slickdude
Member
- Local time
- 7:16 PM
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2011
- Messages
- 282
I have decided since giving the old hilltopper setup away to someone needy to build a brand new e-trike but better and faster.
In this case I am going to use a brand new Schwinn Meridian adult trike in blue for the candidate. It seems pretty sturdy and most reviews seem to favor it. One of my main concerns though are the forks as my understanding is I will be dealing with aluminum here. That aside, I am considering a Papamotors 1000 Watt 48 volt kit. The reason for that decision is it is withing just a few hundred bucks of a geared 350watt motor with a bottle battery and to date my experience with this system has been phenomenally good. I have also found Papamotors to be pretty honest people and their service top notch, so for those reasons and factors this appears how I will be going.
The trike is heavier than a two wheeler and my full frame also adds to that so I am expecting top speeds probably around 24 though I realize the trike cannot be ridden fast except for straight runs. On turns it must be brought way down in speed. But because of the cost differences and that the 48 volt system when ridden slower can yield distances of around 30 miles before recharging, this makes the best sense to me.
Other items to be added to the bike a big gel seat, speedometer (helps me ride it below legal maximum speed of 20mph since I don't really like going all that fast) lights, a front basket for extra capacity since the battery and controller will rob some of the main capacity at the get go.
Papamotors has informed me they will require the torque bars for the front hub motor setup which is fine. They do also supply upon request a speed limiter controller that helps max out the 1000 watt motor to a maximum of around 19 mph which I probably will opt for here. I need to check with them first on this. That way it should mostly pass muster but supply enough power to move the heavier trike as opposed to a two wheeler.
I have also ordered a cheap 28 dollar DBCam for quick decent movies so you guys can share my rides to the park. I can't tell all of you how much of a blast it has been but the Papamotors kit has made riding lots of fun again.
Anyhow here are some of the components I shall be gathering in the next four weeks. It will be quite nice to finally have a trike I can throttle the variable speed on as opposed to that dreadful Hilltopper Kit on the last one.
The base bike to make up...
That big fat Gel seat I already have.
Extra Cargo Capacity...
To know how far and how fast I am going.
In this case I am going to use a brand new Schwinn Meridian adult trike in blue for the candidate. It seems pretty sturdy and most reviews seem to favor it. One of my main concerns though are the forks as my understanding is I will be dealing with aluminum here. That aside, I am considering a Papamotors 1000 Watt 48 volt kit. The reason for that decision is it is withing just a few hundred bucks of a geared 350watt motor with a bottle battery and to date my experience with this system has been phenomenally good. I have also found Papamotors to be pretty honest people and their service top notch, so for those reasons and factors this appears how I will be going.
The trike is heavier than a two wheeler and my full frame also adds to that so I am expecting top speeds probably around 24 though I realize the trike cannot be ridden fast except for straight runs. On turns it must be brought way down in speed. But because of the cost differences and that the 48 volt system when ridden slower can yield distances of around 30 miles before recharging, this makes the best sense to me.
Other items to be added to the bike a big gel seat, speedometer (helps me ride it below legal maximum speed of 20mph since I don't really like going all that fast) lights, a front basket for extra capacity since the battery and controller will rob some of the main capacity at the get go.
Papamotors has informed me they will require the torque bars for the front hub motor setup which is fine. They do also supply upon request a speed limiter controller that helps max out the 1000 watt motor to a maximum of around 19 mph which I probably will opt for here. I need to check with them first on this. That way it should mostly pass muster but supply enough power to move the heavier trike as opposed to a two wheeler.
I have also ordered a cheap 28 dollar DBCam for quick decent movies so you guys can share my rides to the park. I can't tell all of you how much of a blast it has been but the Papamotors kit has made riding lots of fun again.
Anyhow here are some of the components I shall be gathering in the next four weeks. It will be quite nice to finally have a trike I can throttle the variable speed on as opposed to that dreadful Hilltopper Kit on the last one.
The base bike to make up...
That big fat Gel seat I already have.
Extra Cargo Capacity...
To know how far and how fast I am going.