DEATH TO PETROL: UNTITLED’S ELECTRIC SUPERMOTO CONCEPT

[weeksy]

https://www.bikeexif.com/electric-motor ... t-untitled

[Mussels]

Death to petrol, as long as you are only riding round the block.

The range is dependent on your style of riding—DTP is about urban fun rather than long countryside rides.”

Otherwise I like it.

[Count Steer]

I rather like it.

Not in the wet though and if it's a city bike it needs a bit more weather protection.

Some interesting design ideas.

[Skub]

It might be ok when it's finished.

Under 70kgs would be fun.

[slowsider]

Why a chain? Can't they do a hub motor?

[Mussels]

Why a chain? Can't they do a hub motor?

Unsprung weight
Cheaper of the shelf parts
Would look too different

I would like to know technical reasons why not, I know big hubs and short spokes can be problematic but I suspect the answer is it was just too much work to bother trying.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Yes and no, I like the idea, but not the execution

[ChrisW]

I think it's good as a concept for moving electric bikes away from either being either too 'futuristic' in style or trying to look like ice bikes. It's original.

I thought it looked quite small until I saw the pic with a rider on it in the article. The thick tubing's deceiving & the seating position is horrible!

[Mr. Dazzle]

I would like to know technical reasons why not, I know big hubs and short spokes can be problematic but I suspect the answer is it was just too much work to bother trying.

Hub mounted motors are direct drive, which means big torque, which means big cost.

Not worth it on your dinky urban bike. Gear ratios are a wonderful thing.

Hub mounted motors with a planetary gearbox are possible, but that's massively more expensive than a C+S.

[Mussels]

Hub motors with planetary gears have been around on ebikes for years and are cheap, I don't imagine something capable of moving slow motorbike speeds are that much more expensive.
I know I had one like that as I stripped a couple of planet gears and needed to change them.
What didn't work well was the spokes, a mix of cheap spokes, cheap rims, cheap hubs and machine builds gave me no end of problems.

[Mr. Dazzle]

What didn't work well was the spokes, a mix of cheap spokes, cheap rims, cheap hubs

I know I had one like that as I stripped a couple of planet gears

Something else to add to the list of things which didn't work

In general terms, getting power from faster spinning, lower torque motors is gonna be cheaper and more efficient than the other way around. That's a pretty generic statement of course.

[Mussels]

What didn't work well was the spokes, a mix of cheap spokes, cheap rims, cheap hubs

I know I had one like that as I stripped a couple of planet gears

Something else to add to the list of things which didn't work

In general terms, getting power from faster spinning, lower torque motors is gonna be cheaper and more efficient than the other way around. That's a pretty generic statement of course.

It had done about 15,000 miles by the time I had a problem, I was surprised such flimsy nylon cogs did so well. The motor had enough power to carry me uphill on throttle only (old British regulations were different) so shouldn't be too difficult to scale up.

[Mr. Dazzle]

so shouldn't be too difficult to scale up.

It is

It's not that it's impossible, it's just that - as you alluded to earlier - the risk/reward isn't worth it for these small start ups.

We're only just starting to consider wheel motors and we're proper nerds with the backing of a huge OEM

[Buckaroo]

Now, where he find some scaffold poles, keyclamp and an old washing machine motor? Not one for me I'm afraid

[KungFooBob]

Death to All but Metal

[mangocrazy]

Whenever I see one of these electric bikes and their designer/creator is spouting about it being an urban bike, I switch off. The only reason I ride bikes in urban areas is so I can get out of them and go and play in the countryside, where there are far less vehicles, people, speed cameras and cops. So their idea of what constitutes motorcycling is so far away from mine that I really shouldn't even bother spending time on their creation.

Basically 'urban' electric bikes are swerving the big problem that bedevils EVs and in particular EBs - range - and trying to make out it doesn't matter. It does.