Nuts&Volts Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Hey guys, visited here a couple times, but finally joined up last week. I've been riding for about a year and a half now and believe it or not the majority of that has been on an electric motorcycle. Back in the winter of 09 I converted a 89 Suzuki Katana to an electric commuter. I've finally got sick of the old bike and am in the process of converting an 03 R6 to electric. Before converting the R6 I road it around to some experience on a gas bike. It was a tough decision to actually strip the R6 and go ahead with the conversion, but I had plenty of money invested in the electric bits. I joined up to share this current build with the community and hopefully meet some cool riders along the way. I'm from the west side of Columbus, but am currently an engineering student at Ohio State. -Kyle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywood3586 Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcome.. I'm curious.. How fast do the converted electric bikes go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jst2fst Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcome to OR! Good luck on the new build as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Bienvenidos! Sounds like a pretty cool project, definitely should throw up a build thread with the process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 My Katana would top out at 70mph. No transmission so its just a single ratio between the front sprocket to the rear. Other specs, 430lbs, 40HP, 80mile range, ok acceleration.I will probably gear the R6 to a similar top speed. Aiming for 360lbs, 100mile range and will upgrade to 80HP+ down the road. I'll get a better pic of the R6 soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 That's flipping awesome. I'd love to come check these out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 A little bit more info at my blog site http://goelectricgofast.wordpress.com/Keep the questions coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beegreenstrings Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 That sounds cool!and Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplysix Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Bienvenidos! Sounds like a pretty cool project, definitely should throw up a build thread with the processdefinitely want to see a build thread as well, and Welcome to O.R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conn-e-rot Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcomeamazing machines you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snot Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Welcome....cool idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Where is the best subforum to include a build thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jst2fst Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Where is the best subforum to include a build thread?You can probably use the daily ride section for the build update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplysix Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 You can probably use the daily ride section for the build update.or "tech and tips" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jst2fst Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 or "tech and tips"True Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrown57 Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmutt Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 :welcome: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprez55 Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Impressive! How much roughly are you investing in the electronic bits of the conversion? It would be very interesting to do a project like this. And because of your name, are you associated with the magazine at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 A conversion can range from anywhere from $3k to $10k on the road. I spent about $6k on the katana conversion (70mph top end, 50 mile city range, 40HP, lithium batteries, etc.). My R6 (not counting tools and things I fuck up) will probably be about $8k-$9k (1k bike-ICE, 5k batteries, 1k motor, 1k other electronics). I could spend about $4k more and match the performance of the R6 (except maybe top speed probably). If you want better numbers go to evalbum.com and search for motorcycles, you'll be amazed at what people have done!Nope not associated with the magazine, just like the idea of mixing electrical and mechanical disciplines. Glad I can help entertain you Isaac hahaI'll start a build thread later today or tomorrow outlining the parts and the teardown so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Here's a more recent picture of the R6 with the battery and motor layout. Still need to find time to start a build thread on here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 just a random thought I had but...how well will that setup sustain a crash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jst2fst Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 What made you wanna convert your bikes to electric? Still cool btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanDy Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 welcome! that is pretty awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 just a random thought I had but...how well will that setup sustain a crash?Bad324, I am trying to design it so that the battery don't extend out any further than the original ICE parts while getting the weigh as low as possible. This includes ground clearance and side clearance. With this setup I should have 6" and 52 degrees of lean before any battery tray (alum) grinds. I also have enough clearance for the suspension to fully compress. Additionally I have frame sliders that I will be attaching with swingarm sliders as well. That all being said, I believe any sort of slide shouldn't harm the setup at all. If I were to hit something head on would probably lose a few of the batteries, but the aluminum tray and plastic battery pieces would probably act somewhat like a spring. Otherwise I think the tray attachment points would shear allowing the tray to slide back in the bike. The batteries themselves should be quite stable, but a bad enough impact could puncture them and a fire is possible.To be honest I have never really thought about frontal crash. In a frontal crash would the front end (forks, wheel) snap back pretty far? Can't say I'm an expert on that. A very good thing to think about if I ever want to start designing these full time. Sometime about 3 years ago I started being all concerned with the enivronment. Learning about solar power and wind energy and all that jazz. I was into cars some too, so somwhere along the road I thought I would convert a car, but would never have 20k in my name to do a good performing build. So my mind turned towards motorcycles. Smaller=less parts=less money and motorcycles are cool . And so it began 3 years ago this month when i bought the Katana for $450 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuts&Volts Posted December 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 PS - if anyone is interested in seeing my bike, the OSU bike or other just talk electric motorcycles just drop me a PM or email Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.