How did I ever end up with a army bike built and issued to the Swiss Military?

I just had to take out the old Swiss M93 that I converted into an e-bike the other day.  Wanted to try out some new possible commute routes for work.

The school district is moving the transportation office and where the school buses are being stored.  This is kind of a big deal, particularly for me. Because it will be closer to my house and on the South side of the freeway.

What has been stopping me from using my e-bike to commute is a fear of going through the Twin Circles of Death which I talk about in-depth in a different post. Driving a school bus with all those kids is dangerous enough. Taking an e-bike through the Twin Circles of Death is just plain suicide and I refuse to die from someone else’s stupidity.

So the back roads to the new bus storage lot looks to be about a six-mile round trip commute twice a day. That means I will only have to charge the battery about once a week. It makes me feel so good to be going green. Of course, I’m talking Swiss Army drab green. Ha ha ha.

Do you know the thing I love about the Swiss military surplus? The fact that they haven’t fought a war in over 400 years and all of their stuff is in really great unused condition. Including this model 1993 Swiss Army Bike and ugly military green and everything.

I’ve bought tons (literally) of military surplus items from the Sportsman’s Guide over what must be the last 20 years.  This is probably the single most expensive item, but definitely unique, fun, and gets lots and lots of questions.  Not as many as the Figaro, but on the bike path most people see it as a unicorn.  Especially when I have the baskets on and have it decked out in all of the military-like cargo bags.

You can read more about the tradition of the Swiss Army Bike Corp from Wiki or any source on the internet, but those Swiss have been at it for a while.  Started in 1905, and only disbanded in 2006, these guys biked their firepower thru the Alps for over a century.  Of course, they were neutral, so I guess it was just some kind of sadistic PT for the troops.  In 1993, they did the FIRST upgrade from the original 1905 model.  Called the M093, about 4500 were produced by the manufacturer Condor from 1993-1995.   Mine is #337.

I bought it for its history, uniqueness, and the fact I thought it would be the perfect base platform for an e-bike.  At 50 pounds, all steel, built like a tank, and made to carry 300 kg (with rider), it is a monster.  Plus it is something I don’t want to pedal myself without any assistance.

I went with GoldenMotor for my bike parts out of Canada.   Of course, everything is Chinese and the quality could be better, but this project was in 2017 and there were not a lot of options out there.  Now in 2022 e-bikes are all the craze and the market has exploded. 

I went with the hub wheel kit vs direct drive, mainly because I didn’t want to make any modifications to the bike.  Just plug and play and swap out the wheels.  The MO93 was a perfect fit because it has hydraulic pad breaks, which made the conversion easier.

The battery pack took a lot of research.  You could read for years about batteries and still not be able to decide what material you want in your power pack or what cells to configure it with.  I finally came across ElectricRider.   Lot’s of conversations with them on specs and pack weight, and finally settled on a 48v 20amh LiNM02 pack.  The best part is, they could build it to the dimensions of the stock document pouch that comes on the MO93, fitted between the cross bars. 

Unfortunately, ElectricRider is no longer a player in the e-bike battery field.  To be honest, I shopped for batteries really hard, and I thought their pricing was on the low side for the quality that they were pushing out.  One of the reps even admitted so.  They kept their margins slim to win customer share and loyalty, but in the end, could not compete with the price point of lower quality and much cheaper Chinese offerings in the market.  Shame.  They were very knowledgeable. 

You can configure an e-bike ride in many ways.  I did not want a pedal assist, although my controller can provide it.  Stuck to a thumb throttle with a cruise control feature, as it was more comfortable for my wrist and I expected this to be a commute bike and not a mountain climber.  Went with Schwalbe touring tires, the type long-distance bike trekkers crossing continents use.

The nice thing about my hub motor is that I can program it.  It supports different voltages, I can decide if I want it to run at 500 watts or 1500 watts,  set how quickly it accelerates, and even choose how many wheel revolutions per minute (basically a speed limiter).  Of course, I keep it maxed out.  With a full charge, the bike will do 32 mph on flat terrain.   Naturally I wear a DOT-certified helmet.

I’ll do more in-depth posts about the features of the bike, the build, and my trips in the future.  Right now really looking forward to getting to use it for a commute as intended.  It’s been sitting quietly for the last two years waiting for this moment to be my planet-saving green machine chariot to make my commute short, sweet, and so very very quiet.  It’s it will be nice to ride to work without sweating and listing to the birds waking up in the morning sun!