Moulton conversion

[leccyapb]

Finally got my electric Moulton on the road, using an 83mm wide MXUS motor from Ciclotek in Spain with sine wave controller and 11Ah rack mounted battery. Various parts had to be made to adapt components meant for a more conventional bike.
Additional time was spent re-engineering the poxy Wuxing brake levers (I wanted cutouts on both brakes, and they came with the kit), one of whose cable clip rivet fell out when I took it out of the packet, and on - very- close inspection they turned out to have soft aluminium alloy pivots, which I replaced with stainless button screws and nylocs with acetal washers as shims. Be warned! (Ciclotek not interested btw).
Anyway, this is my first electrified bike, so pleased to report that although the motor's not powerful, the extra shove is welcome, taking the strain off my back while still giving me exercise.
A few queries: the motor watts readout seems to fluctuate more than I expected although I increased the max speed setting on the lcd, is this normal? The motor emits an embarrassing chittering sound when powered (not consistently), how can I cure this? And I bought a 10w Banggood led headlamp as recommended here, and the controller/lcd has a headlamp switch built in, but the wiring and connector are tiny; should I wire it through a relay?

Ronnie

 

[leccyapb]

Your feedback would be much appreciated...

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The light connector is switched by a transistor on the pcb of the controller or display. Without knowing the designation, it's not possible to say. It's probanly better to play safe and use an external switch.

The motor watts fluctuating is normal. Your controller probably uses speed control rather than power control, so it varies the power to achieve the target speed set by the throttle or pedal assist setting.

The chittering noise is worrying. Without hearing/feeling it, it's not easy to say. You can get some resonance noise with some motors, especially when new, but you can also get timing errors, where the controller doesn't work with the motor. The only thing you can do is check all the connections between the controller and motor are tight. If it has a multi-pin connector near the motor, check that it's pushed fully together. There's sometimes a line to show how far it should go.

 

[leccyapb]

The light connector is switched by a transistor on the pcb of the controller or display. Without knowing the designation, it's not possible to say. It's probanly better to play safe and use an external switch.

The motor watts fluctuating is normal. Your controller probably uses speed control rather than power control, so it varies the power to achieve the target speed set by the throttle or pedal assist setting.

The chittering noise is worrying. Without hearing/feeling it, it's not easy to say. You can get some resonance noise with some motors, especially when new, but you can also get timing errors, where the controller doesn't work with the motor. The only thing you can do is check all the connections between the controller and motor are tight. If it has a multi-pin connector near the motor, check that it's pushed fully together. There's sometimes a line to show how far it should go.

Thanks for the reply and your advice d8veh.

I'll just use a separate cable with switch and fuse for the light, KISS style.

It does feel like it's using speed control, that makes sense.

The motor and controller come as parts of a kit, so one would hope they work together properly; the multi-way plugs are definitely tight, but there are bullet connectors between the battery and controller, so I'll check and tighten them.

 

[leccyapb]

I've had another unexpected issue with this kit, which I report in case it's relevant to others. I bought a new Schwalbe Marathon tyre to fit to the new Chinese 20" rim, the same type I had on the Moulton rim, except now it says "e-bike ready" on the side.

The Ciclotek supplied rim is a double wall type, as well as being marginally narrower; because of the double wall, the well depth is only about half that of a conventional rim. This makes tyre fitting a nightmare, I think because of the lack of well depth. There is no way one would change a tube at the roadside.

I have now had two punctures [which have not happened due to sharp objects piercing the tyre], and the wrestling match taking the tyre on and off to change the rim tape etc has damaged and exposed the tyre bead reinforcing wire. I should add that I am used to changing my own motorcycle tyres, and that the second puncture happened near a local bicycle shop, whose experienced owner had the same problems as me. Both tyres can be removed and refitted to the Moulton rim without levers as I would normally do.

Has anyone else experienced this? Would it be safe to lace the single wall Moulton rim onto the electric hub?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can lace your Moulton rim if it has the same number of spoke holes. If it has 32 holes, you can't.

 

[leccyapb]

They're both 36 spokes. Is this a common occurrence with these rims?

 

[RobF]

Marathons are known to be brutes to fit.

There's a vid somewhere of a guy using cable ties or toe straps to compress the tyre into the well of the rim.

That's on a full size wheel, I expect your 20" would be harder.

Having said that, I've changed the rear Marathon tyre on my Brompton a couple of times without too much trouble.

I suspect - as you say - it depends on the well profile of the rim.

 

[pn_day]

Marathons are a bit of a pig, but this video should help. No tools required.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've never had any problem with them, but I did have one that kept blowing off the rim. It was so loose that you could blow it onto the rim. I've never needed levers to get one on, though I normally have to lever them off.

 

[leccyapb]

As I said, no problem with fitting either new or original Marathon to Moulton rim, problem is lack of well depth in double wall motor kit rim; in fact I am discarding new Marathon due to bead wire damage.
d8veh, tightening up crappy bullet connector between battery and controller has cured weird noise from motor, will buy better connectors and revisit wiring. Thanks.