Recent content by mclewis1

In the 90s after 20 years of "10 speeds" I bought my first flat bar bike (I had never done much MTB style riding as a kid) - it was a hybrid style bike for around town use and I really liked it comfort wise. Later I built up an ebike using an adventure style frame (sort of a heavier hybrid or...

An 80k BTU wall furnace is a nice BIG unit that's specifically designed to radiate and circulate heat into a large area ... I'll bet you are comfy even when the power goes out. The fireplace inserts (and especially the air tight wood burning ones) don't radiate much heat without the fans...

Some electricity needed ... you still would need an electrical connection (usually 110v @100w) at each fire place/insert for the circulation fans, otherwise they're next to useless as a heating source.

My secondary heat source when the power's out is wood plus a few watts to drive the fans. The rest is sufficient power to keep the fridge, freezer, microwave, lighting, internet, etc. There's also a propane BBQ to make bigger meals and boil larger amounts of water for cleaning etc. This way I...

I wonder when we as a society in general will get the message that bike riding (along with walking, etc.) is actually helping our collective health and therefore warrants being promoted for everyone including those who can't easily participate. Similar to the "nature" prescriptions that Canada...

I was going to ask if it had steel bars. I was thinking that years ago (70s into the early 80s) as index shifting and such was coming in there was a real movement to routing brake and shifter cables to under the tape on the drop bars. It was really interesting to find different ways of...

Very nice (cheating good). You've got to start painting those bottle batteries a few different colors ... even just white would help on this one. Nice hide of the wires in the handlebar. Did you run the wires under the grip and into the end or did you drill the bar? If the later you need to...

Some were not too bad looking either - a hatchback Hornet or the AMX/Javelin were not that bad. But that "Snot" green or the vibrant lime paint options would be pretty bad on any vehicle.

It's cheaper to turn out bikes in just a few solid colours ... and you know how everyone is looking to save a few dollars. I too miss a choice of colours and combinations (stripes etc.), or even just more chrome. This from a guy who built up his ebikes from solid black frames (both Surlys) ...

Upon closer inspection (my zooming in was confined to the handlebar area) that is indeed a Phaserunner (it initially appeared to me to be a bit flatter and more like the Baserunner) ... sorry about that, and to gromike ... Never mind the question. Pedal - don't mind us. All of this little...

That's almost exactly what I was thinking of as an upgrade to my urban all season ebike (currently a Shengyi SX motor, CycleAnalyst, 52v/750w battery with a Baserunner controller). The only thing holding me back was/is money. I'm with Pedal ... I'd like to hear more about your experiences...

To deal with blackouts there's a whole lot of real-estate between lighting a couple of candles and a totally automated 10-15kW whole home natural gas/propane generator that's plumbed into the gas source and wired into your home's electrical - and so there are a lot of different solutions for...

I think it bears repeating that the preferred "design" now for home backup is a suitable battery (power station) that is then recharged via the ICE generator ... and not using the generator to directly power some or most of your appliances. Yes battery power stations cost quite a bit more than...

Going waaay back that orange Raleigh also brought back memories. In the very early 80s I bought an orange Centurion LeMans that looked very similar. No it didn't have that lovely lug work or the polished drilled out components but overall it was a very similar vibe. Even the sizing looked...

How did I miss this thread originally? I especially enjoyed the discussion about the Ti Spectrum. I raced on a few different Ti Litespeeds (Catalyst and Ultimate). I still have a jack of all trades Appalachian (originally designed as a cyclecross frame) with Campy Chorus shifting (shifts smooth...