News - Blog

July 20th, VEVA ElectraFest, 10am-4pm at Concord Pacific (88 Pacific Blvd)

July 12, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 399

Then the following weekend is Electra Fest event hosted by the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association. This is an open show for people to showcase their electric vehicles, large and small, from cars and trucks to skateboards and boats. It's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon checking out what the local EV scene is up to, and we'll be there with our own wacky collection of stuff to ride.

July 12th, The KWHr BBQ Ebike Ride - 6pm @ Central Library

July 12, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 442

This coming Friday is the annual summer BBQ for the Kilowatt-Hour ebike ride. It also happens to be Adam's last day on the job before heading to the vibrant city of Montreal, and will be our sending off farewell party too. The ride starts from the Central Library at 6pm and will meander to Locarno Beach for cooking festivities.

There is usually an awesome turnout of ebike enthusiasts from all over Vancouver who come out for this summer ride, so if you fancy a Friday evening picnic on the beach then prepare some edible treats and meet up at the library.

Ebike Workshop at Hub City Cycles in Nanaimo, Wed July 31st, 6:30pm

July 12, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 512

Then on Wednesday evening Justin and Robbie will be travelling to Hub City Cycles in Nanaimo to give an introductory workshop on electric bicycle conversions. This could be fun for islanders who are curious about what's involved in retrofitting a bicycle, or who have a bunch of burning questions for two aficionados. Details and address are on the Hub City website.

Ebike Survey

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 576

We're hoping it's not too late, but a research team at the Portland State University is doing an widespread survey of electric bike users in the USA, but they said Canadians are welcome to participate too. So if you have 10 minutes to spare and want to share your experience with electrics, fill it out here.

9 Continent Motor and Kit Sale

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 372

We have all of our Nine Continent motors and related kits marked down in order to free up some precious shelf space. These are good value direct drive hub motors, but going forwards we are planning to stock just the higher-end Crystalyte and eZee motors and are clearing out the 9C for that reason. If you were considering a budget kit and don't require proper disk brake compatibility, this could be your chance to get a bargain.

Split PAS sensors for CA3

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 516

We have a new supply of 12 pole PAS sensors for the V3 CA devices. These units have a split magnet disk and adjustable position pickup so there is no need to remove your cranks or bottom bracket to install them on a bike, and have been wired up for plug and play compatibility with the CA3 harness.

2013 Crystalyte Details

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 348

The first 2013 Crystalyte shipment was unloaded last week and contains some updated parts worth mentioning:

Crown Motors

First are the new Crown motors, which use an intriguing side plate design with straight pull spokes and a wider/deeper motor stator that delivers plenty of power without the weight penalty of the large 54XX wheels. We have these in stocked in 26" downhill rims in two different winding options, however the exact performance modeling on the simulator will not be complete until June.

Single Sided Hubs

We are also bringing back the single sided stub axle motors for those doing custom trike, quad, or trailer EV's where you want to grab the motor from just one end. In the past we had these with the now obsolete 400 series hubs, and have gotten a similar variant made of the larger HS motors, with a custom axle made up that is 17mm diameter and 90mm long.

Thermistors in Crystalyte

All of these Crystalyte hub motors now have a built in 10K NTC thermstor, enabling you to monitor motor temperature with the CA3 providing a safety roll back. This allows you to get the most short term power from the hub without risk of overheating from prolonged use.

Arrival in SF

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 420

1800km later Justin and Robbie have completed their electric cargo bike ride from Vancouver into San Francisco and had a fabulous time meeting up with everyone at the San Mateo Maker Faire over the weekend. All prototype gear under test held up to the task. A big thanks to Frank, Ken, Will, Wake, Otmar, Pete, Bill, Michael, Eric, Patrick, and the many others who took them in and helped along the way make this a trip to remember.

Maker Exhibit: Powerboards, Powerunicycles, and Prototype Ebikes Parts Galore

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 591

We are registered as "EV Grins" at the Bay Area maker faire, May 18-19th. As part of this we're trying to encourage a small gathering of DIY ebike builders who can make it to participate and show up with their home-brew ebike build. In addition to the custom Edgerunner builds we'll be riding down, we've also got a weight activated power skateboard and a continuously variable geared electric assist unicycle.

Stokemonkey Further Update

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 378

The bikes that we are riding down are equipped with all kind of projects that we've been developing: from weight optimized direct drive thru-axle hub motors to programmable 95% efficient universal chargers, to field oriented sine wave motor controllers. And one item that we're really keen to put through its paces is the 2nd generation right side drive Stokemonkey.

We had anticipated releasing the new Stokemonkey earlier this year, but as we worked on it we noticed an opportunity to include an integrated torque sensing capability as well. This redesign enables proportional pedal assist modes and human power readouts without the need for a special THUN bottom bracket, and will hopefully be worth the wait.