Filed under: Electric fun
The Yamavolt electric motorcycle reached mechanical completion on Sunday. It now weighs 205 lb with batteries and motor installed.
The chain runs over a 13-tooth drive sprocket to a 72-tooth chainwheel. In theory this could give me 60 mph at 4800 rpm, but we’ll see what the four small lead-acid batteries will do. I’m going to program the controller for a maximum 35 mph, which will keep me more-or-less moped legal in Colorado. But I’ll have enough acceleration to move with traffic.
The motor sits on a thin rubber damper made from an old innertube, and it now has an anti-torque link to keep it from rotating in the motor mounts. It fits as if the 35-year-old chassis had been built for it. The original Dunlop tires still hold air. I’ll replace them after the machine is running.
The controller and charger will go in the empty triangle under the rear of the gorgeous (empty) aluminum tank, which I haven’t had the heart to remove. The whole rig should then weigh 212 lb. Still hoping for a ten-mile range.
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Looks like a fun project, Seth. How will you recharge the batteries?
Comment by Pete Wagner September 5, 2008 @ 4:04 amHi, Pete. I have a Soneil 48-volt charger. It works at 3.5 amps — that means a full charge in 6 hours, or if I burn up half the charge getting to work it’s at full charge again before lunch. The charger is small and light enough to carry with me, or I could bolt it to the frame under the tank.
Comment by Seth Masia September 5, 2008 @ 2:58 pm