This Cheap AliExpress Quad Cycle Was Rubbish… Until I Did THIS
What is going on, guys? Today is the day. I’m finally going to do an electric quad conversion, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. So, this is a cheap quad cycle I got from AliExpress. When I say cheap, it wasn’t that cheap. It was still about £600. And the kit we’re going to be using today is from CYC. They really do do nice stuff, and the amount of research and development they put into it is insane. They’ve managed to pack a whole bunch of power into this tiny little motor, which is standard 2,000 W, which might not sound like the biggest amount of power in the world, but when you stick it through a mid drive gear system, that is a lot of power. I think it’s about 140ish new m of torque, which is a lot. And they’ve sent us their latest display, which is the intuition display. And it’s really quite different compared to all the square displays you normally get. This looks like a giant smart washer or something. Obviously, we got the challenge of fitting it to that quad cycle, but also I’m going to be telling you all about this Photon Gen 2 kit, which is the latest one out, and some are hailing it as like the king of the market. Right now, as much as I’ve always wanted to do a four-w wheeled quad cycle and turn it electric, I recently tried doing a tricycle conversion, it is way more complicated than I thought it would be. These are the axles that come on most tricycles and quad cycles. They’re all pretty much the same. And I figured out the last project how they work. They’re a solid axle, but the issue is they’re onehe drive. Now, this side is completely attached to the axle, so that’s locked to the gear set. This side is on a bearing, so it spins. What that allows you to do is when you go around a corner, these tires move at different speeds and sometimes different directions if you’re pivoting. Now, if you want to put a decent amount of power through something like this, it’s just going to violently torque steer to one side. You see the front wheel move? Whoa. This thing ain’t safe. I’ve fitted now the welded axle from the trike project to this quad cycle. But the issue I had with that is when these are locked, it doesn’t turn. Doesn’t want to turn. Like I can’t actually make it turn, but it um it goes in a straight line. Now I feel like this has got more chance of working on that because it’s got independent suspension and steering on the front. It’s completely different type of steering. I think it’s got more of a chance of working, but I still think there’s going to be a lot of tire drag with the welded axle. So, my plan to reduce that is reduce the weight on the back axle. Previously, I had a massive steel plate motor and battery sitting over the axle and really grippy 20×4 fat tires. My plan is apart from not fitting a motor and battery right over the axle if possible on this. We’re going to take off these tires which has got knobbybly like edges on everything. So, it’s really going to dig into the concrete and the edges are going to spread out and it’s it’s not going to want to break traction. This is a 20in BMX tire. I know it’s drastically different in size, but it will fit. So, the plan is we fit these, which has also got a smooth surface area to the back wheels and axle, and we do a tire stretch. So, we’re going to give it It’s got a bit of stance on the front anyway cuz the front steering is weird and the wheels kind of lean in. So, this is going to be like a stanced quad cycle. Yeah. Without any further ado or waffling, we’re going to fit skinny ass tires on my fat wheels. Let’s go. No. Wow, that has made a dramatic difference in so many ways. We’ve now got the world’s first stance quadricycle. What do you reckon? It’s got a bit of toe angle on the front wheels. I mean, we’re on a rug at the moment, but it already feels so much lighter. I mean, the quality of the steering and components on this is questionable. Um, but we won’t talk about that. We’ll ignore that for the moment. Everything sitting way lower. I’m a bit worried of pedal strikes. I mean, it’s got front suspension, so it can it ain’t going to lean much cuz it’s going to be street use. But the CYC cranks are 175 mil. I don’t know if they’re longer than what’s on there cuz this could be an issue. Oh [ __ ] It is about not a massive difference. I think it’ll be all right. It looks the nuts. I think it does. Don’t know what you guys think. sitting lower. It looks meaner. Now, that squeaking sound and it’s skipping is exactly why I want the skinnier tires. It’s on full lock and that wheel wants to turn at a different speed to the other wheels. Obviously, if I straighten the steering out, the squeaking stops. What I think we need to do now is a very quick put the saddle on it. And I’ve got a short garden path. And we’ll do a little roll down the hill test. But compared to the trike, it turns on the spot. And you can hear that back wheels fighting even just doing that. But that’s obviously squeaking and sliding. That’s exactly what I want it to do. So fingers crossed. Let’s give this a quick roll test. Like I’ve actually noticed these brackets is half an inch closer that side than it is that side. So the whole thing is like that. Oh yeah. Did that’s the other thing with this. Look, it pivots in the middle of the frame. I suppose that’s if you go up a bit of a bank that it doesn’t like kick the wheel up. Right. The cranks are not actually on this bike. The seat’s not on properly. Let’s go. You can feel a bit of a fight like on the tires. I think I think it’s going to work. Yeah, I think we just need to step back and actually appreciate the stance and stretch. You can actually see the Eastern logo from both sides. I think that looks sick. Like especially from the front with the uh dual suspension and that Oh, [ __ ] me. Them handlebars are not tight. Right. What next? We could fit the motor. I haven’t decided on battery yet. We’ll leave the battery. What do you we should do next? Try the motor. And then connect the chain up to the B. What? And actually get it kind of working in a really sketchy way with zero brakes. Can figure out the battery afterwards, but I have the battery on the floor. I don’t think Lewis likes me very much. You want me to fit powerful electric motor and test it with no brakes? The basket. Maybe we should just check out the whole fitment. That’s a 68 mil bottom bracket. We need to figure out the spacers. A vague chain alignment, but this is just not even on properly. I’ve loosened this up already. Right, let’s fit the Photon Gen 2 motor and then we are getting somewhere. What kind of seed drum we should get, guys? BMX saddle or something if it’ll fit the seat post. Right, back in the workshop. Photon Gen 2. Let’s go. Now’s the time, guys. It is time. We are going to be fitting this badass little motor. And I’ve taken the chain chain wheel, not chain wheel, what you call it? Chain guard thing off. Um, which it kind of made it look a little bit bigger. But this is the motor with the sprocket um kind of assembly attached. But yeah, the actual motor itself is tiny. Look at it. 2,000 W and 140 Newton meters from that. Plus, it’s packed with all of their pedal assist technology, all of their torque sensing, all the app technology. Um, there’s a lot that’s gone into this motor. I won’t go into everything in massive detail, but like over the Gen One, apparently there’s like loads and loads of upgrades, heat dissipation, the amount of power it packs for the amount of room inside the motor. They’ve designed their own copper windings. Like instead of the usual cables, they’ve got loads of individual little flat copper strands that pack more power density for the size. It’s like crazy the amount of stuff they’ve done to it. I would guess though, they never they haven’t said it, but I do imagine on motors this small when you cram in so much into it, they’re not limiting the power like the throttle’s not limited. The power pedal assist isn’t limited, but they have limited it to a maximum of 2,000 W. And I I my guess is that that is because anything else could be overused and, you know, overheated. So, I reckon that’s their sweet spot for having a, you know, safe, reliable amount of power. But that’s that’s just my take on it. Why I presume that is the case. I haven’t heard that from CYC, so take that with a grain of salt. But enough talking. Let’s get this bad boy in. I mean, how good is this going to look? Like all the black crank arms. We’re going to get rid of this horrible silver cheap nasty bottom bracket. We’re going to rip that out now and um see if this will fit. What’s going on, guys? Just a quick one. This ebike, which is fully custom built by myself on the channel, is up for giveaway on raffle.com. For just £2, you can win. This bike is absolutely maxed out with all the options on Kirby. The biggest 52vt 30 A battery they do. It’s just dripping with custom parts and upgrades. Shimano DRXT 1×12 conversion. High quality sir on throttle new style display. It’s absolutely banging bike. Head on over and get your entries in now guys because there’s not many entries. There’s a really high odds of winning this one. Just a puck a bit of kit. Hope anodized parts on it. Purple anodized rims. Head on over to raffle.com/dudstuff. And uh you can win this bike for just two pound. Right now this is a very very weird frame. As you can see, it’s got the whole pivoting frame with a bit that juts out here. I think with any other mid drive motor that’s any bigger than this or a different shape, you’re almost guaranteed on this trike to have to grind that off. But I did have a quick test fitting. It looked like it’s going to clear that, but this I don’t know is that hexagonal shape does bump the frame there. So, normally you would have it len length forwards on a mountain bike frame, but we’re going to have it tilted back slightly. And I’m pretty certain that’ll be fine. Let’s bring that back a little bit cuz I think we’re not very well balanced. Oh yeah, that’s that’s so much safer. Right. So, I’d say we got to have it tilted back a bit. And that is in when we come around the other side in a minute, you’ll be able to get a better look at that kind of fitment. I don’t know whether to point out to you guys cuz I am going to be doing an X1 Pro crazy 6000 watt. Let’s just talk about fitment why I’m not putting this on it. And there’s another reason why as well. First reason is I’m not going to take this all to bits now. But like this won’t go through again. This would have to be at that angle. I can make this fit. I would have to remove this controller. And I don’t know how long the cables are to relocate it. I imagine they’re pretty short. You can see the cables in there. Like you would have to remove you would have to remove the controller for one to get this into there cuz it’ll be I can see that’s going to be hitting that part of the frame. And second reason, there is absolutely no point doing it on this. It’s got a seven-speed freewheel, so you can’t use a cassette. You can’t use the HD cassette. Obviously, these are welded up, so you can’t just change out cassettes and sprockets all the time. 6,000 W of mid drive, 285 Nm of torque will annihilate most gear sets. It’s freewheel, it’s not cassettes, you can’t get anything like really substantial. Alternatives are going up to motorbike sprockets, but then you lose the gearing and you’d probably need to get a thicker axle. I thought about this and as much as I like doing crazy, um I don’t like doing a lot of work for nothing. It might like I could get that X1 working with a flipping lot of work, but it will last about 20 30 seconds. And can I be bothered? Hell no. Let’s go. It’s really easy to work on. That’s why I like working on these quad cycles. They’re just they’re just so user friendly. That hexagonal side hitting the frame in there. I think it’s all right. It’s tilted back a bit. And to be honest, look, look at that. It’s almost like it’s sitting up higher than the bottom of the frame. So, it’s not actually hanging down. In a way, that bottom bracket’s moved from where it would normally be down there to up there. So, like by just circumstance, I’m a genius and I’ve actually picked the perfect bike for it cuz it’s just clearing that whole area. It’s all intentional. What I always wanted, I could never have it. Gone before I grabbed it. Over before it started. No, I could never have it. what I always dreamed of. I could always see us. Shadows in the distance, watching from the fences. But I can never have it. Now the space between us lasted all our hopes and dreams. Because I have fall from my beliefs. My time stand still while you’re dancing in the darkness. You think we should go our separate ways. But I think you’re worth the wait. Worth the wait. Worth the wait. Worth the wait. Worth the wait. I think you’re worth the wait. What I never wanted. Always seems to happen. It’s not the way we planned it. What an upgrade, guys. We’ve taken off this pile of junk. It’s cheap and nasty 68 mil bottom bracket. And we’ve got probably the most high tech DIY 2000 watt mid drive motor on the market. spin this thing around. So you can take a because of the chain wheel you can’t see like from that angle you can see the whole motor. What is going on guys? Right, it is go time. My friend is coming in 2 hours to help set up the gears cuz I’m crap at doing that. We have nothing on this bike at all. Well, we’ve got a shifter and a bunch of loose silver cable. No derailer. I don’t even know whether these are cables or just the outer sheath parts laying around. I don’t know what’s what. I basically have very little time to get something on here that makes some kind of sense. After going through all the parts I’ve got, I think I’m going to go with these. I’m going to take off this crappy silver and black thing. It’s not terrible, but I’m sick of having this gear system on every single cheap e bike and bike I’ve ever seen. This looks a bit better. Shimani Tory TZ SIS index. And this is a Shimani Tory TZ SIS index. Only issue is that says sevenspeed and that says sixspeed. But I think all that matters is the shifter. The fact that these are both black and red Shimani, same model, same SOS index. I think it should work. So, without any further ado, we are just going to crack on cuz time is limited and I really need my friend to set the gears up on this. If we can get the gear set up today, everything is just hopefully clear sailing. Getting the battery and all the rest of it on and hopefully have something up and running. But, as you know, still a lot to do to this. It’s got no brakes on it at the moment. No gears, no nothing. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yes. Yeah. Right. So, the clock’s on. I had that the wrong way up. Let’s go up to level two. All right. Yeah, we’re moving. Oh, it’s so smooth. Can’t even hear the motor. Yeah. Here we go. Yeah. Oh, it’s the dream. It works so well. I’ve not even changed gear yet. Does pedal assist work? Yeah, even without the speed sensor, it’s actually working on pedaling. Oh, it’s so smooth. It’s amazing. Brilliant. Right, guys, change of plans. Now, during filming that little test ride, most stuff went pretty well cuz then I just slung it together. However, one little thing was suddenly the back brake, which was the only brake I was using, the power just suddenly went in it. And it was really bizarre cuz there was no fluid leaked anywhere. Now, I’ve had a little look into it and I figured out what’s happened. So, we’ve got no front brakes and we’re putting all the pressure on the back and I was squeezing it really hard to try and make it skid. So, what’s happened is I thought the brake was broken, but this axle has this axle’s got these little black lock collars so you can fit attachments on it. And on the other side of this black lock collar is one of them. Now, that’s got a thread in it, and it it screws up probably anticlockwise the opposite way. And then you’ve got the six holes for the brake disc. But what’s happened is, or what I can presume’s happened, I’ve squeezed it so hard it’s got to the end of the thread. And look, it’s actually killed the uh the brake so powerful, it’s actually crossthreaded it. I can’t remember if it goes that way to tighten up, but now it won’t tighten. It gets a bit tighter and the thread’s just gone. So the lock collar is probably steel and these are probably soft aluminum. So that’s buggered and we can’t change it because I’ve welded the axle. So we’ve got two options here. We go down the route of doing what I did to the trike and just making it a silly drift vehicle. Both back wheels lock drift sleeves and it’s a onetrick pony. Or direction I’m thinking we have got the most advanced mid drive kit on the market. the Photon Gen two and it’s got like you can adjust the throttle curve, the power delivery. We put on the axle that come with it that isn’t welded. So, we’ve got a brand new axle here with brand new brake disc, brand new Shimano freewheel, the whole assembly. Obviously, we have to change the tires. The only issue with that is we could have torque steer, but I honestly think from what I saw on this, it’s very usable and the power deliver is very smooth. I think I’m actually going to make something sensible and fun cuz this was a lot of fun. It weren’t stupidly fast, but it put a massive grin on my face. And I think to have something where you can actually take the wheels off, change the brake disc, change the freewheel, and actually service it and use it and potentially make it kind of road legal. I think this would be a mad daily for like just buzzing around the streets on. So, I’m actually going to strip this right down and do this properly. Now, I did it in a rush just to see if it works, and it kind of does. Uh, gears need a bit of tweaking and a few things, but that’s to be expected. So, I’m going to take the front end apart, get dual discs on both front wheels, get front brakes, and I won’t have that issue of the back brake cuz most your braking power comes from the front. So, I shouldn’t have done that to begin with, but it got us up and running. Back end off, brand new axle, brand new front brakes, and this thing should be an actually sick proper vehicle. I can’t wait to take this for a test ride. So, I’m going to get stripping it apart. And yeah, right guys, quad is all fully done. I fitted dual front brakes on it. So, we got dual discs on the front on each wheel. Upgraded hydraulic brake disc on the back. Uh, batteries fully installed. I’ve gone over everything. I’ve tightened the handlebars. This thing is now mint. It actually turns corners. Um, yeah. So, we’re ready to give this a little test. I say we take this over and do a quick hill test over Hadley Bike Park. Find a nice steep hill, bearing in mind this is a lot heavier than a normal bike and it’s only on little 20-in wheels, but we’ll see what it can do. Just want to mention obviously with battery fitment. Now, I did order the 65V CYC battery uh alongside this kit. However, like I don’t need this quad to go any faster than it already goes. It feels a little bit sketchy with the twisting frame. If you hit a bit of a angle, um it kind of like wobbles about the steering at high speed. It’s kind of like subtle and then there’s a very fine line between small movements and it’s suddenly just biting and turning in really hard. And I would hate to do that at 40 plus miles an hour. So you can have some versatility with batteries on most ebike kits apart from ones on certain lock canvas systems. This is canvas but it’s open source so you can mix and match different batteries. If you’ve already got a battery, you can use that. I’ve got this Kirby bike 52 volt 20 amp battery and all I had to do was buy an XT90 to 60 adapter. I want to save the 65V battery. I have always wanted to put the CYC battery on a hub drive project because it’s got a BMS with a higher rating. It looks gorgeous. You could throw more amps at it. So link for this battery is in the video description. If you’ve already got your own battery, you can use that. With regards to the CYC ones, much like the Kirby bike, they always use Samsung or LG cells. Both brilliant quality batteries. But with this 52 volt, for example, it suits this particular build better. I don’t need the extra couple of miles an hour top speed, it’s already fast enough. I don’t get drastically bad torques there. The Kirby bike batteries are on the 52 volt are slightly longer range and in some dimensions a little bit smaller. I was able to fit it in here nicely. I don’t know. The CYC might have fitted. The CYC have got I’ve got to admit the best looking batteries I’ve ever seen on the market. I don’t know why batteries are so flipping ugly. I mean, the Kirby bike one’s not bad, but some of the battery cases are just so gross. I don’t know why they haven’t made better looking ebike batteries, but CYC are absolutely gorgeous. I want to put the 65 volt on a on a hub drive and throw more amps and get more acceleration. But anyway, it’s all about this beast today. Let’s go do a hill test. Oh, yeah. Just to mention, obviously you probably see in the video anyway, brand new axle on here and it’s absolutely shiny and gorgeous looking. All the paint works pristine. Brand new freewheel, brand new disc. And the bonus is now you can take the wheels off, slide the axle out, and change the freewheel, change the brake if anything breaks. This particular build is specific to this build. And what I mean by that is you can only get a certain amount of power through this. And there’s a sweet spot between awful torque steer and unreliability and having something that’s quick and fun. And I think I’ve absolutely nailed it with this Photon. There is one thing, one last thing I want to mention on this. There is so much more to this display. Um, I may get a chance to do it in another video. However, the speed sensor coming out the motor, the cable is here, and the standard cable only goes to like where a normal back wheel would be. Um, I need it to go along here to the axle, along the axle. And I need basically a longer cable. I’ve got one on order. CYC do a 1 ft and a twoft extension cable as an added extra. and I’ve got one in the post. But unfortunately, it’s not ready in time to show you more functions on this awesome display. What I will tell you though is what I will mention is this has got some amazing functions. Soon as you got the speed sensor, you can link it up to the app. It’s got uh built-in heart rate display. So, if you’ve got heartbeat on your smartwatch or on a chest strap, you can do all kinds of fitness things on here. It’s got loads of functions and a really sick menu. Street mode, you can lock the speed to 15. There’s a lot of stuff it does, which is really sick. And you can kind of tweak it to get the perfect amount of power for you. Without further ado, let’s get to a hill. Whoa. Right, guys. As you can see, we’re at Hadley Bike Park. We’re hundreds of meters up in the air, and this is a really nice steep off-road hilly bit. I’ve not tried any hills on this. I’ve barely ridden it so far. So, we’re going to try rolling down and see how well it goes up this hill. I’m not sure if I’m going to get the gear selection right first time, but let’s give it a shot. Oh. That was a bit scary. I don’t think the front brakes have only just wired up. The pads have not even bedded in yet. Right, here we go. Spinning it around. Whoa. God, this is starting from a really steep incline. Throttle only. All right. Problem is it’s wheel spinning because I’ve got BMX slick. It’s not built for off-road. It’s not power, it’s uh traction on this slippery mud. I’m going to have to roll into it cuz it only gets steeper anyway. We got some serious wheel spin issues going on. Let’s give it another shot. Right. [ __ ] it. Going for it. Whoa. Throttle only. Yeah. Yeah. Heel test is a win. It’s going to take a little bit of getting used to this thing. Like the handling is weird. Really weird. One more. One more lap. Right. I’m going to go in a lower gear. It’s going to be harder on the motor, so we might not handle it. Whoa. Going a bit wide. We’re in third gear. Nice pulling. It’s picking up. Yeah. Here we go. Oh, wheel spin. Oh, the wheel’s not on the ground. Look, the grass is wet, right? This obviously was made for street use and BMX slicks do not grip on wet grass. I’m pretty certain it’s got the power to get out there, but it’s just not got the grip. Whoa. Yeah, when we’re going up a bank on that plane, it takes all the weight off of the main drive wheel. If I went up it the other direction, it will get up it fine. Cattle grid test. Whoa, this thing’s quick. How mad’s that? Look on the display. Like apart from obviously you’ve got the normal speed mode and tells you your speed etc and distance. It’s got all these different like tells you that you’re in race mode. There’s your heartbeat monitor if I had a smartwatch on or something. Not only is it got your watts and things, motor torque like motor RPM. It’s just got it’s got so much stuff going on. How many watts you’re throwing out. It’s a really cool displaying kit. This is the thing. CYC probably do the most I would say probably one of the most advanced kits on the market like in terms of technology research and development quality and just new innovation. They are absolutely bang on with their kits. Really is a nice bit of kit. I mean, it might not be welds apart in terms of power from some of the Tongen motors and some of the uh Buffang motors, but you aren’t getting like the technology and all the all the stuff that goes with it, you’re just not getting on other stuff. It really is a nice bit of kit. Whoa, this thing flies. Watch what happens when I go up a bank on this thing. Look, the handlebars go over there. Whoa. The seat this the handlebars are like straight and the seat’s pointing like over there sideways. What a bizarre thing. BMX slick problems. I have actually made a drift trike now. 72 volt drift trike and a four-w wheeled high-owered street quadricycle with stance. So I finally made them actually cool and it doesn’t actually look like an old person would want to touch this thing like some old fogy. Sorry mate didn’t Oh god, there’s an old guy walking past. Mate, leave it. I’m going to call the police. Heat. Heat. N. Oh, mate. What are you doing, mate? Come back. Oh, I can’t believe this is actually happening right now. Oh my god. What is he doing? He’s actually leaving the car park. Oh, I cannot believe this. He’s stolen our quad. The old man has actually stolen our quad. So, on that note, that is the end of the video. Hope you enjoyed watching it. See you in a video soon. Take it easy. We were young and free like queens up on the thrones. Never surrender. We’re having too much fun. Could feel it in my bones. I was never alone. Hanging on the beach will always
In this video, I’m fitting the latest CYC Photon Gen 2 mid-drive e-bike kit—the most advanced mid-drive kit in the world—to an Aliexpress 4 wheel quadcycle bike!
This build is powered by the CYC Photon Gen 2 motor, giving it power, torque, and acceleration!
Battery used: Kirbebike 52v 20ah Samsung cells
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