EXTRAWHEEL Electric Trailer Ideas ?

Meer123

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Does anyone have any experience using an electric hub motor kit on an Extrawheel (mono-wheel bike trailer) ? If not, anyone have any ideas regarding it's adaptability to be motorized ? I'm curious to know if the common 26 or 700c hub motor kits will work and how it might perform ? If this topis has been addressed already - I'm sorry, I did a quick search and found nothing on it.

http://www.extrawheel.com/
 
This idea seems to pop up about every six months on these forums. (going back several years) Usually people eventually decide on a two wheeled trailer design with the batteries mounted really low so that they are less likely to tip over. More people use regular motors and chains or belts than hub motors since there's no reason to go for the speicialization of the hub motor when there are no pedaling issues to deal with.

We can only point you as well as we know what you are up to?

You need to "do your homework" and study the previous trailer projects and products.

(you can buy motorized trailers... you don't need to build them if you don't want to)
 
I'm a big fan of "sleek and simple" and the "extrwheel" is a very good example of this line of thinking.

Some of the available motorized trailers are (or appear to be) very well executed but none of them are in-expensive and most of them tend to be more "tame" - likely to err on the safe side of the legal issue. I on the other hand am not interested in a slow toy (no matter how nice or well made) ... not looking to win any stoplight races but I need something that's both "capable" (ikn terms of performance) and robust ... I want to commute with it - this isnt just for bench racing.

Last but not least, I am patiently waiting on another member on these forums, he was kind enough to take on my request for a push trailer powered by a chain drive Honda GC160 with two wheels (which should do 30mph if I care to cruise that fast) - exactly as you suggested so our thought process and/or logic is pretty close. But I've always had this thing about trying for an "electric" - I've already cut my teeth on chinese in-frame two strokes (built 2 of them - still have one) and the idea of having something quite and odor free and not as obvious holds a lot of cool points in my book.
 
The skies the limit as far as power if you want to go that way. The Killacycle electric drag bike can apparently go up to 174 mph, so if you want the power it can be done.

As a practical matter you would probably want about a one horsepower boost... beyond that and the trailer is going to start to seem a little overpowered. I'd guess that by the time you got to about three horsepower that you would start to get control / safety issues because pushing is not the best way to gain forward motion... ideally you want all of the energy in the rear wheel of the bike.

One idea is to just stick the batteries on the trailer then use a regular ebike.... when you get someplace you can disconnect the trailer and still have an ebike to ride. (be sure to bring a lock of course)

Any idea how you want to use this thing?
 
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looking to make a "commuter" out of it ... around 7 miles each way (so 14 total) on average. I'm sure a lot of folks on these boards have multiple bike projects, I am trying to NOT have a stable or harem - so if I can have a bike with some power to help me get to work without me being drenched in sweat AND have a bike to pedal around with my family druing the weekend - that would be ideal. My commute is on roads that have a 35mph limit ... in the real world, you'll see some speeds up to 45 and a lot of 15 mph crawling during peak hours. I do not need a bicycle that goes 40mph but 30mph for short burst will be useful and a real sustainable crusing speed of around 27mph (or something like that) is a must ... again, not looking to win any races but I need something capable - something durable - something easy to live with but not look *** and just give in a buy a 49cc girlie scooter ... my 2 stroke is fun and handles great (can't beat an in-frame motor) but it stinks and does not go that fast (it can with a sprocket change but then I dont have any acceleration and it's shaking itself to death. I want to get rid of my 2 stroke and just have one bike that pulls double duty ... powered commuter Mon to Fri ... pedal around the park with my kids on Saturday ... quiet electric bike would be nice but battery cost/weight is raining on my parade ... to make a bike go 30mph for 15 miles on one charge will require a nice battery and those things are no bargains
 
We are the US distributors and a online retailer of Extrawheel Bike Trailers.
See our listing for it at our shop BikeTrailerShop.com:
http://www.biketrailershop.com/catalog/extrawheel-trailers-c-46.html

We've been very interested in the idea of putting electric power on the Extrawheel. If anyone ends up trying it out, please let us know how it goes.

If we have time to try it out, we'll post about our experiences with it.

Thanks,
Josh
 
... quiet electric bike would be nice but battery cost/weight is raining on my parade ... to make a bike go 30mph for 15 miles on one charge will require a nice battery and those things are no bargains

When I first started with ebikes I didn't even think about sport performance and was mostly concerned with economic factors. Now that gasoline is back down in price and the supply is up so that there is no shortage likely for a decade or more I've turned away from the practical aspects of ebikes to the fun aspects.

If you really are a "bottom line" person ebikes are not very economical. If you really want to save money you are better off not "Going Green" just for the sake of doing it.
 
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as mentioned in passing earlier - I have a push trailer powered by a Honda GC160 being built as we speak ... but the stealth, odor free, instant torque of an electric motor has it's own unique appeal (no chance I'll ever get to ride a nice bike trail with a buzzy smokey 2 stroke happy time style motor - I know - I tried)... the fact that it has zero emissions is just a very nice bonus ... now, battery cost ... ahhh ... now, there's a topic - hahaha
 
.. now, battery cost ... ahhh ... now, there's a topic - hahaha


3.3v 10ah 10c rated Headways are 17 bucks (15 if your lucky enough to get them direct from Headway) 22v 5000mah25c rated Lithium Polymer can be had for as little as ~80 bucks a pop ... If you want some lower 1-2c rated packs theres always the china Lifepo4 duct tape packs... Batteries prices have dropped over the last 6 months...Of course they are no where near as cost efficient as buying a 250 dollar 49cc kit and putting in a buck of gas and i doubt they ever will be...

KiM
 
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