Zoomi Life

We received a press release from Blindspot Cycles in Ford Collins, Colorado.  The owner and mechanic, Chris Ravana, was debuting his business and bikes publicly, for the first time, at the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair in Fort Collins this past weekend.  I was at the fair and was lucky enough to meet Chris and check out his rides and what he’s doing.

He had three bikes to showcase, all of which started out as junkers or near-junkers and have been converted to all-electric using nothing but American-made and sourced materials.  All the way down to the deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, the motors, and the workmanship Chris put into the bikes to convert them.

His “regular ride” is the one he calls El Chopper, which is a converted 1986 Honda Rebel 250 (pictured at top).  It has a top speed of 50mph and a 30 mile range. It’s a 48V system and is only limited in speed by his desired range with the four on-board batteries and could be capable of much more.

Chris admits that he knows very little about the engineering or electronics behind this stuff.  “I’m just a designer and fabricator,” he said when I asked him about the specs on the motors.  “I’m not an engineer, I don’t know all of the math behind this.  I just know what works when I mount it and what doesn’t.”  Fair enough.  He does have a friend, John Bidwell, to consult with these issues, however.

You may know John Bidwell from Bidwell Designs or Clean and Personal Transportation.  Bidwell’s been converting gas-to-electric for over ten years and is an icon in the business.  His legendary bike BADVOLTS, which held the world record as a dragster until the KillaCycle broke it a couple of years ago, may see resurrection through Blindspot Cycles.

John wasn’t on hand to answer my questions at the fair, but who cares about stupid electro-nerd details when you’re looking at, touching, and sitting on real, live bikes like these?  One thing I have to say about Chris: he knows what does and doesn’t work and what looks good on a bike. As a designer and builder of these machines, he definitely knows what looks badass and what looks like a back yard chop job.

While El Chopper is a cool ride, my favorite had to be his latest, finished literally hours before the Fair’s opening day, Drag N’ Bag (pictured above). This is a 1980 Suzuki GS 250 that saw a lot of custom work from Chris.  The bare bike was basically just a frame with handlebars.

Chris went to work and fabricated most of what you see here, including the great aesthetic touch of the “exhaust pipes” at the rear which complete the feel of the bike while providing a spot for him to run the wires from the controller and batteries in the bottoms of the hard bags to the front.  Totally awesome bike to look at and my pathetic attempts at photography don’t do it justice.

The changes from the concept shown on his site are interesting and, I think, a better evolution of the design of the bike overall.  I love the angular look given to the overall bike that totally fits with the straight-edge handlebars. This bike is capable of 70mph and has a fifty mile range due to the extra battery storage space providing 72V to the motor.  The bags are still about 2/3 empty and so are usable as normal storage.

The next bike, which I failed to photograph in my excitement, is called the Red Racer.  This was a 1977 Yamaha XS400 Special that he’s converted to a 36V rider with a 35mph top speed and a 20 mile range. This is the smallest conversion he’s done and has the most original parts still on the bike.

The bike sits very low and the rider hunches down to ride, due to its handlebars.  It’s not my style of ride at all, but it’s a great little short-haul commuter and there are those who prefer this “bullet bike” feel.  It’s a great model of what can be done with a gas engine motorcycle that’s reached the end of its days and would be awesome as a conversion to electric for a second life.

Chris’ current project is being called Terry’s Trike and is a 1982 Honda CX 500 Police Trike from Trident Trikes. The owner, Terry, happened to be there when I was talking to Chris and the friendly banter between them about the project was great.  The newly converted bike will have a 96V (or higher) system with a speed electronically limited to 55mph and a minimum 60 mile range.  Terry wants it to “put off lots of tire smoke” when it’s done.

It was really cool to meet Chris but, no offense to him (I doubt he’ll mind), it was even more awesome to see his work.  These bikes are totally amazing and show what can be done with a little ingenuity, a lot of work, and real vision.  This conversion process beats Cash for Clunkers any day of the week.