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As brushless electric motors and batteries have gotten smaller and cheaper, the idea of taking an electric motor and whacking it on a bike has moved from weird niche hobby to consumer product. Nowadays ebikes readily available and somewhat affordable, with reasonable examples starting around $1000 and going up to a lot more than that. Ebike classes In the USA, there are four classes of ebike: - Class 1: Top speed of 20mph, no throttle (that is, pedal assist only) - Class 2: Top speed of 20mph, with a throttle - Class 3: Top speed of 28mph, with a throttle, but the throttle must cut out after 20mph - Class 4: technically a motorcycle Top speed here means that the motor stops providing assistance after that speed. If you can propel the bike faster on 100% muscle, go for it. Class 1-3 ebikes in the US are capped at 750w In the EU, there are two classes: - L1e-A: Capped at 1000w, top speed of 25km/h, with a throttle - L1e-B: Capped at 2000w, top speed of 45km/h, no throttle Legality of these bikes and where you can ride them varies from country to country, state to state, and city to city. Be sure you do your research before you spend a bunch of money on one. Edit: more locations, more regulations! Canada: Capped at 500w, top speed of 32km/h, yes throttle Australia: Capped at 200 - 250w, top speed of 25km/h, yes throttle Ebike styles Once you've decided how fast the bike should go, you need to decide where to put the motor. There are three major schools of thought: - Front hub drive  The motor is crammed into the front wheel hub. This shifts some weight forward, but most bikes typically keep most of the weight over the rear wheel. Also complicates things if you need to remove the front wheel. - Mid drive  The motor goes where the bottom bracket would normally go on a bicycle. When you pedal, the motor senses how much force you're inputting and provides some additional force. The motor's weight is nice and low, and the front-rear balance is more traditional. - Rear hub drive  The motor is mounted in the rear hub. This shifts a lot of weight and a lot of complication to the rear wheel. On the other hand, the rest of the bicycle is basically a traditional bicycle. Generally speaking, hub motors are capable of regenerative braking (although this feature may or may not be present from one bike to the next). But, hub motor bikes need to have sensors in the bottom bracket that tell them how much power to add. These sensors include torque sensors that measure how much force you're putting on the pedals, and cadence sensors that measure how fast you're spinning the pedals. Of these, cadence sensors are cheaper but less well liked -- riders will oftentimes feel the motor kick in after half a crank or so. Mid-drive systems have the motor and sensors in the same package, so this is less of a concern. Once you've decided on where the motor goes, you gotta put the battery somewhere. - Down tube   Lower end ebikes will use off-the-shelf battery packs that clip onto the down tube. Some higher end manufacturers integrate the battery into the down tube, but that can be quite expensive. - Rack  Cramming the battery inside a custom rear rack is very popular among step-through ebikes. This can raise the center of gravity significantly, so the bike will be harder to walk (especially if you're trying to push it up some stairs) - Other  Weird cargo ebikes often have design considerations that limit where the battery can go, and they'll cram it any old place. Some have multiple batteries. The sky's the limit with these things. But aren't ebikes just for weird fatties and manhattan delivery drivers? Yes, but also no. It's a bicycle, just more electric and heavier. That can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. - Bike extension It's a bike that can go faster and move more stuff. The battery adds to your leg power. For a bicycling newbie, that's about it. You're out there, enjoying the sunshine, getting exercise. The only difference is that a steep hill isn't the impediment it would be on a regular bike, and maybe instead of going 15 miles you can go 30. An ebike makes the hobby of bicycling more accessible to more people. - Car Replacement Some trips are not long enough to really be worth firing up a car, but you have to haul stuff or not arrive sweaty. The ebike really shines here. I can ride to the grocery store and pick up a week of groceries. I can meet friends for drinks on the other side of the East River. When These Uncertain Times are over, I can ride to work and not be dripping with sweat or that weird guy who shows up in a lycra bib and changes in the bathroom. Why the thread? I couldn't find any other electric bike specific thread. There are two regular bike threads in YLLS, and they're cool, but I think that adding a motor is more about enjoying outside than shaving tenths of a second off of your Col des Ares time. Do you have questions about ebikes? Do you own an ebike? Did you ride somewhere cool today? 
Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 21:29
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Personally, I have a Gazelle NL C8 HMB It's surprisingly tall and surprisingly heavy weighing around 30kg, but I like the cargo capacity and the upright riding position. It's got a Bosh mid-drive motor and a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internally geared hub. I got it in the first week of June, and already I've put about 170 miles on it. I started riding bikes about a year and a half ago, and I put about 600 miles on New York City's bike rental bikes before deciding to take the plunge and buy one of my own. I decided on an ebike because I live in midtown manhattan and don't own a car. If I had a car, then a traditional bike would make sense. In fact, if I had space in my apartment for multiple bikes, I'd probably own at least one normal road bike. I don't though, and I wanted to get a car-replacement stuff hauler that was fun to ride and I could get some exercise on but also not sweat through my clothes on the way to work once commmuting to work becomes a thing that most normal people do again. It's got it's ups and downs. It is, like I said, tremendously heavy. The swept back dutch style bars bonk into my knee when I'm turning, and that's less than optimal. It's got no bottle cages. The internally geared hub can't be shifted if you're spinning the pedals (I discovered that by snapping my shift cable right in front of the bike shop immediately after picking it up for the first time). But, it can go 55+ miles in Eco mode on a fresh charge. I find that I tire myself out after about 20 miles, and I'll bump the motor up to Tour mode for the ride back (for comparison, on a NYC rental bike, 25 miles was the absolute limit of my range).
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Jul 17, 2020 21:50
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DELETE CASCADE posted:alright i have been thinking about getting one of these. i live in california (bay area) and i like to ride my bike. however i am fat and out of shape, so while i can ride in the flat valley just fine, i have a hard time climbing some of the steep hills that lead into more enjoyable rides. i want a pedal-assist bike that makes me feel like i am riding a regular bike except i am superman, not a throttle like a motorcycle. what brands should i be looking at? what are the quality differences at various price points? I probably undersold it in the original post, and I'll modify that. I live in Manhattan, and it's mostly flat here. My normal regular bike loop was about 12 miles, and I could do that in about an hour without feeling like death. 25 miles and I felt like death. On the ebike in mostly-eco mode, I can do a 30 mile tour of Manhattan including some of the worst hills in the city and feel pretty good after. Depending on what kind of motor you get for pedal assisting, an 8% grade for 2 or 3 miles is definitely doable, but it will probably take a noticeable bite out of your battery capacity. As you build leg muscle, however, you can take more of that effort on yourself. I'm also pretty far out of shape, but I've built a lot of stamina riding over the last 1.5 years. As far as brands go, Rad Power Bikes - radpowerbikes.com up in Seattle makes a bunch of bikes in the $1200 - $1500 range. I think they all have 750 watt motors. I almost bought one, but from what I've heard quality can be a little hit or miss and I wanted to buy from a local shop. Van Moof - vanmoof.com is kinda the next step up. Their S3 and X3 bikes are $2k, and they're really quite nice from what I've heard. They have a store in San Fransisco. I didn't go with one because I thought the two-speed automatic rear end would be weird. I'd get one for my mother if she asked me what ebike to get. I wound up paying $2500 for mine, and I think a lot of that is paying for the Bosch name. Propel Bikes - propelbikes.com sells a bunch of very good bikes that start around $2k and get more expensive from there. They put out a video recently detailing bikes for heavier riders (you and me included) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1-9UJmURA . I think if I did it again, I'd have gotten a Tern GSD ($3200) as opposed to the Gazelle. Nonetheless, it's holding up well thus far. The other bike I'd consider up in the >$3k range is the Yuba Boda Boda https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/electric-boda-boda/ .
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Jul 17, 2020 22:09
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Yeah, my bike is a class 1 over here in the US. 500w motor, no throttle, and the motor cuts out at ~32kph.
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Jul 18, 2020 01:01
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waloo posted:Are these suitable for riding in all weather conditions? I've been a bike commuter for a while and while I'm probably terribly mistreating my bike by riding it in rain and muck or whatever, I get home and rinse it off a bit and it is generally not too much worse for wear. I can only speak for Bosch electronics, but they should be okay. That is to say, I skimmed through the warranty and the manual. They don't reference any kind of water ingress rating, but they do discuss wet weather riding and how you should go slower to not crash. I've ridden in light rain a couple of times with no ill effects, but I keep the bike in my apartment. The general gist of what most people say is it's fine to ride in the rain, but maybe cover up the display with a plastic bag to keep water from getting under the screen or in the buttons. Other than that, standard bike stuff like making sure your chain is clean and lubed and so forth. Edward IV posted:I have an e-JOE Epik SE. The Henry Hudson Trail looks like a lot of fun! There's a ferry from Manhattan that could drop me off in Atlantic Heights. I might have to do that when it gets a little cooler this fall. I've also been wanting to ride parts of the Delaware and Raritan Canal trail. It runs from New Brunswick down to Trenton. It's 70 miles, so longer than my bike's range, but it might be interesting to think about bringing a charger with me to try to add some range during a lunch break. https://www.traillink.com/trail/delaware-and-raritan-canal-state-park-trail/ Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 04:35
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I was going to go for a ride this morning, but it was too drat hot. I have the feeling that New York is basically going to suck until Friday. Instead, here's the grocery haul from last night. Probably 20 or 30 lbs + the paper towels, but the motor made it nice and easy. And this morning I was feeling productive so I swapped my bars for some that were a little less swept back.  The dutch bars were great for a perfectly upright riding position, but they were too cramped and I couldn't make low speed turns with them. I'll see how these feel later this week when it's not a frillion degrees outside. Gazelle didn't think too hard about how people were going to work on their bikes. The Bosch and Shimano parts use 3mm hex, the grips use 4mm hex, the brakes need a T25 torx, and the bar clamp uses a single 6mm hex. Next step is going to be buying a bottle cage, maybe one that will just strap onto my downtube. I normally ride with a big hydroflask in my Ortleib bag, but it'd be nice to be able to grab a drink at a stoplight rather than having to dismount mystes posted:I don't know if it's really worth trying to get to from New York, but the Henry Hudson Trail is really nice if you're in northeastern New Jersey because the northwest side end of the trail is fairly easy to get to (by car that is, since unfortunately it's basically impossible to get around there by bike) and you can bike all the way to the beaches at Sandy Hook. Honestly, any excuse to ride the ferry: https://seastreak.com/ferry-routes-and-schedules/between-new-york-city-sandy-hook-beach-nj/ Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Jul 19, 2020 |
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Jul 19, 2020 18:05
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It sounds like your wife wants a class 2 ebike, with a throttle. If you want a more *bikey* bike for your wife, check out the Rad Mission ($999, not for sale yet) or Rad Rover ($1199, on backorder) from Rad Power Bikes. Either of those would support 100% throttle riding, or she could pedal a little if she felt comfortable. She could also check out a Razor E300S or Razor EcoSmart, which are basically electric Razor scooters with seats in the $300-450 range. I'm less familiar with those, and my brain tells me they'd be really rough to ride, but it's worth investigating. Edit: I forgot: Segway makes an electric scooter called the KickScoot (Ninebot KickScoot?) and you can get a seat accessory for that. I think you'd be like $650 all in for that. I also see people zipping around NYC on cheaper looking bikes that look like someone hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" on AliExpress. Don't know the price point, but I'm guessing $cheaper. I guess they work until they don't. Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jul 20, 2020 |
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Jul 20, 2020 03:43
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Leng posted:E-bike thread!! Came in here to post that if we hadn't put a Bafang conversion kit on our Orbea Katu I would find it extremely hard to go out and about with a toddler. I did the same thing a few weeks ago -- went out with less than half charge and got my range display confused with the tripodometer. Finally figured it out after 13 miles, 7 miles from home, and my range said 6 miles. I wound up muscling the bike crosstown with the motor off, and using eco mode to get me up some of the worse hills on the ride back only. Share a photo of your bike! Rocko Bonaparte posted:
Post a pic of your bike too! I agree with you on the speed and range considerations. That's why ebikes can get up into the $6k range and beyond -- Anyone can slap a brushless motor on a Trek clone, but if you're willing to spend the money you can get a bike that's engineered to deliver the performance it says on the box. Do you know the failure mode the two girls experienced on the Radwagon? Someone on Linus Tech Tips did a review of one where he loaded it down to 350lbs, and he found out that the spokes worked their way loose after some miles. That's one of the reasons I bought from a local shop: basically I wanted to be able to throw my crap pile through a window if it breaks unexpectedly. I think some of the proper electric cargo bikes (Yubas, Terns, Urban Arrows) are gorgeous -- I think I'll go in that direction when we move and have kids and I'm ready to upgrade from the Gazelle. I believe their capacity numbers.
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Jul 20, 2020 15:31
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Fat tires are stronger, but it's largely a hip new thing. Regular bicycle wheels are quite strong as is.
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Jul 20, 2020 17:14
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My bike's charger is like 20% larger than an old laptop power brick, and weighs maybe a pound. It would fit very nicely into a pannier bag. My plan for range extending has always been to take a leisurely lunch at a place that will let me plug it into an outdoor outlet (haven't tried this yet due to ongoing pandemic). You could do the same at a tent campsite with an electric hookup, or maybe even just lock the bike up at a visitor's center.
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Jul 20, 2020 18:07
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FBS posted:How are you guys not completely paranoid all the time about these things getting stolen? I have an insurance policy and a big Kryptonite U-lock, and I found some space in my apartment for the bike when I'm not riding it. Same as when I rode motorcycles -- make stealing it somewhat difficult, but if someone manages it make it my insurer's problem. I also own a 5' long Kryptonite chain lock that weights a ton because I mis-read the product description on Amazon. I only use it when I plan to lock my bike to a lamp post. Leng posted:
It wasn't awful, just a lot of work. In the worst case I could have locked up the bike, removed the battery, taken a taxi home, charged it, and then gone to retrieve the bike. stephenthinkpad posted:If you don't get the fancy Bosch middrive, and look for Chinese solution , most of their batteries can be brought for $400-600 separately. That's one of my only regrets about buying into the Bosch ecosystem -- I can't figure out where to buy or rent additional batteries. What part of NYC do you live in? Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jul 21, 2020 |
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Jul 21, 2020 17:42
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stephenthinkpad posted:WHAT? That sounds way more complicated than just paddle it home. You can paddle an ebike with no power just fine. You just need to carry 30 extra pounds of dead weight. One time my ebike stop working, so I just paddle it home for 13 miles. It took around 100 min instead of 60, that was it. I let my bike sat for a whole month before I got off my rear end to fix it, it turned out just the power cable going into the hub wheel was loose. Yeah, I agree. I'm thinking if I was dead tired and it was 100+ degrees outside or something like that, or if I popped an inner tube and couldn't sort it out with the patch kit I have. I'm in Kips Bay, but I've been hitting up the Queensboro Bridge and exploring that part of Queens a lot lately
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Jul 21, 2020 18:32
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Leng posted:I used to live in NYC (Upper West Side) so I still think the trip back crosstown sounds horrific, what with dodging pedestrians, piles of trash, aggressive bike delivery riders and cab drivers (for those reasons I was way too scared to go cycling when I lived there). I was up at 135th on the Hudson River greenway when I noticed I had less range than distance home. I took 125th to 120th on low power, then motor off to 2nd ave. When it was flat or downhill or a shallow climb on 2nd the motor was off, and I used low power for the worst couple climbs. My range displayed 1 mile when I got back to my door.  I think riding in the city has gotten better overall in the last few years (I only moved here in 2017 so I can't speak for earlier). I use the Citibike app a lot to figure out the best bike lanes between me and my destination, and I've had good experiences with Google Maps too -- if you tell it you're on a bike, it will prioritize bike lanes and backstreets.
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Jul 22, 2020 16:17
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Hell yeah it was cooler than expected tonight, so I went on an after-work ride down to Bay Ridge. 25ish miles in 2.5 hours. If I rode it again, I'd do it in the morning -- 5th Avenue in Brooklyn has a lot of traffic, and people trying to parallel park and double park across the bike lane. Sunset off the Bay Ride Ave pier  Big biek  There were a couple other ebikers down there. The guy with the RadPower bike was fiddling with his rear fender.  Manhattan and Jersey City. The Statue of Liberty is in this photo somewheres.  9th St bridge over the Gowanus Canal  I really really really need new pedals. The ones that came with the bike have little rubber nubbins that have worn down, and my foot keeps slipping off. I'll try to swing by REI when they open tomorrow. Rocko Bonaparte posted:I'm looking for any information about being able to ride along oil and gas pipelines. We have some clearly beaten-in trails along them in Austin with opened up fences but I don't know if it's cool to use them. I can't offer any specific texas legal advice, but my philosophy when it comes to oil and gas pipelines is it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. If you're in the boonies, just ride and wear something blaze orange so you don't get shot for looking like a deer. If you get caught, there's a 99% chance they'll just tell you to get lost.
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Jul 25, 2020 03:57
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Nitrousoxide posted:I was riding around on my ebike and a peddle just came completely off, stripped the thread and everything. I was miles away from my home/car. kimbo305 posted:Are you gonna have to replace the crank? If you really want to save the crank, you can probably find somebody with a 9/16" x 20 thread repair kit. Otherwise, swapping the crank out with something that isn't made of cheese is probably a good idea. stephenthinkpad posted:What model is this? Yeah, I'm curious too. SamsCola posted:
Extremely good little bichael. I wonder if it would be a pain to swap your brakes out with something decent. Speaking of which, it was new pedal day for me:  I swapped out these plastic things for Bontrager Line mountain bike platform pedals. My feet kept slipping off the old ones. Judging by the stress around the outer bearing, I'd say 215 miles was just about the service limit for the original pedals anyhow.
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Jul 27, 2020 02:48
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Nitrousoxide posted:https://united-city-bikes.com/eng/ Ah drat. That sucks.  Maybe you should have gotten the multi-pack.  SamsCola posted:TY That also sucks. What kind of lock are you using?
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Jul 27, 2020 03:08
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spwrozek posted:I don't want to dismiss you guys but the types of bikes n8r (I assume) and other mountain bikes are talking about are something like this: https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-US/bikes/heckler There are cheaper entry level mountain bikes. A Diamondback Sync'r 24 is less than $900. I'd guess that n8r secretly wants a hardtail gravel/touring bike with knobbies and a front suspension rather than a full sus trail bike for going off jumps and such.
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Jul 28, 2020 04:28
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spwrozek posted:That is a bike for kids dude....... and not an e-mtb. I know, I'm talking about the $4-7k figure you quoted for regular mountain bikes. I'm pointing out that you can get a solid hardtail for a lot less than that. If not a Sync'r, then a Mason 1 or an Overdrive 29. Truth be told though, I know nothing about mountain bikes except for what I see on Seth's Bike Hacks, and the dude's like 5' nothing so he could probably rock a Sync'r 24.
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Jul 28, 2020 17:57
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Woke up at 6:30 this morning to go for a ride, only to find I had a flat tire! It was a pain in the rear end getting the internally geared hub disconnected, and I had to work around the chain case since I couldn't figure out how to remove it. Also the rim brakes are supposed to have a quick disconnect skewer, but they don't. Still, eventually, I got to this point: Replacing the tube was a breeze. Tire levers are amazing. I remember trying to change an inner tube using a couple of screwdrivers when I was in college and it sucked. I got everything back together and took it for a 12 mile ride (starting at 10...) and everything feels solid. Need to verify that the rear wheel is aligned right. I also need to get a replacement replacement inner tube. I wouldn't want to have to replace the tube in the field. I could apply a patch, but I'd need to carry around too many wrenches to pull the wheel (I think I could get it done with a 15mm and 10mm wrench, pair of pliers, and maybe a T25 socket for the brake). I'll just keep carrying a patch kit for the time being.
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Aug 1, 2020 19:56
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Yeah that's my plan if there's an obvious puncture and I'm out and about.
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Aug 2, 2020 00:36
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DELETE CASCADE posted:finally received my ghost ebike from rei! HA this thing practically rides itself. it's great! it's great!!! Awesome! Post pics! Then take it off some sweet jumps and post more pics. It sounds like the frame might be a tiny bit too big, but I guess that isn't much different from how a motorcycle fits a rider. After spending Saturday changing an inner tube, I went out and got a couple new squares on Veloviewer yesterday:   (the view from Louis Valentino Junior park) Annoyingly, my handlebars started coming loose on the ride. I was fortunate enough to stumble into one of those little bike repair stands that municipalities sometimes bolt to the sidewalk, and it had the right size hex key to tighten the bolt that holds my handlebar in place. That had come loose, I guess.
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Aug 3, 2020 19:41
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Multitool is a good idea. I was the last person to touch that bolt, so it's probably my fault as well.
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Aug 4, 2020 02:45
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What qualifies as decent? I don't know if bicycles, much less ebikes, are ever going be the kind of mindless-daily-transport that a small car is today. The drivetrain is exposed, the parts are smaller and necessarily lighter, and maintenance intervals are smaller. I think Rads are Fine if you're a bicyclist and you occasionally check for loose spoke and keep on top of chain cleanliness and otherwise take good care of your stuff. kimbo305 posted:There's a minimum component quality level for a device that serves as daily transport, and cheap ebikes don't pass the bar yet. While big players continue to push bikes that defeat themselves for continued use, there's gonna be an adoption issue. You can push the price down to $500, but it won't last any longer, perputating the attitude that it's just a gimmick. I was chatting with the guy at Propel Bikes when I picked my bike up, and he showed me a prototype they'd gotten from China. They wanted buy white-label ebikes and sell them as Propel brand bikes, probably in the $1000 range. That didn't work out because the quality wasn't there. I think what will push ebikes into the realm of daily transport for the masses is local shops being able to sell cheap store brand bikes that they can stand behind. There's a big difference between taking a broken bike to the shop and being frustrated getting parts replaced by a company across the country or across the globe.
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Aug 5, 2020 03:02
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Right exactly, but habits are going to have to change in the driving-entrenched world in order to get them to accept bikes as daily transport. The average American isn't going to adopt an ebike as the thing that gets them to work in the morning without also accepting that they need more maintenance than an oil change every whenever-I-remember-it.
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Aug 5, 2020 03:37
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Propel has a decent selection in the $2k - $2.5k range. They're not all elaborate Urban Arrows. REI looks like they sell a good mix of Bosch mid-drive and [company I haven't heard of] hub drive bikes, starting around $1500. I was at the REI in Manhattan the other week and they had some Tern GSDs and Yuba Boda Bodas on the shop floor.
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Aug 5, 2020 15:26
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Hahah! I don't feel a very big difference between Sport and Turbo, but it's there. Turbo is absolutely the "hit the 20mph speed limiter going uphill" mode.
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Aug 5, 2020 18:52
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evil_bunnY posted:yeah, and turbo is literally unusable at low speeds. It'll yeet the bike forward if you even look at the pedal. I'm curious, do you start off in your lowest gear on Turbo? I start midway up in my gear range when I'm in turbo. I just don't need the lowest gears.
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Aug 6, 2020 04:48
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That's a drat fine bike! drat fine bike.
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Aug 7, 2020 02:31
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The good:  26 mile ride on Saturday, across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey. It turns out: there's nothing on the Jersey side (ok Henry Hudson Drive is nice and I want to explore it further when it's cooler.). The bad: My shifter went out of adjustment on the ride home, and I lost 5th gear. I had to jump from 4th to 6th until I got into a neighborhood where I could readjust it. Annoying, but not the end of the world. My pedals, on the other hand, have these traction studs on them that have absolutely torn up my legs. Then this morning I went to REI to get new pedals (they didn't have any without the studs), an inner tube, and a multi tool. On the way back , literally while I was in my building's elevator, I heard my rear tire deflating. I haven't torn into it yet, but I'm annoyed that I gotta dismount the rear wheel again. Gorgeous shot!
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Aug 10, 2020 03:36
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Yeah, that's a possibility I'm considering. There was also a car with its window busted out right in front of my building, so it's possible I ran over a chunk of glass.
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Aug 10, 2020 03:58
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A 50S RAYGUN posted:this is the route (please do not doxx my farm we have nothing of value) What about something like this? https://goo.gl/maps/LAxJ1wAYntqZ3WJ57 It's only a mile longer than your original route, and it avoids a lot of stress I think. Most of Route 130 looks pretty gnar, and I wanted to avoid the weird U-Turn the Old York Road route made you do. I hate to suggest commuting when you don't need to go into work, but it might be a good idea to try it out on a weekend. Imagine twice the traffic, and if you feel uncomfortable you can always turn around and rethink your route without having to call in. spwrozek posted:Were you just falling off the pedals riding around town? Yeah, the original pedals that came with my bike were awful. If my foot was the slightest bit wet, it would slip off. Eventually the little rubber nubs wore down and my feet would slip off when dry. It sucked. My current pedals are really similar to the OneUp pedals you posted. They feel awesome and my feet stick like velcro. I have a tendency to kick my pedals around with my shins to get them lined up at stoplights and whatnot, and these are my legs after about 50 miles over the last two weeks: cw: light gore  I'm going to pull the studs out and see how they feel, but I think I'll wind up just getting the Race Faces you posted.
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Aug 11, 2020 00:43
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I don't know how many of y'all use rack-mounted Bosch Powerpacks, but I found someone on eBay selling the 400 Watt hour variety new, listed for $250. I offered $175 and they accepted. Got it today and it looks legit, seems to power up the bike. https://www.ebay.com/itm/124283182277 I'm happy to have a second battery so I can swap between the two and go longer distances. The closest campground to me is *just* on the edge of my 500 Watt hour battery's range, and it would be nice to go camping when it gets a little cooler.
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Aug 15, 2020 00:28
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Congrats on your purchase! Welcome to the Bosch crew! My bike came with the 4A Bosch charger (I'd be _really_ surprised if a R+M shipped with a 2A charger). I probably charge the bike once a week and it takes a few hours. Basically I just peek at the battery level whenever I walk by until I realize it's full. It seems like the battery management chip knows when the battery is fully charged, so it's not like it sits there and trickles and overcharges the lithium ion cells. I thought I'd try to get a 2A charger to sit under my desk at work (when that's a reality again...), but I don't think that's necessary now. Part of me wants to crack open the spare battery I got on ebay to reverse engineer the charging port. It's probably not *that* complicated. Do you have a link to the Ortleib e-bike bags with the battery sleeves? That sounds awesome.
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Aug 20, 2020 03:27
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 This is my 400W pack. It's just a bunch of LG 18650 cells once you crack it open (buh bye warranty sticker). Your biggest risk is shortening the life of the cells by getting them too hot or too cold; it's really doubtful they'd catch fire or explode. Nitrousoxide posted:Cracking it open will void your warranty however.
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Aug 20, 2020 23:49
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When I'm coming to a stop I like to glance down and check my gear indicator to make sure I haven't screwed myself over when it's time to go again.Rocko Bonaparte posted:There was a kit Bolton sells that unfortunately doesn't work on the Foxbat for lighting. The lighting is not much of an upgrade other than the front being a bit brighter and the rear tapping from the main battery. The real fun is the horn. It seems to be car-grade, just kind of hanging naked on the bike. Loud as gently caress. More practically, I think I just need a nice bell for the rare overtake. Buddy of mine attached a car horn to his Van Moof. I'll ask him and see how he did it. I pipe podcasts and directions up to bluetooth earbuds. They don't seal well enough to cut out traffic noise, like, I can hear cars behind me. But they cut out the wind noise nicely. Regarding lights, I have an Ion 120 attached to my helmet (I think using a separate helmet mounting dealy that I bought with it at REI). It isn't ideal, but it puts out a good deal of light and makes me more visible. I'm more likely to strike the side of my head in a crash than the very front anyhow. Some companies also make helmets with integrated lights, but I don't know too much about those.
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Aug 21, 2020 15:09
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Nah mang, if you're trying to win a The Fast & The Electric style e-bike street race you gotta flip through the gears
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Aug 21, 2020 17:49
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Oh yeah I forgot about hub drive. Jam on the throttle if you got a hub drive, do whatever
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Aug 21, 2020 19:22
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Edward IV posted:So I did a thing today. Hell yeah nice trip report! I just ticked over 300 miles on my Gazelle, and aside from some minor issues it's a wonderful bike. Fingers crossed that I can double that before I (maybe) have ankle surgery later this fall/winter.  I also got the Race Face pedals spwrozek recommended installed. The grip is still great and they don't cut up my shins. They kinda clash with the paint on the bike, but I don't mind so much.
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Aug 23, 2020 22:40
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I rode about 10 miles up and back on the South County Trail in West Chester, New York yesterday: https://parks.westchestergov.com/images/stories/pdfs/SCT2017TrailwaysMap.pdf  The section of the trail in Van Cortlandt Park was closed, so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get onto the trail. The best way was some sketchy path north of the park down streets that were busier than I would have liked. The trail itself was really lovely with the exception of some patches up north where the pavement was torn up. I decided to mess with carrying multiple batteries. Started on my 400Wh and ran that down until the range said 10 miles. Carrying the 500Wh in my pannier was easy, and swapping it over was very smooth. I still might get one of those Ortleib battery panniers because my regular pannier felt stuffed with battery + water + U lock. Also experimented with taking my bike on the subway. Not too bad on a Sunday morning when the train cars weren't crowded. Getting my bike through the accessibility gates was a pain; I think I need to just go through the regular turnstile then pop the gate open to drag my bike through. Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 15:25
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kimbo305 posted:How many miles did it start at? 40-some? I used that battery for errands earlier in the week, and the trail started with a long rear end climb so range numbers were all over the place. I bumped the assist up from Eco to Tour on the way back so that "10 miles" isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.
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Sep 1, 2020 15:13
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