Project Nishiki Mixte

I picked up a Nishiki Mixte for my girl friend last year and I love it. It's a little large for her size but she likes it too.

We will be making it into a Mixte ebike in the near future. I'm thinking of going with the classic look on this one much like I plan to do with Project Wayfarer. Leather bag inside frame for battery pack. Maybe a couple small saddle bags attached to a rack. I'll probably wind up using the 1000W two speed motor in the rear with single butted 14ga spokes, and upgrade the chromed steel rims to aluminum. While I'm at it, disk brakes front and back. The one we have is less common since it is a made in Japan model, but it's no collectors item.

I'm still looking for a manufacturer of decent Mixtes for a decent price to add to my product line for a ladies bike. KHS was making a nice one, but I don't see it on their site now. Others I've seen have either been too high priced for what you get, or have a smaller frame area for battery bag. I'll find something I like with the same geometry as this Nashiki eventually.

Photo's found on line. Not actual bike. I need to get a camera working around here again, but this one is pretty close to what we have, and is also a Japanese production model.

These are fast little bikes! I read somewhere that their basic geometry is that of a racing bike. Some of the newer Mixtes I've seen, not so much race in them.

The frames on these older ones were built pretty tough but light. Like a Chicago Schwinn with anorexia.
I'll have to find a newer model that fits the same criteria. Most of them look like tanks.

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All Beach Cruiser Bikes Made In China?

So, are all beach cruiser bikes sold in USA made in China? 
The short answer is Yes.
There may be one exception made in Taiwan, then sent to the mainland for export, but I believe they are ALL made in China.

If you can find just one Beach Cruiser bike made here in USA please let me know about them in the comment section below.  I would love to hear from you!!!

There may be a company in BC Canada who makes their own, but to be fair, they don't make this claim on their website.

I've completed some pretty exhaustive research into the subject and have thus far found nothing. I have however found proof of all but one of the manufacturers of the bikes I've listed in the post below "Beach Bikes" in China. I'm pretty sure the one exception is also made by one of the three Chinese manufacturers, as the frame style is the same as one of the others. I just haven't found conclusive evidence yet.


So where am I going with this?
I'm sure this isn't exactly news to most of you. I was hoping to find one manufacturer here in USA to buy from for a high end ebike option.


There is one ebike manufacturer here who makes their own frames. Good for them, but the bikes they make are (in my opinion) under powered for the US market. I mean, we have 750W available to us legally! Why must all these big manufacturers make wimpy EU standard 250W bikes? It's because they also sell them in Europe! It's not in their interest to make a powerful bike for just the US market alone. And I'm sure their lawyers and insurance companies have something to do with it as well.


In any case, one day I hope to be making my own frames here in house, but until that day arrives, I'm stuck dealing with what's available. That's not all bad. It will make for more affordable bikes, and at least the Chinese beach bike cruisers are built like tanks. They should be more than up to dealing with the stresses of electric motors. When I begin offering trikes, I will have to make those myself since I have my own specific design ideas.


For the record, every bike that comes threw my shop will be 100% taken apart and inspected. 
* All bearing surfaces will be greased with marine grade or better.
* Some gear parts require a specific grease for a long trouble free life.
* All the components will be assembled to tolerances.
* All spokes hubs and rims will only be of the highest quality. 
* Wheels will be true and round, spokes will be properly tightened, stressed, then trued again.
* In most cases, frames will be getting a quality paint job or powder coat. Just choose your color.
* All hardware will be replaced with quality Stainless Steel.
* Tires will be of a puncture resistant and in most cases DOT and ebike rated.
* All tubes will get the top brand tire puncture sealant before delivery to customers.
* All components will be of quality manufacture, and if appropriate have a nickle plating for long life.
* All control cables will be of the highest quality with no sloppy stretch or squishy feeling when used.
* All battery components will be of the highest quality for long life. No cheap knockoffs!!!
* Every motor will be taken apart and inspected for internal defects and then run tested.
* Every controller will be tested for proper operation during the motor run testing.
* Every bike will be completely assembled and be given a shakedown run before delivery to customers.
In the list above, I've included more than a few items that even the best ebike builders don't bother with for the sake of my own quality control. Happy customers are return customers!


I plan on talking to these manufacturers about building my frames to order. I only want the frames. I'll get all the components myself. This would save me from having to sell or throw in trash the cheap instant rust sloppy components these bikes normally come with. All the frames would be equipped for disk brakes. This would also knock about another $100 off the price of each bike.

20700B Cells Just Hit The Market! YES!

This is GREAT!
I've been waiting for these to become available.
Now I'm waiting for the new Tesla / Panasonic 2170 to hit the market.
I'm building all my battery boxes to fit these larger cells. They are a bit more expensive than the old 18650's, but have about 1/3 - 2/3 longer life (3000 charge cycles) making them more affordable in the long run. For another example, these cheap Chinese ebikes may have 20-30 charge cycles before they are dead and the owners list them for sale on Craigslist. Buy quality or pedal home!

LINK

List of USA Bike Manufacturers

People say we don't make bikes here anymore. WRONG! 

These are some of the nicest bikes I've ever seen! 

USA manufactured bikes.

The Dune Gote

The Dune Gote could be reborn as an electric trike pretty easy.
* Carbon fiber seat bucket.
* Front Girder or solid forks.
* Fat tires for tearing up sand dunes!

Power options:
* 72V 3000W motor mounted on Differential, 1 speed with pedals.
* 100V 7000W motor with chain drive to limited slip axle, 3 speeds.
* Multiple motors 14,000W+ running power threw jackshaft to limited slip dif, 1 speed = Hold on to your junk fast!

I'm thinking about all three power options and what axle assembly's to use. The first power option would have drum brakes. The second would have disk brakes and a go cart style axle. The third and most powerful would require a real axle with automotive differential. All three options are completely doable at different price points.

Fun Bike To Take To The Track

I found this image on line by accident one day and thought it looked pretty cool.



I only wish I wrote down where I found it so I could give credit.

Yeah, I can see building something like this with a 3000W Cyclone motor, a 72V battery pack, and carbon fiber faring.

The 3000W Cyclone kit.

This looks like it would work. I'll have to put a rigid set of forks on, but that's easy. The crankset would be swapped out for the Cyclone ISIS set with ISIS Bottom Bracket. If you're going to use a Cyclone kit, you need to get the upgraded ISIS parts! They will help keep the chain from jumping off the sprockets.

A set of forks like these would work great.

Two Speed Hub Motor

In this video Bruce Teakle goes over how the two speed Xionga motor works.

California E-Bike Rules / Classification

"A dollar saved is a dollar earned" sometimes.

Prime candidates for the 3000W and 7.5K Cyclone motors!

Except for hydraulic disk brakes and the price, can you see much if any difference? With the price difference, I could swap from mechanical to hydraulic brakes and add a suspension front end on the moto and still have money left over to pass on savings to customers.

Both of these bikes are of Taiwan manufacture, not the cheap Chinese bikes, so we are comparing apples to apples here.

I'll go with the Motobecane for myself with all the upgrades, but if you want, bring in a KHS and I'll set it up for you.

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Bike Prices / Pricing

This is a very good video that explains bike pricing.

It's not about ebikes, but it is of help in deciding what bike to buy to make into an electric bike. Would you be surprised to know that most bikes above $550 are not worth the extra money unless you're a professional racer? That having been said, this is only relevant to imported bikes. Bikes made in the USA get a premium.

Beach Cruisers

I'm thinking that the beach cruisers will be a big E-hit.
One thing that bugs me a little is that none of them except the fat tire versions come with disk brakes. Disk brakes are mandatory for any ebike with more than 1000W motors. None of the bikes I found have hydraulic disk brakes, so that will be an upgrade option.

 When I saw my first fat tire bike I thought it would be a pain pedaling something with such fat tires. Then it dawned on me that with a motor, these bikes make a lot of sense. They look cool and have a nice ride quality. They excel in snow and sand.

Because of their sturdy (some more than others) frames, I would feel comfortable riding one equipped with a Cyclone 3000W (mid drive) motor. Even the 7500W motor would be an option, but only with hydraulic disk brakes.

Depending on what bike you choose, the price range is roughly between $200 and $500 USD. I'll be posting on the side bar, all the manufacturers and sales sites for reference material in the next few weeks. You can order your own bike if you like and have it sent to me for electrification if you wish, or I can just order it for you. Either way you want to go, I won't be charging any markup on the bikes or motor kits. Any profit I make will be my labor to build the ebike. This way you don't get stuck paying for a bunch of hype and shoddy parts like most ebike builders.

Below are samples of the main producers of beach bikes these days.

GreenLine FT-707 M 7 Speed Fat Bike, Flat Black - Men's 26" Beach Cruiser. Priced at $269.99 from J-Bikes, this is a excellent choice. www.jbikes.net

 

 
Next up is the Micargi Slugo fat bikes.  These are available for around $350.
www.bikeberry.com

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Sikk inc makes some pretty cool bikes starting around $500.
Sikk inc

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 Micargi with regular balloon tires. I like these, but as I mentioned above, nobody makes a beach bike with disk brakes unless it has 4" fat tires. If you want one of these with any motor above 1000W, I can add front disk brakes for you by changing the front end and lacing a disk brake hub to the existing wheel. Almost all of these bikes come with junky brakes, but can be upgraded cheaply.


 
Firmstrong offers several beach bikes worth considering priced around $250. I have one with a 3 speed internal geared hub and like it a lot. In fact, everyone who comments on it want to buy it. I'm starting to get tired of telling people that this one is not for sale. 
www.beachbikes.net 

I've started making my mold for the Firmstrong bike battery box that will fit inside the frame. I'm making it just large enough to fit the newer 2170 batteries (up to a 72V pack) for when they become available. These will be made of carbon fiber. Should be tough as nails! As new bikes come in, I can make boxes that fir their particular frame. I like the bikes with the large top tube (backbone) because they can fit a large battery and a mid drive motor inside the frame. For my Firmstrong, I'll be trying it out with a 1000W two speed motor first to see how I like it on this bike, then I'll change it to a Cyclone 3000W mid drive setup with the 72V battery pack. The mini Cyclone 2000W motor would fit this bike beautifully, but for the price point, the 3000W motor is cheaper. Who wouldn't want the extra 1000W for less money?