Resto-mod of the mostly unchanged rolling chassis. On the front end, the 45-year-old forks were rebuilt, the goofy cable-actuated front disc caliper was overhauled, and the fender trimmed. Without gears, the clutch lever was repurposed to actuate analog regenerative braking. We also kept the original switches on the bars, but are running them to the new control system via a custom PCB under the tank. On the tail end, the passenger peg mounting hoops and rear fender were cut off the frame for a cleaner look.
We removed the tachometer, and built a new bracket to mount the speedometer alone at the center, with an integrated mini dash panel of LED indicators for electrical system status. The same bracket holding the speedo doubles as the headlight mount.
To maintain the original cush drive attachment to the rear wheel, the teeth on the stock sprocket were cut away and it was reshaped to be a carrier for the new 60T sprocket.
We machined the motor mount which was designed to position the output sprocket in the same location as the gas motor, giving a similar chainline. An aluminum chain guard was formed by hand and welded up to mount off of the motor plate. On the opposite side, we CNC’ed an aluminum plate sporting the Omega logo as a heatsink for the electric motor.
The battery pack was designed to consume the remaining space in the frame. The pack is built with 32 15Ah LiFePO4 cells, which are held inside the enclosure by custom 3D-printed nests. The enclosure is a 5-sided box with a top lid. The two sides were machined from 1.25” aluminum plate, and the wall that follows the curved profile to join those two side plates is a bent ⅛” sheet, stitch-welded along the inside. The cell module drops in from the top and the lid screws on with battery balance cables passing through it. The battery is mounted to the frame off of six bent steel brackets, using most of the same mounting points as the old gas engine did.
The battery’s high power cables exit the enclosure through submersible cable ports and then duck quickly back under the hollowed out tank, which shrouds the motor controller and other less attractive electrical components. The charger port is mounted under the gas cap. From the controller, the motor phase cables route down to the motor through the vertical column on the frame, with a thin aluminum insert covering the front face.
The foam on the original seat was trimmed to be shorter, reupholstered in faux leather, and a tail light was integrated at the rear face, framed by an aluminum mounting plate. Matching the seat material, a new tank protector was sewn up to match the ribbed pattern of the rubber piece that came stock on this bike. The battery display screen is mounted inside the tank, underneath that leather piece. The top portion of the tank protector is fixed down, but the bottom corners are held to the tank with magnets, so it can be flipped up to reveal the screen when charging. The low-power electrical junction and fuses all sit under the seat on a bent and welded aluminum bracket mounted to the same points as the original lead-acid battery holder.
The bike weighs in at 245lbs, about a 20% reduction from it’s stock weight of 302lbs. The electrical system is all sized for a max current of 200 amps, hence calling it the EV200. Traded cubic centimeters for amps! This build was completed recently, so speed and range optimization are still in progress. We’re expecting a top speed of about 60mph, and range of somewhere around 30-50miles. We don’t want to quote anything publicly yet because the internet latches onto that stuff, so we want to tune controller settings a bit more before publishing specs!
It might be worth mentioning that we’re not very particular about our category. We’ve always felt this bike lands somewhere between an urban scrambler and cafe racer, but the high handlebar placement made it feel more appropriate to enter as tracker/scrambler. If you guys like the bike but disagree with our categorization, please feel free to group us wherever seems more appropriate for apples-to-apples judging.
Thank you!