Looks like some creative Tetris skills will pack 24 CALB 40Ah LiFePO4 cells in the frame along with a 600 watt charger and Kelly KD72401 controller, without the layout getting ungainly at all.

Now to design the brackets to make it happen....

Attached Thumbnails

     

Speaks for it self doesn't it? :p

Next step is getting the bike down to Lauge Jensen, and next time we see it it should have dorned a "working" battery cage, ready for connecting the components.

Heres a bit on how we've fitted the fairings, as you might have expected, they aren't made fo this bike, so we had to do some alternate solutions.



First, fitting the front mounting brakcet, not particularly difficult. Upside about this fiaring is that we now have a great big unobstructed cock pit, for all the glowing dudads and gizmos, oh i like glowing gizmos :lol:



Secondly, the fairing needs support at the buttom, but the mounting points wont ever line up, so we just fitted a piece of steel band on each side, and voila, it's supported like it should.



On the sides though, a steel band just woudn't cut it, so here we just used a zip-tie, works like a charm.

Before we go on an drive the bike down to Lauge Jensen, for him to make the battery cage, we thought it best if we fitted the fairings first, so he could make it all fit respectively within. So here we go, this is a 1996 SRAD getting 2001 fairings, only done few times before afaik.

First step is fitting the front mounting bracket, wich holds the headlight and front fairing. Only problem is that the mounting points are a bit different in the distance between them, on a SRAD vs a 2001 model, but nothing a file wont fix.



After this the front fairing and headlight pops right on.



Next is testing if the bars woud hit this new fairing, crossing my fingers it won't.



From full lock to full lock, no problems, but the brake master cylinder only has 5mm to spare, close.

I've put 515 miles on the bike now and have the following observations:

o Top speed is around 57mph for most of the battery capacity. With the cells fully charged to 3.7V each I would be looking at 65mph, but they don't sit at 3.7V for very long at all.
o Energy use is around 110-120 Wh/mile. It's mostly flat here in Phoenix, with most of my riding between 40-45mph.
o Regen is typically giving me about 5% back. Less late at night when I'm coasting thru one green light after another and more during heavy stop and go.
o The motor gets 'hot' sometimes (subjective until I add proper measurement - but the case is almost too hot to touch). I still need to pin this one down, but it seems to occur more at low speed. On the other hand, I have gone up a 2 mile long 7% grade with the throttle pinned most of the way, doing between 40 and 50mph, and the motor was barely above ambient. It seems most likely that the motor is getting hot due to low efficiency at low RPM, low airflow or a combination of both. The graphs on the Agni website do indicate somewhat lower efficiency for this motor at 24V and below.
o The controller barely gets above ambient temperature - ever. I know I am not stressing this controller to it's manufacturer claimed limits but I do like many of it's features such as ability to accept both Hall and resistive throttles directly, easy flexible programmability, small size, light weight, regen and low cost. There don't appear to be many manufacturers who provide all these features in a single controller.
o I've ridden 10 miles in 110F heat without any problems (e.g. there was no loss of power) although I don't want to make this a habit.
o The Cell Man 20AH prismatics are working well so far. I see a maximum voltage drop of 2V under acceleration which is in line with the claimed Ri for these cells + wiring losses. The one range test I did was 42 miles to LVC. I have a ton of spare room inside the fairing and could probably have squeezed in 100AH although that would have pushed the weight up beyond the original gasser and likely messed with handling.
o I haven't been able to do a back-to-back comparison with the gas bike of the same vintage yet, but the handling feels really good. I had measured the C of G of the original gasser with a full fuel tank before disassembly. Weight distribution from rear to front was 51.3:48.7 (which sounds like a funky chopper to me since I have only had experience of all-out sports bikes up to this point). The electric motorcycle currently has C of G moved forward 1.5" and up 1.5" which has been enough to result in a 49:51 weight distribution. Having tested the bike on some canyon roads I'm reluctant to try and reproduce the original funky weight distribution. The bike transitions from side to side well, trail brakes without standing up and the front does not feel like it's being overloaded under any circumstances. I'll try and get a ride of a gasser and ask the racers on the Ninja 250R forum if they move weight forward just to be sure the original wasn't better. The bike weighs about the same as the gasser with 1/3rd tank of fuel.
o It's gutless up to about 7mph (I don't feel the famous electric '100% torque from zero') then accelerates more noticeably.
o Current tails off at higher RPM, so acceleration tails off at higher RPM. I'm looking into getting the bike on a dyno to see what's happening a bit more clearly. The performance graphs on the Agni website appear somewhat ... idealized.
o Acceleration is relatively lackluster, although it does keep up with most four wheeled ICE vehicles in town. I had been riding a CBR100RR before this, so I am learning to replace white knuckle ride with a more Zen like experience.
o For reasons I don't fully understand yet, I haven't even felt the need to get on the CBR1000RR for the past couple of months. There's just something intangibly compelling about the experience of riding an electric motorcycle. It might be things like my legs don't get roasted by a gas engine when sitting at lights any more. Or being able to eavesdrop on conversations in adjacent vehicles or between people on the sidewalk. Or not having to continually work the clutch in heavy traffic. Or having more options about where I get my energy from. Or being able to maintain the bike in air conditioned luxury inside my house while watching TV, and convenient access to snacks, without worrying about carbon monoxide poisoning or terrifying the cat with loud exhaust. Or being stopped by the police for being a bad boy and let go unpunished because of the unusual bike. For the past twenty years, every day on a gas bike has felt like the best day ever. I don't think the novelty of the electric experience will ever wear off either. It's only going to get better and better.

Video Walkthru:

http://www.youtube.com/BarronGreig#p/a/u/2/6LZvyNKW0iY

Riding up 7% grade in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona:

http://www.youtube.com/BarronGreig#p/a/u/1/Pou9NFzXR2Y

Pictures:

http://www.elmoto.net/album.php?albumid=103

Ahhh... Finally a step after which I can say I've got an electric motorcycle under construction, not just a frame I've fixed up.



This is the mount - which looks just like the cad version (which is not exactly like what I previously posted anymore).



A friend loaned me his wire feed welder, and I'm pretty happy with the results considering it was my first time welding.



and mounted...

Well guys, i can poroudly say that we're now in the process of building the battery cage, look at what we've done so far.

[BIG EDIT]

Guys, turns out we aren't so smart after all, the cage that we built last time around, had to be trashed, since the bolt connections failed and some very expensive and very important bits broke... And it didn't even fit in the bike... sigh.. :|

Oh well back to the drawing board.

[ANOTHER BIG EDIT]

Once again, we had to abandon our previous work thanks to my fat head! *slap self* When we mocked up, we used tape to hold it all together, could have told my self that it would stretch. So when it got welded up it was very crooked, the chain would have popped right off if the motor spun one revolution...
So now we are trusting the critical work of constructing the battery cage to a guy who has become a icon within Danish motorcylists, not since Nimbus have we seen a Danish built motorcycle, but recently, Lauge Jensen started up shop less than 10 miles away from where we live, and his middle name IS Quality, so after talking with him over the phone, he sounded very interested in helping out.
when we get the time, we will for sure toss the bike and the parts down to his shop an he will throw it all together for us.

[ANOTHER BIG EDIT/]

We can't wait to get this puppy running!!!! :D

[BIG EDIT/]

After recieving the batteries, they deserve a testing, just to check that no cells are dead on arrival.



All the cells are stable at 3.3 volts, a healthy charge.



In packs of 4 they settle at 13.19 volts, should give a total of 79 volts when all are conencted. Just as needed!



Plenty of connectors to go around.



And a little test pile, just to round it all off, looks like the mockups where pretty close to size.

Oh, and one more thing, i measured the cells, they have indeed shrunk, by a fair amount lengthwise.

The old cells where 115mm x 61mm x 215mm, to the top of the terminals, these cells are 114mm x 61mm x 204mm to the top of the termianals, better than suspected.

Happy camper signing out.

After a lengthy struggle with officials, offices and loads of taxes, the batteries are finally here!

This little crate cost me alot of money, but should make the bike very fun to drive.





Inside is first some pamflets, a quality control dokument, signed and stamped, and a users manual, which says nothing about the batteries only being allowed to stand upright, i would call that myth busted.

And finally what we've all been waiting for..



The batteries! 24 fully functional cells arranged in 6 packs, nice!

And with them came a load of connectors, deffinetly nice!

After a bit of silence, we're now seing a few weeks worth of spider webs on the otherwise clean bike.
But we've not been toally silent, i've for one traded my LS650 ICE bike for a '77 Z650, a real classic, and guess what, Camilla has got her bike finally, though it did'nt turn out to be the one she had planned for, guess that's what 6 weeks of waiting and bad suppliers yields you, anyway this is what she ended up with. A danish site sorry.

http://www.motorcykelgalleri.dk/html...594&ipc=116127

And this is what i ended up with.

http://www.motorcykelgalleri.dk/html...599&ipc=116142

Not bad.

As for the electric bike build, we've recieved a few parts, including bolts, wires and connectors as well as the chain, still no word of the sprockets though..

Oh and we did get one more thing, a big thing.



Inside, and under loads of plastic foam wrap, is the new fairings!







Originally for a GSXR 600 2001 model, they should fit just fine after we've made a few brackets, they'll look great on the bike.

Well, we came down to the conclusion that we dont really have time or energy for molding our own fairings, how the hell did Tom Miceli manage to do the whole bike in only 3 months time!

So we settled for the next best thing, getting new farings, turns out that the same bike that gave its ass for our project can give its skin for the same. Weve decided to get some aftermarket fairings for a GSXR 600/750/1000 model, year 01-03, it should be being painted as we speak, in china... But were definetly looking forward to seing it, hopefully we can fit it but it looks like its managable: http://www.gixxer.com/forums/showpos...89&postcount=5

But to the point.. The battery pack has to be resized and the battery cage needs to be redone.
Due to the new choice of fairings we had to move 4 cells from the side of the pack, up over the motor.



It fits inside!



So now its looking more and more like a real bike, a new ass, a hollow tank, a new pack and good plans for the future. Its great to see some progress on the bike. Some real build progress. :p

Thanks to the Danish forums, we found out that the rear wheel lug nut needed a 36mm top to get wrenched off, so we ondered one of those and when it came, we got to it, it took my full body weight on a 2 foot long metal bar at the end of the spanner, and Camilla holding the bike in place to get it off, after that it was all about getting the new rear sprocket on. ;)



New and old, side by side, no energy for counting the old sprockets teeth we have loads to do still.



That makes a difference doesnt it? The keen of you might have seen that the bike is now up on a stand, thanks to the local walmart of autoparts Thansen, it really helps alot to have the bike fixed in place upright.

And now its time for the final "De-gassing-stage" the tank is getting hollowed out. A angle grinder can be a very usefull tool. :p



Mind you that this was after wenting out the tank and flushing it with about 50 gallons of water, so no bang (this time)
I dont know what those tubes do, but off the go. :p

The ass is getting some liposucktion, well the old one was in our minds very fat and not to appeling, so we decided to go for another one, turned out with some amount of modification we could fit a GSXR 600/750/1000 tail on the bike, as longs as i was a 01-03 model.

This guide explains how http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.n...-tail-swap.htm

First a test fit, and jep it looks gooood :p



Some cutting later, the mounting points have parted way with the frame, and off came about 2" worth of frame material.



And it fits like a charm, mind you that the mounts still needs to be welded back on.

So, after throwing in the last 3 weeks worth of parts and happenings, heres some of the nicer aspects.

The battery box, which is to seel the batteries from the elements, is done and alll glued to gether using contact glue, dang it stinks! but it holds nicely, and after porring about a gallon worth of water into it we concluded that it was perfectly watertight, nice! :p

The mockup cells inside show that the real ones should fit just nicely.



New cosmetics for the bike!
Well not litterally, but it has a new tail, its really nice to see it on, thought it still needs a bracket to connect the top mounting points. It gives alot better scence of how the bike is going to look when done, or at least the rear.



Also, just today the rear sprocket came in the door, its a 60 tooth #50 sprocket, ready to be slappede on and ridden into the sunset! The quality is just great and it weighs absolutely nothing!