gwhy

First full size electric to win at nation level: http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/a-first-electric-motorcycle-wins-national-championship.htm But not the all round first e-trials to win at nation level..

yes, either the zippy brand or the turnigy brand 5s1p 18.5v 5000mah X4 for a 36v setup.. 15,20 or 25c will be fine its not worth the extra cash for a higher discharge battery on these bikes.. if you get on ok with these batteries but want more runtime then just buy another set of batteries , but dont spend a lot of cash on battery's until you are happy with handling and caring for them as it can be a lot of money wasted if you should ruin them if its your first venture in to using lipo.

the easiest way would be to try and put a bigger sprocket on the rear , you would need around 120t for a 36v system. thats assuming that you could source a 120t and that it will fit or you can try to source a 8 or 9t for the front

I think it will be fine on 36v , thats still only around 4200rpm so its still not to excessive ( unless its really is a very very poorly designed motor ) I think you will be a little disappointed with only 25A if it is geared for around 20mph that still only 900W peak, may be a little more but depends on controller.. the thing to do is try it and if the motor get to hot then gear it for a slower speed. Edit: if you go for 36v then I think you will need a 12.5:1 reduction and if you run 24v then around a 8:1 reduction .. so the 2:1 is way out.. the 11t front and 90 rear will be about right on 24v on a 20" wheel ( 8.18:1 )

Thats great... do it, and have some fun. First thing you need to do is know what the rpm of your motor is , you cant really progress until you know this. next step is to work out what you want the top speed you would like ( be rellistic :-) ) it also may not be achievable with the motor you have. SLA's are ok for initial testing but look for a better/lighter chemistry battery ( will improve performance ).

all the info that you need is with in this topic but yes its all got a bit crowded.. this is the best shopping list here for reference also with observations and practical usage all in one post. if you are in the uk then when buying stuff from HK make sure that you get it from the uk warehouse as postage cost can go through the roof for batteries..

this will very much depends on the type of controller and also how the clutch integrates with the controller .. So not the same for all electric bikes.

I have no idea.. but its got to be worth a enter , hasn't it ?.. It looks like they are pretty serious about the launch as they also have a kickstarter campaign starting in sept. I expect its to try and get the word out to as many like minded people as possible before the launch. It would be cool if someone on this forum did win it , I know its not a trials bike but anything to raise the e-bikes profile is a good thing.

I guess your referring to the free-rider ? and not the trex :-)

If you visit the facebook page of this bike you can enter a free prize draw with the chance to win one! https://www.facebook.com/RAFFEmxBIKES

Hi Tim. Thanks for taking time out to answer the questions, I have a question or 2 , is the EM that you are riding the 2014 model , do you know what the peak power output of the motor is ( not what the em spec sheet says :-) ). The only draw back with electrics is the price at the moment, and there will be a lack of cheap second hand electric for years to come, even when second hand to become available the chances are that the battery will need replacing. The cheapest way to own a e-trial is to convert a gas bike or get someone else to, as it will work out a fraction of the cost than buying off the shelf. It would certainly be a challenge for the EM and battery range in general.

I think most of the reluctance to go for it is the price.. The few peeps that I spoke to that do have them loves them . I dont have a EM but I do have a electric trials bike and prefer it over gas everytime more to the fact that its quite, cleaner, cooler, lighter and a massive plus is you can get to ride in much more places than with a gas bike.

I would be interested to know for sure if the free-rider is "lipo" or some other form of lithium based battery as this this is what can get very confusing when looking and talking about batteries, there are subtle differences to the lithium based batteries chemistries. Upto now I have never had a problem with riding my e-bikes anywhere. I think the real bonus is that they are quite, so unless your out in the open to been seen then there is very little chance of getting caught riding. All of the general public that do see me riding are just interested and fascinated and will stop to ask questions about my bikes but not to complain. I used to regularly visit a local bmx track with my 20" e-bmx and mix it up with all the ( non-electric ) other riders without issue. I think I may have problems if I took the e-sherco to the bmx track but this is just because it looks like, and is a full size motorcycle as opposed to a bicycle and there are a lot of people that walk past the track so I think its a law of average game and you just need to be a bit sensible. The less peeps that actually 'see' you riding ( because they cant hear you ) the less chance of getting caught .

All the information for a shopping list is within this thread ( im sure it is ) with all the relevant information about the batteries that are needed from hobbyking ( just go to the HK web site and look at the batteries that you need). You can P 7ah battery with a 12ah battery ( as long as they are the same voltage ) always look at the higher ah battery as the same ah's as the lower one i.e 7ah in P with a 12ah = 14ah ( edit : this should have been a 7ah in P with a 12ah = 7ah ) The free rider is lithium but I doubt it very much that it will be lipo , more than likely to be lifepo4, so it will be slightly different.

Just looking at the link for the batteries that you have bought it also looks like they have 5.5mm un-shrouded connectors ( be very careful not to cause a short! ) fitted as standard so you will need some 5.5mm bullet connectors to make your lead not 4mm as I suggested in the previous post. But to be honest I would fit shrouded plugs on the batteries for safety reasons.

each battery has a number of cells in them and each cell =3.7v and the batteries you have bought have 4 cells each battery so each battery = 14.8v so you will have to series 3 batteries together to make up a 44.4v ( 48v) battery ( I would have recommended 6 cell batteries as its one less connection to worry about and it makes things a bit easier when it comes to charging) , you can do this as in the diagram that I posted on this page. As you are new to all this I would suggest that you only use 3 lipo's at a time , Don't worry about parallel for the moment as this will get a bit more complicated. The wiring on the bike will not have to be changed but you will need to make a connecting lead ... similar to this one but with a xt60 connector so it fits into your existing plug on your bike, the lead in this pic has 6mm bullet connectors and you will need 4mm connectors instead so that 3 of your batteries can plug into the lead. You will have to unplug each of the 3 batteries from the lead to charge them. I dont know if Andy would approve of this shameless plug of what I do, but I do make and sale custom battery harnesses, and many other bits and pieces for electric bikes , so If you would like any help please drop me a PM.

as you have 4S lipos and you want 48v then you will need to have this arrangement when connecting to the bike , it dont have to be exactly as in the picture but it should give you some idea.

Looks like you have bought the wrong batteries :-( You needed 4x 6S1P you can still use the one you have bought but it makes it a little more complicated as you will have to string 3 batteries in series then parallel them up ( so more connections and wires ) what connectors have you got on the bike and on your standard batterys at the moment ? are they xt60's , can you post a small pic up edit: or you can make 2x 48v packs each 8ah, which Will be a better way to go until you get the hang of lipo

Sealed Lead Acid = SLA it means that the battery that you linked to will not have as much capacity as the original oset battery.

Wh = volts x amphours so if this battery is only 19Wh as they claim then is only 1.6Ah .. I would have thought it should be bigger than that.. something is wrong here standard sla Oset batterys are 10ah. The batterys in your link are basically the same as earthX batterys http://earthxmotorsports.com/ and yes they will do the job.. edit: the sla version of this battery is only 3ah so it sort of makes sense why is has such a small ah capacity.

this is my interpretation of the wiring. The diode looks like its true main function is to stop high voltage spikes entering the controller.. hopefully a bit easier to follow. Still cant see the reason for the resistor so I have omitted it from this diagram. ( just had a brain fart ) unless its a pre-charge circuit for the controller ( help prevent damage to the relay contacts when bike switched on ) then this will make sense. if this is the case then the resistor needs to be fitted across the relay connections between Battery + and B+ controller.

The diode is used to help prevent a arc across the keyswitch contacts when the key is turned off , so hopefully reduce the risk of pitting the contacts of the keyswitch and causing on/off problems further down the line. The diode MUST be in the correct direction or the relay will not work and may also cause damage to wiring/diode or blow the fuse. The resistor is a bit of a mystery to me as to way it is there.. unless the controller has some odd function that requires it or the diagram is not correct.. maybe someone can disconnect one end of the resistor and see if the bike will still switch on and function without it in the circuit. Edit: just worked out what the resistor is for .. see next post. .

That is very strange... it should be able to work upto 120v , do it light up at all ?. I have a number of these meters on a few of my bikes and the only problem I have had with them is if the voltage is below around 18v they do not give accurate readings.

If this is the meter you bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC15-120V-Waterproof-Blue-LED-Panel-Meter-DC-Digital-Voltmeter-Two-wire-v-h9-/331196216262?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item4d1cd533c6 then it should just work if connected to the 44.4v pack red to red and black to black.

the 20" do have a 219 but the smaller bikes have 25 ( weaker chain )