Battery Power Baby....Noah P's '93 Suzuki GSX-R.

Boulder has some seriously great hiking,climbing and bouldering,if you're so inclined.Me,i'm in my element here,the mountains just do it for me.I'm already on week three of my conditioning schedule of running up to the top of Mount Sanitas,not really a big peak at 6863 ft/2092 m 40.03650°N/105.306°W,but when you do it with a 35lb backpack and a 15lb Lumbar pack,it takes the gas out of you pretty quick.It's a 3.1 ml round trip with a 1350 ft elevation gain,starting at 5,520 ft and ending at 6'843 ft.
It was on my way to check out some climbing routes riding east that I passed what looked at first to be a Suzuki GSX-R,but something was different about this GSX-R.

Good grief Holmes,where's the engine?.Are those batteries?.Sure enough,someone went and built themselves a battery powered bike.
Now it's not the first one i've seen,but they are still in the R&D mode as far as a consumer version goes.
I stopped to take a few pics and then decided to seek out the owner,who was in the coffee shop right where he was parked.So we chatted for a bit and made arrangements to meet at his house the following saturday.

Noah Podolefsky

The bike is,or rather was a '93 Suzuki GSX-R that he bought in parts,minus the engine,on Fleabay.
His inspiration was his first motorcycle ever,his electric scooter.

Yes,a scooter was his first ride.One would think that he's been around bikes from a wee lad from looking at the electric Gixxer he built,but no,this is his first foray into not only riding motorcycles,but now building them.

So Saturday I pull up to his house.The Gixxer is feeding,plugged into the wall socket.

So while we wait for it to charge up so we can go for a ride,Noah gives me the specs on the bike.It's completely homebuilt by Noah,everything.

By day Noah is a research Scientist at the University of Colorado.What he does at night I have no clue.

He does however have a background in experimental physics,which i'm guessing came in handy when he decided to embark on this project.

It has 24 cells for a 76 volt total,which gives it about 30 hp.

The motor is capable of 80 ft lbs of torque from a standstill.

It's a single speed motor,you just get on and it goes up to a top speed of 65mph,no clutch,no shifting,nada.

The Pizza Sprocket

He's running a Pizza sized rear sprocket on the rear,a 63 tooth,with a 16 on the motor end.

There's a whole lot of neat owner made parts on the bike,like the economy flashlight front turn signals and rear stoplights.

Noah told me he couldn't find anything affordable in a catalogue,so he got a bunch of small LED flashlights,changed out the white LED's for amber and red and viola,custom lights.

There's a 400 amp fuse contactor in red,and the little blue box monitors current which reads out on the front display.

24 squares = the 24 battery cells.

To give it that badass streetfighter look,he got out the sawzall and performed a circumcision on the tail section.

Mehh,didn't need that piece anyway.

The tank's had the center section where the filler neck was cut out and a new piece of metal welded in and smoothed over.

After the bike had charged (from dead to charged takes about 4-5 hours,which when he changes over to an AC motor will take an hour) we went off for a ride.

We ended up at a very interesting and famous house in Boulder,the details of which i'll not divulge in this post.Why,I hear you ask?.

Well,it's going to be a question in the coming weeks post,the second Where Am I contest.First prize is a Kriega donated US 10 pack,a $70 value.

So stay tuned for the details.

Buenos nachos amigos.

Senor Murph