E-BIKE SPEED RESTRICTIONS (AGREE OR DISAGREE )

[tomjasz]

the size of that CA display? It put me off completely.

Good land man! You seem to take every opportunity to diss a CA2, and CA3.

 

[AHicks]

Good land man! You seem to take every opportunity to diss a CA2, and CA3.

Thomas, sorry to sound like a broken record. Just trying to prevent somebody opening their brand new display thinking what the hell when they see that size of it. It may be repetitive, but my frequent warnings are only meant as a heads up....

 

[PedalUma]

Man that’s awesome! Can’t wait to do the wife’s bike next year! The internal wiring really makes a huge difference in maintaining the classic aesthetic- paint that bad boy aluminum silver and it’ll be spot on with my wife’s bike. Do regular crank arms fit ? I’d want to figure out a way to attach this if possible:

View attachment 105989

@VoltMan99, You would need to cut off the spider then use a 110 to 130 BCD spider to reuse this chainring. You will be better off installing the kit and just taking the matte black crank arms to someone such as a professional knife sharpener to get them polished out. Here is a through frame wired bike. It is a spanking new Marin. See the blue display? Note the lack of ugly connectors on the HB. It is a Class 3 ten speed. Enter into the Zen Garden of Less being More.

 

[tomjasz]

Marin

My last scratch build is on a Marin Euro hybrid.

 

[PedalUma]

Here is the progress on today's project. Electrifying an Electra. Next it gets the chainring and crank arms. The single speed coaster brake hub will be swapped for a seven-speed coaster. New chain and done. All through frame wiring and housings. The battery slides into the water bottle cage. Class 3 cruiser.

 

[tomjasz]

Here is the progress on today's project. Electrifying an Electra. Next it gets the chainring and crank arms. The single speed coaster brake hub will be swapped for a seven-speed coaster. New chain and done. All through frame wiring and housings. The battery slides into the water bottle cage. Class 3 cruiser.
View attachment 106031

Yikes! Your builds leave me in the dust!

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Thomas, sorry to sound like a broken record. Just trying to prevent somebody opening their brand new display thinking what the hell when they see that size of it. It may be repetitive, but my frequent warnings are only meant as a heads up....

Yes AHicks, I appreciate that bit of caveat emptor. I know the CA display is a small, lackluster user interface without the aesthetically pleasing features of many displays. I'm buying it strictly for its' functional nuances, and for experimental purposes.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Yikes! Your builds leave me in the dust!

That looks really Supper Slick.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

My last scratch build is on a Marin Euro hybrid.View attachment 106022View attachment 106024

Tom, do you use regen on your Mac?

 

[AHicks]

Yes AHicks, I appreciate that bit of caveat emptor. I know the CA display is a small, lackluster user interface without the aesthetically pleasing features of many displays. I'm buying it strictly for its' functional nuances, and for experimental purposes.

Actually, the CA's are relatively huge as compared to any recent production bikes, and despite the large size, they offer only 2 lines of data.

To talk about regen and a gear driven hub, you need to be talking about either the GMAC motor speceifically, or some other motor with a locked up internal clutch.

 

[mschwett]

Thank you Alicia for a terrific topic.

This is a roadie/commuter conversation and I salute you folks with the bravery for it. It would seriously be safer to just walk down the train tracks; at least you know what direction it's coming from and what to look for. Risk/reward doesn't add up for me because effort, preparation and skill will not save you.

Every 10 minute ride to the MTB park I have to trust that every single driver behind me has their head pulled out, or else I'll end up dead or paralyzed. That's quite a wager and a lot of misplaced trust. Speed limits have nothing to do with it and will save none of us.

As we know MTB fatality rates are close to zero, yet minor injuries are vastly higher. Speed limits are not the reason; it's the number of cars around you vs. trees.

Here's the best safety solution - I'm sure many of you have these as well:

View attachment 105891

No disagreement that infrastructure and driver behavior needs to improve, but this is a really gross overstatement of the risk. The increased risk of serious accident is hard to study but nowhere near the hyperbole you’re using. It might be twice the risk of driving, but certainly not 10 or 100 or 1000 times.

There was a pretty good study of it in the UK; similar studies for other places are hard to find.

"What we're saying is that if 1,000 people who don't currently cycle to work change their minds, on average over the next 10 years, we would see a total of 26 injuries that we would not have otherwise -- three of which would result in hospitalization of more than a week," said Paul Welsh, a senior lecturer at Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences at Glasgow University.

But, he added, "The benefit is 15 fewer cancers, four fewer heart attacks or stroke and three fewer deaths."

So, do the math. 1,000 people cycling to work for 10 years - 10,000 person years, and 3 hospitalizations of more than a week. So the risk is an increase in around 1 in 3,300 for a single person for a year over whatever the baseline risk is. Of course, those 3 really serious injuries and 23 less serious ones are offset by 19 fewer MAJOR medical problems.

We need to get more people out there on bikes, and language like “you’d be safer walking down the train tracks” is not helpful!

 

[PedalUma]

Speeds are higher in the US than the UK. And there are 3,000 Watt throttle bikes here with 20" wheels that weigh 106 pounds. It is not just that, but the type of non-riders who are attracted to these throttle bikes.

 

[mschwett]

Speeds are higher in the US than the UK. And there are 3,000 Watt throttle bikes here with 20" wheels that weigh 106 pounds. It is not just that, but the type of non-riders who are attracted to these throttle bikes.

How can anyone even ride with all that stuff on the bars LOL.

Hope you got a ride in today, it was a stunning, stunning day. I went up panoramic to ridgecrest and down bofax… which is completely closed to cars due to some minor damage from the big storms. epic.

 

[PedalUma]

The bike I am making now has two things on the HB, a shift lever with its housing and a display the size of your thumb with its wire. It is a coaster brake mid-drive with all internal routing. No one will know it is electric. I got in two rides on this perfect day.

 

[tomjasz]

Bafang DP C07.UART 94mm x 82mm
7780 sq mm or 12 sq inches
CA versions 128mm x 57mm
7296 sq mm or 11.30882 sq inches

 

[AHicks]

Let's talk about the amount of info shown on that just a little bit smaller display.,,,

 

[m@Robertson]

Let's talk about the amount of info shown on that just a little bit smaller display.,,,

I'm not a fan of the CA, either. But if you are working with a DIY-oriented system where you can end up doing a lot of under-the-hood stuff, then a CA is the right tool for the job. For someone who wants plug-and-play I would agree its about the last thing you want.

Speeds are higher in the US than the UK. And there are 3,000 Watt throttle bikes here with 20" wheels that weigh 106 pounds. It is not just that, but the type of non-riders who are attracted to these throttle bikes.

^^^ this. Although that video was made in the EU, probably Eastern Europe (big house, teeny cars, weird tractors, gloomy weather... and a license plate on an oncoming car seals the deal ).

Its not 1 in 3300 but its not blindfolded and tied to train tracks either . With that said, I can't promise I won't be hit by (another!) inattentive little old lady and bumped off for good next time. Still, having started my long-daily-commutes in my teens, when I turn 60 in just over a year I expect to still be commuting and shopping on a bike, in possession of all my limbs, still. More just under 40 years in the saddle all told, and I've only been hit once (in 2017).

... which is anecdotal but still, its what I got.

 

[BlackHand]

View attachment 106123

To be fair, this is who's riding that bike

 

[PedalUma]

The cat's eyes are perfect.
I finished the Klunker. The first mountain bikes were klunkers in 1977 San Anselmo. It is a seven speed coaster brake, class 3. Now if I could only transport it back in time. https://www.adventure-journal.com/2021/10/when-bikes-were-klunkers-and-denim-was-spandex/

 

[AHicks]

I'm not a fan of the CA, either. But if you are working with a DIY-oriented system where you can end up doing a lot of under-the-hood stuff, then a CA is the right tool for the job. For someone who wants plug-and-play I would agree its about the last thing you want.

^^^ this. Although that video was made in the EU, probably Eastern Europe (big house, teeny cars, weird tractors, gloomy weather... and a license plate on an oncoming car seals the deal ).

Its not 1 in 3300 but its not blindfolded and tied to train tracks either . With that said, I can't promise I won't be hit by (another!) inattentive little old lady and bumped off for good next time. Still, having started my long-daily-commutes in my teens, when I turn 60 in just over a year I expect to still be commuting and shopping on a bike, in possession of all my limbs, still. More just under 40 years in the saddle all told, and I've only been hit once (in 2017).

... which is anecdotal but still, its what I got.

At 60, I was just starting to get nervous about driving 150+hp snowmobiles on 10' wide trails through heavy Michigan woods lined with very large trees on each side, while moving at speeds often in excess of most speed limits found on freeways. This while driving on ice and snow. It was something I did for 40 years without a scratch. Clearly, when thoughts like that start to occur, it's time to park them.

At 63, I quit riding motorcycles of all sorts. From 250cc dirt bikes through Honda Valkyries and Goldwings. I sold all of them because I was concerned about my reflexes when it came to somebody turning left in front of me. I was concerned that I was no longer in possession of the necessary reflex time.

Now, at 70, riding those hot rod sleds and big road bikes seems just absolutely nuts. Almost reckless....
I now realize my body is not going to recover as quickly as it once did. Why?

A very fit buddy of mine who was 77 at the time, was riding his bike to a trail system via a couple miles of road protected by nothing but a white line. A pick up truck didn't even cross that line, but it's mirror managed to clip the mirror on my buddy's bike, sending him down into a ditch. He was nearly a year recovering from that and considers himself lucky. Not just because he managed to live through that experience, but because he came back fully, still able to ride. BOTH of us agreed to never let that happen again....

Point being, stuff changes quickly as you get older....