Unsucsessful electric convertion.

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Cyclopathic

Veteran
Location
Leicester.
In a bid to get some extra help up the hills I decided to convert my bike to an electric bike.
I took off the seat and threw as many batteries down the tube as would fit and did the same in the head stem. I even taped a few small batteries to the spokes to get some direct power to the wheels. I left my bike in the sun to get as much solar power as possible and connected it to a mains supply for a few minutes just to be sure. (If you intend to do this yourself wear thick rubber gloves).
Long story short, it has made no difference to performance at all. If anything it is now harder to get up hills. E-bikes are not all that they claim to be and I am very disappointed with these results.
As a final attempt to get some extra power I am going to see if I can augment the elecric power with some old fasioned combustion power. I think if I fill up th tubes with petrol and put some in the innertubes that I may well get the boost I am after.
Wish me luck.
 

helston90

Eat, sleep, ride, repeat.
Location
Cornwall
Next stop wind turbine powered? :thumbsup:
 

tyred

Squire
Location
Ireland
After filling the tubes with petrol, place bike in a warm but enclosed space for a few hours and then chuck in a burning newspaper.
 
Are you serious?? Of course that wouldn't work. You can't just chuck betteries in the bike hoping to make it electric, it wouldn't have enough power for a start.

Idiot.

You need to plug it into the mains. Obviously you will need quite a long extension cable but you should have some happy riding of up to 30m from the plug.
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
Try tidal energy. You chuck it into the sea at high water, wait 6 hours for the tide to go out then retrieve bike miraculously energised, the amount depending on the current, of course.


Idiot.

You need to plug it into the mains. Obviously you will need quite a long extension cable but you should have some happy riding of up to 30m from the plug.

Not if he uses elastic cable. This will take you all the way and when it's time to go home again there is a huge amount of power stored in the cable to whip you back to the socket in no time.
 

gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
Ahh, the good old days are long gone...we used to fill our tubes with coal and our saddlebags full of kindling and firelighters. The modern ' green' world has put paid to all that. Its a step backwards i tell ya....all tbis modern faff....
 

Melonfish

Evil Genius in training.
Location
Warrington, UK
pffft you don't need batteries or anything like that, just fit all your mudguards with nylon brushes, sure you'll make a bit of noise but you won't half build up a charge, feel free to touch passers by to earth your bike now and again.
 

anyuser

Über Member
OP you are on the right track but its all about power to weight ratio. Keep the batteries but compensate for their weight by removing all spokes except for 4 on each wheel, sand down the frame tubes to reduce thickness, fill frame and tubes with hydrogen.
 

LCpl Boiled Egg

Three word soundbite
Ahh, the good old days are long gone...we used to fill our tubes with coal and our saddlebags full of kindling and firelighters. The modern ' green' world has put paid to all that. Its a step backwards i tell ya....all tbis modern faff....

Aye. And you tell that to kids today and they don't believe you. (shakes head, looks into middle distance, wipes tear from eye)
 
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