Motorized bicycles are nothing new.
In the 1940s and 1950s the Whizzer engine kit was available to bolt into a standard bicycle frame. A 138cc single-cylinder gasoline engine, the Whizzer transferred power to the rear wheel via V-belts, slip clutch and sheave. With an afternoon’s worth of work, an ordinary bicycle went from pedal power to motor power.
Although the Whizzer is now just a footnote in history, motorized bicycles, and the technology that motivates them, have come a long way.
Take Madboy Electric Vehicles. Based in Seattle, Madboy is the brainchild of Dan deCordova and partner Maggie Groves. Together, they’ve got their fingers on the pulse of the electric bicycle industry (madboyev.com).
Enter raconteur and entrepreneur ‘Doc’ Ron Maltin of Drumheller, Alberta.
Maltin operates Alberta Badlands Top-Down Tours, a tour company that ferries paying guests around the hoodoos and other sights and scenes of the Drumheller Valley in one of a fleet of five convertible Chrysler PT Cruisers (badlandstour.com).
While visiting Seattle last fall, Maltin stumbled across Madboy’s storefront in Pioneer Square.
“I was walking past the building and saw these amazing custom-design bicycles,” Maltin said. “I had my nose pressed up against the glass, when from the back of the shop out comes a fellow, and I introduced myself.”
The ‘fellow’ was Madboy’s deCordova, an engineer, sustainability advocate, and biking aficionado. What ensued was a two-and-a-half hour conversation about electric bicycles.
Maltin was interested, because he saw the potential for a fleet of rental e-bikes to complement his PT Cruiser tour business. But, the 32 kilometre long Drumheller Valley has some rather impressive hills and coulees.
“The talk basically led to me giving Dan the technical requirements of a bicycle suited for the valley,” Maltin explained.
Over the course of the winter, Maltin and deCordova discussed frames, wheels, brakes, gearing, electric motors, controls and battery packs.
Maltin appreciated the old-school Schwinn-style bicycle frame (the irony here is most Whizzer motors were originally bolted into balloon-tire Schwinns).
Maltin wanted a geared pedal drive system, and good brakes that would quickly halt a bicycle loaded with a 90 kg rider traveling 32 km/h.
By April 2014, deCordova had a prototype – based on the Izip E3 Zuma — ready for Maltin to test.
“We started with the Zuma bicycle,” deCordova said in a phone interview, “and with a few tweaks we’ve turned it from a consumer bicycle to one streamlined for operating in a fleet.”
The two-wheeler features a classic balloon-tire bicycle frame, three-speed gear shifter system, and Currie Technologies rear hub electric motor and compact battery and control box carrier.
Maltin traveled to Ellensberg, Wash., where he met deCordova, Groves, and the fleet bicycle prototype. The Ellensberg terrain is similar to the Drumheller Valley – and Maltin put the bike to the test.
It worked well, so he kept the machine for further testing, traveling back home to Drumheller via the Riggins Jet Boat Races in Idaho. Here, he rode the bicycle off-road, and from his campsite the 10 kilometres into the town proper every day for general supplies.
When he got home, though, he found the bicycle was straining to climb longer, and very steep hills.
“I found I wasn’t getting the kind of range I wanted with the loads I was putting on the bike,” Maltin said.
He was on the phone to deCordova, and in July he was back in Seattle to have the motor exchanged with another from Currie Technologies. This time, the bicycle performed the way he expected. Returning home from this trip, Maltin stopped at the Stateline Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho, where he took in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races.
“I had pit passes, and within the first 10 minutes I was chastised for speeding in the pits,” Maltin said.
But that only brought him some attention from race teams and their crew chiefs. Several went for test rides, and each one of them, Maltin said, was impressed with the performance.
“There’s some interest in possibly putting together some fleets of electric bicycles for the teams,” Maltin explained.Maltin continues to test his Zuma-based ‘Badlands Special’, and says he gets a 35 km range in full-power mode, without any pedal assistance. The bicycle will go further if the rider assists with pedaling chores. His machine, he said, would cost close to $3,000.
“If anything can help get an old guy, like me, out on a bike, it’s a good thing,” Maltin said. “It’s not all about exercise, though, but more about alternative transportation.”
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have an auto related item to share for the column or What’s Next? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca. Visit his website at gregwilliams.ca
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Aug. 16: Northern Mopars 25th annual all Mopar/AMC show and shine at Capitol Hill Community Centre (14th St. & 20th Ave. N.W.). Registration 9 a.m. until noon, $10 non-competition or $20 judged for all Chrysler and A.M.C. vehicles. Show runs until 4 p.m. with awards and door prizes presented prior to 4. Spectators are free but a donation to the Liver Foundation of Canada is appreciated. Call Larry at 403-243-4703 or visit http://www.mopars.org for more info.
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