The Breeze this summer (click on pictures to enlarge)
It's nine years ago that I gave up my car because I had become too disappointed with how I got around. This was very unexpected, because in my family I've been the gearhead who had the Porsches, Mercedes, Fiat Abarth, Austin Healeys, the BMW, Yamaha, and Honda motorcycles. I've put 356C engines in a VW bug and a Karmann Ghia, had a souped up 1957 VW bus, and took part in SCCA Formula Vee. Because I think it's such a neat car, I still have the broken Porsche 912 I blew up. It took a lot for me to become disillusioned with cars. But I think our transportation system is now mostly expensive bandaids over systemic problems. There's now twice as many drivers who travel twice as many miles each year compared to when I was younger, and we knew cars had serious problems back then. One third of people can't drive, and cities need less traffic not more. Unless you're a fossil fuel company looking to misinform people for another year of record profits, it's just plain poor planning to expect everyone to drive. I decided I'd rather be working on better solutions.
Taking measurements before drawing
I started this bike by building a seat, and then using a mockup of 2x4's and plywood to position the seat and pedals so that I could measure the clearances to my legs for the bodywork. I positioned slats of wood so that my legs would just clear them while pedaling, while also experimenting with different seat, pedal, and handlebar positions. The RANS Stratus parked next to the mockup is for comparisons because I have experience riding it.
I've used NanoCAD free but have switched over to QCAD
Then I transferred the measurements to a 2D CAD drawing to adjust everything to fit together. In this closeup the sloping red line in front of the handlebars is the maximum height of my legs, and the red circle above the pedals shows the top of my shoe clearance below the front bin. The clearance between my knees and the brake levers was the most difficult part. The finished bike has 1 1/8" clearance to my shins and knees. Although there is + 3 inches of seat adjustment and the handlebars are adjustable, this bike is generally a tailored fit for my size.
All of my bikes have been meant to make my everyday errands safer and more comfortable on a rural road network designed for cars (i.e. with unwalkable distances between destinations). When it became apparent that the F(when all you have is a car everything looks like a speedway)HWA and my state Departments of Transportation (Vermont and New Hampshire) were very capable of widening interstates I-89 and I-95 within a few years but not able to provide good bicycle infrastructure for me in my lifetime, it meant I had to start building the transportation system I wanted from my end. The Breeze was designed to be the equivalent of a car. I started off the design by using measurements from the RANS Stratus semi recumbent bike that I enjoy, combined with measurements from the similar Easy Racer semi recumbents. But the best all around cars I've owned, (1989, 1990, 1992 Saab 900 hatchbacks), had the same seat height and foot placement, so I also copied the Saab steering wheel and seat angles too - this bike is like driving in my Saabs. While the Breeze is a semi recumbent and uses different muscles to pedal and balance than an upright bike, (I steer by tilting my head slightly, and I would not be able to climb local hills without the electric assist), I have truly zoned out in comfort on this bike.
A tall roof would affect balance Photo credit: Unternehmer TUM GmbH
Sometimes bike designers have used full bodywork for weather protection, such as velomobiles and this bike from the Technische Universität München "Mobilität neu erleben mit dem Reisefahrrad Läufer" (New mobility experience with a rotor pedal bicycle) project. I'm concerned about the top heavy weight of a tall roof and the stability in side winds, and though the Lit enclosed motorcycle uses gyroscopes to deal with this problem, I wanted to keep it simple.
Minimal frontal area Photo credit: Porsche Newsroom
I decided instead to take a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) approach with minimal bodywork covering each component, and used a cargo bin in front of the rider as the primary aerodynamic/weather protection device.
The front bin is the main aerodynamic device, however in the future I could also add a Vee shaped panel under the bin in front of the pedals similar to the engine shroud on Ninja style motorcycles. The aero is designed for front to back flow while minimizing the side area. The bin is made from 3/16" Luan plywood (sometimes called Philippine mahogany). When I was a carpenter we used this as underlayment to smooth out lumpy floors, and I had saved some pieces with quilted grain which I used for this bin. Although the bin floor is level, the bottom of the sides slope down to the front (parallel to the solar panel) to provide more leg weather protection. The sides were kerfed to bend the rounded front and it's coated with a spar urethane varnish.
Between the smaller semi recumbent frontal area and the rounded bin, this bike is fast. I made 40 test runs coasting down moderate local hills to compare it to my mountain bike (which has the same tires). Rolling at a commuter speed of 10 mph at the top of each hill, the average speeds (coasting, in mph) at the bottom were:
1. paved 700 feet @ 3.3 degrees: MTB 24.7 / Breeze 28.1, (difference 3.4 mph)
2. gravel 75' @ 8.4° then 200' @ 5.2°: MTB 25.1 / Breeze 28.4, (difference 3.3)
3. paved 680' @ 3.8°: MTB 25.7 / Breeze 29.9, (difference 4.2)
4. paved 1250' @ 2.8°: MTB 21.4 / Breeze 25.9, (difference 4.5)
5. paved 790' @ 4.8° then 600' @ 3.7°: MTB 30.3 / Breeze 39.1 (difference 8.8)
Overall the average Breeze coasting speed was 4.8 mph faster than the MTB, but it shows up at higher speeds. The aerodynamics made hardly any difference at regular commuting speeds around 12 mph, but the fastest test hill was 8.8 average (9.6 peak) mph faster. This hill was a bit scary, because while my coasting MTB would peak around 30 mph and stay at 30, the Breeze was already at 34 at the bottom of the first slope and continued increasing to 40 mph through the second slope before I called it off - there is third steeper downslope after that and I wasn't willing to bring a new unsorted bike up to 50. These aren't my steepest hills though and once the testing is done I expect 50 mph coasting will be crossed, this is a good situation for adding regenerative braking (however this will require custom hardware).
A typical chart of speed versus chances of death
Graph credit: ITE Community of Transportation Professionals
At 40 mph enough air pressure builds up at the front of the bin that the solar panel lifts up an inch even though it is angled down to the front, and I started to think about a side gust of wind or pavement rut knocking me over.
Perhaps this bike is unnecessarily fast. In the big picture I measured the approximate time it took me to ride the coasting test route and the Breeze's extra coasting speed wasn't that significant. I won't give an analysis here because I stopped at least 12 times to write notes over the 12 mile route, but the Breeze test routes took maybe 52 minutes versus maybe 55 minutes for the mountain bike. It's mainly because the higher top coasting speed lasted for a shorter time than the slower climbs up the hills, often one gear slower for the Breeze because it's 50 pounds heavier. (This reminds me of the power versus speed conundrum, where traveling twice as fast uses power squared but this lasts for half as long.) Also the 4 stop signs took the same amount of time for each bike. While bicycle commuter routes should be planned to be safe at coasting speeds higher than the legal ebike 20 mph limit, there are other significant factors road engineers should optimize when conscientiously minimizing bicycle commuter travel times the same as they would for car drivers.
On the other hand the extra speed helps me control passing cars better. Although 80% of people rate themselves as above average drivers, I've noticed that car drivers mindlessly expect to pass me on any of my bikes, even when I've experimented with riding 28 mph in a 25 mph zone - they still pass. To increase my safety I try to control where a car passes me by speeding up or slowing down ahead of time to make them pass in a location or gap in traffic where I prefer them to pass. This will change with the Breeze because it is harder for a car to pass a fast bicycle than a slow one, and most likely I will see an increase in stupid driving maneuvers. (There are times when I wish I could press a button and change my bike into a tractor pulling a full manure spreader.)
The solar panel is a 100 watt ERA Flex Pro 100MD that I cut 3/8" off each edge to remove the grommets and reduce the size, and then painted the edges black. The solar controller is an SX Electronics that I was delighted to find because the Genasun GV Boost on my other bikes were far too expensive. However I have not put a meter on the solar output yet and can't report how well this setup works. The panel is mounted with a flexible silicon/vinyl hinge and extremely light aluminum clip and elastic cord latches that are attached with 3M VHB double face tape. (The improvements of this setup are hard for me to believe compared to the solar I put on the bakfiets 12 years ago.) There is a tremendous amount of air coming off this panel above 20 mph, and I'm thinking of attaching a 1950's style small sports car polycarbonate windshield to the back edge of the solar panel and increasing the panel arch to divert more of the air flow to the sides. The dashcam display is visible between the handlebar display and the panel.
This mandatory Class 1 sticker is because while about 40% of people actually love bikes and another 40% are fine with them and don't think twice, the remaining 20% are loud and not afraid to display their misconceptions. Since I can coast twice as fast as the motor will power the bike, this sticker serves a narrow demographic.
I used a BBSHD motor because the BBS02 on my other cargo bikes was sometimes a little too warm after a trip (I could just barely touch it). This is the same line of thought as the oversized heavy duty diesel engines used in tractor trailers. While I've programmed this motor to meet legal requirements and stop assisting at 20 mph, this bike has no problem coasting up to 40 mph. It takes only a slight incline to reach coasting speeds of 25 to 29 mph and then it just keeps rolling. Since the bike coasts much faster than rolling under motor power, I think the arguments about ebike top speeds should be about the situation not the motorized speed. Bikes are quiet and if you pass a walking person from behind, even at 8 mph, they will be startled and say you were going too fast. This is not an excuse for the illegal high powered moto-ebikes that are actually mopeds, but looking beyond the need to ride appropriately for the situation, I've been thinking instead about how fast I actually wish to ride because I enjoy bicycling for many other reasons.
left - panel retracted, right - panel in canopy position
There is a pivot in behind the seat for a solar canopy. I haven't built this assembly yet so you'll have to imagine a 60 watt solar panel in place of the horizontal white board in these photos. The pivot is just a square taper bottom bracket and I'll extend the crank arms on each side to form the support linkage for the panel canopy. This would function as a roof during rain and then retract for better aerodynamics when dry. A drop down clear polycarbonate windshield to steady the canopy would attach between the canopy front edge and the back edge of the solar panel using Velcro.
I installed a dashcam because I'm trying to convince my Regional Planners to improve Route 5 (the main Connecticut River valley road through Vermont and New Hampshire) as a bicycle corridor. I wanted to take documentary pictures of the dangerous spots to bring to legislators. I started off with a GoPro camera on the handlebars because that is what everyone uses, but found that it could only film for 12 to 18 minutes before shutting down from overheating. The picture quality is superb with stabilization, horizon leveling, and GIS, but it's really best for shots lasting only a minute or two not hours. I then installed a car dash cam which also had GIS, but because it's not waterproof I attached everything with Velcro to be able to take it in during rain and then promptly lost the rear camera when it shook enough to fall off. I now have a bolted on weatherproof motorcycle dashcam, but it doesn't have GIS and I can also say that VGA resolution (640x480) is not good enough. This camera breaks the filming session into 5 minute long files which is convenient, but 32 GB stores only 7 of them. While I'm figuring out a better setup I'm using Google Maps Street View and QGIS instead.
The front dashcam camera mounts under the edge of the solar panel, and the rear camera is under the tail light. I've used about 20 different ebike headlights over the years and find this Sate-Lite C7 Plus the best for my rural use with the most focused beam, good side lobes, and a strong anti glare cutoff.
This bike is pretty good but I would like to build a second improved version with the lessons learned. I should explain a few of the more complicated improvements in separate posts, but here's a brief list of some ideas:
- It should be lighter - it weighs 49 pounds on the front wheel and 54 on the back (includes everything except the rider)
-move handlebar support tube forward an inch for more clearance getting on and off
-move swingarm pivot 3/4" forward (due to 44T to 36T chainring evolution)
-dual chain loops are great but motor speed could be faster and pedals slower
-the front chain loop could be 2 speed not 3, with a chainstay style derailleur
-I used a 71 degree head angle to reduce front end drop/flop and it's nimble on pavement but too quick on loose gravel
-steering linkage versus cables, and steering ratio (a long story)
-make rear rack 3 inches shorter and increase to 6 inches wide
-axial generator for regen in place of rear brake disc
-16 inch seat width, and move one inch of the side tubing from top to bottom
-test comparison of SX Electronics vs Genasun mobile solar controllers
- inverted Tee battery support with a larger wiring box+frame reinforcement
-the dual battery combiner won't accept regen
-wiring solar into one battery sometimes turns on displays under flickering sun
-front suspension
-APT 750C motor display has problems
-BBS02+single battery versus BBSHD+dual battery???
-motor programming is different than for my MTBs
-motorcycle style roll on/off kickstand, not expanding leg style
-solar canopy
-parking pawl on front wheel for short term locking
-seat heater and heated hand grips
-aero windshield
-4th try at a dashcam
I live where most people hike, bike, kayak, and enjoy the outdoors in the Green Mountains, the Connecticut River valley, and the White Mountains, and it's ironic that I've built a bike to simulate a car. This bias in US transportation can be traced as far back as the 1920s, (such as Herbert Hoover's policies as US Secretary of Commerce), and I'd think that the drawbacks with unilateral car based travel for everyone have become so obvious that our infrastructure would be different by now. It isn't. This bike helps me fit into a car based system, but most people don't have this choice. I'm going to build another bike with lessons learned, but I'm hoping the road designers and builders also build more inclusive roads. Whether they admit it or not, serving only cars is a conservative political choice shaping how all people move, and now that much of road funding is from general tax funds not the gas tax, it's unprofessional. If you can build a multilevel highway interchange, you can build a bike lane. If you can provide free parking, you can provide a bike lane. When I ride in a safe space I like to say thank you to the road builders who understood this.
