"We started with a Honda Rebel junker and a dream - to make a practical, zero emissions vehicle for commuting in San Francisco. After consulting with some plans available online which required chopping the frame significantly, Gxaoui suggested we figure it out for ourselves. Armed with a basic metal shop, we methodically convert the Honda rebel 250 into a clean quiet bike in about a week."

"The old rebel rolling chassis provided us with many of the needed parts - wheels, tires, brakes, etc... which was a real bonus - but it also supplied us with many rusty, broken, stripped or missing parts. In fact, most of our difficulties were because of the old parts, not because of the conversion itself. Without these annoyances, the conversion would have taken about two and a half days."

"The batteries were scavenged from my Autonomous Telepresence robot, Sparky. We purchased a new Perm132 motor, golf cart controller, charger and throttle from Electric Motorsport in the East Bay. The owner Todd is a builder and racer of electric motorcycles, so he was able to offer us great advice, especially helping to determine the correct gear ratio and spocket size. These components were not exactly inexpensive, but almost all the other materials were scrap, junk, or part of some other project, so ultimately the cost was reasonable."