I finally took my ebike for a test ride.

[spokewrench]

I'm leaving my chaingaurd on.
It does serve a purpose (but it doesn't provide concrete curb protection)

I'm all about function over form, and the uglier and stupider my ebike looks, the better.

Who'd wanna steal sumthing so stupid?



I don’t want a toothed chaingaurd grabbing my pant cuff and feeding my leg into the motor.

I'd rather have no chaingaurd than one that's specifically designed to feed me to 750 Watt motor.

That's just stupid.

Is your chainguard the smooth ring outboard of the chain ring? I did something like that with my Radrunner. I got a bigger chainring, multiplied the diameter by pi, cut a length of maybe 1/2" vinyl tubing that long, slit it lengthwise, worked it over the teeth, and secured it with little zip ties. I fastened the bigger, smoother, softer chainring outboard of the driving sprocket.

My Radmission came with a similar outer disk. I don't know if it ever worked, but I know it didn't always work. The chainring could snatch my cuff if I forgot to wear my elastic velcro strap. It looked enough like a conventional bike that I bought a universal chainguard. There was no way to fit it.

I cut my own from a piece of 3mm polyethylene lawn and garden edging. I used a heat gun to bend it and a thermostatic soldering pencil to make holes for big zip ties. Never again did my cuff get snatched.

 

[Gionnirocket]

What's with you guys?
Are you riding wearing bell_bottoms?

 

[PCeBiker]

I'm more than willing to spend close to $1000 CAD to buy a seat that works for me,..

I don't like sitting up straight, and I have little use for handlebars.

A seat like this might work for me?
I can mount the seat stanchions to my rear rack,..

I've already got gas filled stanchions from my car that I can use.
They appear to be about the right length ??




My gas charged stanchions will help to control the pulsing of the rear rack bouncing into my back, as the seat moves in and out and up and down.

If you don't pedal, why do you need a chain?

The chain keeps moving, when I don't pedal.

That can pull my leg into the motor, and rip my leg off,..

A $550 dollar seat can save me from a sure death,..

 

[spokewrench]

I love the recurve of my seat, and it didn't cost nearly $550.

 

[PCeBiker]

If you don't pedal, why do you need a chain?

I don't need a chain, and my hub-drive doesn't need a chain, but my new mid-drive needs a chain,. and sprockets, and a Big Chainring to go Really Really Fast.
And a tiny Chainring to go Really Really Slow with lots of torque.

 

[PedalUma]

@PCeBiker has a Bafang mid-drive. It can be ghost pedaled or used by the throttle but still the power needs to be transmitted from the middle of the bike to the rear wheel.

 

[PCeBiker]

@PCeBiker has a Bafang mid-drive. It can be ghost pedaled or used by the throttle but still the power needs to be transmitted from the middle of the bike to the rear wheel.

I have a Bafang mid-drive and a Bafang hub-drive.

I used the hub-drive today,..
The mid-drive is broken.

I only used one battery today.
I gots two batteries

 

[PCeBiker]

Broken in what way?

My 1-4 cable.
You know that.

My new cable is two days away

 

[spokewrench]

In the US, there's always a Dollar General within a mile. In the event of trouble, I can buy a new motor, cable, and propeller for $15 and have the manager install it. My LiFePO4 will supply full power for 45 hours. At 40 mph, that's a range of 1800 miles, or 900 miles if I intend to get back home. It's amphibious, with inflatable pontoons and a crank-down shark-fin keel. I really need to reinstall my boat horn in case the Coast Guard boards me. So far I've evaded them by using my hub motor to spray water onto their windshield so they can't see me, but if I keep it up, one foggy day I'll encounter a 440-foot cutter across my bow, firing 20mm warning shots.

 

[PCeBiker]

I had a hard time finding a UART BBS02B with 100mm BB spacing.

I couldn't find Any 500 Watt versions, and had to buy a 750 Watt motor to get the spacing I needed.

The BBS02B, especially a UART version, is almost extinct.

Here is what happens when BB spacers are not used on a MTB,

I got the spacing right, but I wanted to "cushion" the impact point between the motor housing and my downtube.

The motor was only making contact with about ¼" of the downtube, so I put a piece of urethane (cut from a piece of my skateboard truck "shock absorber" from 1978) between the housing and downtube, then "preloaded" it with a pry bar while I tightened up the BB nut/fastener.

Then I put hot glue on it to help keep it in place.
It is pinched in there pretty good, but it could loosen up I guess?

 

[PCeBiker]

I used a rolled section of used tube for that. I cut an oval in the middle to fit the round of the down tube and levered it in hard while tightening the left side with tons of locktight.

Yeah, I remember you posting a picture of that.

I don't think that would work for my motor?
There's no bolt where the motor contacts the downtube.

I didn't want to use an innertube thinking it would be too soft and would get mashed and cut by the downtube.

The piece of urethane is really hard rubber.

The contact point was only about ¼" wide, on the outer motor housing,..

And the motor housing wasn't contacting flush with the downtube.
It was hitting the edge/corner.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Yeah, I remember you posting a picture of that.

I don't think that would work for my motor?
There's no bolt where the motor contacts the downtube.

I didn't want to use an innertube thinking it would be too soft and would get mashed and cut by the downtube.

The piece of urethane is really hard rubber.

The contact point was only about ¼" wide, on the outer motor housing,..

View attachment 212370


And the motor housing wasn't contacting flush with the downtube.
It was hitting the edge/corner.


View attachment 212371

Yeah one solid piece is better than folding up soft rubber.
I used a piece of sprinkler funny pipe that I manipulated with a knife and a heat gun. It fit perfectly with minimal give and looks as if it was supplied with the kit the way it wrapped the downtube.

I went for a 42.8 mile ride today,..

Well any way you get out on your bike is great.
But there is a little bit of a difference. My ride consisted of 500ft of elevation gain while maintaining a cadence >85 the entire time all while only using 25% of a small 10ah battery that was only charged to 80%
So while I went for a ride... You were taken for a ride
ps.. Better than wax.. the best way to keep dust off your chain and derailer is to actually have them move during use.

I'm batman

 

[Gionnirocket]

I didn't over think it.. I snug'd it up and torqued the locknut down with a little blue Loctite. Didn't budge in over 12k mi.

 

[PCeBiker]

Yeah one solid piece is better than folding up soft rubber.

I cut it kind thick thinking that the ¼" contact point would be "absorbed" and the pressure would be spread across the motor housing more evenly.

I didn't over think it..

Yeah, me neither.

So while I went for a ride... You were taken for a ride

I think of it as an electric motorcycle with a functioning crank system to be used for emergency purposes only.

Like having paddles, a bailing bucket, and life jackets on a sailing vessel.

ps.. Better than wax.. the best way to keep dust off your chain and derailer is to actually have them move during use.

I dunno?
If they were moving, the dust could work it's way into the chain??

I think it best to not disturb anything.

 

[PCeBiker]

My goal is to get motors as high and forward as I can for ground clearance.

That's not an issue with my ebike.
I'm a Fricken Mile off the ground now with my downhill forks.

I can lean into corners on the pavement with my inside pedal straight down.
I have to push my heel down to get it to scrape on the pavement.

(dragging a heel is fine, but you sure don't want to try and drag your toes. I remember getting my toes caught under my pedal when I was a kid.)

 

[Gionnirocket]

That's not an issue with my ebike.
I'm a Fricken Mile off the ground now with my downhill forks.

I can lean into corners on the pavement with my inside pedal straight down.
I have to push my heel down to get it to scrape on the pavement.

(dragging a heel is fine, but you sure don't want to try and drag your toes. I remember getting my toes caught under my pedal when I was a kid.)

My first cycling memory was getting my toes chewed in the front tire spokes of a tricycle.
Lesson learned : Shoes = good

 

[PCeBiker]

Lesson learned : Shoes = good

I was actually wearing shoes.
I was ~12 yrs old and I must have had my toes pointed down on the pedal.

The toe of my shoe caught the ground and pulled my foot under backwards and I wiped out.

Lesson learned : Don't point your toes downward.

 

[PCeBiker]

I always have the saddle high and fully extend legs and ankles while pulling back and up.

I extend one leg fully by pointing my heel down to "lock" my knee so I can stand on one leg at a time to help take the pressure off my ass.

,.. Sucky bikes are disconnected to pedal feel and cadence IMHO.

For me, it's the throttles on ebikes that suck.

I still have a small time delay when I hit the throttle.
Maybe with my UART BBS02B, I can delete the delay for throttle response all together with the SPEEED app?

It's not the same as PAS response.

I want my throttle to respond instantaneously with power in direct proportion to throttle position.


At least the brake switches don't have a time delay.

 

[spokewrench]

An Apias bike is coming in for assembly. I wonder how they arrived at that name? Must have been inspired at the Baboon enclosure.

That's Aipas, Hindi for "bypass." The company is in Evanston WY. In November, 1868, scuttlebutt said this was to be the end of the line, where the Union Pacific would wait for the Central Pacific, coming from Sacramento. Harvey Booth set up a saloon tent to welcome the Union Pacific. Then the railroad decided to bypass the saloon and lay rails 12 miles farther to Wahsatch. There, they dug the 772 foot Echo Tunnel and rushed west to intercept the Central Pacific in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. I don't know if they were properly equipped with boat horns.

The BBB gives Aipas a C+, which I'm sure you will agree is between A and F. Evanston isn't known for an Injun community, so I guess the bikes are made in Injia, where Hindi is the official language.

 

[PCeBiker]

It's Fixed !!!

My cable just needed to be reconnected inside the downtube,..

Turns out "Somebody" put some sort of grease all over the connector and it pretty much just fell apart !!

So now I have a spare cable.

I think that I'll store it inside the downtube so I don't lose it?
I'll just grease it up good, and jam it in there.