Gallery: Awesome DIY Electric Bikes Defy Laws, Good Sense
01firefly edison
Building your own electric bike has many advantages over buying one. It’s cheaper: you can pick up parts from scrapyards or buy cheap off-the-shelf motors, and even a purpose-made conversion kit can be had for $400, a lot less than buying a new electric bike. A home-made bike is also easier to maintain. Because you built it yourself, you know how to fix it. But best of all is speed. To still qualify legally as a bicycle and not a motor vehicle, top speeds are typically limited to something around 15 mph, less than you can achieve with a good pair of legs. Strap an old truck starter motor to a beater mountain bike, though, and you can hit much more dangerous speeds. Firefly Edison -------------- The Firefly and Edison Trailer from Bryce Tugwell comes in at the classy end of the range. The bike itself is a simple conversion: a Bianchi Milano Citta, fitted with a 36-volt 700-watt brushless electric hub and powered by batteries kept in a beautiful hand-built box. But what really gets us excited is the Edison Trailer in the back. Made from the same wood as the battery-box, the trailer features a “drop-in Martini bar (vodka, gin, vermouth, shaker, ice bucket, lemons, limes, olives and 4 martini glasses).” I’ll take mine with gin, stirred. [Firefly & the Edison Trailer](http://www.flickr.com/photos/riverrats/sets/72157622282327349/) *Photo: RogueGourmet/Flickr*
02School Trike
School Trike ------------ What about a trike? After all, if you’re not going to pedal, you may as well sit back and relax, too. This tricycle was a school project from Smegger, and if you fancy making your own you can follow along with his how-to at Instructables. The “600W Electric Trike” is made mostly from 35-mm square-section steel tubing and the front end of a BMX, and the seat is a standard school chair with the legs removed. To get things moving, Smegger used a pair of 12-volt 32-amp batteries, running to motors in the rear wheels. To get moving you push a handlebar-mounted plunger with your thumb. If only we’d made stuff like this back when I was in school. [600W Electric Trike](http://www.instructables.com/id/600W-Electric-Trike/?ALLSTEPS) \[Instructables\]
03huffzilla
Huffzilla --------- The Huffzilla is just about the dirtiest and most fun-looking mod of all. The donor bike is an old Huffy mountain bike, onto which YouTuber Meepsgood has bolted a truck starter motor, a 12-volt car battery, a pair of old jumper leads and a solenoid and switch. [The video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVy3z_xi6g) shows him hitting 60 kph (37 mph) in first gear. And as Meepsgood points out, he has another six gears on top of that. Total cost was $80 (including $50 for the bike). [Huffzilla](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVy3z_xi6g) \[YouTube\]
04the-retro-electric-bike
Retro Electric Bike ------------------- The Retro Electric Bike was built by the TheFullMetalAlchemist from Melbourne, Australia. The look of the bike is best described by the maker himself: “Inspired by the bikes from the '30s and '40s with a touch of World War II Japanese Zero Fighter.” This one has the power running to the front hub, while the rear wheel stays pedal-driven. Pretty much everything except the wheels is hand-built, with 4130 chromoly steel for the frame and 6061 aluminum for the “tank” and fenders. TheFullMetalAlchemist is a student of metal fabrication engineering, and this shows itself in the stats he has recorded for the build: 181 hand-cut pieces, 30 parts and 86 bolts, which took a total of 600 hours over 16 weeks to put together. [Retro Electric Bike](http://www.instructables.com/id/Retro-Electric-Bike/) \[Instructables\]
05the-rat-trike
Rat Trike --------- AussieJester (aka Kim) shows what you can do with skill, a great machine shop and a lot of time. His electric Rat Trike is a scratch-build that is almost ridiculously professional, and yet is pretty much illegal to use anywhere. The frame is welded from steel tubing and the motor is a 1,000-watt, 4-brush electric model, which drives a chain running to a jack-shaft arrangement that in turn transfers power to the rear wheels. All the other hardware is re-used from donor bikes. Kim has gotten the Rat Trike up to 79 kph (50 mph) in second gear. West Australian laws state that an electric trike needs working pedals (he has none) and can use a maximum 200-watt motor. Kim has this last part covered: “I do have a 200-watt sticker photoshopped up for the motor.” [Custom 1000watt’48volt ‘Rat’ e-Trike](http://visforvoltage.org/forum/6068-custom-1000watt03948volt-039rat039-etrike) \[V is for Voltage forum\]
