Oxydrive kits

[OXYDrive]

There may be some inconsistencies in the manual now as we have had quite a few different supplies of components and some of them behave in a slightly different way from the previous ones. It used to flash when it was running low, now when battery almost runs out i can confirm it's the error 6 coming up which means under voltage. basically it's over so you can't get much more from it. What you can still try to do is to reduce the PAS level to 1 or 2 so it should still keep you going for a while with lower power output.

BTW Steve the USB in the battery is designed for charging the phone.

all the best

Andrew

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Hi Andrew
I did think that but wanted to make sure
Steve

 

[Planemo]

Finished my installation today. I ended up using a hole cutter in the OD mag disc rather than going with the 4 magnets in the small chainring bolt solution. I figured the 12 magnets in the disc would work better than 4. I found that the disc didn't even need extra fixing to the chainring- the magnets themselves hold it on nicely! Also the back of the disc has a lip around the outer edge which sticks proud and this almost has a self-centring effect and stops it sliding around as the chainring bolts have exactly the same outer pcd as the id of the lip. Luck I guess! Now heres the weird thing- because I was mounting the disc on the drive side, it made sense that the PAS would have to be flipped 180 degrees so I redrilled the bracket prior to even trying it the standard way. Fitted it up and would you believe it- it only worked when pedaling backwards! So remounted it back in the supplied position and works fine. I still cant for the life of me work out how this is so but it works. The PAS bracket had to be 'manipulated' ever so slightly but I have a nice 1mm gap now. I think the end result, although being a bit more work, looks neater than mounting everything on the non-drive side.

 

[Planemo]

I soon realised that the stock reed switch needs the magnet AWAY from the switch to allow power. I ended up mounting the switch underneath my lever and found a suitable place to mount the magnet which brings it close when the brake is applied. Quite happy as the location is nice and discreet. Works fine although I now want to make it a little more permanent as I have only used double sided foam tape at the mo.


I have to say I really like this kit. I'm not sure that its universal nature of fitment could be made any neater than it is already. Maybe the impending Hollowtech PAS from OD will make it even easier for those of us that need them but even modifying the current setup isnt exactly a major trauma. I have only ridden round the garden to check operation so I will post again once I have put a few miles on it. I also have a couple of pics of the completed bike which I will post tomorrow, I especially like how the only really noticable part of the conversion is the battery and the whole bike looks like a factory build. Nice one Oxydrive!

 

[baldylox]

Glad you were able to get the magnet ring to fit, I wasn't able even after hollowing out as I just couldn't quite get the clearance so used an alternative hollowtech specific one.
I stuck the reed switch on with glue and covered with white sugru to keep it looking 'stealthy'.
Did you use the stock reed switch (yours looks black) as mine is orange - hence the sugru to make it ' hidden'.
Nice build though, enjoy [emoji106]

 

[Deleted member 4366]

That's a great result and really simple solution, once you'd figured it out. I really like those Shimano BRM765 brakes/shifters. I just managed to snag another pair on Ebay for £85.

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Nice job, and it looks far better with the disk and sensor on the right side.

 

[Planemo]

Thanks guys, and probably appropriate to extend that for all your help with my Oxy kit Yes d8veh the Shimano combined jobbies are a bit of an oddity. Some hate the things but I find them very neat and compact. They do however give their own problems sometimes such as my switch fitment and some just cant get used to the whole idea of braking and pusing down/up on the lever to shift at the same time but you get used to it and now I find the whole thing pretty slick to use.

Baldy, my switch is the same as yours I just cut the wire to remove the pipe fitting then soldered and heatshrinked it all back up. Its a shame your Oxy disc didnt fit, I can only assume that are bottom brackets have different widths or something. I have never heard of this 'sugru' you mention so I will look it up. I dont really need it to hide anything but it might help make everything more permanent.

As for my install, just did a very quick ride up the road and hitting 20mph with virtually zero effort is a first for me! Really odd feeling but I guess you veterans are used to it! Heres a final few pics- to top and tail it I painted the Oxy rim black satin black and found some Mavic stickers to make it (cheekily) match my original front wheel. Overall I am extremely happy with the kit and how it turned out, and I will be out for a long ride tomorrow to get a feel for it. Cheers guys!

 

[Planemo]

Ok quick question: I can change the speed to read mph but the trip and odo still show km??

 

[Nealh]

Probably in the programming odo and trip are in km by default, mine is the same can change read out for mph or km/h.

 

[Planemo]

Im pretty sure its actually reading in miles...sure feels like I did 27 miles instead of km today!

 

[Nealh]

The odo and trip are in km, I do a return journey to my local apiary which is a tad over 11 miles by car and by bike the same journey reads 17.6 on my Oxy trip.

 

[Planemo]

Nealh, is that after you have set your speed to mph? If the kit reads distance in km even after switching to mph then my recorded 27 would equate to about 17 miles and I am pretty sure I did more than that but I could be wrong, it was a twisty oddball country lane route I have never done before.

Wish I had left my old odometer on the bike so I could compare. I did check the indicated speed of it against the oxy reading (which was about equal) at which point I removed my old odo. Didnt think of comparing the distance readings as well.

It will be a right pain if the oxy kit can only read in km as its a unit I have never really used.

Also, no clock on the oxy lcd? Seems like so far theres 2 missed opportunites for using an lcd in the first place...and neither are odd functions for a bicycle meter...

 

[Nealh]

Planemo the answer is yes, my speed reading is always set to mph. It is an oddity that the trip/odo isn/t also setable. I also rode the Worth way track to Groombridge and then carried on via roads/tracks to Crowboro and then return and covered 60 odd km which is about 40miles converted.

 

[Planemo]

In that case, its an irritating (for me) quirk of the oxy kit which could so easily have been sorted with a simple bit of programming. The fact that theres already a mph conversion log going on within the LCD makes its even more bizarre that they didnt pair it to the km reading. The thing I have generally been impressed with the kit is its UK build quality but the LCD however smacks of chinese implementation. Also like when I have 1 bar assistance power showing when the bike is stationary..

Looks like I will have to refit my 12 year old halfords odo. I use a clock a lot whilst riding and I also cant get used to km.

 

[Nealh]

KM is easy to convert as 5/8's, so 5miles = 8km.

 

[Planemo]

I take your point Neal, and its probably easier once you get used to it but I have gone another route now and bought a waterproof handlebar mount case for my mobile phone which I will run the Urban Biker app on. It give loads of great info, overlaid onto google maps so it suits my uses well.

I have not really done any miles since my last post but I did decide to sort out my battery mount. Like a previous poster, I found that the battery flexed a bit too much side to side and was also slightly off centre to the frame. I used some Milliput (again, thanks to the previous poster) to allow an increase in surface mount area and also allow me to centralise the battery. I just applied two layers of clingfilm to the frame, put some putty on the carrier mating points then bolted on the carrier to the point of it nipping up then wedged some washers under the side to centralise it. Then I carefully nudged in the putty on the side that was being wedged up and left it to go off. Once done I removed the carrier, removed the clingfilm then bolted it all back up properly tight. Fitted the battery and bingo, a nice centralised battery with virtually zero lateral movement. I also swopped out the oxy supplied bolts for longer ones as the oxy ones only went into my stock rivnuts by about 5 threads and the nuts have at least double that on them. Pic below of the carrier once the putty had gone off.

I can reccomend doing this to anyone who has non-flat downtubes (thats probably most of us then!)

 

[Nealh]

I have now made my oxy cf mtrax redundant now as I wasn't using it much now I have my Cube ams bbs off roader. Looking for a more general multi purpose bike I haven't seen any cube hybrid frames for sale so ended up buying a 2nd hand Boardman frame with sus forks from Brighton and am in the process of oxying it up along with some components from the old bike. The battery is now fixed firmly and there are 2 rivnuts m5 on the seat tube, by undoing one of the m5 bolts on one of these so that it rests tightly against the battery when slid in its cradle I find the battery is now very rigid.
Brake wise I am using the same excellent hydraulic Shimano M395 callipers and and fluid lines but have upgraded the levers and shifters to some all in one jobs by buying the dual Hone levers and bodies in black finish, now the handle bars are less cluttered. The Shimano callipers are so easy to back bleed time wise I had front and back rebled in about 25minutes.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've changed my opinion about suspension forks now. They're for heavyweights. If you want speed and efficiency, it has to be thin wheels and rigid streamlined forks. You gain several MPH on your average speed for the same effort, but slightly less comfort.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I might agree with you on that for 28" wheels but my forearms beg to disagree with 26" ones. I am willing to give up a little speed for more comfort on down hill runs. The problem with forks that have a lockout button on the handlebar for climbing are way out of my price range.