Magic Pie III Updates

[GM Canada]

Shot some video of some stop/starts on the ride home from work the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BQdrF3KHLU

Sorry to shoot in the dark but thats life when you go to work in the dark and come home from work in the dark!

Gary

[GM Canada]

The videos keep flowing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofXCj_Dd10U

This one shows in detail how to replace the internal Magic Pie 3 Controller. Actually what I did was take off both front and back wheels and swap the controllers from one wheel to the other. Since the MP III is still in development and yet to be released I cleared this one with GM HQ before posting it. They told me as long as there are no closeups of the controller it will be fine. They viewed it last night and said it was ok to go public with it. In the future I will create a "Look Inside" video and show everything in detail. But not until the final product is officially released.

Almost 8 minutes long though. I am not sure if anyone can last the whole 8 minutes but I guess if you had to replace the controller you would

Gary

[Nightwind]

Lol I just watch that b4 I came here. What happen to the big controller? 

[Leslie]

Cool the power issue has been solved.

Is the circlip still cutting into the wiring inside the axles? Replace it with a tight wrap of electrical tape and she be apples.

I removed all those clips and used tape and my wheel and cables is still looking tough and reliabe.

The replacable controller with fan awesome.

And how is it to fix hall sensors?  The last thing to make easy to fix "hall sensors" will really make this the bees knees.


I tried a new controller and my single drive MP 1.2 would flip the bike if I sat on the seat.  My pack was getting warm until I pulled a 20 amp shunt out of the controller it could get me up that hill now @ 20 amps but not as effective like youre there..  @ 40 amps Id race up that like a bat out hell.

The MP has massive torque potential.

[Leslie]

I think I had the old internal controller running at 2500 watts but it was really sluggish on the take offs.  Lucky to pull 250 watts.  Then at about 12kph then the MP would kick in nice.

Even @ 2500 watts I wasnt getting the same hard core action youre getting there.  I think my single pie with 40A controller @40A might just pull into a close second place behind your dual drive there Gary.

[GM Canada]

The circlip is still there but it seems different then before. It is more like a u shaped wire and does a nice job of holding the wire. I found the main reason the wires were getting damaged was where they came out of the axle. The hole had very sharp edges. Now the MP3 wire comes out the controller cover. No more pulling wires through the axle. It seems the axle on the 901 wheel style where you still pull the wires through the axle have now been smoothed and no longer so sharp as before.

There still seem to be constant improvments. Rarely are any announced. Someone pointed out something to me and now I have experienced it as well. Now the spokes seem to be tightened properly and the spokes nuts are secured with some sort of sticky material. I assume to keep them from getting loose. I had to strip a 901 wheel the other day and when I was done my fingers were all stuck together from the "new goo".

Even more good news is I just received another pair of MP3's to review! I guess we will call these ones MP3 Pre-release v2. Problem is I still have no usb cable to cut the regen on the front motor and its all ice an snow here. Damn winter! Could be above zero this weekend

Gary

[GM Canada]

I have received another pair of front and rear MPIII. From what I understand these are what will be released and are awesome. I done more video and projects and they will come out soon. One thing worth mentioning is the finish on the motor. When they did the MP1 the finish was sort of a powder black appearance, nothing real shiny. When they did the MP2 the finish was upgraded a lot to a shiny black. Now they seem very shiny and very well made with few imperfections. I certainly noticed the difference as they came out of the box this time.



Gary

[MelbourneRider]

Gary,

Does that latest pie (on the picture) sit on a 26inch rim? It is just that that pie looks bigger and the spokes look almost radial.

Do you know if Pie 2 or Pie 3 comes in 24inch rim? or has anyone tried to install it on a 24inch rim?

Cheers!

[blompod]

Still no idea when the 3 will be released to the public, Im hanging out to get one. Does the rear kit come with a threaded rear free wheel cassette? or do you supply your own? 135mm between dropout to dropout is needed right? then just spin on an 7 or 8 speed cassette?

[Bikemad]

Does the rear kit come with a threaded rear free wheel cassette? or do you supply your own? 135mm between dropout to dropout is needed right? then just spin on an 7 or 8 speed cassette?

They do not come with a freewheel, but my existing 7 speed unit threaded straight on without needing any additional spacers, although I suspect an 8 speed freewheel might need an extra washer to keep the frame away from the sprocket to prevent the chain from rubbing.

Does that latest pie (on the picture) sit on a 26inch rim? It is just that that pie looks bigger and the spokes look almost radial.

I pretty sure that Gary's wheels are 26".

The spoke pattern on the MPIII is exactly the same as the MPII:

                            MPII                                                MPIII

Although the distance between the two spoke flanges is slightly narrower on the MPIII:

Do you know if Pie 2 or Pie 3 comes in 24inch rim? or has anyone tried to install it on a 24inch rim?

Although a 24" rim is not advertised, this picture from the GM website looks to me as though it has a 24" rim fitted on the front wheel:


Assuming you can find some spokes of the correct length, and a suitable 36 hole rim, it should be relatively simple to build your own 24" wheel.



Alan
 

[MelbourneRider]

Thanks Alan!

The top-down photo of the pie2 next to pie3 is really great for comparing the two. I can't wait to get my hands on the pie3.

I was thinking to build a custom 24inch wheel for my pie3 project. I am thinking to place a LiFePO4  battery vertically behind the seat post in a custom made battery slot. 26inch is not so great but 24inch is preferrable.

Cheers,

[GM Canada]

Gary,

Does that latest pie (on the picture) sit on a 26inch rim? It is just that that pie looks bigger and the spokes look almost radial.

Do you know if Pie 2 or Pie 3 comes in 24inch rim? or has anyone tried to install it on a 24inch rim?

Cheers!

Hi

As Alan stated my Townie has 26 inch wheels. The picture is at an odd angle and does make it look oversized.

Of course it does come in 24 inch. But 24 inch is a very uncommon size for people to order. I regularily stock all motor types (901,902,MP2) in all sizes except 18 inch. I have only ever sold one 18 inch so the demand is very low. The 16 and 24 Inch I only stock afew front and rear of each as it they are the second least wheels ordered. If someone orders one I still have one in stock and order another asap. Then the inventory climbs from there. By far the most comon is the 26 inch rear and thats about 90 percent of my stock.

So the point of telling you all that is unless you are ordering direct from China you should contact whoever you intend to buy it from ASAP so they will have stock in your size when the release comes. If your looking for 26 inch rear its a pretty good bet you can get one easily on the release date. A 24 inch will be a little tricky. Even if for example I have several front and rear 24 inch coming people may pre order them while they are on the water and then they will be out of stock before they arrive. Then there will be no more until the next sea order.
 
I have had quite a few pre orders and I am sure once I announce I have MP III on the water the pre-orders will increase.

I hope this makes sence.

Gary

[GM Canada]

Still no idea when the 3 will be released to the public, Im hanging out to get one. Does the rear kit come with a threaded rear free wheel cassette? or do you supply your own? 135mm between dropout to dropout is needed right? then just spin on an 7 or 8 speed cassette?

I answered this one over here yesterday

http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=4159.msg24111#msg24111

The freewheel is a separate item. I just put up a new video yesterday on installing an 8 speed freewheel on an MP III here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o31OwsCzxyI&list=UUv3KWOO85wyf-opGp2gn-yA&index=1&feature=plcp

Gary

[GM Canada]

The spoke pattern on the MPIII is exactly the same as the MPII:

                            MPII                                                MPIII

Although the distance between the two spoke flanges is slightly narrower on the MPIII:


Alan

HEY! Whos floor is that? I have a copyright on that floor pattern and colour!

 

Gary

[GM Canada]

The snow left for a few days and it has been warm enough for rides to work 3 out of five days last week



The two MP3's I have this time are very robust. I can not believe how much fun it is to ride with two of these beauties. It also seems like there is a slight speed increase now. With the first two MP3's I had it seemed they were about as fast as the MP2 with the GM external controller. The max speed seemed around 40 kph. Now with these two the speed seems to be about 44 kph. I keep noticing I am rolling along at 44 to 46 KPH and realizing I am running on flat ground. Of course for legal purposes these motors will have to be pulled back with the USB cable to stay within the legal limits for road use

Gary