mono motorcycles are keenly aware of the eBike revolution happening in motorcycle design and manufacturing. 

We have been keeping our finger on the pulse and watching the eBike market slowly but surely begin to gain traction. Therefore when in 2019/2020 we had the opportunity to become part of the eBike revolution; we knew it was the right time for us.

Here is Daniel Morris – Director of mono motorcycles to tell us more about the original eCUB build.

“In the Summer of 2019 I was chatting to our web designer about building him a motor bike, but he wanted something a little different. He showed me a Honda Cub with a surfboard on the side.

“I want something like this” he said.

A week later he sent me a picture of what we began to know as a ‘Shanghai Customs eCUB’. Yep it’s electric!

Being a motorcycle wiring specialist and always looking forward to the latest innovations, the eCUB really inspired and intrigued me.

Chatting to another customer who had a keen interest in the environmental electrification movement, I mentioned the eCUB, said we were considering an eCUB build and before I knew it he had instructed me to build him one.

First, I had to find a Honda C90 frame. You would think this would be easy as it was the worlds best selling motorcycle a few years ago, 100 million to be exact! Problem is they were also one of the most stolen, crashed, burnt, rusted and now modified bikes on the planet.

After putting feelers out into local biking communities, we found a frame with a log book locally. The frame was in really good condition and had been sand blasted ready to build.

Next up we needed to order the kit from Shanghai Customs (SC)

Please note: Shanghai Customs are no longer trading.

We received the eCUB 2.0 in December 2019 as SC managed to ship the kit just in time just as China had gone into lockdown due to Covid19. Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with the battery which didn’t come from SC but directly from the manufacturer. Stuck in China, we decided to make a start on the rest of the bike before the battery arrived.

The frame didn’t need much, although we did cut off a few brackets like the ones that hold the leg shields and welded up a few holes. We also raised the brackets that hold the side pods on.

Our customer wanted the frame the same colour as his Ferrari which is painted in banca white, which is like a pearl if you catch it in the sunlight.

Once the frame was back with us, we hung on until the battery arrived. A few weeks later UPS turned up with a package and the battery had arrived. A week later was our first breakfast club of 2020 on 15^th March (which turned out to be our only one this year). We laid all the eCUB 2.0 electrics out on the bench and plugged it all in to check if it worked so we could demo it at breakfast club the next day.

We had hoped to turn the eCUB 2.0  bike build around quite quickly, but we then went into lockdown here in the UK and everything went on hold.

Once we had fathomed our way around the Covid19 lockdown, the eCUB 2.0  build was really straight forward and I was a pleasantly surprised how quickly it came together. It was a really exciting build and our first electric motorcycle conversion project”

Daniel Morris – Director, mono motorcycles

Please note: Shanghai Customs are no longer trading.

#eCUB #ElectricMotorcycles #ElectricMotorbikes #Electrification