What are the precations for rain or wet road riding?
i have been browsing the pages of ev conversions for motorcycles. I want to be sure on everything before i make a fiscal commitment.
my question is: if it were raining and one were to ride through the rain, how much danger would there be and what things would have to be done to the motorcycle to avoid danger?
thank you in advance
3
comments
|
Add Comment
|
Mar 26, 2009. 1:39 PMJZ Price (author)
says:
ok thanks guys. this has made me more interesting in make a motor cycle this summer.
For the electrics to be safe, you need to make sure you insulate the high voltage wiring (battery pack to controller and controller to motor) well, protect the potbox and controller electronics from water getting in (or you might lose control of the throttle) and make sure you have fuses in the appropriate places so if something does short out, you won't have a fire or a fatal electrocution. From the mechanical point of view, an EV converted bike is likely to be heavier than the original (especially if you are using lead acid batteries) and may have a higher centre of mass. I don't know enough bike geometry to say exactly what this will do to the handling, but you may need to slightly increase the suspension preload and tyre pressure, and some wider tyres might be a good idea for better grip. The tyres on my bike are narrower than the palm of my hand, and cope with 60mph on dry roads fine but go absolutely nuts in the wet- if the bike was carrying a lot of lead weight around they might not be up to the job.
I admit that I've never ridden (or even seen) a true electric motorcycle. My mother drives a Xebra SD on a daily basis, but that hardly counts as a motorcycle, despite being registered as one.
With the vehicles in which I have ridden, there has never been much of a problem with rain. Generally, the boxes containing the various components are sealed well enough to keep out liquid water. The wet air might cause problems, but probably not. Especially if you have fairings to keep everything mostly enclosed, and have decently-sealed boxes, nothing bad should happen.
With the vehicles in which I have ridden, there has never been much of a problem with rain. Generally, the boxes containing the various components are sealed well enough to keep out liquid water. The wet air might cause problems, but probably not. Especially if you have fairings to keep everything mostly enclosed, and have decently-sealed boxes, nothing bad should happen.
 |
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2012
Rebuilding NordicTrack ski machine drive rollers
Looking for New Zealand-based Instructables authors for conference on August 27 in Wellington
Call to makers - Brighton Mini Maker Faire
Milk Crates - not as green as you think
TEDxBaghdad - Iraq - violence, dust storms and open sourced manufacturing
UK Mini Maker Faire - The Derby Silk Mill - New Poster to Share!
