Mastodawn

Serious offer: i know how to make electric bicycles, electrify analog bicycles and repair broken electric bikes/scooters. If you are in #Brisbane, feeling fuel pinch, and want to get (back/newly) on two wheels, hit me up. Parts to electrify a bicycle cost a few hundred dollars, no need to spend $4000 on a store bike if you don’t want to. I even have some analog bikes we could use for parts. If you have access to ex rental scooters from defunct rental companies, i can also help resurrect these.

Will hold a weekend #ebike #escooter #micromobility workshop if there is interest.

ETA: if not in brissy i can recommend parts to buy

ETFA: if you have a good bike but a dead battery, this can be resurrected for around $100

ETEFA: your replies tell me I'd better pump out a blog post on this subject pronto.

ETYFA: Blog series https://accelerando.com.au/news/

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

Accelerando News

Kit Bashir 19h ago

If you phoned me just now to ask about motor controllers, the voicemail recording of your phone number was cut off, please try again.

Voice mail?

How quaint.

(Yes, I'm an introvert.)

@Unixbigot I did that to a $400 new racer, good for 50km each way commute. Would recommend.
Total cost ~$600 in parts in 2015.

@Unixbigot I used this, but cheaper via AliExpress https://dillengerelectricbikes.com.au/products/bafang-bbs01-mid-drive-electric-bike-kit

BBS01 Mid Drive Electric Bike Kit - B Series

rick murnane 20h ago

@Unixbigot This is a wonderful thing you're doing. I'm about as far away from Brisbane as a person can get and still be on the same planet, but am boosting because why the hell not. Fediverse. Ya never know.

Kit Bashir 15h ago

@rickmurnane I've dumped my brain here https://accelerando.com.au/news/

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

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Swift (will be at EMF)20h ago

@Unixbigot I'd love any suggestions on electrifying my bike. I suspect London (UK) doesn't count as Brisbane 😁

Violet Madder 20h ago

Recommendations on parts would be grand. I'm intimidated hearing about how so many ebike companies care nothing for compatibility and keep making proprietary stuff that's going to be wildly impractical to maintain.

Violet Madder 11h ago

(and by "wildly impractical", I mean the proprietary non-user-repairable guts of an important form of transportation would be forever at the mercy of the whims of some corporate entity that may or may not even exist in a few years or if it does it'll be as part of some predatory conglomerate that will charge you extra fees for not properly fitting your balls into its teeth for DNA extraction every ride or they're gonna brick the thing-- please please can we just have some tech that makes actual by-engineering-I-mean-with-physics sense and isn't pretending it's our own personal jeebus or whatever capitalist hellscape is even going on now?)

Justified Ancient of Moomin 19h ago

@Unixbigot great idea! Do you have advice on acquiring components that are EN15194 compliant (250W motors, pedelec drive electronics etc) and good quality batteries & charging systems and ways to test them?

Kit Bashir 15h ago

@ThermiteBeGiants I've dumped my brain here https://accelerando.com.au/news/

ooh, I forgot to write about chargers. Part four.....

Pretty much every brushless motor controller I've seen has an optional pedal sensor plug. If you get an off the shelf 250w brushless motor and controller, it's pretty hard NOT to be EN15194 compliant. I've torn down and tested a number of battery systems, and yes, have all manner of test gear for doing this.

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

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Justified Ancient of Moomin 15h ago

@Unixbigot cheers!

abrasive 19h ago

@Unixbigot Legend!!

I'm a bit far south to come visit but would be deeply grateful for parts recs 🙏🙏

Kit Bashir 15h ago

@abrasive I've dumped my brain here https://accelerando.com.au/news/

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

Accelerando News

abrasive 15h ago

@Unixbigot Thank you so much!

@Unixbigot very curious on ETFA! My lekker bike battery is starting to show it’s age and they quote $900 for a new one which seems crazy

Kit Bashir 18h ago

@lukasm start here https://accelerando.com.au/news/2026/03/diy-electric-bikes-on-a-budget-part-1-batteries/

DIY electric bikes on a budget - part 1, batteries

This article already got really long, so part one will just cover “battery 101” Preemptive anti-splaining Off the shelf e-bikes can be great if you can afford them. I am presuming for this series that you cannot, and want to spend less money but do more faffing about. Many very clever open-source motor control inventions exist. I am targeting this series at those for whom soldering or installing firmware is an obstacle, I will focus on treating the motor contorller as a “black box” Compatibility can be hell, but replacing a whole drivetrain is now cheap, so buying a controller and throttle assembly that is “disposable” because of limited documentation and warranty can be acceptable. Your bike is cooler than mine. No contest. Parts of an e-bike An electric bicycle is conceptually really simple

Accelerando News

@Unixbigot thank you!

@Unixbigot sounds cool, alas I'm literally at the opposite end of the planet.

Kit Bashir 15h ago

@kkarhan I've dumped my brain here https://accelerando.com.au/news/

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

Accelerando News

blobthinkingcool

Darren Bennett 18h ago

@Unixbigot Does a 30yo Avanti Mountain Bike I don't ride nearly enough sound like a good platform for conversion? I am in Brisbane.

Kit Bashir 18h ago

@torgo4012 yep I'm drafting an article that will help you

Darren Bennett 16h ago

@Unixbigot looking forward to it.

Kit Bashir 15h ago

@torgo4012 it's up now https://accelerando.com.au/news/

Accelerando News

Accelerando Consulting - IoT, DevOps, Big Data

Accelerando News

raspberry 18h ago

@Unixbigot wheres the blog post kit? :D

Kit Bashir 18h ago

@theraspb Help me I am in hell. I don't even use google analytics. (My blog engine is throwing an error)

$ hugo server
Error: html/template:_partials/head.html:62:18: no such template "_internal/google_analytics_async.html"
make: *** [test] Error 1

raspberry 18h ago

@Unixbigot i use hugo too, what theme are you using? if you've since updated the hugo version you may need to also update the theme (i think mine was git submodules)

Kit Bashir 18h ago

@theraspb I'm using this ¹ theme which appears to have had no updates for a long time. I recently updated hugo to the latest code, which has caused several of my sites to break...fixed one already, now fixing this one.

I think I've hacked out the failing logic from the template, fingers crossed.

Michael Gemar 16h ago

@Unixbigot What a fantastic and generous offer.

@Unixbigot this modular battery system looks interesting:

https://hackaday.com/2026/03/19/modular-18650-packs-no-spot-welding-required/

Modular 18650 Packs, No Spot Welding Required

Building a battery pack from 18650 cells traditionally requires patience, a spot welder, and a supply of nickel strip. But what if there was another way? [Ben] is here with Cell-Lock, a modular bat…

Hackaday

Si Dawson 14h ago

@Unixbigot I'm not in Brisbane (thank goodness, ohhh, that humidity!) but you are _awesome_. Keep being amazing. Deepest thank yous from someone farther ashore.

The Boxing Kangaroo 14h ago

@Unixbigot I would come down from the Sunshine Coast for this. Yes please.

@Unixbigot Totally love that initiative!

(E bikes as car replacements are valid - I just don't like them personally, but that's my problem 😁)

@Unixbigot thank you for your kindness and for helping to make tomorrow greener! I'm far away from Brisbane, but def will be doing some tinkering in a garage this weekend :)

I'm stumped by all the ET… acronyms 😢

Kit Bashir 8h ago

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