After the big teardown, I did manage to conquer the 1/4 plate steel with the 6 volt rechargeable drill. 4 new 5/16" bolt holes plus a 1.25" big hole for the motor shaft. Re-assembly went well accept for getting the front-sprocket seated back in place - it was very stubborn, and I am afraid its going to be a bitch to take off. Tronbike V1.1.X going to get a 12 tooth to replace the 10 toother. The result of moving the motor 1 inch is now the chain is well clear of the swing-arm pivot - no more slapping or grinding of the plastic protector. I love how the mount paints up with the flat black.
In addition to the mechanical upgrade, I wired in a 12 volt cigarette lighter plug to the DC-DC converter. This will allow me to run/charge all such devices, namely the PDA. I have a small DC-AC converter that I might try as well, creating an earthquake-ready power supply. I mounted a switch for the plug, and placed/squished the plug into the "firewall" near the headset on the starboard side. Once assembled, I can still get access to the plug via the gapping hole left by the lack of a cooling reservoir.
The IPAQ serial cable is "permanently" mounted the to the Alltrax Motor controller. I used a piece of metallic duct-work tape to replace the stock rubber plug, and a male-male 9 pin converter to bridge the controller and cable. I will need to make sure to disconnect the PDA when charging as per Alltrax's warnings.
AS for the software, I ended up building a complete serial test server to validate/verify my client code. It all worked, but again plugging into the actual Alltrax is just not resulting in any useful data. I can only get a flash from the controller when I send a "reset" message. I might need to make another serial capture of the actual code to see if I am missing something in the protocol.
AND so last night very late I put all the fairings and parts on for my commute to work this morning. It ran great, I was more terrified by the traffic at large than anything with the bike. I climbed my first hill, an overpass, at over 30 mph. The bike is still pretty noisy, the small 10 tooth gear is to blame. I am getting concerned 35-40 is not going to cut it, even for city traffic. Again, the 12 tooth will help that, though I love the current acceleration - its like a subway, just whoosh and you are off at full speed. I rode the bike home in the dark without incident, but did note a slight hesitation during acceleration. The cause turned out to be LOOSE WIRES TO THE MOTOR!! I had forgotten to tighten the bolts down. I am charging her up now, I will post the stats to the ride log.
ALSO, we got some press here at Tronbikes.com. We are featured in the Makezine archives. Thank you Travis for letting me know - I thought people usually asked for permission or at least told you when they linked you into something so cool. Anyway its there as is a new section we can call "Press".
