re: conversion kit The bulk of the work was in cutting and re-welding the frame (the actual welding was done on a weekend). The other parts were quite easy. And the bulk of the cutting/welding time was spent on a stool staring at the bike - trying to figure out how things would fit nicely. The second most difficult part was welding/fabricating the custom brackets to pinch the batteries - they took an entire weekend to design and fabricate.
Besides that, this bike is very straight forward for converting (everything fit like a glove). Note on my website that I give all the steps to repeat what I did. For example, I only needed 1/4'' steel spacers for the motor mount, and was able to use the existing engine mounts. I was amazed to see the chain align properly - after inserting the spacers. This simplified the motor mounting greatly. All the instructions are here: www.electricmotion.org Someone out there could crank these things out in lots - I estimate it would take about 20 hours of labor each if they were made 5 at a time (100 hours total). It took me 120 hours of labor for just one - but that included my calculations, and a lot of thinking time. The bike cost just under $3,000 to build - all new parts - so there IS a little room for profit (I'd like to see these things at an affordable purchase price; ~$4,500 out the door brand new. This way people would actually start buying them). Note that I found an operating cost of about 1.5 cents/mile if the cost of the batteries is ignored, and ~7 cents/mile if the cost of replacing the batteries is included. This ends up being the same as a very efficient gas motorcycle. However, the battery cost is included in the initial purchase (and will likely last 10K miles). Many motorcycles never see a day past 10K miles (though I find that hard to relate to). My operating cost estimates can be found here: http://lennonrodgers.googlepages.com/vehicle_calculations.xls Best, -Lennon On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 6:36 PM, Travis Gintz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > thats a great way to get a cheap roller that can be used... > > Might talk with them about making a "conversion" for it.... wonder if > there's a distributor up here in PDX? Lemme google it :) > > Great job, keep us posted, take some more video. > > > > On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 11:00 AM, Mike <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > >I put together this site describing my design (calculations, parts > > >list, step-by-step mounting methods, etc.): > > > > > >www.electricmotion.org > > > > Nice Lennon! > > > > I wish I had a website! Ha ha ha. > > -- > > > > The Electric Motorcycle Portal > > http://www.electricmotorcycles.net/ > > > > Electric Motorcycle Listserv > > http://www.electricmotorcycles.net/listserv > > > > > > > > -- > > Travis Gintz > 1986 Honda VFR DC conversion > Http://blog.evfr.net/
