far about this pack is that the plastic handle on the end is a bit flimsy. It is solid enough for carrying the battery, but we cracked ours when we dropped the pack on it from a few inches height. A bit of duct tape fixed that right up!
All in all, this is a solid performing pack! We don't use our NiMH or SLA packs anymore (drop us a line if you want to buy a lightly used SLA or NiMH pack in a nice case).
We have been testing the pack for about two weeks now, on our Xtracycle/Currie USPD high-power drive setup (600W+).
At an average 1C rate, the pack does appear to have the rated capacity of 7.5AH. This is just enough for a 15 mile trip with the loaded Xtracycle, in our moderately hilly area. When the pack voltage drops to about 25V, the battery management system will turn it off temporarily until voltage recovers.
The voltage curve on these is flat. They stay above 36V until about 7.1~7.2 AH of use. This is really nice in comparison to a lead acid, it allows use of nearly all the battery capacity. There is more information on the PHET batteries here (this is a large PDF file).
The charger is built very solidly. We haven't measured the efficiency yet, but we will do so and post here.
Earlier, we posted that there was a current limit at 20A. Based on conversations with the manufacturer and our own further testing, this isn't true. Instead, the BMS system is set up so that if cell voltage drops below around 2.5V/cell (maybe a bit less) it cuts out power for a few seconds until the voltage recovers. The only time this seems to happen is when we are accelerating uphill on the Xtracycle/Currie/BMC setup, which can easily drain 30A. We've tested at a relatively constant 20A current for 1 minute or more, and it doesn't seem to cut out.
About the only negative so far about this pack is that the plastic handle on the end is a bit flimsy. It is solid enough for carrying the battery, but we cracked ours when we dropped the pack on it from a few inches height. A bit of duct tape fixed that right up!
All in all, this is a solid performing pack! We don't use our NiMH or SLA packs anymore (drop us a line if you want to buy a lightly used SLA or NiMH pack in a nice case).