Greetings from a new member in...Zambia

[dino*67]

Hi All, Early last year I went on my usual 3-week trip to the UK. I decided to look at e-bikes and test-rode a Riese & Muller Delite Mountain Rohloff and just felt it was right for me.
I live in the bush in the Luangwa Valley, where there's lots of animals, including elephants, lions, hippos, buffalo, etc.. I had the powered speed limit raised from 15.5mph to 25mph...just in case I ever get chased.
I love walking through the bush, but the bike is on another level, and you can go so far and wide rather than walking, which I am now finding slow and boring!
I also bought the bike to search for fossils, as I work with various fossil teams, mostly from American museums and universities, and we find many amazing fossils. The fossil hunts are official, sanctioned by the relevant authority in whatever country I happen to visit with a team. So far we've explored Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and have made many important discoveries. I have a large offroad vehicle and can clamp my e-bike inside, so it can't fall over, no matter how bumpy the track. I also have a large solar panel to charge the e-bike via an inverter overnight, so that it's always ready to go each day.
I'd be interested in hearing peoples' thoughts on how to stop punctures. I had Tannus Armour fitted from new but have had a few punctures, so I removed the Tannus and am now trying Mr Tuffy liners and Slime-filled inner tubes, which I'll change every 2 years. If problems persist, I'll try Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB tyres. Has anyone tried these, and how good are they with stopping punctures?
Best wishes, Steve

 

[Chargeride]

I had the powered speed limit raised from 15.5mph to 25mph...just in case I ever get chased

Thats is simply fantastic, all these westerners wanting to get to work quicker and moaning about speed limits, dude needs it to outrun being eaten

 

[indianajo]

Welcome to the site. Interesting profession, archeologist tour guide. I concur on the speed, outrunning a pit bull dog beats spraying it with pepper every time. I dangle sabre spray from the handlebar with a kale or broccoli tie. Always ready. Sometimes dog packs surround me.
Good luck on elephants & buffalo. Saw some last night chasing lions on PBS Nature. That was in Botswanna.
I ride on road but I use knobby tires like Kenda or Giant. If the knobs are taller than 3/32" road junk does not cause flats. I found slime clogs up the valve where I cannot add more air. I quit using it. I find the age of the tube does not matter much. I reuse the cheap grocery store ones up to 5 years. Kinks in tube in inflation can cause a leak after some miles. I air up then deflate then air up again. This does not always work out the kinks. Also, watch the stem. Hard use can make it slide til it is sideways, then wear the rubber on the rim. I debur the hole in the rim with a round file.

 

[Watana Bob]

Welcome Dino! Wow, what an exciting place to ride and on an excellent bike. You might consider setting up tubeless, this should help immensely if you are dealing with thorns.

 

[JGcycle]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[JRA]

You should be as well protected as possible with the tire liners and slimed tubes. Sounds like punctures are inevitable there and the best you can do is to stop them from leaking ASAP. I have had really good luck with going to tubeless to combat punctures but where I live there aren't alot of prickly bits and mostly are due to running low psi and pinching the rim running tubes.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard! We hear many different ebike use cases, but I don't recall either fossil hunting or big scary animal evasion. Sound like great uses to me.

Which critter would you least like to have on your tail? Top speed?

 

[Art Deco]

Thats is simply fantastic, all these westerners wanting to get to work quicker and moaning about speed limits, dude needs it to outrun being eaten

Eco, sport, turbo, ...Lion ? That takes bigger balls than I have, and I am considered stupidly brave.

 

[Art Deco]

Welcome aboard! We hear many different ebike use cases, but I don't recall either fossil hunting or big scary animal evasion. Sound like great uses to me.

Which critter would you least like to have on your tail? Top speed?

If I had to choose a "critter to avoid " it would be a government agent and ebikes wouldn't help.

 

[dino*67]

Hi all, Thanks for the welcome.
Human/animal conflict is real here, with several people getting killed by animals every year. Usually it's elephants, lions, hippos or poisonous snakes. My driver was killed when he tried to ride to work whilst drunk. An elephant chased and tusked him several times, though he actually died after he was operated on for torn intestines. So yes, I probably fear elephants the most, and they are fast, up to 25mph...the same as my bike! The bike is almost always in turbo...just in case.
Finding fossils often involves long walks, sometimes over 50kms, necessitating camping a night in the bush, meaning carrying more weight and water, whereas the same journey can be carried out within a day on an e-MTB, without the extra weight. However, that is offset by having to carry 3 metres of chain, so I can padlock my bike to a large tree when I go off exploring on foot. Here in the bush, there are no cordless angle grinders or bolt croppers, just homemade axes to contend with. By the way, fossil-finding is my passion, I don't get paid. (In 2017, on the first day of fieldwork in Zimbabwe, we found about 95% of a dinosaur skeleton that turned out to be Africa's earliest dinosaur! See Mbiresaurus raathi.
I've attached a few photos...the first is of 2 male lions (out of a pride of 4 male lions) crossing the track near my house (7kms to the nearest neighbour), an elephant at the window, nearly losing my Land Rover ex-ambulance on a deep river crossing, a broken bridge, a croc in my pond eating a baboon, how I secure my bike in the back of the Land Rover, using a clamp to hold onto the seat post, sunset on the Luangwa from our 'sundowner spot', and lastly, a herd of elephants in our pond, eating water lilies.

 

[Chargeride]

Ok, to be safe, you need cheetah speed.

 

[PCeBiker]

I had Tannus Armour fitted from new but have had a few punctures, so I removed the Tannus and am now trying Mr Tuffy liners and Slime-filled inner tubes,

I installed Tannus Armour and Flat-out on my first ebike (26x4.0 fat tires) but didn't like how the Tannus inserts squashed down to less than ¼" thick so I added Mr Tuffy liners as well.

4,500 km with no flats.

I'll try Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB tyres. Has anyone tried these, and how good are they with stopping punctures?

I installed Schwalbe Super Moto-X (27.5x2.80) on next ebike with just Flat-out in the tubes.

3,500 km no flats.
(except one that didn't count because my rim tape slipped and the spoke hole punctured the tube, and I didn't have the Flat-out added yet)

I'm betting on Flat-out being a better sealant than the others.
I've got a bottle of slime that I didn't use because I found out about Flat-out.

My Super Moto-X tires are rated by Schwalbe as 6 out of 7 for protection.
The Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB tire is rated 7 out of 7

The Nobby Nic tyres that I think you have look to be about 6 out of 7 as well but they are rated differently,..

If I get a flat tire I do the walk of shame or call a tow truck.
If you get a flat tire you might become food.

There are some big snakes here in Southern Ontario but they aren't poisonous and I could probably fight one off before it ate me.