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

[@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!

[@AnthonyZucca]

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

[@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 !

[@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

[@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

[@SirBalageG]

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

[@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!

[@greghenderson6011]

Well done. Great job with the build.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@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.

[@hardywoodaway9912]

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

[@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

[@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! 🙏

[@Tibetan1962]

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

[@SimonPass230267]

Great build. Looks perfect to me!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@tomjan-ut2gi]

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

[@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!

[@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

[@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?

[@LesFishingMoreCatching]

Really nice build. Nice work.

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@sdcorrey]

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

[@GaiusGarage]

Much appreciated!!

[@varshneydevansh]

dude is just living my dream 😍

[@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

[@nogasdash]

Nice work bruh!

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you, sir!

[@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

[@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!

[@trabadix]

Ganaste un suscriptor y muchos likes!!!, realmente tu contenido tiene un muy buen nivel técnico y de ingeniería, estoy buscando realizar un proyecto similar, pero debido a los costes prohibitivos de los accesorios se me hace algo dificil... Por lo menos tengo el vehículo, una Kawasaki ninja ZX7 de 1989, la H1, esos cuadros son verdaderos tanques de guerra y soportaran lo que les ponga encima 😂

[@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

[@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

[@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).

[@al73r]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@NickWheat-y9f]

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

[@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

[@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

[@BillWrites-t2e]

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

[@BillWrites-t2e]

@@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]

⁠@@BillWrites-t2eI 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

[@BillWrites-t2e]

@@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

[@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

[@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

[@GnolGnaoh]

Heated grips is a thing that pairs perfectly with gloves

[@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]

Might make sence to 3dprint the tank out of abs

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah I thought about doing that and printing it in sections - a bit too tedious tho

[@linearburn8838]

If you could find some one with a 500mm printer it could probably be done in one peice@@GaiusGarage

[@frankz1125]

Great build

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you!

[@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.

[@natebaird]

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

[@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

[@CJ-hw4zc]

Pretty sick 😎

[@ELECTRICMOTOCROSSMACHINE]

Very nice!

[@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 :)

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@patrickhackett3878]

Nice!

[@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

[@gagejones3478]

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

[@briannyambalo9978]

awsome channel...please start a PAETRON support

[@GaiusGarage]

Thank you! yes, I need to do this!

[@christianpaulroldan4010]

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

[@Simon_Rafferty]

I have a very similar charger in my Polaris EV, 3.3kW. Similarly, mine charges fine at home but one or two (not all, thankfully) public chargers have shown an error. The charger sends a PWM signal to the EV (on the Pilot line) where the duty cycle indicates what current the charger can deliver. The EV drops the PWM voltage using resistors to indicate what current it would like. I wonder if the resistor values are not sufficiently spot on? My conclusion is the implementation of the comms

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah this is definitely the issue, as Ive since learned. I'm working on an arduino-based solution to add to the bike. Although I'm surprised this I/O functionality is not part of the charger

[@Simon_Rafferty]

@@GaiusGarage That's not a bad idea! Have an arduino sitting on the control & pilot pins acting as a bridge. That would give better diagnostic information and protocol translation when necessary. Even better could be the ability to just connect the charger to the mains with the arduino controlling the charger - so you don't need a 'granny charger' in series to charge at home.

[@GaiusGarage]

@@Simon_Rafferty what do you mean by a "granny charger" in seres to charge at home. the charger I use at home for this obviously doesn't check for the control signal, just provides power regardless. I imagine the pilot and control pins don't connect to anything on the EVSE side, so the setup with the arduino would work in either case

[@Simon_Rafferty]

@@GaiusGarage 'Granny Charger' (no idea why they're called that) is just a low power home charger. I'd be surprised if your home charger doesn't check the pilot & control lines. My charger doesn't start the charge unless it can see the appropriate signals.

[@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

[@scrajet]

Wow that's really awesome that thing smokes any surron

[@airgunningyup]

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

[@GaiusGarage]

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

[@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💦

[@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.

[@DavidSmith-dm8ew]

James Biggar here on yt also makes some interesting e bikes.

[@GaiusGarage]

James Biggar does some amazing work! huge inspiration of mine

[@DavidSmith-dm8ew]

@@GaiusGarage awesome!

[@randomdude5618]

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

[@gabrielthecolorblindsoul6994]

Clean 👌

[@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

[@mabapro08]

It look so freaking cool.

[@bartman277]

Wow nice , lots of hours there

[@jeffreyrh]

What is your front and rear sprocket tooth count?

[@GaiusGarage]

I believe it's 14T

[@PhoKingLitMedia]

Dont you have an onboard charger? Im assuming your onboard charger converts AC to DC, so you could plug it right in to the wall. i think the EV charger you were trying to use puts out DC power.

[@denish-oz5rn]

i like the statment about you law compliance

[@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

[@tylerjohns]

and that weld job is so secure for peace of mind

[@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

[@MayhewCloutier]

Hi what is the line and phase current you feeding it

[@GaiusGarage]

line about 350A, phase up to 530A

[@MayhewCloutier]

@@GaiusGarage your controller is 250a how are you able to do it pls

[@GaiusGarage]

@@MayhewCloutierI honestly dont know - the app lets me set up to 350A on the line so I set it to max. Ive confirmed via the shunt that its pulling that many amps during full acceleration. specs for the controller do cite 250A, but maybe that;'s continuous and they didn't give a peak rating? I never really looked much into it. controller doesnt overheat so I'll take the extra 100A

[@dr1311]

How much does it weigh now with the single battery pack? Seems like it riding well on road, do you feel any drawbacks?

[@GroovyVideo2]

a place in austin I take my supermoto to get inspected they just look headlight/tail -

[@GaiusGarage]

nice! can you plz share the name of the place

[@bikesareco3749]

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

[@ronsvendmaylon9900]

What's the performance on an elevated road?

[@GaiusGarage]

I'm live in a hilly area and there is no noticeable difference for any of the grades I've encountered

[@Yellowbasterd]

Do you get more range if you added gear box

[@GaiusGarage]

Possibly if you add a final drive gear. but because the torque curve for an PMSM electric motor varies less than for a ICE, you don't need as many gears. Lower RPM have constant torque so if you keep the motor within the constant torque region, you may be able to improve efficiency and range

[@hengchiacho6829]

The charging protocol may be the problem.

[@GaiusGarage]

yes this was the issue

[@georgeforeman89]

You should try pouch cells on your next EV build....if you do another one.

[@GaiusGarage]

yeah, definitely going the pouch cell route the next time around

[@georgeforeman89]

@@GaiusGarage sweet. I'm in the process of building a 72v 73ah pack with NMC 3c discharge pouches and a JK BMS. So far so good. Most of the factories I talked to offered to laser weld nickel strips on the polar ends for free, which means I can solder them instead of having to use expensive copper bus bars.

[@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?

[@xSPLOOMPHx]

Doing research into my own build and it seems like mounting a charger would be a better option. You charge anywhere you fin an outlet instead of just where there are charging stations.

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@universegodkeylime5992]

This is nice I have some questions

[@mrkeopele]

beautiful build, great performance, wondering your total cost investment?

[@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.

[@BBRFST]

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

[@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

[@bioshift1]

Repowering a vehicle would be a matter of calling the VEIP office and scheduling a inspection for removing the vehicle from the inspection list. They just need proof that its been repowered. This works at least in Maryland. I called the VEIP office myself when i was going to do a diesel swap on my jeep.

[@GaiusGarage]

Ah! makes sense. thank you!