Electric bike demigod Cedric Lynch appeared in a picture on Endless Sphere forum bike build thread, providing his expertise on setting up a controller to power one of his own motors on a race bike that Luke “Liveforphycics was building.” Cedric Lynch is known as the creator of the Agni Motor, a highly efficient electric motor that weighs around 25 pounds and can put out as much as 50hp. The bike they are seen working on here would have a top speed of 80mph
In the paragraph above can you spot 4 legends of electric bikes that were mentioned in a short span? 4 electric bike legends converged in June of 2012 in the same place:
Cedric Lynch, Liveforphysics, Agni Motor, Endless Sphere
In case you havent heard of any of those 4 legends, count this article as an e-bike primer:
Cedric Lynch is a British mad scientist type mechanical engineer obsessed with the idea of greener transportation. His interest has been in building a super efficient yet powerful vehicle that can serve as a car replacmeent..
He started thinking of his own design for an electric motor in 1983 when he began entering competitions organized by the Battery Vehicle Society regarding building an efficient electric vehicle. At the time there was no reasonably priced DC motor with descent efficiency so Lynch decided to build his own utilizing modifying existing motors with old tin cans that he would spread out flat to use as cooling fins. Suprisingly using rudimentary materials and a garage work bench, Cedric was making better more efficient electric motors than any of the universities were able to manufacture in state of the art workshops.
Cedric then came up with a motor design that could be cheaply manufactured and began manufacturing his own motor that he could sell to the public in 1988 by his own company, the Lynch Electric Motor Company.
Using his motor, Cedric first used it to create a small boat callled “The Spark” that would set an electric boat efficiency record. From there…Cedric turned his attention to bicycles, an application generally considered too small for a lynch motor at that time. Cedric mounted his motor in recumbent bike, allowing him space to also use a bunch of thundersky lithium batteries.
The resulting aerodynamic recumbent bike that had a top speed of 60mph and still managed an incredible range of 150 miles. Cedric rode his recumbent creation everywhere as a daily commuter, putting an amazing 50,000 miles on the motor bike. Although not official, I am sure Cedric set many records on this bike…records that may even hold today.
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Briggs and stratton bought the technology and used it in their E-Tech Motor, and Cedric went on to manufacture his latest incarnation of his lynch design into the agni motor, which is used in go karts, sailboats, motor boats, and even small airplanes.
The Lynch designed motors all have the same traits. Brushed motors around 25 pounds in weight, and they are able to put out enormous weight ot power ratio…sometimes as high as 50 hp (dpending on amperage ran through the motor) at an incredible 98% efficiency.
Lynch Motors are also the most often used motors in electric motorcycle racing applications, and this is where Lifeforphysics came into the picture.
Liveforphysics is among the new generation of demigods in the electric bike world. Growing up he was into drag racing, go kart racing, motorcycle racing, and just racing in general. He discovered electric bikes shortly after losing his driving license to road racing, and set out to design a 80mph electric bike. He dabbled in RC motors and hub motors but found them not powerful or robust enough to do what he wanted to do. He claims he went through $10,00 in blown parts on one bike build before finally deciding on going with the 22 pound Agnie Motor.
Liveforphycis is into building the fastest most powerful e-bike imaginable, and has been crafting some of the most exciting electric bikes ever created. Check out this e-bike crash that happened on a liveforphysics creation to give you an idea of the power:
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Liveforphysics is an ardent supporter of the green revolution but feels he can support it by being a spectacle, by creating fast machines that capture attention he can illustrate the beauty and power of electric. Liveforphysics is an elder statesman of the electric bike world, a true believer and a leader in the revolution. He is putting up money, time, and actually risking life and limb to prove that electric bikes are viable.
Liveforphysics day job is for Zero Motorcycles as a battery engineer. Zero Motorcycles has been working on fitting their bikes with the Agni motors and brought in Cedric Lynch to help them with this task. Liveforphysics was working on his latest bicycle design to race against gas powered bicycles at the Willow Springs 2011 June Race. Liveforphysics was having a difficult time with his chosen motor, a highly experimental small aircraft motor called the Joby. Within 2 days of the race, Cedrich Lynch helped convince him to fit an agni motor to this application instead and liveforphycis has been racing around on build your own lynch powered 80mph monsters ever since.
Endless Sphere is the premier electric bike forum, filled with technical minded do it yourselfters with attitude. Liveforphysics documented his build and out of nowhere came pictures of him and Cedric Lynch.
Liveforphysics had smoked his motor during the race at Willow Springs, but was resurrecting his monster e-bike with a new and improved motor (golden motor axial flux) with the help of Cedrich Lynch, helping LFP to dial it in.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=28921&hilit
Here is a slideshow highlighting Lukes initial 7 day build:
Lukes 7 day Race Build
