Greetings from a new member in...Zambia

[indianajo]

6 kg does not sound oppressive. If you can find some way to carry that on your front, all the better. I have my motor & battery on the front, also about 6 kg. MTB's and cruisers are heavy on the rear tire, anyway. The battery does not steer: there are bosses welded in my frame for a front rack. A 7 kg battery on the front that did steer was an invitation to fall off in the ruts of my summer camp driveway. See the black thing in the picture.
The best place to lose the weight is around our middle. Since I quit work and stopped using my car to run errands, 2008, I have lost 55 lb around my middle.

 

[PedalUma]

People get flats here all the time. There is more than one daily rider who have not gotten any in three years riding eCargo tires from Schwalbe, called PickUps. Check your sizing. Three to five times better than Slime is a product from Muc-Off. It forms polymer strings that fill a puncture. At the eBike shop where I work only one person has had a flat running it. They had a 60mm long sharpened to a point, triangular piece of oak in their tire. I also had a partially deflated tube over five hours when using it. The answer was to remove the thorn and to pump it up. Welcome.
Edit:
Oh, here is a pro tip, when using sealant clean the inside of the stem. Then use some waterproof silicone grease in the stem and on the O-ring. It will prevent a sealant clog at the valve. Fill with air with the stem horizontal.

 

[dino*67]

Thanks for the tips Jeremy.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Thanks for the tips Jeremy.

Wait, there's another Jeremy around here?

 

[PedalUma]

Hey, @Jeremy McCreary. How's the bike? I rode a lesser yet popular torque sensor bike today like the way your bike likes it at 70+ cadence and it was a surge and lurch dud. I ride a S. Vad 4.0 about four times per week. Better bikes are like better guitars, including the great masters. Riese & Muller Delite's are heavy as 'F,' Hades. Pinch flats happen all the time on overly heavy bikes. Get a Globe Haul. It puts R&M to shame for what you are doing. It would be fun to pair with your bike and give it the best firmware updates at 28 mph (45+kph} in Africa.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hey, @Jeremy McCreary. How's the bike? I rode a lesser yet popular torque sensor bike today like the way your bike likes it at 70+ cadence and it was a surge and lurch dud. I ride a S. Vad 4.0 about four times per week. Better bikes are like better guitars, including the great masters. Riese & Muller Delite's are heavy as 'F,' Hades. Pinch flats happen all the time on overly heavy bikes. Get a Globe Haul. It puts R&M to shame for what you are doing. It would be fun to pair with your bike and give it the best firmware updates at 28 mph (45+kph} in Africa.

The new SL's a dream to ride. My torque-sensing hub-drive's still useful and fun to ride at twice the weight. The torque-sensing assist is nicely implemented, but the SL's assist is of course more refined.

 

[dino*67]

I'm certainly no expert on e-bikes, and the R&M Delite feels very heavy when you have to pick it up, but so light and nimble as soon as you get pedalling. I need front and rear suspension due to the bumpy ground I sometimes cross (e.g. elephant or hippo deep tracks in mud during the rains, now baked hard in the dry season, or loose rocky areas). I have adapted the motor, so it now stops helping at 25mph, not 15.5mph. I hated 'hitting the wall' at a relatively low speed.
I watched the long video on the Globe Haul and thought it was a great bike, that looked easy to pedal at a good speed, but it simply wouldn't work here. 90% of my riding is offroad. Another thing that sold the bike to me was the Rohloff 14-hub gears...I don't like Shimano-type gears. I also don't want mudguards. For luggage, I just need a small Basil crate on the rear rack, everything else in my rucksack on my back. I thought of using Cool Cave panniers but they'd be just something else I'd worry about getting stolen when I left the bike. My Basil crate will either be hidden some distance away, or secured with Hiplok Z loks.

Hey, @Jeremy McCreary. How's the bike? I rode a lesser yet popular torque sensor bike today like the way your bike likes it at 70+ cadence and it was a surge and lurch dud. I ride a S. Vad 4.0 about four times per week. Better bikes are like better guitars, including the great masters. Riese & Muller Delite's are heavy as 'F,' Hades. Pinch flats happen all the time on overly heavy bikes. Get a Globe Haul. It puts R&M to shame for what you are doing. It would be fun to pair with your bike and give it the best firmware updates at 28 mph (45+kph} in Africa.

 

[PedalUma]

When Dillon plugged in at New Port '65 people freaked. The good bikes still need to be played like a guitar. But they are electric. Santana can play an acoustic. I am happy he went electric. That's how I feel when riding good electric bikes.

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. Get a Globe Haul.

Eewww,.. !!!

I've always hated mini-bikes.
I wanted a real dirt bike.
My first dirt bike was full size, full suspension.

My e-bike is similar.
It weighs 89 pounds with two batteries and a rack bag with tools,..

That's still 150 pounds lighter than my dirt bike.

I'm floating through 2" deep potholes and around corners at 32 kph no-hands, no-problem.

,.. Pinch flats happen all the time on overly heavy bikes.

There is more than one daily rider who have not gotten any in three years riding eCargo tires from Schwalbe, called PickUps. Check your sizing.

@dino*67
Just get a pair of PickUps for your Delite.

The only issue you have with your ebike is the flat tires.

(Cool Fricken E-Bike BTW !!!)

Don't let @PedalUma sell you a hard-tail mini-bike.

The good bikes still need to be played like a guitar. But they are electric. Santana can play an acoustic.

I play my ebike like a dirt-bike.

I flew my acoustic, non-electric Rail Sailer at over 60 kph,..

 

[dino*67]

I'm not going to be changing the Delite Rohloff....

I like the look of the Schwalbe Pick-up tyres...just a shame the offroad grip seems to be mediocre. However, lack of punctures is something worth considering.

Before I got the Delite I bought a new Yamaha TW200 about 5 years ago. I love it, but it's too big and heavy to be able to get across bad gullies, steep ridges, river crossings, etc.. With the Delite I can carry it through the worst areas. I planned to sell the TW when the Delite arrived, but still love riding it locally on longer trips. It took up too much room in the back of my vehicle to justify taking it on expeditions.

 

[PedalUma]

offroad grip

I am working on a conversion of a gravel/adventure bike with Schwalbe Mondial tires. The DD, V-Guard is very nice. These are sturdy tires. The bike is a Straggler with a B-17 and matching leather grips. It is getting a 90Nm torque sensing motor. The next step is cutting off all the extra wire and splicing. It is a pain but worth it for a clean build. When finished it will not look like an electric bike. And it will out run and out climb just about everything. The motor is a fully programable ToSeven. Tires are so important.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I am working on a conversion of a gravel/adventure bike with Schwalbe Mondial tires. The DD, V-Guard is very nice. These are sturdy tires. The bike is a Straggler with a B-17 and matching leather grips. It is getting a 90Nm torque sensing motor. The next step is cutting off all the extra wire and splicing. It is a pain but worth it for a clean build. When finished it will not look like an electric bike. And it will out run and out climb just about everything. The motor is a fully programable ToSeven. Tires are so important.

Sounds like a nice conversion. Have to wonder, though — what branding genius came up with "Straggler" as a bicycle model name when Laggard and Slowpoke are still available?

 

[PedalUma]

Ever hear of the senior mock retro metal cover band called IronKnee? I like Laggard. The bike's logo is a snail or in some cases a banana slug. I have fed banana slugs bananas in the redwoods, they are huge. The downplay is fun at a time of so much hyperbole.