The Custom Stuff

 I decided to do a separate post for the little custom bits I am doing on this build. I helps keep "The Bike" post at a reasonable length since that post is for standard bolt-on stuff that gets used right out of the box.

This post is for pieces I have to modify or custom-build to make them work for this particular bike, and it will grow as the build progresses.

The Bike

 Time for the real fun stuff.

I have some of the parts painted and cured, and the assembly is starting. I still have to touch up a few spots on the main frame, but I have enough ready to get going.

The crankset was a nasty-rusty piece, but some time with a brass brush in the drill and it came up pretty nice for 50+ years old. Since it will see little-to-no actual use and is just there for legal reasons, I gave it a simple clear coat of Rustoleum clear enamel. That should help with future rust and keep it looking decent. Once it is back on the frame I'll be adding folding peddles to keep them out of the way of the running boards.

On the front end, I refinished the forks and gooseneck with Duplicolor truck bed liner, deleted the fender and switched the front tire and rim to a 26" MTB type. The brakes that are on there right now are just for assembly, and will be swapped out with a chrome set later on.

The back fender was refinished the same way, and as with the gooseneck the chrome fender supports were too far gone to save the chrome, so got finished in bed liner. I drilled and mounted the tail light  but wont be using the turn signals that came with it, so the bracket is just for a custom plate. The wires will be run up the underside of the fender in corrugated wire loom to hide it, fastened to the fender with clips. They will exit at the upper fender mount and run up the seat post into the battery/controller box. Since I am using a 24" hub motor kit there is lots of room for them.

The finish on the frame cured nicely, so its time to start putting it all back together. 

The floorboards. These are actually folding foot rests from a wheel chair. I printed saddle brackets to match the bottom tube, and through-bolted them. They fold up and clear the crank arm if wanted, or for electric mode put them down and instead of being uncomfortable in "bicycle" position with one foot ahead of the other on the peddles, I am more in a regular motorcycle riding position. 

If you are going to add something like this to your bike, this is the style of foot rest you need, since it will allow through-bolting on the bike frame and fold small enough to clear the crank arm.

Since I am using an old-school one-piece crank, the PAS will not fit as is. I just drilled it out to 20mm to fit over the crank arm and once adjusted it gets hot-glued in place, and I'll print a split clamp to help hold it.

I am hanging a LOT of stuff off the handlebars, and since I ditched the cruiser style bars in favor of drag bars, I need extra mounting space. There will be the LCD for the bike and its switch panel, thumb throttle, headlight/horn switch, TomTom GPS, leather grips and a stereo. I had 2 options. Order one of these extenders which are great for what they are but still somewhat limited in room, or I had a set of these handlebars on hand already so could just make something out of the parts. The bonus in going the handlebar-parts route, is with a split in the middle for the 2 mount tubes, the setup automatically compensates for the angle of the drag bars.

The Trailer

 OK, I have the Schwinn torn apart, sanded and cleaned up, so as the paint dries and I slowly put it back together I am building the trailer.

To be honest, the coupling is the only thing I am buying new for this. All of the rest has been salvaged, re-purposed or traded for.

The base of the trailer is a baby crib frame I got for free off of Facebook, and the pull-bar and some brackets are built from a small stepladder I curb-picked from a neighbor. The wheels were on Facebook marketplace for $25  The wheel push-pull braces and a few other parts are made from the frame of a folding camp chair, again a curb-pick.

The starting point

First step was to drill out all the rivets in the ladder, then mark and cut the handle at 45 degrees to match up with the hitch.

Once it is bolted to the side of the frame, I had to extend the "hook" to be long enough. I just spliced a leg piece on using a bracket from the ladder as the splice (through-bolted in both directions) then used the X-brace from it to make a pull-brace to reinforce the splice.

I then cut the narrower stair in 1/2 to make the wheel mounting plates, drilled them for the axle and bolted them in place.

Once the wheels were fitted, I cut push-pull x-braces out of the lawn chair and fastened them with 1" corner brackets, again through-bolted. I did use 3D printed pillow blocks to stabilize the axle (PETG, 10 walls, 90% infill) but it makes no sense to post the STL for them since every build is different depending on the source of materials. I like the higher trailer for going over grass, but some guys might prefer to just bolt through the frame directly.

In the end I did cheat on the spending a little. I was going to use some regular spray-paint I had on hand, but decided to go with something tougher. I used Duplicolor truck bed liner. It's got Kevlar in the formulation so is as tough a finish as I can get from a rattle-can, and one can is enough for both the trailer and bike. A little spending now will pay off in not having to touch up chips nearly as often in the future.

Right now, it is a perfectly useable trailer. Simply bungie-cord anything to the steel mesh. In time I will make a wooden slat bed and side rails, to fit in with the 1940's look of the bike itself. But that's a woodworking project for next winter.

And there we go, a trailer in the wild looking for a bike to mate with. If you look closely, you will see I put a few degrees angle on the wheels. That will help it be self-correcting going over uneven ground, exactly the way WW1 aircraft wheels worked. As bike trailers go, it is big at 2 feet by 5 feet.

(to be continued....)

Welcome !

 Hey guys. 1st post in this blog.

It's 4am on a July Sunday, 2022. I have a hot cup of coffee beside me, a movie going on the laptop, a project E-bike (that this blog is all about) parked in the corner and a heavily-modified Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printer behind me.

What this blog is meant to do, is document my build of a very low-budget E-bike cruiser. I am doing it with a minimal of tools, most of which can be bought from the dollar store or cheaply on Amazon. My "shop" is a 10x12 spare bedroom in a 2-bedroom apartment that doubles as a computer room, "sanity space", some storage space, as well as a crafts room for my wife. Everything is done with simple hand tools, and there is no welding or anything complicated involved. I've designed this project to be as simple as a custom build can be. The biggest at-a-time expense is around $200 CDN, so it is a very affordable project and in the end I will have a comfortable E-bike without a huge up-front expense. The whole point is to prove it can be done. It's just as much about the challenge of doing it without a full-blown machine shop (too easy) as it is about having a unique ride that nobody else does.

The frame I am basing the build on is a med-century Schwinn cruiser. It's a good starting point and has nice curves to work with, but I'll be honest. It is a rusty wreck overpriced at the $50 I paid for it. In the end it will look something like this ebike:

I am also building a low-cost matching cargo trailer to go along with it and will add a post or 2 about that as I get it built.

Some of the modification I am doing may require 3D prints (depending on parts choices), and I will post links to the STL files at no cost, on my Printables account. There may be other options as well sometimes, which I will point out on each sub-assembly.

OK, a little legal housekeeping and disclosure. 

I am in Ontario, Canada and this project is based on our current E-Bike regulations , or the simplified Ontario Government version. If you live in a different jurisdiction, it is your responsibility to find and follow the applicable regulations for your area.

I am an Amazon Affiliate, so if you purchase anything through a link I provide, I may receive some sort of consideration. A word on Amazon. I find a Prime membership is worth every penny. For $10 a month not only do you get free shipping without having to spend $35 at a time (which always seems to end up a lot more than $35), you get prime Video. Movies, TV shows, News. It's my only entertainment source on the TV and all I need.

If you are local to me, I will be happy to help you find low-cost parts and suppliers for most of what you need, and give free pointers, but for liability reasons wont actually build a bike for you. You will have to do that part yourself.

And finally,

Nothing in this blog is to be considered technical advice in any way, shape or form. It is a build diary (and written as such) of my own project to build myself a legal power-assisted bicycle. I have no formal education whatsoever in mechanics or mechanical engineering. If you choose to build your own project based on anything presented in this blog, you do so at your own risk and responsibility. This blogs sole purpose is to act as a diary of my own custom ebike build, that may or may not act as an inspiration for some ideas towards a readers own build. 

First post over. On to the fun stuff !!