frodus

So my 1986 electric VFR700F project is finally down to the finish line and I'd like to get everything painted. I've got all fiberglass fairings and gastank, so nothing metal will need paint. I can do all the sanding, filler and some preliminary primer. I'd like the following painted white with clearcoat: - Front fender - Gas tank (only the top) - Front upper fairing (has been modified with dual headlights) - Right and Left lower fairings - Race tail (one piece) On a bit of a budget, don't mind putting a graphic sticker on there of someone's business. Looking for recommendations, or maybe someone on the forum local that might be interested in helping out. Thanks Travis www.evfr.net

Got my forks rebuilt last week and drilled out my triple clamp to attach a bar riser I found to mount some Spiegler superbike handlebars. Only 1 problem, the brake line isn't long enough, so I need to order some new lines. Kind of a bummer, but now I can upgrade to braided brake lines quick would be good since I'm running with 25+ year old lines. Got me thinking about just replacing the front master cylinder too. They're harder to get parts for. Since I don't NEED anything immediately, I'll let things go until I get the bike running because I'll probably want to rebuild the front and rear brake slaves, replace brake lines, replace pads and put new brake fluid in there. It'l be a good nice weekend project in the spring. But at least it's back together. I'll throw the old bars on there for now until I get the lines. Probably be a couple months because I don't really feel like rebuilding the brakes too. At least I can get back to the battery pack I keep putting off. So here's the current state:

Little bit at a time. I got some new levers for my front brake (the old one has an adjustment piece that was rusting) and some other spare parts. The big thing I got was a heatsink from my friend that he made. He milled a second one for me that fits the curtis 1238 exactly. I'm very impressed. Right now I plan to mount it very low on the bike so that the fins kind of stick out from under the fairings where the exhaust was located. It will provide pretty good cooling. I might also consider the front behind the front wheel. Just need to see how my mockups fit. Also got my old 28Ah 12V SLA's back from the guy that I sold them to and didn't use them, along with some parts he wants me to sell. This week: Hot glue and foam-board mockup of my battery pack and location of charger and controller.

Wow, it sure has been a while, still not finished (never enough time). Time for a little update (thanks for reminding me Sebspeed). I do consulting on the side and have been working with the community on designing systems, so I kinda put this off. While doing that, I got a nice Battery Management System from Elithion. I've assembled a few test packs and really like how it works. I also decided to scrap the brushed DC motor (K99 motor) and go with a brush-less AC Induction motor. I started with an AC15 motor and Curtis 1238-6501 motor, but a sold that and upgraded yet again to an AC20 motor and 1238-7501 controller. This gives a little more HP and higher running voltage and higher RPM of the motor. This gives more HP than the K99 and a higher RPM. I got some motor mounts machined, mounted the new motor and am now working on trying to cram all of the batteries inside the frame. I bought some UHMW plastic (3/4" thick, 4x8' sheet) to fabricate the cell-holders. I'm not using the cheap red plastic holders shown below, I want something more finished looking. Anyway, here are some pictures: Testing some batteries (testing for capacity so I can match cells/test them before installing): Batteries assembled into test pack: BMS installed on the pack: BMS controller: AC15 with mounts: Mocking up the battery pack: AC20 mounted: Drawing of one of the battery packs (I may change this): Prototype pack made of UHMW and milled on a CNC router table: So anyway, there's the update. I got some of the fairings mounted so I can accurately design the battery pack. A heat sink for the controller is being machined and it'll go underneath the bike and stick out just a little bit from the fairing, right where the original exhaust went. It's a perfect place for airflow. Once I get the controller and heat-sink back, I can really start mocking things up with some foam-board and hot-glue. Once I figure out the maximum pack size, I can start to fit batteries inside it in CAD and send to my fabricator to CNC the final pack. Then we'll weld up an aluminum box for it, and start assembly.

VFRChuck makes fiberglass tanks for the VFR700/750 series, without fuel petcock. I got a "half made" tank. Its unfinished. The reason for the tank is to house the electronics. I had to cut up the old metal tank (and it was rusted). It had sharp edges and nowhere to mount things inside. This way, the two halves kinda go together pretty tight and allow a seal to be put around the edge to keep water/dirt/bugs out. I might put a hinge on it so it flips up.

So, its been a REALLY long time since I've posted pictures of my project.... It's been a busy year. Worked with the Motoczysz team for a while, started consulting, imported 25k of batteries and then joined forces with EVComponents..... Now I THINK I finally have most of the parts I need to finish the bike. I don't have the Synkromotive controller yet due to delays in production, but if its a problem, I'll just build a Zilla 1k LV at EVC. I don't have a BMS either, but I'm working with Elithion on some BMS stuff for us moto guys, and I'll be testing his prototype. Right now I'm planning on the Lithiumate system with Cylindrical cell boards. So what changed on my bike? Well, almost everything is changing. I decided to make the leap from Lead to Lithium before even installing the Panasonic SLA's. It wasn't enough of a gain, and would be much better long term to go Lifepo4. The fairings are no longer the stock plastic, they're all fiberglass.... Including the gas tank. So whats going in the bike?: 192qty 10Ah 38120S Headway cells in 32s6p for 102V 60Ah Fiberglass one-piece tail fairing, Solo seat cowl, front fender, race upper fairing, lower side fairings, inner fairings and gas tank. taller windscreen to help cut back on aero drag a little K99-4003 72V 6.7" motor from Advanced DC delta-q 1000W 96V charger setup for 32 cells (116.8V cutoff) Vicor 100Vin 12Vout 200W DC-DC converter (works down to like 80Vinput) Inertia switch in case of a wreck EV200 contactor LSL MIG Dual headlights Sprocket Specialists 60tooth anodized rear sprocket Bar mounts so I can use a sportbike/superbike style handlebar Stuff I don't have yet: Controller (Want to use Synkromotive, might have to get a Zilla) BMS (I'll likely use a full Elithion Lithiumate BMS) Stuff I need to do: Fabricate new motor mount (the old one could be improved and simplified) Fabricate a battery box for the Headway cells Fabricate headlight mount and cut holes into upper fairing fabricate charger mount mount controller/contactor/DC-DC etc inside gas tank rebuild front forks (they're leaking) replace wheel bearings (since its easier now than later) Get fairings sanded and painted get wheels/subframe/gauge mounts/panel mounts powdercoated (this could wait until after bike is done) Talk with Elithion about their BMS and see if I can still integrate an LCD So here are some pictures: Front of bike Rear of bike Batteries DC-DC converter Fiberglass tank bottom of tank Charger headlights Handlebar mount So thats about it for now, gotta check in on the controller and BMS. Talked to a welder the other day, and they said "we'll trick that bike out...." so I'm hoping the motor mount and battery box turn out good

How long would the range have to be for your use, based on your current riding habits? Would you be interested in a hybrid with a 30 to 40-mile electric-only range before a piston engine serving only as a generator comes on to recharge the pack? For me I'd like to see ~60mi elec. only. As for regen, have you looked into using the wind at speed to drive a turbine gen? That'd cause more drag and use more energy to push the motorcycle than it would generate....

I'll refrain from tainting your TTXGP thread anymore....I gotta get a picture of the one entry that was straddling the bike and "walking" it up the hill... underneath: "his resisitance was >1 ohms"

So, since the resistance was reduced due to the "fantastic design".....and we assume that the resistance was reduced to a value of less than 1 Ohm, then resistance IS futile. Lets hope Loni can fudge the numbers on the multimeter lol

1-2 hours, what is the average speed? or break it down.... 30 min at xx mph, then 20 min at yy mph.... I know I'll be putting about 6.4kwh in my motorcycle when i get batteries... so, it'l do close to 65 miles or so.... 45-60mph. Loni and I could build you somethin

great pics Loni, can't wait to catch up over a brew. I'd love to go next year.

I don't want to run on gas at all.... thats the point. A hybrid is possible, but there's no room for the batteries I'm using, I'd have to go with much more expensive batteries with higher energy density. I know, i felt bad tearing into the bike, it's still in great shape, its just getting some new fairings and paint... it'l look like the original without the engine.

so a little over a year after I got my bike running, the TTXGP race has completed..... I can't wait to see what happens from now on.

FINALLY got the tail: Now I gotta get the holes drilled on the front upper and lowers, get all the hardware mounted, cut holes for the headlights (going dual) and get her painted. While thats being done, think I'll be able to fit the rest of my new batteries inside.

well, I wanted to put a cobalt racing tail on there, but its been 5 months since I paid, I've called a few times... nothing. Not even an email.

Go join elmoto.net and introduce yourself... there's plenty of guys there that can help.

Look into K2 (peakbattery.com) here in the states... also A123... Other vendors like Headway, Valence etc might be willing to help. Valence sounded interested in sponsoring people. We are FOR SURE racing we sent in our entry fee last week. Its on! Lifebatt is completely sponsoring an entry? Wonder if its my friend Steve (Jozzbikes.co.uk).... He built up the TTX01.... i wonder who else they're providing cells to....

Thanks for the feedback... we worked hard on it. Its still in progress (switching batteries/working on charging). Check out evalbum, there's a few other VF's there. As far as bodywork, some places still have the front lower (was an option).... harder to find, keep an eye on ebay. What kind of range do you need? Whatever we can get really. Would be nice to get 30 miles. 20-30 miles is very reasonable. How fast do you want it?Again, however fast we can get. Would be nice to hit 45mph or 50mph. Absolutely reasonable Are you retaining your transmission, or going with just a sprocket and chain? Direct drive using sprocket & chain. For the same reasons you mentioned in your thread (efficiency & complexity). Great choice. AC or DC motor(AC controllers are complex)?We will take anything a sponsor will provide. However if it was up to me, then we'd be using a brushless DC motor. That way we could use the hall effect sensors to obtain maximum torque at (almost) any rpm. We'll probably end up using a PM brushed DC motor though (ETEK maybe). PM is a good start, and fairly easy to control. AC and sepex are more complex... and series wound have some issues with runaway due to back-emf. Do you NEED regen (max 15% back, maybe lower on a motorcycle, but is nice for engine downshift feel)? Controllers with regen are more complicated.Not worried about regen. Simply don't have the time or resources for the added complexity. Much more simple Whats the budget?Myself and 3 teammates are all contribuiting $250 for a total of $1k. Anything above that we will either have to start bootstrapping or find sponsors. There might be a Xbox360 up for sale real soon :dry:. Reasonably easy to do now that you've got a donor and are making the controller... the big cost is batteries and a motor. I've got some stuff I might be able to donate. Do you want to go with LiFePo4? or Lead (I might be able to sell you a whole set of my brand new lead batteries and ship from a business..... since I might be going lithium)It would be awesome to get some lighter batteries. However we are under an extremely tight budget due to our self funding. If one of the many sponsors I have emailed wanted to donate a handful I certainly wouldn't turn them down. However we will probably end up with cheap, heavy, lead-acid car batteries. Just let me know... I might go lifepo if we can get our TTXGP batteries for cheap enough.

How'd you know I'm never far from any of the EV threads on here the site is elmoto.net thats where all us electric guys hang out, read through the archives. Also, my website is www.evfr.net and it documents my entire build. I work for a controller company, so I might be able to help with some of your questions. We're working on releasing our DC controller, and working on our AC controller. Here are the big questions: What kind of range do you need? How fast do you want it? Are you retaining your transmission, or going with just a sprocket and chain? AC or DC motor(AC controllers are complex)? Do you NEED regen (max 15% back, maybe lower on a motorcycle, but is nice for engine downshift feel)? Controllers with regen are more complicated. Whats the budget? Do you want to go with LiFePo4? or Lead (I might be able to sell you a whole set of my brand new lead batteries and ship from a business..... since I might be going lithium) I've got 13 12V 28Ah batteries that'd be great to test with that I could let go for 40bucks a piece plus shipping.... but you'd save alot...

thats why... I was wondering why it dropped. Thanks for the help seb!

To the mods: Thanks for putting this in Featured Modifications... It was posted in yesterday, and still went to the bottom of the forum.

I'm getting everything legal and running while saving some extra cash for batteries. I could set something up... might not be a bad idea. every little bit helps. Anyone hear about Isle Of Mann TT races? Well someone set up a zero carbon IOM TT races called TTxGP... the founder emailed me and wants to talk.... so, there may be more investment opportunity if it goes that far.

it actually is called the eVFR.... www.evfr.net EV/ VFR goes together quite nicely.

Here's a video that my friend Jim and I shot earlier this week. We have all the fairings on it, and pretty much have the motor mount and battery pack design nailed. We'll be cleaning up the wiring, making some small changes to the mounts, and upgrading the rear sprocket to a 60tooth (ordered 7-18-08). Right now, I'm working on the custom charging system that will be installed as well as the 12V aux system for lighting. Real nice shot at the beginning and end of Jim hitting 50mph.

Motorcycle are excempt from DEQ testing in the Oregon. The only reason you would need to take a bike down to a DEQ testing center is to get the VIN inspected, but you can have that done at the DMV when you're getting plates for it. Oh yeah! I just realized that. I still want to get EV cert, as it'l change insurance... since its no longer a 700cc. The VIN is inspected already, nothing else is really needed.