Two wheeled Electric Vehicle

Here is an update on my progress towards converting a 1984 Ninja 900 to electric power. Initial analysis indicated this would cost about $2000 to buy all new parts (Motor, controller and batteries). However, do to some carefull scrounging it now looks like the total cost for conversion will be less than $1000. This price includes the rebuilt controller I purchased from GolfTech .
The project is progressing well and I should have it up and running by the end of Sep '02. Ha! I've put a date up on the web and now I'm stuck with it.
Here is what the bike looks like so far < Photo > and a close up of the < battery rack > I'm building that mounts where the infernal combustion engine used to be. The original engine was an integral part of the frame and helped support it. So my battery rack has to not only hold the batteries, but function as part of the frame. I'm sure this would be a trivial task for a structural engineer, but I'm not one. So I just decided to make it as strong and as stiff as I could, without having it end up weighing a 100 lbs. Most of the rack is made out of 1/8" thick 1.5" angle iron. This helps keep it light but by itself is a bit to flexible. So I'm adding: trianglation, gussets in key stress areas, thicker steel at the points where it mounts to the frame, and bonding sheetmetal across the entire front, bottom and most of the sides. The front mount points are 1/4" think angle and the 2" wide bar that mounts the back of the rack (AND the motor) is 3/8" thick. The upper shelf bolts into place and also helps stiffen up the rack. I've taken lots of photos of the construction so far and I will post them --and a more detailed description-- as soon as I finish the bike (gotta keep those priorities straight, finish the bike and THEN tell how I did it.)

Anyway here is the progress so far:
Here is what the frame looked like when I bought it back in Y2K. It's the frame from a 1984 900 Ninja (made famous by the movie "Top Gun"). It only cost me $100, but it was missing a few easential parts (like a seat, foot pegs, and some front brake parts). I picked up the seat from a guy in Oregon for $75 and the foot pegs and front brake master cyclinder I got off Ebay (another $35)

Total cost so far:

Motor$ 50
Batteries$210
Controller$280
Frame + misc$210
Metal for rack $ 50
Total$800

I still have to build a fairing and add lights and so forth. I'm going to build a "dustbin" style fairing (one that encloses the front wheel)

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