Tidalforce X Motor with Tire!

I took a few minutes and mounted the rim tape, thorn resistant tube and Cheng Shin tire onto the wheel I assembled yesterday. It sure looks good as an all black wheel! It looks very serious! I can't wait to mount it on to the S-750 and giving it a test run!

More later,
Ambrose

Tidalforce 1KW X Motor Mounted!

I mounted the bare Tidalforce 1000W X motor into a new Alexrims DM-18 36 hole double walled mountain bike rim last night. I had to buy a new rim since the one I got from California had some semi-serious dents in it which made the rim non-true. I didn't want to risk a high power motor like this one in a less-than-perfect rim. It was worth the $19 + shipping. The all black look suits the motor beautifully. I may need to get an all black rim for the front to match it! This is destined for the M-750 frame which is the next project bike.

Power side.

Freewheel side.

It was surprisingly easy to do. Just start with one spoke. Insert the spoke through the rim. Install the nipple by hand part way and then move on to the next one. Once you've got all of the nipples installed, then gradually tighten them down first with a screwdriver through the rim side (the nipple has a slot cut into the top for a screw driver). After that, then use a spoke wrench to tighten up the spokes until they all "ping" about the same pitch. I haven't trued it yet. I hope to do that tonight and actually mount some rim tape, a tube, and the tire onto the rim.

Double Kick Stand Perfection!

I just had to take a moment and saw how wonderful the double kick stand I bought from Oatnet on the Endless-sphere.com forums is for the Tidalforce S-750 bike. Not only does it fit perfectly in the kick stand slot built into the frame, but the height is also absolutely perfect. The weight of the front battery hub lifts the back end off the ground just a bit. Enough so that you can run the motor without having to push the front end down! Can you see the slight gap below the tire in this photo?

Here are some glamour shots of the stand.

The kickstand works as a bike stabilizer and workstand. Since the bike stays perfectly still with this stand, it's easy to mount and dismount the front battery hub and that is priceless compared to having to hold the bike up or work with the bike with a conventional one-legged kick stand which puts the bike at a small tilt angle.

The cutout at the top of the stand is an outline of  Taiwan where the stand is made.

More later,

Ambrose

New Tires and Puncture Resistant Tubes

Before the projected winter storm that was supposed to hit this past weekend, I decided to finish my red S-750 so that I could take it for a quick spin. I bought 2 Forté 26" thorn resistant Schrader valved tubes from my local Performance bikes store. They are extraordinarily thick and heavy duty looking. They were very reasonably priced at $7.99 each.

With the thickly ridged Cheng Shin C1096 Semi-Slick XC Bicycle Tires in a 26" x 1.90" size and the thick Forté tubes, I'm hoping to avoid many accidental tire punctures.

The Cheng Shin tires seem to be the standard tires on many OEM Tidalforce bikes. I got two of them when I received the console and throttle from California! Check out the unique tread pattern.

The tires look pretty good on the S-750.

More later,

Ambrose

Folding Bike Pedals

I have very little space in which to store my bikes. In particular, there's a very narrow doorway in which to fit the bikes in. I hated the thought of having to move out two bikes in order to move a third out of the storage space. With the arrival of the two new Tidalforce bikes, I really wanted an easier way to do this and I think I found it! Folding Bike Pedals! It may not seem like much but the couple of inches they save make a huge difference!

Here they are in working mode.

Here's how they look folded. 

With them folded down, it's much easier to slip the bikes out without them catching the extended pedals in another bikes wheels/spokes. It makes moving them much more pleasant. I found them on eBay here.

To close them, you click the two metal tabs on both sides of the pedal. Pull the pedal outwards and rotate them down. To put them back in working position, click the two tabs. Rotate them back up and push them back towards the crank arm. Simple!

New Brake Pads!

I put some new brake pads on my new (front hub battery) refreshed Tidalforce S-750 ebike on Saturday.

I bought these brake pads from Performance Bikes in Columbia, Maryland for around $10.

They looked unique in that there are three distinct sections.

They worked very well and are nice and quiet too. I replaced both the front and back sets.

Tidalforce Throttle, Console, and Spokes Arrived

I received a huge box in the mail today. The box looked brand new even though it was shipped from California! It contained:

1x Alex rims DM18, which is used by many original Tidalforce bikes.

36x spoke nipples
40x 125mm spokes

1x Tidalforce console/throttle/cables
1x Tidalforce motor clamp

2x Cheng Shin C1096 Semi-Slick XC Bicycle Tires. I haven't spent enough time riding on these tires but they seem to have a very smooth ridge and have a very pronounced tread pattern along the edges which should help improve grip in turns.


With these components, I should be able to complete the Tidalforce M-750 frame and fork so that it is a complete working Tidalforce bike. The only obvious item I'm missing is the power cable which runs from the front hub to the rear motor. It uses the waterproof, interlocking Delphi connectors. I could replace them with the popular Anderson Powerpoles, however, APPs are not waterproof. I also like to keep everything original if at all possible. I will need to find a source for Delphi connectors.

Here's a shot of all of the X motor components before it's assembled! :)

More later,
Ambrose Liao

New Front Hub Batteries Replaced!

I've finally replaced the internal battery on one of my Tidalforce front hubs with a new pack that I bought from Jason from e + electric bikes. He had 2 packs of unknown status that he wanted to get rid of and also a TF motor which turned out to be an X (1,000W) motor!

I took out the old dead pack from the S-750 front hub which had no voltage on it and tried to install one of the packs from Jason. It was missing the critical axle piece shown stuck partially in place here:

Tabbed key partially in place.

Without this keyed/tabbed piece, the front hub battery would not be able to hold the battery in place and would allow the front battery and axle to rotate and destroy the wiring coming out the other side. This piece is critical.

After I figured out how to remove one from one of my other front hubs (I used a 3/8" rod to force it out from the other side), I put the front hub back together again and closed up the battery cover.

Replacing the front hub battery cover is somewhat tricky. You must first place the cover roughly in place and then gently push it down to close it. At first, there will be a huge gap between the screw holes in the cover and the screw sockets in the rest of the unit. Gentle pressure downwards will eventually bring the cover down enough to place one or two of the 8 screws. After you get two on opposite sides of the case in place and you gently tighten it down, the other screws will also be reachable and easily tightened down. Tighten the screws around the rim bit by bit, keeping the pressure downwards somewhat even by tightening one screw at a time either in a circular fashion or going diagonally to the opposite side. The cover will eventually close and leave you with a tight seal.

Here it is without a wheel on the right.

I attached the cable guide back on to the wheel and put the skewer through the axle and put it back on my S-750. I then ran the standard motor with this new battery and it ran great!

I just got word that the wheel and spokes as well as the console for my M-750 has just arrived so I'll have more on that shortly!

More later,

Ambrose

Close up of Tidalforce Front Battery Hub Axle

Here are some shots of the axle taken out from a Tidalforce front hub. You can see how well it's made. You can also see how the wires coming from the outside go through the two holes/slots cut out of the side of the axle work. Amazing quality. It's very heavy and solid.

Tidalforce Front Hub Batteries in Various States of Disassembly

I took a picture of some of the front hub batteries in my possession. Here's a family shot:

The one on the tool box is being tested. The other two are waiting!

Tidalforce Front Hub Battery Take-apart and Repair

The front hub battery on the complete red S-750 bike that I picked up was completely dead. No voltage whatsoever and won't charge. I've decided to swap that battery out with one of the good front hub batteries that was missing the spokes and rim. The only real challenge is replacing the keyed metal axle that is missing on the good 44.1V hub battery!

Here's a good front axle.

You can see the solid axle along with a hefty keyed tab that allows the battery hub to align with the front fork and prevents rotation of the front hub along the axle. It also supports the entire axle.

Here's one that's missing the keyed portion.

You can see the axle nut inside, but the keyed portion is missing. This is how one of the bare front axle hub batteries arrived.

Here's one that's missing the entire keyed portion as well as the threaded axle.

I'm wondering how I can remove the tabbed piece? I assume that you can unthread the axle piece from the tabbed piece, but can't figure out how.

Does anyone have any idea?

ambroseliao at gmail dot com

Thanks!

Testing the stock Tidalforce motor that came with the S-750

I tried running the stock motor that came with my new S-750 bike last night and I found out that it is a stock non-X version. In fact, when I pressed the Turbo button and tried the throttle, the motor did not increase in RPMs at all. Both settings were around 260 RPM. I'm disappointed, however, I'm still overjoyed that the new unmounted motor IS an X version. I've got a lead on a spoke and rim set for the TF motor out in California and hopefully, will be able to get that and mount my new X motor.

I'm now also hoping to buy a throttle and console for the TF to fit to my M-750 which I haven't even started working on yet!

More later,
Ambrose