Popular Post drader Posted October 25, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 25, 2021 I think I bought the very last 84v Nikola in America, and I got one hell of a deal. I have found I love going off into the woods more than most things in life, so I decided to make it offroad-worthy. I bought a Russian pedal lift, 25mm for more clearance. I also scoured the international tire catalogs to see if there was something out there that was more of a dual-sport than something like the Shinko 242. I stumbled upon the CST C131, which has a very round profile, huge diameter, and deep but tightly spaced knobs. This tire is 6 lbs, and I honestly have no idea how I managed to get it on the rim. There was not enough clearance in the Nikola shell without the pedal lift. The OEM tire has a 17" diameter, the C131 has an 18.3". It is about 1/2 inch more air, and 1/8" more rubber. I also modded the cooling system on the board; I added a bunch of plastic shroud to funnel the airflow around the FETs. The camo cover is made out of duct-tape, spray glue, rubber cement, and an Old Navy T-shirt. There is a magnetic buckle on the trolley handle, so you can throw the arm down and it locks automatically. The pedals are from a Sherman and I cut a much larger aluminum surface for my big feet. I have Bell's palsy at the moment; that is where half your face doesn't work... A random virus settled into my cranium and damaged my facial nerve, and my vestibular nerve. The vestibular is what tracks your orientation against gravity, so for about a month I could barely walk, couldn't drive, and certainly couldn't do a balance sport. This will take at least 6 months for me to get back to normal. But yesterday I went on my first ride in 9 weeks, and took the newly modded beast. It was one of the best days of my life. Oddly enough I can ride better than I can walk - the EUC sort of catches you if you are off-balance. So I took the modded Nikola to a park on the California coast, and rode around the cliff trails with lots of mud, sand, rocks, etc. The grip on these surfaces was fantastic - not as good as something blocky like a Shinko, but I think I have better steering characteristics. The turning on pavement is a little slower than the OEM tire, but it is not "gooey" like some knobby tires; it just feels like I have a slightly different steering rack. I could go over sand much better than the OEM tire, and the confidence made me go faster and faster. There is a section next to some railroad tracks, which use granite rocks as the bedding. The path is hard dirt, broken glass, and the RR rocks. On my Tesla I thought it would destroy the tire after a short distance. On the nikola with 3" 1488 the cushion felt better, but I still felt like the rock and glass would cut apart the tire. With the new C131 I just float over it all - it is unreal. It soaks up the bumps and I have no concerns about the tire getting chewed up; I could fly over this rough surface. Between the tire and the lift I stand about 1.5" higher than a stock Nikola. It feels different, but I wouldn't say it is harder to ride the thing. It doesn't feel more "tippy" or have any odd characteristics - it feels GREAT and I worry less about clipping a pedal. I didn't have a chance to test the torque on hills - it does feel like the gearing is a hair taller, the way it builds speed. But going up a few small hills it still seemed to have a ton of torque. All in all the project has exceeded my expectations, it all feels amazing and does everything I had hoped. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercurio Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 Awesome job! Thanks for sharing. Possibly some side pads could help to push your off-road to the next level. My 16X is envious of your mod to fit such a capable tire on a 12" rim Thanks for the precise dimensions BTW! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Lämpel Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 On 10/25/2021 at 2:51 AM, drader said: I think I bought the very last 84v Nikola in America, and I got one hell of a deal. I have found I love going off into the woods more than most things in life, so I decided to make it offroad-worthy. I bought a Russian pedal lift, 25mm for more clearance. I also scoured the international tire catalogs to see if there was something out there that was more of a dual-sport than something like the Shinko 242. I stumbled upon the CST C131, which has a very round profile, huge diameter, and deep but tightly spaced knobs. This tire is 6 lbs, and I honestly have no idea how I managed to get it on the rim. There was not enough clearance in the Nikola shell without the pedal lift. The OEM tire has a 17" diameter, the C131 has an 18.3". It is about 1/2 inch more air, and 1/8" more rubber. I also modded the cooling system on the board; I added a bunch of plastic shroud to funnel the airflow around the FETs. The camo cover is made out of duct-tape, spray glue, rubber cement, and an Old Navy T-shirt. There is a magnetic buckle on the trolley handle, so you can throw the arm down and it locks automatically. The pedals are from a Sherman and I cut a much larger aluminum surface for my big feet. I have Bell's palsy at the moment; that is where half your face doesn't work... A random virus settled into my cranium and damaged my facial nerve, and my vestibular nerve. The vestibular is what tracks your orientation against gravity, so for about a month I could barely walk, couldn't drive, and certainly couldn't do a balance sport. This will take at least 6 months for me to get back to normal. But yesterday I went on my first ride in 9 weeks, and took the newly modded beast. It was one of the best days of my life. Oddly enough I can ride better than I can walk - the EUC sort of catches you if you are off-balance. So I took the modded Nikola to a park on the California coast, and rode around the cliff trails with lots of mud, sand, rocks, etc. The grip on these surfaces was fantastic - not as good as something blocky like a Shinko, but I think I have better steering characteristics. The turning on pavement is a little slower than the OEM tire, but it is not "gooey" like some knobby tires; it just feels like I have a slightly different steering rack. I could go over sand much better than the OEM tire, and the confidence made me go faster and faster. There is a section next to some railroad tracks, which use granite rocks as the bedding. The path is hard dirt, broken glass, and the RR rocks. On my Tesla I thought it would destroy the tire after a short distance. On the nikola with 3" 1488 the cushion felt better, but I still felt like the rock and glass would cut apart the tire. With the new C131 I just float over it all - it is unreal. It soaks up the bumps and I have no concerns about the tire getting chewed up; I could fly over this rough surface. Between the tire and the lift I stand about 1.5" higher than a stock Nikola. It feels different, but I wouldn't say it is harder to ride the thing. It doesn't feel more "tippy" or have any odd characteristics - it feels GREAT and I worry less about clipping a pedal. I didn't have a chance to test the torque on hills - it does feel like the gearing is a hair taller, the way it builds speed. But going up a few small hills it still seemed to have a ton of torque. All in all the project has exceeded my expectations, it all feels amazing and does everything I had hoped. Hey, I love Your conversion. Would You please share the name of that tire and a link for these higher pedal hangers? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..... Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 (edited) On 10/25/2021 at 8:55 AM, supercurio said: Awesome job! Thanks for sharing. Possibly some side pads could help to push your off-road to the next level. My 16X is envious of your mod to fit such a capable tire on a 12" rim Thanks for the precise dimensions BTW! I second that. I couldnt fathom hardcore off-road without at least power pads. Sometimes you just gotta have something to lean against as the mountain looms ahead... Those bumpers look trick as h*ll! Edited December 15, 2021 by ShanesPlanet 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drader Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 Hey Boris - I bought the CST C131 tire off a vendor on alibaba, but they no longer exist. I can't find anyone else selling it, so you may need to call CST International to find one https://www.csttires.com/int/tire/c131/. I recommend the 4-ply version 3.00-12. The 6 ply was hard to install. The pedal hangars came from "EUC You", on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eucyou/?hl=en. I believe he is also "Delight Device" on Youtube. It was a very tough transaction; the communication was difficult, he is crazy busy so he is slow to respond, and he takes weird payment methods... and then you have to wait for multiple levels of customs. But as soon as I paid he was quick to ship and good about answering questions. I bought the 25mm lift for Tesla/Nikola. The more I ride this, the more I want all my future EUCs to have real motorcycle tires, it is such a big difference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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