ninefives

Hi Austini! Need to replace my BMS. See you did the Speeddict Neptune (15S?) - Can you send those pics and vid on how it is wired up. Cheers

I've ridden/pwned competed EMs since the first pre-production bike in Canada - I think 2014. The low speed ability of the EM has been stellar. Hanging stationery half way through a steep uphill cambered turn, the power can be fed in and the bike crawls forward completely under control. I see the addition of a clutch as giving the ability for splatter type riding where you need to build potential energy and apply it in an instant, I honestly see no other reason. I don't do splatters, because they will do it back to me. I came to this topic because a young fellow was riding an Oset 20 yesterday and the throttle was unworkable. No reaction for a half turn and then a very delayed power response. I cannot believe the bike comes like this. Is this just adjustment?

I used to run idle super low (I'm not a lover of clutching through anything but ridiculous corners) and would agree with you. I now run slightly faster and apply rear brake which might help smooth out the lower snap. Just understand the bike will pull in with the brake applied.

I posted this previously on another thread but it belongs here... As a long time (since 2013) and older EM owner I enjoyed the dialogue above and so to add my 2 cents cos I can... I compete at a relaxed level in local trials: its competitive at the level of most mere mortals low speed control is far easier than most clutch/throttle balancing, cos its just throttle It never stalls It always starts The engine when stationary has no gyro effect so improve your balancing I don't do splatters It has incredible grip It takes time (months not minutes) to adapt, timing is different so logs and steps need practice I've ridden it through water up to mid point on the motor and it didn't fizz and steam I have to shout "Rider" loudly before I enter the section It creates interest and sometimes amazement at what it can achieve I have not yet (at my level) found a section that the bike was the limiting factor. I ride club trials with short loops, I would not enjoy long loops. The whine can get to you on the trail, greasing the primary chain helps. (Is there a conversion to toothed belt available?) Club trials I have never exhausted the battery, have got to red so... I have a small (1500w) back up generator for house power outs, I take it with me, as sometimes I need to charge at the end of the trial as people want to borrow the bike. It takes about half a litre of gas to recharge from 40% (average battery status at the end of most trial) I don't mind lending my bike - there is so little to break, no clutch to smoke, engine to over rev, rad or gas tank to puncture. Longer loops I plug in for 20 minutes when I stop for refreshment, top up every opportunity is the key to using electric - just like a cell phone. When I first got the bike it took some time to get the power controller parameters right, it had a habit of cutting out on hard hill climbs if you went over a log. Settings came from EM that fixed this about 2 years ago. It is very easy to tailor the power settings (that said - I haven't touched my settings since the factory recommendations). Early lesson for all EM riders - when you fail on an uphill climb, apply the brakes or keep a little power on, everyone seems to do the scary backward freewheel once, there is no stalled engine or clutch to stop you plummeting back down the hill backwards. If waiting in line - switch off, if you or someone else without thinking tweaks the throttle you will take off like a started deer - taking others with you. Top speed is about screaming level in 2nd gear on a gas trials bike Tight trails are great fun loads of easy power until you hit top speed them blah - thats it, something that never happens on a gas bike. Get used to being left in the dust on the faster trail rides I'm used to being called "Sparky" Notice how smelly and irritating to the eyes gas bike exhausts are (try to impose a no idling rule ) End of the day I wash it, park it in the basement (no smell of gas) and charge it (about 50 minutes), ready for the next trial I have never had a complaint from neighbours when practicing, just "omg what is he doing now". In fact the bike just gets friendly acceptance and interest everywhere I ride. I enjoy the ease and simplicity, and it works for me, but a replacement to all the functions a gas bike can offer it is not.

Hybrids that are "Atkinson Cycle" IC engines charging batteries driving the wheels (no IC to wheels connection) seems the way to go, like the old Diesel Electric trains and ships I think. A small propane powered IC constantly running the motor in regen could maybe keep the batteries charged while you peruse the magical line for a clean. Just seems to lose some of the I'm electric cachet - but it would give range.

As a long time and older EM owner I enjoyed the dialogue above and so to add my 2 cents cos I can... I compete at a relaxed level in local trials: its competitive at the level of most mere mortals low speed control is far easier than most clutch/throttle balancing, cos its just throttle It never stalls It always starts The engine when stationary has no gyro effect so improve your balancing I don't do splatters It has incredible grip It takes time (months not minutes) to adapt, timing is different so logs and steps need practice I've ridden it through water up to mid point on the motor and it didn't fizz and steam I have to shout "Rider" loudly before I enter the section It creates interest and sometimes amazement at what it can achieve I have not yet (at my level) found a section that the bike was the limiting factor. I ride club trials with short loops, I would not enjoy long loops. The whine can get to you on the trail, greasing the primary chain helps. (Is there a conversion to toothed belt available?) Club trials I have never exhausted the battery, have got to red so... I have a small (1500w) back up generator for house power outs, I take it with me, as sometimes I need to charge at the end of the trial as people want to borrow the bike. It takes about half a litre of gas to recharge from 40% (average battery status at the end of most trial) I don't mind lending my bike - there is so little to break, no clutch to smoke, engine to over rev, rad or gas tank to puncture. Longer loops I plug in for 20 minutes when I stop for refreshment, top up every opportunity is the key to using electric - just like a cell phone. When I first got the bike it took some time to get the power controller parameters right, it had a habit of cutting out on hard hill climbs if you went over a log. Settings came from EM that fixed this about 2 years ago. It is very easy to tailor the power settings (that said - I haven't touched my settings since the factory recommendations). Early lesson for all EM riders - when you fail on an uphill climb, apply the brakes or keep a little power on, everyone seems to do the scary backward freewheel once, there is no stalled engine or clutch to stop you plummeting back down the hill backwards. If waiting in line - switch off, if you or someone else without thinking tweaks the throttle you will take off like a started deer - taking others with you. Top speed is about screaming level in 2nd gear on a gas trials bike Tight trails are great fun loads of easy power until you hit top speed them blah - thats it, something that never happens on a gas bike. Get used to being left in the dust on the faster trail rides I'm used to being called "Sparky" Notice how smelly and irritating to the eyes gas bike exhausts are (try to impose a no idling rule ) End of the day I wash it, park it in the basement (no smell of gas) and charge it (about 50 minutes), ready for the next trial I have never had a complaint from neighbours when practicing, just "omg what is he doing now". In fact the bike just gets friendly acceptance and interest everywhere I ride. I enjoy the ease and simplicity, and it works for me, but a replacement to all the functions a gas bike can offer it is not.

My household insurance covers electric equipment for liability and theft, they were probably thinking kids ride on electric toys running into someone on the sidewalk but the description worked for my EM. It does NOT cover road use.

Hi, I live in Burlington - got back into trials 5 years after a 30 year lay-off. I recommend the CVMG as a great starting point. I ride at Borus's place near Cambridge most weeks plus some sneaky local stuff. PM me and we can chat.

Gave the OSET 16 battery pack a little love this week. I haven't balanced the cells in many many charges as I have found having them in parallel helps keep them balanced. I have 10 x 5000ma 5S Zippys (so 25ahs of about 40v battery) that fit neatly in the battery tray in an aluminum case, well padded. One cell of the 50 was at 4.05v, the rest were all sitting at 4.18 to 4.20v. Balancing brought it back in line. I have a 1000w power pack and dual charger that brings the batteries back to 95% in under an hour using 20A. We have never run out of battery (ie below 36v) even with all day adult trials. The conversion makes a good bike into a great bike. I will be doing the same when Santa delivers an OSET 20, but I will improve the charging connectors (XT60s seem to get tight).

Been a while since I visited Trials Central. I now have an EM 5.7. Rode a trial early this month. Some video here http://www.electricmotioncanada.ca Rode with my son on his OSET 16. Trial was 4 1/2 hours, plus folks tried it out afterwards for about an hour. Didn't have time for any recharge during the day, still operating with the same amount of power at the end. What I like - smoooooth, simple - no clutch, no stall. What I didn't like - just a little bit heavier than my Ossa 280i Replica and top speed is limited (I would guess mid range third/low revs 4th on a gas bike). My riding style has had to change slightly, no flywheel effect means you have to roll the throttle back slowly rather than shut off completely when finishing a climb. Stop on a climb and you don't have a stalled gas engine locking the back wheel, if you don't hold a little power it freewheels backwards - it only happens once, then you learn!! The power profile is so configurable, when it came it was set up with a slow throttle, I changed that through the computer to a fast throttle and took power to 80% of available on the fast map. I tried 90% but it was like a drag bike, too scary. It has a clutch but it seems just a throttle working backwards, I agree with other comments - to get the big power bang, you need a mechanical clutch to build up the energy and dump it. I've don't bother using the clutch, and stopped looking for the kickstart and gear lever to - although I do sometimes look for neutral - doh.

To add to the ++ Have had a 36v for 2 years - the bike gets well used and has a lot asked of it - my 9 year old attacks rocks and logs that folks on bigger bikes struggle with. Only issues so far have been: Intermittent contact - traced to a poor sleeve connection - squished it together and all good Chain bent - got caught by a stick Flat tire - the dealer changed it at the trial!! Front mudguard regularly needs pop riveting back on He's just about outgrown it. No issues with starting - when he crashes he picks it up and carries on I chuck it in the trunk of my car - no liquids to spill Kids thrash it up and down the street and no one complains I replaced a rear tire and the rear shock I changed to LiPo batteries to up the range - not necessary to begin with - but thats another thread!! Fantastic starter bike

I like the sound of the simplicity with the Earth X solution - I see these batteries seem to be designed to replace starting batteries in sports vehicles where the weight is the key requirement. This means that their job is starting the vehicle, and the batteries are then topped up with the vehicle charging system. We tend to "deep cycle" the batteries in an OSET. I don't think that this is significant but just thought I'd mention it. The technology in the Earth X is Lithium Iron Phosphate. Reading the hobby vehicle forums seems to show that LiFe batteries are slightly heavier than LiPo but still much lighter than SLAs, don't have quite the same burst power capability as LiPos but are very simple and robust. I think that it may be a good solution. I read somewhere that the voltage of LiFe cells is a little lower when charged than LiPos @ 4.2v (in my boy's Oset I run the 36v with 10x4.2v LiPos giving good power without burning anything (been doing this for a year)!!) I have 25ah capacity which lasts about 6 hours of trials type use - ie stop start & trails on a loop. Very interested to hear the results of a Earth X conversion.

Wow - sorry to hear the news - a lesson for all of us in the Lipo world!! I've not used the Lipo alarms since they screwed up a couple of individual cells in 2 batteries. The discipline we have is that the bike is switched off when you get off the bike at any time - we had someone twist the throttle when looking at the bike while we were looking at a section, it tried to attack a nearby tree!! At the end of the ride I disconnect the batteries before loading. I can see it happening while playing around at home, rolled in the garage and left on - the lipo alarms would definitely have saved the batteries as they would have been chirrping endlessly.

Interesting thought - does the potentiometer under the seat soften the torque or just the reduce the top end speed? This weekend competed at a ski resort - the OSET blasted up a 500 metre deep dust 1 in 5 (blue!) hill 3 times on the loop, ran most of the day and still had 50% usable battery remaining.

Not sure if this has been posted already, but if after the 3rd kick no joy - rare these days, I kick over once with the throttle wide open and then throttle closed and it starts - sometimes with the throttle wide - spins up fast!!