Cyclamatic: The Beastamatic is dead! Long live the Beastamatic

[evendine]

Some more prices from Battery Supplies:

2A 36v charger only ( for LiFePO4 or LiMnO2) : £24

Upgrade existing Silver Fish case to 36v 10Ah LiFePO4: £177

Custom 5Ah 36v LiFePO4 + Silver Fish case + charger delivered: around £125 (to be confirmed)

Empty Silver Fish cases are available, but not one-off - have asked for a price on 5 units - anyone interested in one if I make an order? I'm guessing they will be about £25...

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Some more prices from Battery Supplies:

2A 36v charger only ( for LiFePO4 or LiMnO2) : £24

Upgrade existing Silver Fish case to 36v 10Ah LiFePO4: £177

Custom 5Ah 36v LiFePO4 + Silver Fish case + charger delivered: around £125 (to be confirmed)

Empty Silver Fish cases are available, but not one-off - have asked for a price on 5 units - anyone interested in one if I make an order? I'm guessing they will be about £25...

I'd take a case if you get some and they're not too dear.

 

[evendine]

Custom 'light-weight / low-cost / short range' packs from Battery Supplies:

5Ah 36v LiFePO4 - 2C constant / 4C peak current + Silver Fish case + charger delivered: £136

5Ah 36v LiMnO2 - 2C constant / 4C peak current + Silver Fish case + charger delivered: £101

Battery weight - around 2kg...

 

[Borwick]

Hi,

Did you try one of these batteries?

 

[evendine]

Not yet, but planning to in the near future...

 

[Borwick]

I am interested to try the modifications which you have pioneered on this forum in order to improve hill-climbing. The Cyclomatic goes fast enough for me as it is and may need some re-gearing!

I have studied the very informative video on reducing the resistance of the shunt by soldering and I see that you recommend doing that until with the motor running without load, the current drawn is 17amps. Please could you help me with one thing, where should I connect my multimeter during this process to measure the current?

I have also bought one of the small battery condition meters which you have fitted to the handlebars of your bike. May I ask where you made the connection and the sort of cable you used.

Many thanks for your work on this. I am thinking of modifying the shunt first and then if I needmore torque for those hills, buying a 36v battery as a straight replacement as the one supplied with the bike is still performing well. Might you have any suggestions for the sort of battery chemistry would be best and a reliable supplier?

I was sorry to see that the man in London who installed the 48v battery did not have enduring success with that mod ...

Many thanks.

 

[Borwick]

Thanks. Hope the bike is going well. I am very impressed with mine. I just bought an inexpensive folder to encourage the kids to take the dog for a run but liked it so much I have acquired the mountain bike as well.

Overall, the folder feels zippier, perhaps because it is a more precarious ride!

 

[flecc]

Overall, the folder feels zippier, perhaps because it is a more precarious ride!

There is a mechanical advantage with smaller wheels, so the acceleration and hill climbing is improved, giving that impression.

 

[Borwick]

Well, the best thing so far is the long hill near to us where you get lots of commuter cyclists, often lycra'd up on road bikes who look so astonished when I burn them up on a preposterous shopper bike!

What could I do if the gears were better ...

 

[Borwick]

Gears

I'd take a case if you get some and they're not too dear.

Hi,

I have read your posts on modifying these bikes with great interest.

For my part, I find them to be powerful enough but could do with a better range of gears - both for hill climbing and for going faster on the flat.

May I ask whether you or any other forum members have experience of changing the chainwheel for a double chainwheel?

Many thanks.

 

[Biker44]

Do you know all your Photobucket pictures have disappeared?

There's a number of things come loose on them, like the spokes in the rear wheel. Seat, fuses, pedals break, front wheel bearings tighten. All fixable says this expert who has still only done 180 miles!

 

[Biker44]

Bigger Chainwheel on Foldaway?

could do with a better range of gears - both for hill climbing and for going faster on the flat. May I ask whether you or any other forum members have experience of changing the chainwheel for a double chainwheel?

I'd go for a single chainwheel, but bigger, if anyone's tried it. On my Cyclamatic with the 20" wheels I think I've got 46 teeth at the front.

 

[evendine]

36v LiFePO4 battery...

Finally got round to ordering a 36v 10Ah LiFePO4 battery from Battery Supplies in Belgium. Should arrive by the end of the week. Total cost delivered: £191 including 2A charger and 6 months warranty, which seems a very fair price.

My bike is 3 or 4 years old and I think it's developed bottom-bracket bearing problems - clicking noise when working hard with the pedals uphill. Anyone know the spec for a replacement? Have measured outside of bearing casing (118mm) and interior width of casing (34mm), but there seems to be another dimension which most bottom-bracket bearing unit suppliers require - not sure i understand what it is or means.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The dimension you need is the length between each end of the square shaft, unfortunately you need to remove the cranks to be able to measure it. Everything else should be standard, so if you can get the spindle out, take it to halfords and get a sealed one the same length or slightly longer if they don't have the right one. I can't remember if the Cyclamatic has a cartridge type - I doubt it - which will mean that you need the special tool to screw up your new one. Don't waste your time putting in the caged ball-race type. The quality is normally bad and they don't last 5 minutes.

 

[evendine]

Thanks d8veh - I'll have to borrow a crank puller and see what's what.

Have been thinking of getting a new chain-wheel with more teeth - I expect running 36v, it'll be hard to keep up with the motor at any acceptable level of cadence otherwise. Might just replace the whole crank / chain-wheel / bottom bracket assembly, while I'm at it...

My shunt is already half-soldered - safe to just drop the new battery in with the standard controller, do you think?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You definitely need to change the graring. You can often find used chain-wheels on Ebay from road bikes. A double one will be OK, and just use the bigger one, then, if you have no electricity for whatever reason, you can hook the chain onto the smaller wheel with a twig to ride home. 52/39T would be about right. Alternatively. you can get a 11T free-wheel set from Cyclezee for about £25, which will be a direct replacement for your existing one. You need a free-wheel tool with a bigger than 12mm hole through it to get the old one off, so don't go this route unless you get the tool first because not all the tools have the right hole through them.

I ran my standard controller with 36v and soldered shunt for a while, but when I opened up the controller afterwards, the big resistor on the corner was quite brown, so must have been very hot. Ideally, you need to change it for a different one, but I'm not sure what. You could leave the end-plate off the controller for better cooling. (of the resistor)

 

[evendine]

Makes sense to go the chain-wheel route, as I'm going to have to remove the cranks to sort the bottom-bracket out, in any case.

I'll check and change the controller resistor before using the 36v battery...

 

[evendine]

The power resistor in question appears to be a 51R 5% 3W metal film type, for reference. Paralleling a pair of 100R's of the same type should do the job, I would think...

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Sounds like a good suggestion, but I was wondering whether it might be a better idea to cut the current down to the voltage regulator by using a higher value - say 68R or 75R.

 

[evendine]

Sounds like a good suggestion, but I was wondering whether it might be a better idea to cut the current down to the voltage regulator by using a higher value - say 68R or 75R.

Good thinking - but unfortunately, I ordered 2x100Rs this morning

Guess the regulator can take it, if yours worked for a fair while...