I Rode My DIY Electric Motorcycle Until It (almost) Died

I take the Electric KLX on trip to steal $0.13 of electricity from a nearby hotel charger and overpay 700% for a macchiato. Unfortunately, neither of those things happen. Instead I do some performance testing and ride in traffic for maximum EV range!
Need help with your build? Book a consult:
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Build video for this bike:
• I Converted a KLX250 D...
Battery build video for this bike:
• High-Power Battery Pac...
Best Way to Build an Ebike:
• This Might Be The Best...
Ridiculous 15kW Ebike Build:
• I Built a 15,000W eBik...
QS138 90H direct drive motor used in this build:
www.aliexpress.us/item/325680...
Fardriver ND84530 Controller used in this build:
www.aliexpress.us/item/325680...
CT-22 Display
www.aliexpress.us/item/225183...

[@zayd162]

This channel is hidden gem,I have no clue why it only has 5k subs because you certainly deserve a lot more

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you, sir! I think maybe because I dont post videos very often but I've got some builds and topics in the works and plan to post more videos in the near future

[@kevins5016]

I said the same thing a few months ago after watching his battery builds. Dudes a master of incorporating 3d printing into electric builds. Something I need to start doing.

[@zayd162]

@@kevins5016 IKR it makes me wanna do something, he's so knowledgeable too on it it seems

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

Nah he ain't in it for the money. Awesome channel and building skills bro. Hats off to you!

[@anthonyz3004]

Agree

[@TheBirells]

2 videos in the same day? I must be dreaming 😂 Your project is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, good job!

[@GaiusGarage]

Its Christmas in August! Thank you, sir! Much appreciated

[@lolimpol]

About the charging, you need some sort of EVSE communication. There's a PP (Plug present) and CP (control pilot) basically they communicate to the charger how much current the charger can handle. Look at Thunderstruck EV's EVCC. It communicates with the wall adapter and allows current to flow. the reason it works with your charger likely has something to do with the chinese charger you used not caring enough about that protocol, and only providing the necessary communications for the car. probably even without a contactor at all. Also about the current, EV chargers are made to ramp up slowly instead of instantly delivering all the current they can. this helps with connector wear, cooling issues and safety stuff. Hope I helped!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you for the insight! I've looked into this myself and came to the same conclusions. I figured the charger I had would include this communication line and protocol but the J1772 socket on the bike only has the three power lines (ground, neutral/hot, hot) for AC hookup, but nothing for the CP & CS contacts

[@lolimpol]

@@GaiusGarage you could look into some BMS's that have EVSE functionality. Orion for example. Although the BMS is a pretty penny and quite heavy. I think someone has made it themselves before too as it's just a simple PWM signal, that Thunderstruck one is the only one I know of but even it is overpriced. So I'm planning on building a controller with the charger built in as it would save a HUGE amount of cost and weight, and the components are virtually identical.

[@GaiusGarage]

@@lolimpol I actually found this on eBay which should facilitate EVSE functionality www.ebay.com/itm/364074539999?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=_IeXhqLoSna&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=hSX5ateKRDu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[@RedPixel2023]

id call you the Street Hawk of 2023, good job with your E bike build man

[@MathieuTechMoto]

Can't wait to see regenerative braking working, great built !

[@hardywoodaway9912]

no gloves, no vest, driving on self made bike… what can go wrong

[@SirBalageG]

I hope there will be a long term review or an off-road test, this bike looks awesome!

[@al73r]

Love hearing about the short comings of fardriver. I really want that Regen as you described 🎉

[@swecreations]

This is great! I'd expect you'd be able to get 40-60 miles depending on how hard you ride with that battery with regen braking working properly.

[@Tibetan1962]

Luv the bike. Luv the vids and the detailed engineering and process data. Hate the lane-splitting. :)

[@Robert-zt3ye]

You sir just got a new subscriber! Can't wait to see the second battery pack, this bike deserves more range. Insane content, keep up the good work 👏🏻

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you, sir! Expansion pack is coming as well as a controller upgrade!

[@andreileonte1675]

Love how you had your helmet undone but then next frame it's done :D excited to go out and forgot ? project is fire i love it !

[@GaiusGarage]

ha! yeah, you know something's off when youre feeling comfortable

[@skunkprints7952]

Just found you and can already tell you will be big on KZbin. Really good quality content! Got my sub!

[@GaiusGarage]

Much appreciated, sir! 🙏

[@greghenderson6011]

Well done. Great job with the build.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@glennmorgan4197]

Something that I saw on another site that made me think was a guy that was speaking a language that I didn't understand, but what he did was easily understood. He wrapped his chain in electrical tape and then he oiled it and it took like 90% of the noise out of the drive train. Just a thought. 😊

[@GaiusGarage]

would you happen to have a link to that video? sounds interesting but probably not the best idea - would make the chain more rigid, increase chance of it slipping off, and eventually get all torn up

[@tomjan-ut2gi]

hezky den,jak je velká rozeta,kolik zubu,dekuji Tomas

[@TheRealChetManley]

More on this series please, this is an awesome build. It’s the best EV bike I’ve seen. I have 0 interest in commercial EV bikes, but I find this really cool and interesting.

[@0353luca]

this is the 2nd best ive seen, best is the stark varg, 80hp and 800-900 nm :)

[@johnfarias7230]

I just found out you're the author of this might be the best way to build a stealth bomber You're the one that started this dream for me it took me almost a whole year to build it following your instructions and I love my bike thank you so much

[@GaiusGarage]

Nice!! I don't know whether to say thank you or apologize lol. My first build took almost a year alspo. How did your bomber turn out?

[@johnfarias7230]

@@GaiusGarage I'm almost a year in and I just started driving it A lot of problems setting up the controller Chinese software is almost not reusable But I followed your step-by-step The only difference is I have two to contactors one is a pre-charge because my BMS says a short if I don't do it that way

[@Levent_Ergun]

Great video, registration and insurance is what got me off from converting a WR125X into something like this. Not gonna lie, watching this video got me jelly.

[@GaiusGarage]

here in Texas, they'll be doing away with the inspection requirement for vehicle registration next year (which personally, I think is a bit much) nevertheless, this will make registering a conversion like this pretty much trivial

[@shawnd567]

Please buy some riding gloves man!!! Trust me on this one. 80mph is about all you need. The interstate near me is 70 so you need to be able to do 75 to keep up. But that size bike is really not meant for interstate travel. 55 mph hwys

[@GaiusGarage]

actually just picked up some riding gloves 👍

[@inoahmann7542]

My wr250r is the same size, and I run it down the highway all the time. It's working pretty hard at 85 mph, but it comfortably cruises at 75.

[@3xblahblah]

I mean, he's wearing a t-shirt 🤷‍♂️ I guess gloves would be a start

[@user-vp9wj3rn5b]

Heated grips is a thing that pairs perfectly with gloves

[@tylerjohns]

and that weld job is so secure for peace of mind

[@philiprogers5772]

Very nice project and very well executed. There are lots of us out there who have fitted this fardriver motor conroller with very little documentation and loads of trial and error. i have converted a Bultaco Brinco and have an about 100 miles of range max. Please show us how you wired the cruise control, I cannot get mine to work and would love to have this function.

[@SimonPass230267]

Great build. Looks perfect to me!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@LesFishingMoreCatching]

Really nice build. Nice work.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@jaxx751]

Really enjoyed the whole story, and thanks for documenting. Can you explain why you decided not to use the Kelly controller you initially were testing?

[@rustyevolution6298]

Nice work. Just Subscribed! I've been riding a petrol bike all around the Philippines for the past 7 months and 19000 kilometers ( 11800 miles) But once I settle down I definitely plan to go electric for around town. Zero just started manufacturing here, but they sure are pricy so a self build seems more interesting.

[@GaiusGarage]

wow! long trip!! that's where petrol is still king. I think it's definitely possible to save on cost with a self-build as long as you make the right choices up front. On the other hand, there's a lot of value in the experience of building one if the cost is the same or even a bit more. hit me up once you're ready if you need some advice!

[@NickPCage]

I wish I had this guys skills I love everything electric i just don't know enuff about it to this kind of thing...i managed to hook up some lights to my e-bike and i was over the moon lol.

[@PJCCHI]

Your acceleration from stop is awesome although if you are concerned I would either enlarge the back sprocket or shrink your driving sprocket. I dont know your situation but that is a common issue- especially if your controller starts dumping power (w/o much acc) at inclines.

[@simongill7560]

Fair doos my friend, a great build limited only by current battery technology, just goes to show how relatively simple this is and begs the question my manufacturers are so expensive. Glad I found your channel!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! There's a lot to be desired in this build - if I were to try and build these for mass production, it would take a ton of additional work, tools, and attention to detail, which would inflate the price quite a bit. but the DIY option for electric motorcyles is a truly viable alternative to expensive production vehicles

[@simonmills2375]

Nice one Mate. Really cool build. My petrol bike that I want to convert to EV sometimes hits some fake speed limits as well 😁😁😁😁. Maybe looking you up when I get to hooking out the petrol motor. Cheers from NZ

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah hmu when you're ready! cheers

[@sdcorrey]

Seriously one of the best looking home built EV bikes I’ve seen!

[@GaiusGarage]

Much appreciated!!

[@natebaird]

Getting regen is going to be incredible. Especially in hilly portions of Austin.

[@shastamite2]

Loved the video. Really showed me how much people can do on their own. Your custom bike did 0-60 in the same time as a Zero FX and had a 5mph less top speed. One thing I'm curios about is the battery size, given voltage and ah. Zero has a 7.2 kWh battery and has an estimated 70mph range of 38 miles. If yours is similar thats impressive for what Im assuming is less price.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! just 38 miles on 7.2kWh is pretty poor. I'm not sure what the issue there might be. Although it's not too unexpected to have a ~50% increase in energy consumption while traveling at a sustained 70mph. my average speed during this trip was actually only about 50mph, the 80mph runs were very brief. I'm sure the range would be less if I maintained 70mph the full time

[@MichaelGreenLagos]

Hi great build maybe if you move the controller and let the battery go all the way down you could increase the volts and the capacity it better if the controller is a way from water spray and higher on the bike but it neat and works good job and the video well put together

[@bartman277]

Wow nice , lots of hours there

[@nogasdash]

Nice work bruh!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you, sir!

[@scrajet]

Wow that's really awesome that thing smokes any surron

[@varshneydevansh]

dude is just living my dream 😍

[@diyelectrified1289]

With respect to the question of registered as an electric, of course our countries laws will differ somewhat, but I had to take mine to a motorcycle inspection facility and they went over it rather quickly, and took it for a test drive and then put their stamp of approval on it. The paperwork noted that it changed from g to e. After that I just went to the Canadian version of the DMV and submitted the paperwork and they changed it from g to e in their computer. Simple as that. Unfortunately for me the insurance system here is not cognizant of this type of change and so I pay exactly the same insurance for electric as I would for gas. On a good note, that would mean if I upgraded the power I would keep paying the lower 50cc rate of insurance because of their oversight.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you for that rundown. I literally haven't even looked it up even since posting this video. all of that makes a lot of sense

[@johannstoove9425]

That is sneaky, here in New Zealand, this build wouldn't pass inspection, health and safety here is tight, example of this is having multiple high-voltage disconnect switches on the battery, only orange conduit for high voltage cables, high voltage cables must be separate from each other with a plethora of other bits. Near impossible to get it road legal. Then to add, you'll have to do two inspections, first electrical, second mechanical (hardly anyone out there) then no one wants to inspect because they become liable if anything goes wrong, such bs.

[@GaiusGarage]

@@johannstoove9425 man that sucks. I can understand some standards for safety but in the end it just disenfranchises people

[@strezmyers4715]

Had to get an engineer to submit a report to dept of transport for approval. Then roadworthy then registration. Lots of confusion . Took a year to build mine and a year and a half to get it registered 🤔

[@GaiusGarage]

@@strezmyers4715 what is your country?

[@donut-sparrow]

Learn to cover front brake with one finger at all times. It's not safe the way you do it. BTW Cool project!

[@randomdude5618]

"The entire channel is a deep fake." Got me rolling 😂

[@ELECTRICMOTOCROSSMACHINE]

Very nice!

[@frankz1125]

Great build

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@AdamOpheim]

Might grab a draggy gps performance meter. Will give accurate acceleration and speeds at 10hz. within a few hundredths when I took it to a drag strip. Great for 0-30, 0-60, 1/8th mile, 1/4 mile etc. Measures Gforce on accel as well as decel etc.

[@GaiusGarage]

that's a great idea!

[@denish-oz5rn]

i like the statment about you law compliance

[@qwantumijo]

You can set back current and stop current as you want just sometimes app doesn't let to change value. On functions find Follow and select eabs when braking valid.After that in Energy regenerate input percentage of power at certain speeds.

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah, I've gone down this road. The issue it that it simple will not let me set that MaxBackCurr value, no matter what other settings I change. It just throws that "use new BLE" error like in the video

[@sylo_sucks]

Love every bit of this channel earned my sub 👏

[@GaiusGarage]

Much appreciated!

[@sylo_sucks]

@@GaiusGarage yes sir keep up the hard work currently saving up for the 2.1 e&c kit for razor

[@gagejones3478]

please do an update if you can figure out vairible regen on the far driver. great vid

[@chaunster]

Im blown away you are getting 28kw out of a 4kw rated motor! thats awesome

[@GaiusGarage]

28kW *into a 4kW rated motor. a motor doesn't actually create power, it converts it. same as a light bulb, it can be rated for 60W but you can set it up on 120W, 200W, whatever you want..at some point tho it's going to burn out but not right away if the power is not so extreme. same for electric motors - heat is the deciding factor, as long as you can keep the motor cool, it will keep running at much higher v power levels than the "rated" value, which is typical continuous power delivery

[@christianpaulroldan4010]

So which controller has a good settings for regen and abs?

[@choppergirl]

Keep your lipos or liions stored at 50% storage charge, in a cold place (but not freezing), and they will last longer. Unlike a lead acid battery you want at 100%... lipos and lions like to sit at 50% optimally. This goes for smart phones, laptop batteries, ebikes, drill batteries, anything that uses lipos or li-ions.

[@BayuSanjaya]

ASMR electric motor sound. maybe you can put a mic on top of the qs motor. btw, do you have a plan to switch the controller into votol em260 maybe?

[@GaiusGarage]

ASMR would capture mostly chain noise, unfortunately. I did want to swap to a belt drive for this exact reason. I also have a Kelly controller for which I wanted to swap

[@mbpro08]

It look so freaking cool.

[@CJ-hw4zc]

Pretty sick 😎

[@michaelmocyk1519]

Lane splitting in Austin? You sir are an animal!

[@GaiusGarage]

haha I lived in NYC for most of my life - I really couldn't imagine any other way of riding in traffic

[@DarylHiers]

Not only lane splitting, but riding the shoulder for quite a bit. Good luck dodging traffic (and probably some bullets).

[@bikesareco3749]

with the slow pickup that is a bug in the fardriver controllers they only get half peak power at low speed

[@universegodkeylime5992]

This is nice I have some questions

[@legna199111]

Bac8000 has all the features your looking for plus getting Hard acceleration and higher top speed with variable regen

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah Id love to get my hands on an BAC8000 but they are so expensive plus programming is an issue. I believe you have to get them per-configured by the seller or pay for support from the manufacturer to program it yourself. I dont know if that changed but I need something that I can tune myself. but Im not as familiar with the BAC's so please lmk if Im wrong about something here

[@sharmatechtalk]

Great build 👌 Can you please tell me about the battery pack and which (ANT) bms you are using? Also, make a video on the fardriver settings & chargeing port installation and wiring. Thank you 😅

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! The video with all battery pack details and BMS is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rarOkKGuh69sfs0

[@sharmatechtalk]

@@GaiusGarage thanks.

[@cameronmacdonald6525]

How does regen work on a mid drive bike? I get how it would work if you had a large hub motor in that back tire. But does the chain actually push the motor when you lay off thw throttle?

[@GaiusGarage]

That is correct! The chain linkage couples the wheel to the motor

[@zacharypotter8671]

I think I know how to fix the charging issue. You need a “connected” and “ready for charge signal for the charger to activate. I had to do the same on the Zero that I rebuilt. I’m also located in Austin, lmk if you’d want to meet up and talk emotos!

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah I actually figured this whole thing out and built an arduino-based circuit to send the right signals to the EVSE. going to integrate this into the bike and do a follow up video. I'm down to meet up! hmu on instagram @gaiusgarage

[@vegasromaniac]

i have a surron with 2x stock batteries about 4kw i get 40 mph and 60 miles range in town, bike is 140 lbs

[@lilillililililiilililililillil]

I'm riding an electric bicycle based on bicycle parts such as the surron that I made myself. It has a battery efficiency of 35wh/1mil At a cruising speed of 60 mph, of course, it gets worse to around 60~70 wh/1mil. building an electric motorcycle with a heavy motorcycle frame, the electricity usage won't be as impressive but being able to use larger motorcycle brake pads still seems attractive.

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah for highway riding you really need motorcycle hardware but yeah it will be less efficient. 35Wh/mi is really good tho! I would definitely love to improve the efficiency on my bike

[@wrefk]

the amount of time saved by skipping those massive lines of traffic, ~12 min to 15min, is insane, those are probably multiple light cycles that you avoided. some huge lines of cars

[@BH4x0r]

hi man, i know all things you can find will probably be more expensive than the FarDriver controller, but maybe it's worth switching to the VESC ecosystem? another downside, apart from being expensive is that there isn't really a compatible screen that will communicate directly with them the software has support for MTPA (Maximum Torque Per Amp for ipm inrunners) and field weakening they're really easy to program etc, they have a great app and computer program aswell the 3Shul CL350 (albeit limited to 350-400 phase amps) seems ok price wise at $400 and can take up to 30S albeit i believe the CL700 will be the best option if you don't want to lose any torque but those are around $720 they also support any type of NTC etc, you can literally type in the resistance and beta value of the thermistor and it works, no matter wether it's a thermistor from one brand or even ripped out of a 3d printer for example

[@patrickhackett3878]

Nice!

[@AdamOpheim]

My regen works well on the 96/680 FD. I was guessing Max back current was the max amount you want used back into the battery. And Stop back current as the amount used to slow the motor. (def. not saying thats correct) I run 35a stop back current and 15a max back current. Its pretty smooth on the qs165. The "Variable part" is the RPM points and percentages it activates at. Its pretty smooth honestly once its dialed in. I use 100% from 6k to 8500. And taper down to 20% by 1000ish rpm. If you go to the bluetooth dongle on the fardriver site there is a link o the latest software.

[@GaiusGarage]

Ive tried tooling around with the settings but I get the "use new BLE module" error in many places. I do have the latest version of the iphone app. not sure if the dongle itself makes any difference in terms of the "version" of the hardware. nevertheless, StopBackCurr seems not have much of an effect, and I am only able to set it to 10A, beyond that, I get the error. I cannot chance MaxBackCurr at all, as in the video, and that does seem to be the limit for regen current - and I observe that I am, in fact, limited to 4A regen. I am also not able to set the percentage in that section above 30%. Not sure whether its an issue with this particular controller, the controller version and app in general, or some misconfiguration somewhere else. one thing, I know, Fardriver docs on this topic are virtually useless

[@AdamOpheim]

@@GaiusGarage Def. sounds like a software issue. Have no apple experience. But Android seems to work with the newer "NS96680" far driver controllers. I've run 40a+ on it without issue. enough to lock up the rear wheel at lower speeds. same app connects to my older 96v/250a controller with regen over 30% as well.

[@GaiusGarage]

@@AdamOpheim Ive actually tried with Android as well and had the same issues. Ive reached to their support but its not very helpful. one suggestion was to update th firmware on the controller itself but the instructions in broken english are nearly unintelligible to the point that I feel like I'll just end up bricking the controller if I attempt it

[@kurthenderson4756]

It could be a bms communication issue.. I won't say always but typically the bmu communicates with the charger. If they can't talk if you will due to a fault on the system or the firmware being incompatible. This could have possibly been your issue.

[@D.B.G.00]

Watt motor?

[@Vmaxfodder]

What motor controller are you using? 🤔

[@hangerty3989]

How kw of motor

[@cleyton3657]

What an insane project! Very well built! Congratulations!!! One question, what is the nominal speed of this engine? From the video I saw that you reached 6700 rpm, is that right? I follow you here from Brazil.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! Yes, that's correct. Max RPM I was able to achieve was around 6700. it's possible to achieve higher RPM with field weakening but I don't have it enabled

[@CaptainCurt07]

*You get in accident you’ll wish you had insurance it’s not that much especially compared to getting sued, splitting cars and no insurance lol, people pull out in front of me daily etc, be safe man. Nice build!* every state is different

[@GaiusGarage]

The thing about insurance is that its really does come down to a genuine cost/benefit analysis. sure, getting into an accident without insurance would be an major problem but quantitatively, what are my chances of getting into an accident involving another vehicle if I ride a total of 200 miles per year, for example. Not only that but whether I would be liable financially at all is contingent on whether the person I get into an accident with has coverage for an uninsured motorist, and how much. A lot of variables here where it's no certainty that I would be financially ruined by the event. On the other hand, if you're paying standard rates for insurance, you cost per mile of actual riding distance would be quite high. Better to roll dice in this scenario IMO. It would be great if some solution existed where you can activate and deactivate insurance on a per-day or even per-ride basis, so you only pay for coverage you actually need. I actually looked into launching a start-up like this at once point and the regulatory and logistical barriers you would need to overcome are quite significant. Feel free to steal my idea and make a billion dollars, I'll just be happy to have the option

[@MrBurtonf]

I pay $28/month for insurance on my electric motorcycle. Hardly noticeable. So what’s the problem with getting insurance? Seems like it would be a no-brainer considering how you ride between cars and split lanes. That’s begging for an accident. It’s also highly illegal here in New York but we still do it at traffic lights. Every single day drivers switch lanes next to me. I put an automotive horn on my motorcycle so that I can be heard and responded to. People drive in nyc as if motorcycles don’t deserve to be on the road.

[@sfixx]

200 miles per year!?!? Jeeze, just ride more! Great build and video though. I just wish I knew how to keep the smoke in my pit bike project’s controller 😅

[@pontiacg445]

@@GaiusGarage Just so you know, just because someone has uninsured motorist insurance doesn't mean that's the end of it. It means their insurance company writes them a check and then they still sue you to cover that check they just cut. Insurance asks how many miles a year you ride, or drive, and that is factored into the cost you pay. Adding a 150HP supersport motorcycle to my insurance costs less than a hundred bucks every 6 months because they know I'm not riding every day. For a smart guy, you ain't being very smart on this. And then you go and publicly and permanently document all this lawbreaking. Astoundingly brilliant. If you do nothing at all, at least shut your hole! You will be financially wrecked if you are at fault for a wreck on that bike with no insurance, I can assure you of that. I've had friends who were in wrecks with no insurance and they were sued and garnished for thousands of dollars. Most places just getting pulled over without insurance is a criminal offense, and you'll be without a license in short order and put on a very expensive short leash to get it back...

[@GaiusGarage]

@@pontiacg4458==✊=D💦

[@frankstocker5475]

The beauty of not having insurance is that you don't need a driving licence either.

[@xpndblhero5170]

It might be that your contacter wasn't connected to let current flow through and charge the battery.... Could also be the current it's trying to pull to charge, it might only put out so much current so it might be too much power to charge.

[@thiagoe-bike4484]

Hello, could you tell me which charger you are using, could you give me the link to this entire motorcycle recharging system please?

[@GaiusGarage]

This is the charger I am using www.longruncs.com/h-pd-60.html

[@gabrielthecolorblindsoul6994]

Clean 👌

[@airgunningyup]

whats the amp rating on the contoller ?? cooll build .

[@GaiusGarage]

thanks! it's 540A phase, 350A on the line

[@TreYay83]

3shul cl1000 check out this controller. Not sure of alien rides are the maker of it, or if they out sourced the code. But apparently it's supposed to be pretty bad ass.

[@jimhofoss9982]

Nice build! If you had to do it again, would you use the same Qs138 motor and FarDriver controller combination?

[@GaiusGarage]

the QS138, yes - it's a very good motor for the cost. The Fardriver, no - the software to program it is buggy and/or obscure with virtually useless documentation. I actually picked up a Kelly controller to swap it out

[@jimhofoss9982]

@@GaiusGarage yeah, ease of use is important for the controller…regen levels, amp limits and temperature modulation are nice to play with….if you can do it easily!

[@GaiusGarage]

@@jimhofoss9982amp limits are easy to do - but selecting the right temperature sensor can be tricky and I was never able to get regen working. The controller itself is good if you can get it tuned property and people have done it but the app and parameters are very obscure and documentation is completely insufficient. contacting support is pretty much useless

[@johannstoove9425]

The program to measure the amp draw come with fardrive controller? 350A is quite high!

[@GaiusGarage]

Yes, that's the Fardriver app - 350A is high indeed, considering this controller is supposed to draw 250A on the line. I'm actually not sure why I'm getting so much more current but power level and current is consistent via BMS app and shunt so seems legit. controller doesn't overheat so taking this as a pleasant surprise

[@briannyambalo9978]

awsome channel...please start a PAETRON support

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! yes, I need to do this!

[@kevinswanson3910]

You should start a conversion company

[@int53185]

What kind of a battery are you using? I always get a ton of voltage sag.

[@GaiusGarage]

Battery build video is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rarOkKGuh69sfs0

[@linearburn8838]

put the regen on the brake pull so like 5-15% is regen and full brakes is brake and regen

[@GaiusGarage]

I wish! this controller does not support variable regen

[@Stoic9]

Awesome project., Your bike has better acceleration, but same top speed as the Metacycle in sport mode. Very nice.,.. Metacycle also picks up more in the middle of accelerating. Maybe it's just an EV thing? Is your speedometer accurate? have you tested with GPS?

[@GaiusGarage]

Thanks! yes, the speedo is mostly accurate, I have tested using GPS.. maybe 1-2 mph off at higher speeds but good enough for me. The power curve is mostly due to the gearing - direct drive in this case - its possible get more low-end torque with a reduction gear

[@Theeslickness]

Ready cool for a DIY. 110Wh/mi is kinda sad considering my M3 SR+ gets like 230Wh/mi. But there's much room for improvement and this is a great build.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thanks but lower Wh/mi is better - its like fuel economy (mpg). motorcycles will have lower energy consumption than cars - same as ICE vehicles

[@Theeslickness]

@@GaiusGarage haha obviously 110 is better!! But I'm saying for a vehicle carrying one person that weighs 4-5x less it isn't very efficient.

[@GaiusGarage]

@@TheeslicknessI'm sure there's room for improvement but 100Wh/mi is a reasonable power consumption for electric motorcycles. The curve is not linear and Tesla did put in a lot more RD to optimize the battery temperature and utilize regen. This bike is not using any regen at the moment. Zero SR, which is a close analog to this bike in terms of performance, achieves around 90Wh/mi.

[@Theeslickness]

@@GaiusGarage Ahh no regen, that explains a lot. You'll probably get better than 90Wh/mi with it. Please don't misunderstand, I like this project and I'm rooting for you.

[@user-sf1mb4py6j]

Fantastic build bro not sure if you have already put this in the comments but did you buy the motor batteries controller etc as a kit if so where from?

[@GaiusGarage]

Appreciated it! I did not purchase as a kit but the motor and controller are available as one if you look on AliExpress. I would not buy a kit with a battery - better to source something suited to how you'll be using your vehicle than to the components themselves

[@BBRFST]

About insurance, it just takes one mishap, and you're screwed.

[@adammsmith9526]

it does ramp up the current when you first plug in the charger but you should be able to watch it go up slowly. if it stays at a certian low amperage for a little bit before going up then it is balancing the voltage before ramping up the current and sending the charge through the main battery cables instead of the balance leads. a nice charger should let you do a resistance check the resistance of each pack, if the resistance gets off a litte in a pack, then the pack will discharge at a different rate and wont stay balanced. why couldnt you just mount a charger on the bike and plug it in anywhere to 110v?

[@just_one_opinion]

my zero fx overheats after a mile of WOT, grades power down after 250f.... is that something you need to worry about?

[@Embassy_of_Jupiter]

It looks 100x cooler than the original

[@GaiusGarage]

I think so!

[@user-ln9cz5hr3k]

Im stoked to see your progression,I just binge watched your builds while im researching these ali motors. Im concidering a dirtbike build with the reduction drive style motor, what are your thoughts on that style motor? Its all hills where I live so I was thinking it would be easier on everything and have lots of bottom end with less top speed and maybe i could get more rpms out of the motor. Keep up the awesome work

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! Reduction motors are great! I actually just picked one up myself for a go-kart project. sometimes the gears do fail under high load but I guess that depends on your application. when I got mine, however, all the oil had drained out of the gearbox. I had to re-fill it myself with oil - no apparent cracks or gasket issues from what I could tell and it havent leaked since, but just FYI when it comes to ordering these parts from china

[@user-ln9cz5hr3k]

@@GaiusGarage On your Enduro build have you done any hillclimbs with it? It looked fast on pavement, I was surprised how well it works without a gearbox. Mostly Im asking so I make the right choices on my build, It's going in a Honda CRF mostly for dirt

[@GaiusGarage]

⁠@@user-ln9cz5hr3kI haven't done any significant hill climbs like the kind you would find on dirt or trails but I do live in a hilly area and don't even notice a difference. That said, I'd probably go with a geared setup for off-road. You'll have more low-end torque and likely will not be doing 80mph on dirt anyway

[@user-ln9cz5hr3k]

@@GaiusGarage Perfect , thanks for the advice. I'm ripping the ICE motor out right away and going electric

[@GaiusGarage]

⁠sick! If you run into any technical issue please let me know. I offer 1:1 sessions where I can really dig into the details

[@boatelectricaldiy]

Love the video man. As a marine professional that works with lithium batteries, I've been considering making my own ev bike out of my KLX300R that just dropped it's bottom end. I'm intrested in the weight of your bike if you'd care to share.

[@GaiusGarage]

nice! I actually never managed to weigh this bike but it's probably something like 250-300lb

[@JRP3]

I wonder how much range you'd get if you weren't doing high speed runs and hard acceleration? Curious because I have the same batteries and am thinking of doing a similar conversion. I'd be using the 3Shul VESC based controller because I've heard others complain about the Fardriver and Votol.

[@GaiusGarage]

I think it would be fairly similar since a good portion of this trip was highway riding around 60mph. You gotta figure for practical highway riding, the energy consumption will not be more than 200Wh/mi and not less than 100Wh/mi. So if you're working with a 4kWh battery pack, you range cannot physically be much different than 20 - 40 mi. Most production bikes like the Zero or Livewire have on the order of 20kWh packs

[@JRP3]

@@GaiusGarage True. Most of my riding will be 40-55mph so hopefully closer to 40 miles. Though I'll be running knobbies so that will hurt range some.

[@tylerjohns]

clutch lever on left for regen braking

[@mikethompson7046]

Here have a like for this awesome video. Saw your build while drinking my morning coffe. You are doing great stuff But bro. Please close your helmet strap. I ride motorcycles myself and you will crash eventually and you don't want your helmet flying off. And think about other protective gear too. Would hate to loose such an awesome channel

[@GaiusGarage]

Thanks so much!

[@moggyval3320]

awesome build man, i messaged you about the old build i guess about a year ago getting some advice on my own idea, you were really insightful and i’m very happy to be a subscriber of this channel. i’m wanting to replicate this build with a bac8000 and surron ultra bee motor. wondering if you think it would be a worthwhile investment and would see any significant gains / losses with that (very pricey) difference

[@GaiusGarage]

Thanks so much! Are you thinking about replicating this build as in using this particular frame from a KLX250sf? If so I wouldnt recommend this frame - the dimensions are not ideal for electric where things are more boxy - you'll probably end up having to cut the frame somewhere like I did or custom-design your battery pack from cylindrical cells so you can control the shape. If I were to start fresh on a dirtbike I would use some like a CR250 or something like that - although I haven't deal with one of those so probably some caveats there as well. As for motor and controller BAC8000 peaks at 72V, I think, so maybe 22s at most. I dont actually know the specs for the Ultrobee motor but Im sure its comparable to a QS138 90H in terms of how much power you can send to it, not sure about performance in terms of peak torque etc. Sounds like you're planning for a ~30kW system so maybe start with the motor and work your way backwards

[@arrtisst]

respect!

[@RM-cm8hz]

so you made the bike less powerful than it started? Im confused.