We spent a good part of September looking for the basic frame that would become the genesis of our bike. We ended up selecting a maxi-scooter frame from a major Chinese manufacturer. These guys produce hundreds of thousands of bikes per year. They're not a fly by night operation - far from it. We struck up a relationship with one of their company reps and we were able to get an agreement to provide us with "gliders". "Glider" is the term EV'ers use for a bike (or car) with no engine, transmission or fuel system. Apparently in the racing or automotive world that's a rolling chassis. But, hey, I like "glider" - it sounds cooler.
The frame we chose is a standard tube frame. It's far more substantial than the frame on some competitors bikes. But it's not a uni-body like the Vectrix. Uni-bodies are stiffer (compare a Vespa scooter to a Honda scooter and you'll find the Vespa feels sturdier) - but are more specialized and they're heavier. The Vectrix weighs over 550lbs our bike weighs in at 400lbs. That's 150lbs less to shift around the world. Just because we're making an EV doesn't mean we should forsake weight management!
To get the ball rolling we simply went out and bought the gas version of the bike. It just feels great ripping out all the ICE (internal combustion engine) components. EVs are fundamentally far simpler than ICEs. Makes you wonder why the big guys don't want to build them. Quick rant: Of course the big companies could build an EV if they wanted to. They don't want to. Why not? My guess (and it's just a guess) is that (a) it would alienate the dealers (less servicing revenue for the dealers) and (b) it would cost the companies a lot of lost revenue (no more selling service items). But, hey, that's just a guess. At the end of the day they don't want to (or perhaps they really can't?) do it. Bad for them. Bad for you. Good for me. Sorry - but it sure ain't my fault!. End of rant.
OK, so we now have a bike stripped of it's ICE components and we drew up a more detailed description for our Chinese suppliers. The joke around here is that when we get the bikes we'll have no front wheel and a gas engine. Instead of no rear wheel and no gas engine. Sort of "Lost in Translation" but in the engineering world (I wonder if Bill Murray would be interested in the film?). Seriously though we soon realized we needed some serious Chinese language skills - so we've addressed this and we have "our man in China" ready to help dot the i's and cross the t's. A quick shout out to Greg in China! (OK, I know they don't have i's and t's - but that just makes you realize how much we need a Chinese interpreter...)
Along with getting the glider we turned one of my existing electric bikes into our "mule". A "mule" is an automotive term for a vehicle test bed. When Ford wants to build a brand new car they take one of their pre-existing models and "hack it about" and add the new bits and pieces to it. OK, it's just a tad more complicated than that - but that's basically what a mule is. We upgraded our mule with a bigger motor, a better controller and more batteries. This helped us determine the parameters we were shooting for.
So far so good. We've got the frame question answered. We've got the basic parameters of the drivetrain. The train has left the station and is gathering speed...
