College NOOB NEEDS HELP!!!

[pjl5022]

Ok so to get my baccalaureate degree in mechanical engineering I'm suppose to design something, so I decided on doing something fun, an electric GO KART!

This project is an economy build!!! (keep this in mind)

I think found a good motor...
http://www.e-drivekit.com/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=1

but here's my dilemma, I want to go faster, I want to be able to change gears like on a bicycle. I don't want to "re-invent the wheel" so I was thinking of using the gear set up from a bike.

Now in my mind without any math just based on assumptions, I think that the motor is too strong for a bicycle set up, and will snap the chain or strip the gears, is there something out there like a two or three speed transmission that would work with that motor...?

Oh and the specs for this go kart is about the size of a hand truck or shopping cart, so nothing too big.

 

[dpaxson]

lawn tractor transaxle? that might be kinda bulky though.

 

[BradenM]

I sincerely doubt a mower tranny will cope with the instantly available torque of this electric motor.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

I sincerely doubt a mower tranny will cope with the instantly available torque of this electric motor.

i sincerely dont doubt that it will, if you get one off a 12 or 16 horse mower it should do fine. before i could afford a gokart and couldnt make one myself (i tried but it was made out of pine and push mower wheels haha) i drove around an 11hp sears riding mower and i beat the hell outa that thing. I would put it in 5th and rev it all the way and drop the clutch, i even put weights on the back and dropped the clutch on a hill, did a big *** wheelie but the tranny was fine.

 

[dpaxson]

ya don't care how "instantly available" the torque of that motor is, it's only 800W which is like a little over a hp. I know horsepower doesn't always indicate torque but i doubt it will be anywhere near that of a big v twin

 

[kibble]

That's a nice motor kit. I think you'd be fine with a transmission like the one the others mentioned. Finding one is the hard part, (well, at least for me it would be).

 

[oscaryu1]

That's a DARN nice kit. Those batteries are worth over $100 themselves.