Forget Waiting For Middle Men! Go To The Manufacturer!

OK, I'm tired of waiting for PSPower to send me my TSDZ2 motor, and just as tired of waiting for Luna Cycle to get more Cyclone motors in stock! It's almost been a month now.

I'm going directly to the Cyclone manufacturer for a Cyclone 3000W motor, and getting another TSDZ2 from Alibaba.

PSPower can refund my money!

One worn out bike mechanic...

I'm glad the work week has begun so I can rest up for next weekends bike sales.

I know that sounds backwards, and it's not about being lazy or goofing off at work, it's just that bike sales on the job have slowed down, so I don't have to hurry or rush anything. On the weekends however, bike sales seem to be picking up. I just had a record breaking sales weekend, and it's not over yet! I sold over ten bikes this Saturday and Sunday and I even took deposits to deliver three more bikes this week that I was out of because they sold early Saturday afternoon.

I sold the bike in the photo Sunday afternoon. The photo is of the bike as the shop sells them. I goofed by not taking a photo of it after I customized it for my sales. The lime green wheels (hate them) were changed to black with black spokes and chrome over brass spoke nipples, and the rear wheel sprocket was changed to a larger one for easier pedaling on hills. It's not easy to get me to part with a bike I've done custom work to, because I always want to keep them for myself. This one was no exception. It started as a "Retro" (store name for the bike) and left as a "Black & Blue" or "Black Eye" (my names for it after modifications). It's just a blue version of the all black "In The Barrel" (store name, second photo). 

I hope my personal at home sales continue as they've been for a while longer. I know the bike season is coming to a close here in So-Cal when I have to start using a blanket in bed again instead of just a sheet! I'm counting on electric bike sales to get me threw the winter months. It's my belief that they will sell equally well all year long.  Now if only all the motors I want to use for the bikes would be back in stock! I can't believe it, but all of them are out of stock! I'll have to reorder the one I already ordered at the beginning of the month from a different vendor, and just eat the extra $100 cost. It's going on three weeks since I ordered it, and so far I have nothing.

Duke's Moto Electric Update #4 (I Think?)

No news isn't always good news, but for DME it's been pretty good lately!

Bike Sales at Work and at Home
The busy season for bike sales is slowly coming to a close at work. This means less money to buy electric bike stuff, but it also means I'll have more time to work on ebike stuff! It's always a trade off. Four day weekends sound pretty damn good right now since I've been burning the candle at both ends for most of the summer.

Starting this weekend I'll be selling bikes all day both Saturdays AND Sundays from the home shop!  I've been working every Saturday this summer, and it's slowed down enough now that I don't really need to be there on the weekends. This should help my at home sales considerably.

I still have a ton of old inventory returns to go threw at work, so even if I don't have customer bikes to build, I can keep busy going threw those and either taking them apart for spare parts, or buying them for my at home sales, or even building some of them for store showroom bikes. This should last at least until Halloween if I pace myself and take a couple/few days off every week.


Ebike Stuff
I'm still waiting for the first TSDZ2 motor to arrive. Labor Day most likely is responsible for the shipping delay. I just wish it would hurry up! I need to order a bunch more of these mid drive motor setups for other bikes, but I need to do a torture test on one before I throw a bunch of money at them.

I'm still waiting on a bunch of other stuff I ordered to come in as well. I got the American to EU Bottom Bracket adapters, but I'm still waiting on the eccentric ones to come in. Even though I don't have the motor yet, I know I'll need to use the more expensive eccentric adapters. I even ordered a Park Tool bike building stand! Yeah, I didn't get the most expensive model, but at least I didn't cheap out and get some China made junk that wouldn't last one season! I don't even want to put together any more 7 speed bikes until the stand arrives. I've been using a large work cart and having to turn the bikes upside down to tune them, but it's a pain in the ass to build them this way. The stand will be SWEET to have!!! I also ordered a bunch of different handlebars and grip styles in different colors to check out, along with an assortment of tools that are on back order.

The battery cells and pack kit have arrived for the TSDZ2 motor! This will be a shop pack so potential customers can take the bikes with this motor on a test ride before ordering their own custom creation. I'm not overly impressed with the kit. I've found quite a few parts that are defective. I'm glad I ordered two kits. The two kits will let me assemble one good pack despite the defective parts.  I'll return the defective stuff when I get a chance. I know and trust the distributor of these kits, so I'm not worried about it. It's a start up operation, and I'm glad I was able to give him some support. I'll do a story on the kit and who makes it later after everything has been sorted out and I've had a few hundred miles under my belt with the battery cells.

The Cyclone 3000W motors at Luna Cycle have been out of stock for a while now, and there's no word from Luna as to when they will be back in stock.  I may take a ride up to Luna's new shop and try to buy a couple before they arrive so I can get them ASAP when they do come in. I can also build a shop battery pack for the Cyclone before the motors arrive so I'm ready to go when they do come in.

That's all for today. It's time to get to work!

Tech Tuesday - Match Tire Size To Rim

https://www.bikerumor.com/2016/08/12/tech-story-match-bicycle-tire-width-rim-width-best-results/

Problems Need Solutions TSDZ2 Motor BB Adapters Cruiser Bikes

I've found three solutions to yesterdays bottom bracket frame clearance problem for the TSDZ2 Motors at reasonable prices, and one that's above what I want to pay for a simple adapter.

It didn't take long to find a few eccentric Bottom Bracket adapters. The first one I found was $150 so forget that! I found a couple for $51 and one for $30, and ordered all three of them last night.  

Two of the adapters are from Origin8. One extends out beyond the face of the frame more than the other. I'll bet that neither of them will work with the 68mm BB motor I just ordered. More than likely I'll have to get the 73mm version of the motor to use one of the adapters from Origin8. The one in the first photo probably won't work with these motors at all as it looks to have more than 5mm sticking out from the frame surface. The product page contains no info on the parts at all, so this is just a guessing game at the moment. I may of just ordered $102 worth of Origon8 paper weights.

Origin8 eccentric adapter

Origin8 eccentric adapter

Sun eccentric adapter

The adapter by Sun may be the correct fit, but who knows? Again the product page has zero info about the part. For just under $30 at least it won't be as expensive a paper weight as the Origin8 adapters! 


If none of these work out, I'll just have to drop a dime on the $130 Bushnell adapter. This one will work, and I know it because the product page comes with all the info about the part anyone could ask for! I would just hate to spend the extra $100 when the part by Sun should work the same.

Another solution I may have to consider, is resurfacing the BB shell down 5mm to make an adapter fit the 73mm motor. This would be a last resort since I would have to buy some expensive tools ($379 Park Tools), not to mention the extra labor involved in performing this procedure to every cruiser frame. I'm not even sure of weather or not this tool is designed to remove 5mm of material. I think it's only made to make a true surface where it may be a little off specs.

It's About E Time Part Two

I may of just hit a wall with my plan to use the 7 speed Cruiser bike from Beach Bikes of Torrance, Ca for my first project. 

I knew I would need an adapter to go from the factory American bottom bracket (BB) to European style sealed cartridge style BB. I ordered six adapters to convert a half dozen bikes to electric I have sitting in the garage.

Standard style American to EU adapter $12 USD.

Now this is where I think I hit the wall. With the standard adapter, the hole is in the middle of the part to fit the new cartridge style BB. Now I'm thinking that since this motor is designed to fit a frame already having a smaller EU style BB, that I will have clearance issues using the standard $12 adapter on a Cruiser bike.

This doesn't mean that the project is dead, only that it will have to wait for another day. I'll have to order an eccentric adapter to make it work. I may even have to try a few different models to find one that works for my application.

Eccentric American to EU adapter $150 EU!

You can see from the photo's above how the more expensive eccentric adapter will allow the motor to sit lower in the frame. Hopefully this will eliminate any frame to motor clearance issues. Now I'll have to locate one that is less expensive! I'll find a use for the $70 worth of adapters I've already ordered. I'm thinking that they may work for the Cyclone 2K and 3K motors and anyone who wants to upgrade their bike to a sealed cartridge BB and three piece crank on their cruiser. Stay tuned for the 3K build! I want that project done before Halloween!


So Now I need to use another bike. I have one! I'll be using another bike from Beach Bikes Torrance, Ca! The Explore Your Range 700c Commuter bike with aluminum frame! Originally I was going to use this bike for the first build just using a 500W rear Direct Drive hub motor that I have collecting dust down in the garage. I'll still use the hub motor, then add the mid drive for a full 1000W bike!

 The Explore Your Range 700c Commuter bike with aluminum frame from Beach Bikes, Torrance.

I've already adopted this bike as my daily commuter a couple months ago, so it will be an easy transition for me. I'm just waiting for the new tube with a longer valve stem to show up with my worthless BB adapters, then I can install the new hub motor and double walled rim it came with on the bike. Now I'll need two of these bikes! The 1000! version with two motors, and another one with just the 500W mid drive motor for customers to test ride before ordering their own bikes.


I'll get back to the Cruiser bikes just as soon as I'm finished building this one. I may even start on the 3000W Cyclone project before I get back on track. I want to see if these adapters I've already ordered will work with that motor!