After riding the Spark, I began to lust for my own electric commuter bike. I don’t want to wait two years for Boulder ElectroRide to get all their approvals from DOT, and I can’t afford to drop several thousand bucks on a newly-manufactured high-tech lithium-ion motorcycle.
The solution lurked in my own garage. Last weekend I excavated back to the 1976 level, and rolled out my old Yamaha TA125. This was, in its time, a screaming little 130mph road racing machine. It weighs 180 lb dry and with Don Vesco pipes put out 29 horsepower. To get that power you had to wind the two-stroke engine over 13,000 rpm. It was NOT a commuter bike. It wasn’t street legal.
I hosed it off and dropped the engine out. The frame and wheels weigh about 100 lb. I’m going to bolt in a golf-cart motor and four 12-volt batteries, and I’ll have a silent little shark to ride to work. I’m hoping for 45 mph and 20 miles of range.
Watch this space.
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[...] >>Project YamaVolt: Week 1 [...]
Pingback by >>Electric bike rally « SOLAR TODAY Blog July 28, 2008 @ 6:58 pmBeautiful. I hate to see such a beauty being stripped – unless it is to be reborn as an electric. Go man go!
Comment by Tom McCullough July 30, 2008 @ 9:47 pmI’ll try to keep the bike looking as it always has; the electric motor is a lot more elegant than the old two-stroke. The batteries will be pretty ugly. But — in race rig of course the bike had a full fairing. If I can find a replacement, that goes back on and it will look very sweet indeed.
Comment by Seth Masia July 30, 2008 @ 10:07 pm[...] >>Project YamaVolt: Week 1 [...]
Pingback by >>Yamavolt project: Motor mount mockup « SOLAR TODAY Blog August 9, 2008 @ 6:48 pm