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  1. indianajo

    Rear sprocket and hub issue

    I've found 6 & 7 speed freewheels & freehubs are cheap chinese garbage. Even Shimano. Designed to last 1000 miles until the bike rusts away in the rain. I broke a 6 speed axle with my enormous 180 lb body. No, I don't jump rocks & picnic tables. The 7 speed has no locknut on the internal race...
  2. indianajo

    Live in South Africa. Looking for advise on convert a Kona Cube Duel suspension MTB to an e-bike.

    Batteries have an amp rating, usually not stated, typically 40-50 amps. You probably are thinking about the amphour rating, which correlates to range.
  3. indianajo

    Another "what bikes might be a good fit for me" post, but for a short woman

    My Yube Bodaboda is made for women that size. See avatar left. Unfortunately they don't make them anymore. A little heavy at 70 lb. I carry 60 lb groceries home weekly. My pant legs are 27", my arms are 29" sleeve although I have a normal length back. I'm Native Am, not a dwarf. Liv and...
  4. indianajo

    Shipping forward on my saddle

    Tip forwards, has to be balanced by hands on the bar pushing back. It is more comfortable, but I gave up riding without hands 40 years ago. The stamped metal seat that curved toward the middle on my Mother's 1946 Firestone safety bike was the most comfortable, but nobody has sold a seat built...
  5. indianajo

    Is Rear Hub Drive Prone to Rear Tire Flats?

    Thin street tires IMHO are prone to flats. Last one I had went flat at 700 miles, street junk puncture. I run knobbies, and change them out when the knobs go under 3/32" tall. Usually less than one flat per 2000 mile year. I am also careful to reseat the rim if the schrader valve starts...
  6. indianajo

    Rocket launcher e-bike?

    DD motors use double the watthours on hilly routes as geared hubmotors. IE half the range. Been there, done that. I find plastic gearsets last 4500 miles. No, I could not find any replacements either, for non-bafang motor. There are gears for sale on aliexpress, but the ads have no drawings...
  7. indianajo

    Is MIPS necessary?

    Driving a schoobus in 1970, I saw a 90 cc motorcyclist try to pass a car in the middle. He went horizontal 3 feet off the ground, spun like a maple seed, and bashed his head against the fender of a car in the opposite lane. A good example of why helmets are important. But I did not buy one...
  8. indianajo

    Ebike or exoskeleton? Or both?

    I find that among my friends who limit their exercise to perhaps walking their dog 100 yards daily, there are a substantial number of broken hips. I personally believe bone health is directly correlated to how much the user stresses them in their routine. With appropriate nutrition, of course...
  9. indianajo

    Are these normal phase wire voltages?

    Your test method without load is useless. Best test of a controller phase outputs is an AC current meter. They have a clamp that goes over the wire under test. I got mine for $29.95 at Sears (deceased). Test while riding the bike (difficult). New controllers can be had for $30-75, and I have...
  10. indianajo

    Is MIPS necessary?

    I bought a Bell Super 3R MIPS helmet with "chin guard" to use at my brother's house in another city. The "chin guard" is not long enough to cover even my chin. The chin that is so short that caused 99.9% of single women to find me invisible. You want to eat solid food for 2 months after an...
  11. indianajo

    Greetings from Calgary Alberta

    I rode my ebike as primary transportation for 12 years to shop, meet, and work as a volunteer. The bike was secured to power poles, gas meters, cart racks, or live electrical conduits on the street. Instead of chain, I've used a 6' stainless steel sling with 1/2" cross section. So difficult to...
  12. indianajo

    Can't get crank arms on after removal

    I always put anti-sieze on my crank arms. Something about them NEVER coming off until I bought a fiddly excruciatingly correct Pedro crank removal tool. Worn out cranks with 15 deg play would not come off my previous bikes. You can determine the crank has touched bottom by the rapid increase of...
  13. indianajo

    LiFePo4 tech?

    Not wanting a huge fire between my legs, I bought 2 LIFePo4 batteries in 2017. Both were garbage. One dropped from 54 to 7.5 volts with loads over 75 watts, the other to 11.5 volts. The vendors are long moribund, but one was via Amazon and one was via E-bay. I bought a LiIon battery 1/2018...
  14. indianajo

    First Build Direction; Test Motor Voltage, Safety Logic

    I've run front geared hubs for 13000 miles. Although my Yuba had a steel front fork, I made a torque arm of 6" of bed frame rail, just one flat of it. I captured the end of the arm with a U-clamp of box fan shell around the fork in the pull direction. I ran motors of up to 1300 w off 48 v...
  15. indianajo

    Can you find the gear reduction ratio of a geared hub motor without opening it up?

    All the 5 brands I have had have been about 5:1. Different connectors, different widths to the disk mount, different shaft sizes, different impedances (especially 300 w versus 1000 w). But all have been about 5:1. The 350 w (even Bafang) and 750 w (no name brand) have been incapable of...
  16. indianajo

    Going to upgrade my rig for crossing Rocky mts on paved roads--would you comment plz?

    Geared hub drives as I ride have an air gap between the windings and the case. So air cooling is minimal. Case temperature does not equal winding temperature. Mid drives have the windings touching the case, which makes them cool better. Some brands have a temp sensor as the tenth pin in the...
  17. indianajo

    Going to upgrade my rig for crossing Rocky mts on paved roads--would you comment plz?

    If you are riding on paved roads, 32 tooth rear sprocket is enough, IMHO. Even in Colorado and Utah on marked state routes I saw nothing steeper than 6%. Roads with greater than 10% grades should be marked on RandMcNally ( the big $20 one, not the "easy to read" one) as "4 wheel drive only". I...
  18. indianajo

    Need Saddle Advice!

    My bike has rails. Cloud9 cannot be used as it has a post. I have had 3 hour comfort from evo cruiser 260x218 from modern bike. Selle Royale Explora is a close second, and costs twice as much. Putting a cloud9 padded cover over it adds another hour of comfort. The cover tends to fall off and...
  19. indianajo

    brake pad material

    I am a committed do it yourselfer. Converted my cargo bike to electric myself. Right now I am trying to bend the back of my 48" mower deck up to not drag the ground, and stay that way. A $550 problem, plus the OEM design was subject to snapping down to drag as sold. Brake pads are a $10...
  20. indianajo

    Gas cans and fun findings.

    When they made the nozzle dribble the gas into the tank at 1 gal per 3 minutes, I bought my last official can. Threw them away. I now buy diesel in 1 gal punch bottles, oil jugs, or 2 gallon weed killer jugs. Labeled with a magic marker, of course. Carry a funnel, they are not patented to be...
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