Recent content by Jeremy McCreary

I always pedal with exertion (not just ghost-pedaling) but still find many uses for the ideal throttle on my heavy 70 lb torque-sensing hub-drive. Nearly all involve layering a second or two of throttle on top of pedaling. Examples: 1. Protecting my old knees from high-torque, low-cadence...

No doubt about it, bike lingo is a mess — especially ebike lingo. Don't get me started about using "PAS" to mean just cadence-sensing assist. But if it makes you feel any better, in geoscience and at least some engineering fields, "stretch" simply refers to a change in length by any mechanism —...

Good way of putting it: You can't just feather in some throttle on the Breeze. It's under either throttle or pedal control — never both. Too bad. A throttle you can feather in is vastly more useful — especially when you factor in the many valuable uses while pedaling.

I often find it useful to zoom in on photos posted here. When I do that on my phone — by tapping the photo first, then spreading it with my fingers — some images get much fuzzier than others. Isn't that an argument for uploading at higher resolution?

Unfortunately, no short answer. We were spoiled by the progressive on-demand throttles on our first ebikes — a pair of torque-sensing hub-drives. Those throttles simply added motor power to whatever the assist was already doing. Press a little, add a little power. Press more, add more (up the...

I sympathize. The number of things I know nothing about continues to grow at an alarming rate. But this one's pretty easy should the motivation arise. The unannounced file size limit is now 2.0 MB. Use your phone's file viewer or photo editor to check file size. Then reduce resolution (aka...

Well put. All sports have their posers and gear junkies. Those aside, wonder how many other sports politicize attire? Do runners happy to run in anything and those who prefer running-specific performance gear have the same silly rivalry?

That's what I thought, too. But if you do any fitness riding to speak of, spandex starts to make pretty good sense — especially in a climate like mine. Wouldn't do spandex if it didn't. For one thing, black tights only make my birds legs look skinnier. I don't go for the jerseys with all the...

That's the "strap mount" version. Quite secure. Love this bag — not least for the drop-down panniers.

I see that kind of roadie behavior here sometimes. Ebikers seem less likely to block the road or hog an entire MUP but can be reckless jerks in other ways. Seems like we could all agree that every cycling style — and sport for that matter — has its jerks and yahoos and unite around the joy and...

Agree. Only time will tell, but nothing about this bike looks junk to me, and there's a sizable dealer/service network to back it up. Still totally in love with my Vado SL 1. But the Breeze is both competent and a ton of fun to ride in its own way. Certainly a vast improvement over the old...

Nice bike, isn't it? I have similar impressions of my wife's Breeze. Best attribute by far: She actually rides it — with a big smile, too. Now she's the one asking me to go for a ride. Chalk that up to... 1. A weight (50 lb) she can comfortably control. 2. Perfect geometry for the stable...

First, responsible, courteous riders can ride and wear whatever they want in my book. They can pedal or not. Remember, every throttle-only or ghost-pedaling utility rider is a car not on the road. As for spandex, I've come to see it as a very sensible choice and wear it now on every fitness...

Ditto. In my case, the "other ebike" is my wife's new 50 lb, 750W, 65 Nm hub-drive cruiser with switchable torque- and cadence-sensing assist. Not really comparable to your MTB or the SL, but powerful, capable, and fun to ride in its own way. Still, the SL's my Goldilocks bike. Everything came...

Fabulous! BNSF still has the best locomotive livery ever. Snowy Cascades on the skyline?