Blog

A number of people with modern bikes have been hesitant to add a torque sensing bottom bracket to their ebikes because it meant changing over their cranksets to a square taper model as well.

Well, at least there is one choice for a splined interface. The company NCTE has produced a torque sensor that has the same electrical specifications as the THUN devices, but which uses an ISIS spindle. We've got a 128mm spindle length model in stock for those with ISIS cranks keen to try it out. 

Needless to say we had a pretty fun booth display and demo ebike fleet at the Vancouver Maker Faire last month. Thanks to all who came out to pay a visit and support the creative DIY and maker scene in town.

This coming weekend is the annual VEVA Electrafest Show, featuring nothing but local electric vehicles, from little DIY e-scooters up to full sized commercial electric cars. We're not going to have a full booth presence, but Justin will certainly be there with the latest version of our weight sensing inline-motor electric longboard, and perhaps some other projects up his sleeve.

If you are in the Vancouverarea and have an ebike or EV project you want to show off, it's free and not too late to register for the show and include your vehicle in the mix! The event is at the Concord Pacific, just by science world, and conveniently not too far from our shop either. 

We’ve finished a significant round of enhancements to our online ebike spoke calculator application to better serve the needs of people lacing hub motor wheels.

• Dimensionally accurate real time drawing of the motor, rim, and selected lacing pattern, so you have confidence to see that the hub/rim choices are correct
• Measurement of the spoke angle at the rim to indicate possible stresses at the nipple and threads.
• Allowance of paired spoke holes. Many large diameter hub motors have spoke holes grouped in two rather than uniformly distributed, but there are few tools out there to help calculate the appropriate length.

Check it out. We've added a number of new motor sizes (like the Magic Pie3, Crysatlyte Crown, Heinzmann PRA etc.), and are open to add additional suggestions via the related endless-sphere thread. 

Also on the web software front, we’re making progress on a web application to take information saved from the Cycle Analogger device and view both your route and energy usage statistics through interactive graphs and maps, all within your browser window.

There is still a long way to go to hit all our desired features, but it’s worth having a look now if you’ve got logs of CA and GPS data and have been stumped on how best make use of it. Additional discussion is here. 

Shipping small parts from our shop in Canada to American destinations has always been a tad expensive, so we’re experimenting with using Amazon as a fulfillment warehouse better serve US customers. Currently all three of our torque arms are available now, with free shipping for amazon prime subscribers:

And if it works out well we’re start hosting other small Grin Tech items like our ebike lights and DC-DC converters too. 

The last few weeks we’ve been in the midst of a full inventory transition with some of our product lines, and we apologize to those who’ve had difficulty getting all their kit parts together. This is all wrapping up and there is good news to speak of for those who have been patient.

Grinfineon Controller: Proportional Regenerative Braking.

All of our motor controllers are now running a newer control chip with a customized firmware for proportional regen. We’ve done this in a way that requires no extra hardware. If you have a V3 Cycle Analyst, the regen control is mapped to the otherwise unused 0.0 to 0.8V throttle signal range, giving you full control of the braking force and regen current through the Cycle Analyst. Without a V3 CA, you can use a regular ebrake lever to activate regen, and then use the throttle to modulate the intensity.

We’ve also improved the LED behavior so that you can tell if the controller is operating in sensored or sensorless modes while running, and tidied up the total connector bundle. At the moment, the 20A and 25A controllers are all available with this firmware. The larger 35A and 40A controllers are still in the midst of firmware testing and revisions, but should be available shortly.

eZee 5 LED Console

The latest shipment of eZee kits also includes a simpler 5-LED console for those who don’t require the full details of a Cycle Analyst. This device has been customized for full compatibility with any controller that has a CA plug, whether from an eZee kit or not, and it includes a DC power plug for running front headlights too.

The top row of LEDs show the approximate battery voltage, while the bottom row of LEDs is controlled via the up/down buttons to set the ebike power level via current limiting, much like with a V2 Cycle Analyst.  With the 25A eZee controllers, 1 LED = 5 amps, 2 LEDs = 10 amps, etc.

Batteries

All our recent stock of higher capacity eZee batteries are using Japanese Sony V3 cells as standard. While the Samsungs have worked reliably, their cycle life at higher discharge currents left a little to be desired and we’re hoping the highly regarded Sony cells yield better longevity. 

For those who found 10Ah wasn't quite enough, but 20Ah excessive, we've also got the Allcell batteries stocked in a 48V 13Ah pack with power cells, and in 35V 15Ah with regular energy cells. 

We’ve got our first software releases completed for the V3 Cycle Analyst, allowing you to set, load, and save all of the advanced CA settings through a computer connection, rather than working via the 2 button interface. This makes it easier to share preconfigured setup configurations and restore defaults just as easily. It also provides acess to OEM features such as masking out certain setup menu screens.

Windows and Linux Versions are available to download from our CA3 Information Page.  This requires you are updated to the V3 Prelim6 firmware. 

On the software front, we’re also making progress on a program to take information saved from the Cycle Analogger device and view all your trip data as 2-D and 3-D graphs.  The AnaloggerToKMZ program takes both the GPS and CA data files and creates a .kmz file which opens up directly inside Google Earth.

 You can use the “view elevation profile” feature to compare any two of the CA datasets side by side.

 Currently we have a preliminary windows release available for download here.  

The Right Side Drive (RSD) Stokemonkey Cycle Stoker system has been refined after months of pilot testing, retooled for the new 2014 Edgerunner frames, and is now available as an independent conversion kit. 

Some of the great features include:

• V3 CA with built in pedal torque sensing through the clampset, for proportional torque assistance and human power readout
• Patterson 2 speed crank with custom 39T chainring, both freewheels and provides a 62T equivalent front gear letting you pedal along at high speeds even with the small 20" rear wheel.
• All cables lengths sized for a perfect fit on both the large and small 2014 Edgerunner frames, with all wires routed on the downtube for a clean install.
• Works both with rugged internal hubs (like the Nuvinci) and regular derailleur gear systems.

The installation of this kit is a bit more involved than hub motor setups since it requires bottom bracket tools for the Patterson Crankset, but shouldn’t intimidate the mechanically inclined.  At the moment the kit is only sized for the Xtracycle Edgerunner frame, adapting to other bikes could be tricky but we are working next on a Yuba Mundo package.

Those wanting to purchase a complete Edgerunner with the RSD Stokemonkey Cycle Stoker installed can do so from Clever Cycles in Portland, and the G&O Family Cyclery in Seattle.  We also have a limited number of Black and Mocha Edgerunners with the Nuvinci hub available with this freewheeling conversion on our Edgerunner store site.