When Aden Brown’s dad bought a Yamaha XT600 ag bike for $200, nobody knew what it would grow into.
Aden grew up in the central NSW town of Parkes and resides there now after completing a degree at University of NSW in Sydney.
With the engine just about shot and spitting oil on the rider, the Browns were looking at what to replace it with.
Aden studied Renewable Energy Engineering and decided to put his knowledge to use in re-building the bike.
That has resulted in converting the old Yamaha into an electric-powered motorbike.
“When dad bought the bike, the engine was already pretty much gone," Aden said.
“We were thinking about what to do with it and I decided I wanted to convert it to electric power.
“I worked for a couple of years out of uni as a motorbike mechanic and thought it could be fun.
“Also I was looking at reduced running costs with no need to pay for fuel and no oil changes to do.”
Aden removed the old engine and made some modifications to the old frame.
“I stripped the frame right back and gave it a new paint job to make it last a bit longer,” he said.
“The change of motor required some new brackets which I got specially cut to mount it.
“For all the other electrics, I have just welded up smaller frames at work and welded them on as required.
“I picked up most of the gear from a company in Perth that sells electric vehicle parts.
“I bought the motor and the motor controller, which takes the DC power from the battery and converts it to AC for the motor.
“The battery I picked up from a mate who works in a robotics company.
“They had spare batteries lying around so I was able to buy it a bit cheaper.
“He also sold me the battery management system – which has probably been the hardest thing to get my head around.
“You need to understand the battery chemistry and the voltages because if you go over or under the battery voltages you can start a fire or an explosion.”
The change-over has not been all smooth sailing for Aden.
“The hardest part has been finding the time to sit down and work on it,” he said.
“I work at my dad’s grain cleaning business and with the amount of feed grain we have had coming in, it has been flat out.
“I am still going on the conversion and hope to finish it in the next month or so.
“You need a decent amount of time when you are working on it as you need to get your head around it each time you pick it up.
“You can’t just walk in and pick it up where you left off straight away.
“It is such a complex task, it is time consuming, but it will be worth it in the end.”
