Blog

We've had to fully discontinue production of our original LiGo battery modules after an impressive 8 year run. Key semiconducter chips used on our BMS circuit were simply no longer available for doing another batch. The last of our LiGo+ batteries are being potted in the coming weeks and all have been presold.

But despair not, we have a next generation LiGo module up our sleeves that we've been working on for many months. We're calling this the LiGo 10X, and are moving rapidly through the design and testing phase with a goal to be release ready by the end of the year.

We've published quite a few videos lately. This includes a new series on retrofitting parts onto factory ebikes. It's a line of questioning that we get asked about with increasing frequency but we struggle finding the time to explain things to people. So we hope that a a growing video series can help with that. So far we've got parts 1 and 2 released as we do some 3rd party hacks on a Radrunner fatbike.

We've also got an update on the 32 foot electric sailboat conversion Belle Ami, with Part 3 being filmed this weekend:

We were recently blessed with another visit from Mark Havran on his (for real now) round the world ebike trip:

And earlier had a bit of fun bringing a vintage dirtsurfer back to life in electric mode:

The ebike season is starting to get in full swing and we're glad to announce a roster of new staff here at Grin to help us cope with the anticipated summer demands!

We've got Miguel now assisting with front-end sales to help customers navigate their kit purchases. Elvis is bringing to the table years of CNC experience to ramp up the productivity of our machine shop. Constantin has several years of experience as a technician the ebike industry and is helping in our support and repair department. Sean has worked in electronics manufacturing and the creative arts and had taken the lead in our LiGo battery assembly. And we have two coop students too, Ryan in software engineering making improvements to our website and Sam is doing his first mechanical engineering coop on our shop floor.

So help us in welcoming this crew of new faces to our team!

And that's not the end. We're still looking for someone exceptionally qualified at doing email based tech support. If you've got a wealth of hands-on experience assembling and troubleshooting ebikes, familiarity with the Grin systems, are looking for a change of work, well we could have an option for you so drop us a line. 

Our blog updates often cover things at the front end of our store but often misses the enourmous amount of work going on behind the scenes here at Grin. Anyways we recently got accepted for the Advanced Research and Commercialization grant for BC companies manufacturing parts for zero emission vehicles, and have been putting this to excellent use formalizing and expanding our All Axle motor assembly line. Here's a little peek of what that looks like now and some of what's expected to come: 

See: Info Page

First, thanks to everyone who came by to visit us at the Bike Show earlier this month, we had a great time meeting all kinds of folks with DIY ebikes on their radar.

One of our contributions to the event was a presentation on regenerative braking in ebikes. We've just edited and uploaded this talk to youtube since it's an a topic that's long overdue to get proper treatment.

If you are interested in the advanced regen control modes discussed in the 2nd half of the video, feel free to download and install the V3.2 beta firmware releases that are currently available in the Cycle Analyst software suite. We'll be making frequent updates and tweaks to this platform in the weeks ahead.

Hey Grinners,

The BC Bike Show is BACK for 2022! We're excited to be able to join everyone for our first event in a loooong time and are hard at work getting our exhibit all setup.

This Show is a great event to see the new products and offers from Western Canada’s bicycle businesses. There are a number of fun and exciting presentations going on during the show. This year Justin will be giving a talk all about Regenerative Braking, that wonderful process of recapturing energy back into the battery rather than burning it up in costly brake pads. The talk will be Saturday, March 5^th, 12:30PM at the Cycle Stage.  Our booth is setup at B207.

As in previous shows, we’ll have a number bicycles converted using our kits available for viewing and potential test rides, including one of our Electric Penny Farthings (helmet, waiver and wrist braces suggested!!).

We're happy be mingling with crowds again and will have staff around all weekend to help with any questions you might have on ebike conversions, or other interesting e-Vehicle conversions. So please drop by and visit.

TL;DR

Where: Vancouver Convention Center (Google Maps)

When: March 5th 10AM - 6PM & March 6th 10AM-5PM

Tickets: https://secure.e-registernow.com/cgi-bin/mkpayment.cgi?state=3620

Coupon Code: CYCLING22 for $3 off admission (online only, NA youth or senior tickets)

Presentation on Regenerative Braking: Saturday March 5^th, 12:30 PM – Cycle Stage

We've been producing short summary videos of key products recently, and hope these help newbies in the scene get a quick overview on the gear without going into a deeper dive. This process started off with a Double/Triple Bob video in December that was well received:

So we kicked off this year with an short explanation of Statorade ferrofluid for motor cooling:

And a summary of the Satiator charger now hot off the presses too:

We're planning to keep this up through 2022 until all of the key Grin hardware is covered this way! If you have a preference for what we should prioritize feel free to let us know by email.

Of course we will also keep up on the long form content as well, like the two recent videos on how to measure hub and rim dimensions for doing custom spoke calculations, and the detailed overview on how to use our hub motor spoke calculator.

Happy 2022 everyone and we've got good news to share on the battery stock front. The last of our large ebike battery orders that we placed at the beginning of last year has finally been delivered, including some new high triangular form factor options.

Triangle Batteries

We're now carrying battery options based on a massive 100 cell triangular frame enclosure to support long distance ebike setups. These pack over 1.2 kWhr of energy neatly in the frame cavity of most diamond frame bikes. The 52V 23.5Ah option will provide over 120 km of range with typical ebike consumption rates, and a high voltage 72V 16.5Ah model will serve well for fast EV builds requiring 72 volt operation.

Large and Small Downtube Packs

We've also replenished our stock of 52V 20Ah downtube batteries for the ready-to-roll kit systems. These have been extremely popular workhorse batteries in long range ebike builds. Supply and availability necessitated a switch from Panasonic GA cells to Samsung 35E cells but they are otherwise nearly identical in performance.

At the other end of the spectrum, we received our first set of batteries using the small Reention DP5C casing with a 36V 16.5Ah pack that is lightweight and low profile. This is an ideal choice for more discrete bike builds where the pack doesn't stand out as much.

LiGo's

Finally, both our regular LiGo and high current LiGo+ cells and BMS boards are on hand again and our manufacturing staff are working overdrive making them into finished LiGo bricks. Within a few weeks we expect to be caught up with most of the back-orders and we look forward to having extra stock of these air-travel friendly batteries.

Hey Everyone, it's coming close to Christmas season and another interesting year about to wrap up. We want to thank all those who've been supporting us through our shop move and summer supply woes, and are wishing you all the best for these holidays. 

Grin will be operational during the Christmas to New Years period but with reduced staffing, and our response times and shipping times may not be as quick.

Finally, big kuddos to all those who continue ebike riding through the winter season!

PRO TIP: If you do ride in freezing weather, you can expect your battery pack voltage to sag more than usual and the BMS to trip earlier in the discharge as a result. This is just a temporary effect that reverts when the battery is warm again. If you want to avoid this behaviour, keep your battery indoors until you need to use it, and consider wrapping the battery in an insulating material so it doesn't cool down as fast on the road.

COLD WEATHER CAUTION: While discharging in the cold is fine, please be mindful not to charge your batteries in below freezing temperatures, as this can cause dangerous lithium metal plating inside the cells. Bring your battery indoors or someplace warm before charging it up.