Frankenbike rides again!
just got back from my first ride on the bike in almost 2 years!
I’ve been rebuilding the bike over the last couple of weeks – I had to do away with the “Atomic Bomb” battery box as it was just too snug a fit for all the additional wiring (plus, the new infineon controller was larger and wouldn’t fit snugly on the front. So, I’d been working in a 9L “Really Useful Box” mounted on the pannier rack which had been great – loads of space to play with.
However, I hadn’t really realised how top-heavy it was, so when I took it out of the shed and stood it on it’s stand it promptly fell over – shattering the battery box and wrecking my hopes for another week.
Fell of it's stand and smashed up the Work in Progress battery box
However, I got right back on with it – It’s been 3 years I’ve been building this sodding thing, so a little setback like that means nothing – I learned my lesson about both plastic AND centre of gravity so got on with building a wooden box into the frame – I really like it – it’s kinda Doctor Emmett Brown mixed with 50’s beach boy “woody” – plus it makes the bike handle much better.
Building a new battery box with better C of G
Mini-me looks on
Connected everything up like I should and true to form it wouldn’t start – it turns out one of my 36v batteries is now giving out 22v – which means it’s cutting out. I’ve removed the battery for now and took it out on just the one battery – I’d forgotten how good it feels to be pulled along up a hill 😉 I’m probably going to leave it as it is for now – I want to get some benefit out of it before I try the other battery again – plus I’ve got some other projects queued up (making an iMac G4 17″ into a secondary monitor for my MBP is number one)
