NoPhart

Got the next E-project rolling as a "bicycle" today. She's an older alloy Electra Coaster 3 customized to 29+ with 203mm disc brakes and Sturmey-Archer RX-RK5 IGH.



Build Spec (without E-components):

Used Aluminum Electra Coaster 3 (Frame)
Fix Mounted Paragon Sliding Dropouts (Left #B4010 & Right #B4006)
Cane Creek 40 Series Headset 30mm Head Tube/1" Steer Tube
Exotic Rigid Carbon 27.5+/29 Disc Fork 46.5cm With 1” Steerer
XTC 70mm/35* Stem
2 - Stem Adapters 1" to 1-1/8"
Fouriers Trailhead 58* Sweep Bars 720 Wide
Sturmey-Archer SLC50 5spd Shifter & 3/32” 20T Cog
2 - Pair ESI Extra Chunky 34mm Sylicone Grips 130mm
Strumey-Archer 5spd IGH Disc 135mm (RX-RK5)
Velocity Wheel Tape Kit - 24mm
Velocity Dually 29er 45ODx39ID 32H Shimano Deore Hubs Wheel Set
32 - DT Swiss Alpine III Spokes
2 - 203mm G2 Rotors And F&R Shimano Caliper Mounts
2 - Surly ExtraTerrestrial 29x2.5
2 - Continental Tubes 29x2.5
Forte MTX Dual Flat/Clipless Pedals
Cane Creek Thudbuster Long-Travel 27.2 x 410
2 - Cane Creek #9 Extra-Firm Elastomers
Sunlite Rack Mount Seat Post Clamp 31.8
ISM Urbaine Saddle
Avid BB7 Mechanical Disc Brake Calipers
Alligator Pro Cables

Hope to electrify it soon...

NoPhart

This has been a vision in my mine for a year or two now and I finally found a nice used Electra Coaster 3 with forward 3-piece standard bottom bracket to build it from. Being a 6’2” Clyde most beach cruisers are a bit small for me, but I’ve always liked the flowing lines of a well designed beach cruiser with the traditional single curved top tube and dual smaller curved tubes that form a stretched triangle. Some manufacturer’s lines flow better than others and few use a forward standard bottom bracket. I think the Electra Lux line checked all my boxes well, including the plus of a lightweight rigid alloy frame. The only thing that wasn’t ideal on this cruiser is the 1” steer tube as opposed to a 1-1/8”; which would allow for many more fork options and even suspension forks if desired.

Eventually this cruiser will be electrified with a Bafang BBS02B 750W/48V mid-drive mounted within the frame triangle turning it into a 25-28mph speed pedallec, but for now I’m enjoying the “bicycle” ride as is. The lower and forward Trailhead sweepback bars lengthen the bike for taller riders. It puts you in a bit more of an aggressive position for excellent control at higher speeds. The 27.5+/29/29+ Exotic carbon fork yielded a 64* head tube angle similar to most motorcycles. This gives fantastic stability at speed and doesn’t seem to take away from its’ maneuverability much at all. The 29/29+ hoops and shoes get the bottom bracket up to about the same level as my hardtail MTB giving the ability to pedal through corners without worrying about pedal strikes. And the 203mm F/R rotors provide superior stopping power and control. I used BB7 mechanical brakes mainly because the Bafang kit comes with electric motor cutoff cable levers; although my preference would be a pair of hydraulic XT M8000 trail brakes with their one finger operation and superior modulation (I may update that if this becomes my main squeeze).

Clearly the riding position isn’t the most efficient, but it is aggressively comfortable “for me” and the electric mid-drive will provide additional power as needed that might not otherwise be there with the comfortable forward pedal design, so it ends up being a win-win. Combined with electric assist, it gives this approaching 60 year old comfort and power as needed; the amount of which is completely under the rider’s control.

The new Sturmey-Archer (S-A) heavy duty RX-RK5 IGH has a gear ratio of 243% with 25% gear steps seemed to be a good choice for the intended use. Hopefully this 4lb. behemoth will stand up to the watts that will be pushed through it well (only time will tell). S-A makes a 5spd trigger shifter for this hub that I’m told will be available in the USA later this year, but for now I installed the 5spd top bar shifter that is working great; although its’ cable is too close to the inside half of the bars to make good use of the dual ESI Extra Chunky grips installed for an additional hand position in that area. I don’t know if the coming trigger shifter will be in the same position or not.

Saddles are such an individual thing. Personally I suffer from nether-region numbness if I don’t use a firm saddle with center slot that puts all my saddle weight only on my sit bones. Like many others, I went through a number of different saddles to finally find a couple ISM models that solved that problem “for me.” I use the Sport model on my eMTB with a S-T Thudbuster and this Urbaine model with a L-T Thudbuster feels good so far. I believe these two ISM saddles both have thin padding with thin gel layers; they are very firm flat saddles. I’ve got over 1,000 miles on my Sport model without issues completing rides in the 35-50 mile range. I hope this slightly wider and longer Urbaine will provide the same comfort for this cruiser. I’m sold on the Thudbuster seatposts as well.

That’s my thoughts so far on this build.

NoPhart

Here are some build pictures and how I modified the Electra rear frame drops to install the Paragon vertical drops with disc brake and derailleur mounts already on them.

Although the rear spacing on this bike was 120mm, it just so happened that the outside surface of the drops was exactly 135mm. That sparked the idea to simply bolt on Paragon vertical drops in the proper position to allow 29+ hoops and shoes to be used. They are installed with the same 8M SS bolts that normally thread into the sliding mounts, but are longer and come in from the other side through fixed mount holes (they do not slide) and have locking cap nuts on the ends for a very secure mount. In addition, I countersunk the right rear-most bolt to allow clearance for the S-A 5spd rotary shifter.





The result of using the Paragon drops in this way eliminated the need to custom design the disc brake and derailleur mounts. I simply installed the proper size caliper mount for the rotors used.



The derailleur mount will eventually be used for a chain tensioner, but for now I just added a half-link to get the chain tensioned enough to ride it as a pedal bicycle.



The Electra Coaster 3 came with frame cable mounts for the shifter cable that run down the underside of the bottom tube and right rear stay, but didn’t have the rear brake frame cable mounts like the Lux D7 does. I ran the rear disc brake cable in the same location that Electra does for the D7 using zip-ties. The 1” steerer Exotic carbon fork came with the front disc mount and the cable is run through the inside of the fork gap and down to the caliper with a couple zip-ties holding it in place.

It is worth noting that the Electra Lux D7 cruiser has a 26” wheel vertical dropout, derailleur and 135mm spacing stock. From what I can tell, someone interested in building a similar cruiser without all the custom rear drop work I did could simply go with the Lux D7 to make a +69er or +79er (with some new vertical drop slots cut in the existing Electra flat plate). S-A makes IGH hubs with 70mm and 90mm (XL) drum brakes too. That would take out the need for locating the proper mounting point for a disc brake caliper mount in the rear. I’m told by others that the 90mm XL drum brake works very well and is whisper quiet. Front disc brakes are easy with a fork change, but again S-A makes front drum brake hubs if that meets your needs. Personally I think this frame in +69er and +79er form has a great look. To go full 29/29+ appears to require something like what I did unless Electra decides to make this sweet cruiser in 29/29+ form from the factory at some point. This is a completely different animal than the Electra Lux D7 Fat Cruiser.

The smooth comfortable roll of this Alloy Electra Lux 5i 29+ Speedster Cruiser has this happy camper ginning ear-to-ear on every ride. I’m afraid electrifying it is going to add smile wrinkles to my face. Some ladies tell me those are sexy, so I guess I shouldn’t worry too much…

JehD

This my friend is awesome.

PatrickGSR94

Heck yeah gonna be awesome! Are you sure those dropouts will hold up with just 2 bolts holding each one, as opposed to welded pieces? Bolts can move, swivel and loosen over time, whereas welded parts do not.

NoPhart

Thanks. No concerns whatsoever about the method of attachment for the Paragon drops. Remember they are normally mounted on the other side of the frame plates inside a horizontal slide opening with just the bolts and no lock nut. Mounted as designed the weight of the bike is on the rectangular threaded extension with just the bolts alone holding it from moving.

The way I mounted them they can't "move or slide" at all; they are fix mounted within four holes with a third small positioner bolt in the rack mount hole. Once the 8mm bolts are torqued down using the threads within the Paragon drops, a cap nut is threaded against it as a locknut just like the two nuts on an axle for bearing adjustment. They aren't coming loose and four 8mm bolts aren't ever going to shear off under this light bike and passenger weight.

IMHO the Paragon drops mounted as they are designed with single bolts in each location without a locknut is more likely to come loose than the way I mounted these.

A good reason not to weld them in place is so the original forward drops on the Electra frame can still be used if you want to go back to stock. In my case, this 29/29+ wheel set might eventually be used on a 29+ specific MTB frame. I now have two sets of wheels to experiment with, one 27.5" and one 29" set. This cruiser may eventual get the 27.5 x 2.8 wheel set on it as well. I like to keep all my parts interchangeable if possible.

NoPhart

Thank you fellow Electra owner. Can't wait to get it electrified.

NoPhart

She hit the road for her maiden voyage today. Did a 20 mile test ride over to a local ebike shop that was having an Open House test ride day. What a sweet ride! Sit position is great. Super stable at speed. The ISM Urbaine saddle was wonderful and Extra Chunky ESI silicone grips on Trailhead bars with the hand area bend into your palm felt good. No soreness anywhere after 20 miles. Can't wait to ride it double that length soon. Will post up final build pictures once the chain guard is custom mounted back on. Loving it!

NoPhart

Went out this morning with a 100% battery charge and put her through the ringer. I just might have found the best eRide for everything except MTBing. It sits and rides like a pedal motorcycle. A lot of that feel has to be the 64 degree head tube angle and forward bottom bracket pedaling position. Covered 43 miles today with absolutely ZERO numbness or aches and pains of any kind. Actually that's really surprising, because it's not often you get the saddle and bars right the first try and this is a completely custom made 29er, so the original geometry has gone out the window with my changes. An absolutely pain free ride was very surprising indeed!

Today I upped the maximum speed limiter to 30mph and really let her rip. It cruises at 25mph nicely in power level 7 of 9. I can't stress enough how much better it feels to actually be pedaling while going 25mph. What a pleasant difference from "ghost pedaling" at 25mph. The eCruiser is much more stable at speed than my Soma B-Side. It almost feels like it is built for speed.

On my ride home back inland down the San Gabriel riverbed I was pushing it at ~25mph in 7 of 9 and carefully planning my passes to be super careful of other slower riders and oncoming traffic just like I would if I was riding a fast road bike. I passed lots of roadies that were going 20-22mph and finally got some open trail. As I ran her hard with pedaling I came up on a lone roadie and gave him the normal "on your left" shout-out as I went around him. Before I even knew what happen the guy was hugging my rear wheel on the right side and he started a conversation with me like he was casually walking. No labored breath. Not winded one bit. He asked about the bike and I explained is was my first real day out on it, so I was pushing it hard to test it. I asked him if 25mph was a good pace for him to grab a tow. He responded "wonderful!" He knew a family friend from the old Como Street Gang, so likely many riders in Velo Club La Grange as well. Super nice guy.

I was amazed at how easy it was for him to ride at that speed. Turns out he was an ex-pro rider. And get this, he was going to be 75 years old next month. OMG! What an inspiration. We split ways as at the bridge about 4 miles inland, as I was going straight and he needed to cross over. I pumped it over the bridge access hump and he ended up coming into the 90 degree turn a bit hot; getting on his binders hard to make the turn. Too much fun!!! And at 74 years old this guy was awesome!

So far the S-A 5spd IGH works great. The only thing that occasionally happened was the top bar shifter would up-shift on it's own. I need to research how to tighten up the shifter so it can't auto-shift on me. Most of the time it did that was when I'd "flick-shift" the level. If I deliberately shift it from click to click it didn't seem to do an auto-upshift shortly after.

As for speeds and power levels, the 3rd gear 1:1 is prefect for casual riding 15-16mph in 4 of 9 (as noted earlier, limiter set at 30mph). I found my sweet spot to be level 5 of 9, starting in 2nd, then 3rd and finally 4th to a cruising speed of ~18mph. A power level increase up to 6 of 9 gets me to ~20mph. Shift to 5th and ~22mph. Finally a power level increase to 7 of 9 puts me in what worked well for fast ~25mph cruising with pedaling. Anything faster seems a bit dicey, but doable. 25mph is plenty fast and a manageable speed that is still slower than the super fast roadies.

Here's a completed build picture of the left side. More riding impressions to come as I log the miles...

Deves

NoPhart That is an awesome Ebike you built! I would love to take a cruise with you sometime although I might not be able to keep up. I ride a 36volt Motive spark it moves me pretty good but tops out at 21.5 mph.

where do you usually enter/exit the San Gabriel river trail?

NoPhart

Thank you. I normally enter off Lincoln, Ball or Katella for both the SGRT and SART. I ride both directions (west/east) on each. Sometimes I do a loop from one, across the beach and up the other. Normal SGRT run is west to Trails End for a short break; about 11-12 miles for me from starting point. From there I go over to Long Beach via 2nd to Belmont Shores and across the beach to the point across from the Queen Mary, back track and through the boardwalk by the Aquarium of the Pacific and out to the Lighthouse. Total trip averages about 35-40 miles depending on side trips.

Speed isn't an issue for me. My preferred speed is 18-20mph; on this new eCruiser that's is typically 4th gear. Staying in this week with the crazy hot weather.

What color is your Motiv? That's the eBike with the battery vertical behind the seat tube, right? Do you have a ride thread? I'll keep an eye out for you once I know what your eBike looks like.


I don't see too many other eBikes on my rides. Maybe one every two weeks or so, unless I ride across Huntington Beach on a weekend. Lots of eBikes on the HB boardwalk; mostly tourists I think.

Deves

NoPhart, My Motive is an all black cruiser style with full fenders, sweep back handle bars. Equipped with 6 speeds on the gears and 5 power levels.

I used to ride a Trek FX7.2 pedaling on Seal Beach blvd to Seal Beach then up the the SGRT exiting at the little bridge that takes you behind OAk School. I also used to ride from the Marina in Long Beach through Bayshore to the bike path to the lighthouse and Aquarium and over to the Queen Mary and back. I still have yet to get out to one of those rides again on the Motive.

Sometimes I like to ride the 12 mile round trip on the Santiago Trail by the 5 frwy it starts by the discovery science center and goes up through Orange.

I usually cruise between 13 and 18 MPH sometimes topping out at 21.5 mph. Riding what I call playing with traffic in the city of Anaheim. I might be to slow for you but there's an upgrade to make my bike faster by changing the front sprocket. I don't think I'm ready for a 25 - 45 mile trip just yet but would still like to ride with you.

And oh yeah I also get that big Grin when riding and I tell people I never had so much fun riding a bike in my life!

Hit me up on PM and lets plan something

NoPhart

Will do. If you enter the SGRT near Oak Elementary School off of Seal Beach Blvd., that is shortly after my typical Ball Road entrance heading to the beach; good place to meet. Trails End and back would probably be less than 15 miles for you.

The Santiago Trail you mention is one I have been wanting to try. Maybe you can show me the ropes there. Safe parking in Santa Ana is the big issue when transporting the bike by car to the trailhead. The two parks near the area you mention were not safe places when I was young. Don't know what they are like now.

PM coming your way with a little background on me and hopefully a ride in the future. Cheers!

Deves

Looking forward to it! And I have the perfect place to park, at the Santiago trail been doing it for years.

NoPhart

I have to add I spoke a little soon regarding the lack of soreness using different muscles with the non-standard riding position. The next morning after this initial hard push long 43 mile ride I did feel muscle soreness in my lower back. My best guess is that it was from me pushing hard with muscles that I don't normally use. Getting up out of the "recliner" a couple days after while this heat wave in SoCal passes had me moving slowly to protect those over stressed lower back muscles. Feeling much more normal now that a few days have passed. Time to get back out there and stretch the muscle building tension back out.

Put a stem extender I had lying around on to get the handlebars up higher to see if that helps with the lower back muscles with the forward pedals and it does. Did over 40 miles after checking out the Disney Half-Marathon a friend was running in early today. The new higher bar position is a keeper.

Still getting the sporadic automatic up-shifts... Need to find a way to resolve that.