Rockrider 6.0 Btwin electric mountain bike + brake discs + reinforced fork and two-seater!
published: 28/10/19, 11:59
A few months ago I converted a old Rockrider 6.0 Decathlon ATV electric (this model came out in 2004) ... I found it cheap second hand but it really was not well maintained (all cables had to be changed, rear wheel bearing HS. ..)
It is a full suspended model, this is what I wanted as a base but I see that the quality is limited once we switch to electric ... a seller of Decathlon even told me that it was a real shit ... Cool!
It is entirely "homemade", I assembled a motor + regulator with a "homemade" battery (assembled element by element please!) In a beast bicycle bag ... and I replaced the V-Brake pads with discs therefore change the front wheel to a double wall disc wheel.
In addition, I welded a beam on the saddle stem to ... make it two-seater enough to make tandem walks in the cool forest!
Small general photo (painting not yet done, nor taillight, I need to extend the rear beam a bit too because the saddle does not have enough clean inertia ... brief prototype look!):
Obviously, it is "slightly" less classy than the Trek mountain bike that I rented in Chamonix this summer ... But at 4000 € the trek ... we can say that it cost me 6 to 7 times less. ... Then mine is not finished yet! N / A!
That was for the positive!
First negative point the empty weight is 34 kg! Suffice to say that at 2 we exceed 150 kg ...
But what worries me most is the front fork ...
Indeed, neither the frame nor the fork were provided for the discs, so if it goes well at the rear, the fork seems to me rather weak when I brake, I am afraid that a big emergency braking make it fold and it's the bowl! Logic: the braking torque has been offset at the hub, the fork was not designed for this.
Décathlon tells me that a new fork is not mountable because it is an old system (and a good new fork is 200 € ... so bof what!)
So I would like to study the possibility of strengthening it ... but how?
I can weld what it takes as a profile or shape on it so I thought of putting a 2nd stirrup on the back (triangle) and / or strengthening the front stirrup ... but I fear that this will not be used to great thing because these are the internal fork tubes which deform when braking (I estimate the arrow to be around 10-15 mm at the hub ...).
Then we should not do thermal deformation or embrittlement ... which would make things worse ...
Some pictures of a weak fork.
You will notice the poor general condition, for example, it was missing a fork cap when I bought the bike!
Side chassis rear wheel it's ok, not even too rusty despite the walks in the forest!
Edit in 2021, the mountain bike looks like this, hydraulic brakes, two-seater, paint, 3D printed boxes ... etc etc ... : electric-transport / mountain-bike-decathlon-electric-rockrider-3d-printed-battery-box-t16832.html
It is a full suspended model, this is what I wanted as a base but I see that the quality is limited once we switch to electric ... a seller of Decathlon even told me that it was a real shit ... Cool!
It is entirely "homemade", I assembled a motor + regulator with a "homemade" battery (assembled element by element please!) In a beast bicycle bag ... and I replaced the V-Brake pads with discs therefore change the front wheel to a double wall disc wheel.
In addition, I welded a beam on the saddle stem to ... make it two-seater enough to make tandem walks in the cool forest!
Small general photo (painting not yet done, nor taillight, I need to extend the rear beam a bit too because the saddle does not have enough clean inertia ... brief prototype look!):
Obviously, it is "slightly" less classy than the Trek mountain bike that I rented in Chamonix this summer ... But at 4000 € the trek ... we can say that it cost me 6 to 7 times less. ... Then mine is not finished yet! N / A!
That was for the positive!
First negative point the empty weight is 34 kg! Suffice to say that at 2 we exceed 150 kg ...
But what worries me most is the front fork ...
Indeed, neither the frame nor the fork were provided for the discs, so if it goes well at the rear, the fork seems to me rather weak when I brake, I am afraid that a big emergency braking make it fold and it's the bowl! Logic: the braking torque has been offset at the hub, the fork was not designed for this.
Décathlon tells me that a new fork is not mountable because it is an old system (and a good new fork is 200 € ... so bof what!)
So I would like to study the possibility of strengthening it ... but how?
I can weld what it takes as a profile or shape on it so I thought of putting a 2nd stirrup on the back (triangle) and / or strengthening the front stirrup ... but I fear that this will not be used to great thing because these are the internal fork tubes which deform when braking (I estimate the arrow to be around 10-15 mm at the hub ...).
Then we should not do thermal deformation or embrittlement ... which would make things worse ...
Some pictures of a weak fork.
You will notice the poor general condition, for example, it was missing a fork cap when I bought the bike!
Side chassis rear wheel it's ok, not even too rusty despite the walks in the forest!
Edit in 2021, the mountain bike looks like this, hydraulic brakes, two-seater, paint, 3D printed boxes ... etc etc ... : electric-transport / mountain-bike-decathlon-electric-rockrider-3d-printed-battery-box-t16832.html