Sinclair C5 - 80's nostalgia
Discussion
What a machine.
Always admired these on the point of "How bad can they really be?" & "Are they better then a G-Wiz?" type of questions.
I know some kid in Bournemouth who has one & he loves it. I've always wanted to have a go in one but I doubt anyone would be willing to let someone of my stature get in one & see how it's like.
You have done a great job in restoring it so far. Lets hope the donor one yields salvageable parts?
Good luck on the engine & gearbox rebuild & will be following with interest.
Always admired these on the point of "How bad can they really be?" & "Are they better then a G-Wiz?" type of questions.
I know some kid in Bournemouth who has one & he loves it. I've always wanted to have a go in one but I doubt anyone would be willing to let someone of my stature get in one & see how it's like.
You have done a great job in restoring it so far. Lets hope the donor one yields salvageable parts?
Good luck on the engine & gearbox rebuild & will be following with interest.
Having a bit of trouble with the rebuilt motor, I got all the wiring sorted and it runs well, but just has absolutely no oomph behind it. Managed to get a chance to look at it today and try some fault finding and i think it is down to the new brushes that I fitted to the motor.
They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
AceOfHearts said:
Having a bit of trouble with the rebuilt motor, I got all the wiring sorted and it runs well, but just has absolutely no oomph behind it. Managed to get a chance to look at it today and try some fault finding and i think it is down to the new brushes that I fitted to the motor.
They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
I can see what you mean about it being different, but if the motor was demanding the current then wouldn't the braiding have burnt through on the thin one?They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
rhinochopig said:
As you're not going for originality, why not buy a modern motor and a raft of lion cells from china and build yourself a plastic rocketship.
I was thinking about this but did want to keep it semi original, plus finding a suitable motor for sensible money was a bit of an issue. The only thing non original is the wiring and the lack of heads up display (if you can call it that Edited by rhinochopig on Friday 28th November 18:50
)A lot of people seem to be changing them to front wheel drive with electric hub motors that can be fitted very easily. These come in at around £250 though and don't offer any real performance advantage, but do have a proper throttle rather than the standard on/off switch.
A brake upgrade will be on the cards in the future though. Thankfully parts can still be had relatively cheap and i am still toying with the idea of a brand new motor and gearbox which can be had for £130 (a second hand motor is around £50)
Now i have done the wiring myself now 24v is just a battery connection away if i fancy any more speed in the future
The brushes turned up this afternoon so I finally got my first proper ride! Can't believe the amount of attention it got, loads of people waving and taking pictures. I really need to get the brakes properly sorted but couldn't help calling my mate LewG over and we took some videos which he has just finished putting together 
Some pictures from today as well:
And as a little extra treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJPu-jl5wI
Some pictures from today as well:
And as a little extra treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJPu-jl5wI
Had a little bit of time to work on the C5 today
I finally got the brakes working to an acceptable level, cleaned and regreased the front wheel bearings and re-tensioned the motor belt as it was slipping.
After all that i took it for a test run to the local shops and picked up some food for Christmas
I finally got the brakes working to an acceptable level, cleaned and regreased the front wheel bearings and re-tensioned the motor belt as it was slipping.
After all that i took it for a test run to the local shops and picked up some food for Christmas
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141209-sinclair-...
And Merry Christmas everyone
(not sure what to make of this )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Rgovy4U7I&ap...
And Merry Christmas everyone
(not sure what to make of this
)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Rgovy4U7I&ap...
Edited by AceOfHearts on Wednesday 24th December 01:54
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