I’ve been tossing around ideas about an all-out, completely funded electric motorcycle fantasy build. Hey. The winter’s getting cold, up in this neck of the woods.
After much thought, oh, maybe 15 minutes or even a half-hour, I think I’d start with a 2009 Yamaha R1. Here’s the frame and running gear:
Plenty of room, especially considering the frame looks like this from the top:
(I always love when publications take a manufacturer’s photo and claim it as their own.)
Nice big hole to drop a pack into.
I’m thinking along the lines of the Motenergy ME0913 PMAC motor with a Curtis controller. AC motors and controllers are new to me, so I have to do some more work on which controller…
I’m pretty sure I’m not reinventing the wheel here, and there are a couple of bikes out there that are exactly this setup… but I can’t for the life of me find them. Help? (Wait. Was it Ripperton?)
EDIT: Of course… Ripperton. Here’s the story with some great shots on EVMotorcycles.org. Time to read up. (AAaaaand the build thread with index.)










Isn’t Ripperton using a R1′s chassis ?
Couple notes; Curtis controller will not currently work with the Motenergy PMAC motors. It only runs induction machines. The R1 frames you linked are different model years and from the R1 frame I have seen they are quite narrow between the tubes. This is because the cylinder head sits below the main frame tubes. If you want a very large (volume) frame look at a CBR1000RR or maybe a GSXR1000 frame.
Thanks, Kyle! Yeah, I have a lot to learn about them AC motors…
Let me know if you have more questions about this. I would love to help out wherever you may need it
Ok so if we are talking fantasy.
- Wide sports bike frame
- Yasa 750 Motor http://www.yasamotors.com/technology/products/yasa-750
- EIG batteries – Large format for street, Hi C for track http://www.eigbattery.com/
- Tritium WaveSculpter200 http://tritium.com.au/products/wavesculptor200-motor-inverter/
- liquid cooling for both motor and controller
Not that I have been thinking about these things…
But this could give a bike that has the following characteristics:
- over 100Kw peak power (134hp)
- 400Nm peak torque
- approx 90kg of electric components and mounting gear