Andre Jute turned his Utopia Kranich into an electrified bike. In this six-part photo essay he shows you how he did it, how you can turn your own bike into a pedelec without spending a fortune, for two only hours of your time.
The latest Linetec development from BUMM makes a superior daylight running light, as well as an effective nighttime warning light. Pity it doesn't flash as well, to attract even more attention. Those German legislators who made the law forbidding bikes on German roads to carry flashing lights should have put their brains in gear first.
1: ELECTRIC MOTOR CHOICES FOR A PEDELEC
2: CHOOSING YOUR KIT, AND ITS SUPPLIER
3: HOW I BUILT MY ELECTRIC BIKE IN A COUPLE OF HOURS
4: FITTING THE BATTERY AND CONTROLS
5: CAR STRENGTH LAMPS FOR 36V ELECTRIC BICYCLES
Building an Electric Bike 6:
SETTING UP CAR STRENGTH LAMPS ON AN ELECTRIC BIKE
by Andre Jute
When testing the first-generation BUMM Cyo lamp which I’m replacing with the BUMM Fly E for pedelecs with batteries up to 36V nominal, I described the Cyo as better than VW lights from the days of 6V lighting on cars. The Fly E shares the optics of the latest Cyo, and on a big battery will have constant current, than which (any hi-fi aficionado knows) there is nothing better. It has the antecedents to be an excellent lamp.
This is what a cyclist does not want to present to a motorist on an otherwise dark road. The psychological imperative is to drive for the light.
The Fly E offers something the Cyo lacks, three physical click stops that position the lamp vertically. They are not very fine adjustments , so only two of them are useful.
Let’s orient you first. This is late dusk, artificially lightened a little so you can see what is going on, in the carpark I shall use to set up my new lights. The lamp on the bike is 60 metres behind the rear lights of the car at the deepest wall; the rear lights of the car are also level with the nearer wall, carrying the posters.
This is the lowest setting on the BUMM Fly E. It may not be enough, especially on well lit roads, to catch the attention of oncoming drivers.
This is the middle setting. Turn the bike every so slightly, or just tilt it, and no driver can miss your lamp. This setting is suitable for use at speed. Notice that it picks up the reflectors and plate of the car to attract the rider’s attention to possible obstructions.
This is the highest setting. It may be good for signaling to low-flying aircraft but otherwise it will just irritate motorists without bestowing any benefit on the cyclist.
Here I am in the same position at full dark, applying wrenches to the lamp mounting to set up the BUMM Fly E so that the lowest position will be the one used around town and on heavily trafficked roads. The lamps picks up an obstruction four feet off my line. That hotspot is deeply unfortunate. It stops the current Fly or its optical relative the Cyo being described as the best lamp in the world, as the previous Fly/Cyo easily was. (Today there is very strong competition from the Philips SafeRide, now also available in a pedelec version. The Philips in any version but particularly as a pedelec lamp, still a novelty, is currently substantially more expensive that the Fly E.)
This is a good time to check the sidespill of the lamp. There is more than the Cyo has, but I would like still more as in the twisty lanes where I ride it is often essential to be able to distinguish the edge of the road if you don’t want to fall into the ditch.
Okay, let’s move over to the advertising boards, and see how far our responsible-citizen lighting reaches. Notice that the car, well over to the right, has it’s reflector lit. This won’t be much use except on totally dark roads, but many commuters take shortcuts through unlit byways. It’s of course a matter of opinion, but on this setting I would not exceed 15kph, say 10mph, except on well-lit roads.
One notch up. This is definitely a speed setting. I do fast work on my badly surfaced fast downhills on this setting.
Clearly, BUMM’s Fly E is a very good lamp. We could perhaps ask for a little more sidespill, we could expect that BUMM should give us a bolt and a nut to fix the lamp to the bike (bloody cheap on such an expensive lamp not to give the buyer a bolt and a nut!), and above all, we could wish that hotspot gone. But at this price you can’t buy another bicycle lamp this good except the first series Cyo (still available as NOS) which BUMM says throws exactly the same light pattern. Notice in particular the crewcut flat top to the lamp’s throw. Being able to set your lamps so that no light spills over the windowsill line into the eyes of drivers is worth gold for a cyclist. And, if a driver is stupid, a quick tilt of the handlebars will sweep a hefty dose of lumens through his car as a warning to smarten up.
One more notch, just to demonstrate that the last notch is useless. Now very little light falls on the road, and the main effort of the light is into the eyes of drivers of very tall trucks indeed. A worthless setting.
While we’re in the rare and wonderful darkness, let’s check the rear lamp. I’ve set this test up for a worst-case scenario. A driver identifies your bike as a moving vehicle both by your rear lamp and by the moving white light thrown towards the front of the vehicle. A LED has an almost infinite lifespan, so it isn’t likely that your front lamp will go out, but let’s just say you’ve fallen into the gorse, which ripped not only you, but the wire to your front lamp so that it receives no current. So half your recognition pattern is gone. Let’s also say the battery is no longer fresh but instead at the end of your normal longest run. Will BUMM’s Toplight Line Plus, which I fitted at the same time, be visible? Yes, it will! A driver would have to be blind to miss it. This is at fifty feet.
Here, for comparison, are the warnings at roadworks, with the furthest cone also fifty feet away. Clearly, the Toplight Line Plus is a very visible rear lamp.
Just a-riding in the dark… Though I normally stay on the tarmac, such as it is, in search of a challenge for my new lights I went offroad into connecting lanes. The lights didn’t fail me. I enjoyed riding in the dark so much, that’s the sky lightening before dawn breaks behind the clouds. I rode all night with my new lights.
Building an Electric Bike:
by Andre Jute
1: ELECTRIC MOTOR CHOICES FOR A PEDELEC
2: CHOOSING YOUR KIT, AND ITS SUPPLIER
3: HOW I BUILT MY ELECTRIC BIKE IN A COUPLE OF HOURS
4: FITTING THE BATTERY AND CONTROLS
5: CAR STRENGTH LAMPS FOR 36V ELECTRIC BICYCLES
6: SETTING UP CAR STRENGTH LIGHTS ON AN ELECTRIC BIKE
Text and original photographs copyright © 2012 Andre Jute