DerStrom8's Blog

Well it looks like I won't be working on this project for a little while. I went out this morning to grab my bike from the rack, and found out it was stolen during the night. The robber cut right through the chain locking it to the rack. I have informed the police and am working on getting them...

Continued... 5) After rigging up the support bar, I set the actual rack on it to see how it looked: 6) And after a bit of welding... 7) Now for the vertical supports. I decided to do what most professional bicycle racks do, and support mine on the rear axle of the bike. I took...

The following photos will show the construction of the rack which holds the motor and the battery. 1) This is the bar that will support the rack and connect to the rear of the seat post: 2) I cut out some pieces from a sheet of scrap metal that could be welded to the bar. The "connectors"...

To begin with, I'd like to mention that I found a relatively small 12 volt car battery out of a Volkswagen Rabbit. It is much narrower than a standard car battery, not to mention about half the weight: For this reason, I think it will work well to power the bike. Anyway, back to the...

Remember that solenoid I took off the starter motor way back in post #3? I finally decided on what I'm going to use it for. :D I figured that the regular brake system would look rather low-tech on a motorized bike. For this reason, I decided to eliminate the handbrake system that came with...

My original plan for controlling the speed of the bike was to use a chip to produce a PWM signal, which in turn would drive a stack of MOSFETS or a relay, and that would control the motor. However, when I was doing some bench-testing of the starter motor I bought at the Volkswagen show, I...

After mulling the requirements and several ideas around in my head, I figured out a way that I could make it work. The current plan is to build a rack to mount on the back of the bike, to which the motor will be attached. I decided to make the rear wheel pulley-driven, rather than chain-driven...

When I mentioned my idea of eliminating the pedals altogether on the forum, it was mentioned that there may be legal issues with doing that. I decided to look up the laws in my area pertaining to motorbikes. I found none specified for Vermont, the state in which I live, but I did find some...

Ever since I first had the idea to put a motor on my bicycle, I've been trying to decide how to put it together. I didn't know where to mount the motor (front, back, top, side) or how it was going to drive the wheel (chain, direct, etc.). I didn't even know if I was going to drive the front...

Some of you may have seen my thread, http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=56756 As I said, I know very little about cars, so I posted this thread to see what people thought of the idea. At first it did not seem to be very well-received, due mainly to the fact that starter motors...

The heart of this project is the motor that drives the bicycle. Due to all the weight it would have to move, I needed a powerful 12 volt motor capable of producing a lot of torque. My first idea was to use a motor from a treadmill, but that hope quickly faded away--treadmill motors generally use...

Well, I took my 18-speed mountain bicycle out of the storage shed this spring and realized there was a lot to be desired--The chain was somewhat stiff, the rear brake was completely frozen, and the chain derailer was in terrible condition, along with some other minor issues. When I was thinking...