Pimp my ride – (Slowly pimp my ride)

Blog post (trike) February 2024

Post 2 of the electric assist conversion.

As I write this post about the electric assist conversion on the ICE adventure recumbent trike I am at a bit of an impasse because each new stage of the job has created a problem which has taken so much time to solve that I am spending more time running backwards and forwards to the computer than actual time doing the job. Yesterday for example I got completely stumped by what I expected to be one of the simpler jobs (fitting the battery support) and neither I nor my good neighbor could work out the instructions. Having spent several hours of internet time solving that one, today I had a first look at the wiring and my first problems with that showed up – the power cable from battery to motor neither being long enough or having the right connectors : I also found that I needed to buy more components from ICE to mount the speedometer and controller while I also work on making a custom power connector with non-kit parts.

I .Disassembling the existing front end ; removing the chain, the cranks and the bottom bracket.

It took me a bit longer to get to this stage than I anticipated because I was asking around for what specific tools I would need and nobody was quite sure without seeing that actual machine – I even asked ICE themselves and even they weren’t sure but they agreed with my plan of taking the trike down to Certini and asking them there. The first problem I came across is that the trike has a very long chain and even with running it all through my fingers I could neither feel or see a standard split link so the first tool that Certini sold me was a chain rivet removal tool (chain splitter). The big question (in my mind) was what tool I needed for the bottom bracket removal and it wasn’t what ICE suggested might be the right one which looked to me like a form of socket and according to the store was more like a wide but thin ring spanner.

2.Admin….buying in the parts

The big thing that happened in the background is that I spent time watching the excellent Utah trikes tutorial about fitting a Bafang kit and what I took from that was that I would need some additional parts, namely a torque arm for the motor and a battery carrier tray to mount the Lithium battery. Because of having to order them from the USA I did that job ahead of time and i’m glad because there was a bit of ‘concern’ about what they assumed was a Lithium battery being shipped by air while in fact it is only the battery tray being shipped, whatever, Utah trikes were very efficient at sorting that problem. A later update in that is that ICE may also carry a suitable battery tray in the event of me needing a second battery and carrier.

As I write, I have ordered and received the Bafang kit from a random Amazon supplier and only after some very random questions did they actually send it. Even then there were several small parts (mainly fasteners) missing and right now I am dealing with the main electrical cable not being long enough so one job this week will be to splice some electrical juice cable between the battery termination and the motor. Right now I am on the weekend session of ordering the parts that I will need later in the week.

3.Time to spin some spanners.

Using the chain splitter tool – if it seems really basic then do remember that iv’e never done this (my motorbikes all came with split links)

4. Fitting the motor unit.

The new front end comprises of the Bafang motor unit which has it’s own cranks and is attached to the frame’s boom via the motor spigot which slides through the shell of the original bottom bracket and then it’s chain ring and chain guard attach to the motor. This caused me my first ‘words’ moment when I had slid the motor spigot into place and couldn’t find the parts that I knew must be with the kit somewhere but I couldn’t find anywhere – the cranks and threaded fastening that hold the motor in place…..they had been packed underneath one of the main packing pieces in one of the kit boxes. One of the first new parts went on at this time as well- this being the custom torque arm which came from Utah Trikes.

5. Should have been simple-wasn’t !

Having watched several video’s of Bafang kits being fitted to various trikes I thought that the most difficult part might be the wiring, mainly because i’m not quite sure, even now, what is essential and what can be left out. The simplest part, I thought, would be fitting the custom battery mount and I already had the kit for that from UT. At the end of the day being spent fitting the motor I thought I would use the remaining daylight to chuck the battery mount on – how wrong I was. Even the next day, when I had re-read the instructions several times the parts made less sense so I pulled in my mechanically minded neighbor to take a look and he couldn’t work it out either. I, for one, felt that the instructions really needed the equivalent of a 1969’s Haynes guide for an old British motorbike and where most things are covered by simple black and white drawings of the parts in question. I only found, possibly, a solution on the internet of an earlier black and white drawing of a battery mount being fitted to a different trike also with rear suspension. At the moment it’s a case of it being on but not looking quite right and also, being a trike, the wiring, being intended for a bicycle doesn’t reach the motor.

6. Probably going to be a PITA.

Today (Sunday) I took a first look at the wiring, I thought that fitting the various sensors might be a problem because I knew I didn’t have the various parts I would need but I did think that the main power cable would go straight on – it didn’t – because : 1, There isn’t enough cable and 2. The connectors each end are different (one end has an Anderson connector while the other looks like one end of a Bullet connector). I think I am going to have to heave out my boat electrics workshop box and make up a custom cable to replace most of the existing wiring run. Later this week I know I will have the problem of working out what else to fit and, like an old BSA, which parts to leave out – the trike isn’t for example going to have an electric throttle as it will be limited to ‘assist’ modes on the computer.

Finally though, updating on ‘the mission’.

As its most relevant here I thought I would add regular updates about what is going on with my mission towards lower body weight and higher fitness. Today for example is a wet and windy one but I got out there and completed walk no 53 at a higher pace (faster step rate) than I have attempted up until now and while I noticed more of a wheeze at the faster pace it was only slight and it did mean that I completed the loop in significantly less time than usual. By the end of this week I will be somewhere near 70 exercise sessions in the bag and contemplating what to do in the following week. It’s a bit tempting to do a lot more when I am feeling good and then go ‘slack’ when I feel the need to make an excuse and have an easy day. Consistent discipline is something I have always lacked and this time it seems that I may be getting there.

As of today (mid March) it has gone mainly dry but bitterly cold in a fresh breeze so although I was out there this morning pounding the Tavistock canal path I really didn’t enjoy it but really wanted to be warm and at home. I don’t know how those whom suddenly get a fitness craze at new year and suddenly take up the gym or running survive the experience of starting training in the winter…..from my past experience most don’t make it past the first 6 weeks and I am now sure that not starting a new training venture until late March is the best way to go : in a way I am training to start training……if you know what I mean.

For this post I thought I would share a couple of things that I came across in the work of Dr Peter Attia (the longevity guy) and also Dr Rhonda Patrick – who works in the same field….I have embedded a video below.

1.On diet and fasting. Attia used to be one of the proponents of fasting as a medical strategy towards better survival and also weight loss and control. Nowadays it sounds as though he has moved away from fasting – his reasoning being that it always comes with muscle loss. For me, in my late 60’s muscle loss is a very bad idea so I’m rethinking my own approach towards maybe just working inside a daily eating window and concentrating instead in a qualitative change in what I eat ; i’m mostly doing that anyway with a deliberate reduction in the amount of sugar and carbohydrates I eat.

2. Which lever to pull on. The second point that Peter Attia makes is a nice analogy about dietary levers….he says we can choose which one/s of the three we have to pull on. He says that the 3 levers are : quantity (caloric intake), quality (balance of nutrients) and 3 timing (intermittent or actual fasting). I am pulling gently on all 3 thus today I am eating only inside a time window, changed what I ate (in terms of carbs/fat/ protein balance) and overall had a small caloric reduction. The main change for me is that I am working towards a ‘zero biscuit state’ as I recognize that biscuits were always my main problem.

3.Exercise – single most significant metric for longevity. Dr Attia says that the single most significant metric (measurement) for long health is maximum VO2. I can’t really go into that in great detail here although at one time measuring physiological parameters such as arterial blood gases and cardiac output was part of my job as an ICU charge nurse. Basically put VO2 max is a measurement of how much cardiac workload you can sustain. The video take on this, from Dr Rhonda Patrick suggests that the ‘Norwegian’ routine of a 4 x 4 workout at a high heart rate is a way that an older athlete could achieve a younger heart outcome (below). It sounds as though I am going to have to ‘take the pain’ of that one but only once a week.

As I write I have had some small degree of success – today’s faster paced exercise being one side and also that I lost a small amount (about 400 gm) of weight and my usual belt is in by anything up to 2 notches. It all helps, even a small change in weight will make my hill work easier in both walking exercise and when riding the trike. I don’t want to hex it in any way but it does seem that I am doing something right at least.