New to E-Bike and this forum

[Jeremy McCreary]

I did not see a viable Schalbe or Specialized 4” tire for mostly roads. Seems a lot more options for 2 1/2” or less tires.

Sorry, didn't realize you were after 4" tires when I recommended those brands.

 

[GMA52]

Sorry, didn't realize you were after 4" tires when I recommended those brands.

No worries. I sort of figured that

 

[PCeBiker]

Sorry, I assumed that tire was the back tire.

Yeah, I cropped the picture too much, and it looks like the rear tire.

BTW: Nice Bike! Where did you get the windshield?

Thanks, I got the windshield on Aliexpress to cover up my stupid looking front end after I bought new steering stem and installed it backwards to get my handlebars closer, so I didn't have to lean forward.
I wanted to sit straight up,..

Thread 'handlebar rise or longer goose neck?' https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/handlebar-rise-or-longer-goose-neck.52648/

Also, I wished now that I had gone with a step through model because I had to push my seat back as far as it would go and get Sketchers Tennis shoes with 2” heel to get my let over due to fused lumbar and arthritis in hips but They were lower wattage in the brand I was buying.

I've recently started to lean my bike way over before I swing my leg around. I find it easier to get on.

My new ebike is a mile off the ground and I have to stand on my toes to clear the battery that I attached to the top tube.

If I slip off my seat, I'm going to be in a world of hurt when I land on my jewels.

 

[gromike]

Hey ECeBiker, do you have hills where you ride? In my world I would be terrified going downhill with your rig

 

[GMA52]

PCeBiker, by the height of your seat you must be tall. I am 5’8” but most of that is in the torso and 29” inseam on pants. That plus other issues do not allow me to lean my 84lb bike to get on without possibility of it falling over. I was getting on via the curb of the street but at least I can usually get on without issue due to the things I have done. As I said it would have been easier if I had bought a step through. Getting old and surgeries are “hell”.

 

[PCeBiker]

Hey ECeBiker, do you have hills where you ride? In my world I would be terrified going downhill with your rig

Very few. The only hills are where a road crosses a river then I finally get going over 32 kph,..

I've gone down this hill (when it wasn't flooded) and some others that are steeper, riding no-hands at over 35 kph.

It is kinda freaky, but I've gotten pretty good at riding my electric unicycle with a training wheel.

I've got 8000 km on that ebike with over 6000 km of that with no-hands.

 

[PCeBiker]

PCeBiker, by the height of your seat you must be tall. I am 5’8” but most of that is in the torso and 29” inseam on pants.

Yeah, I'm 6' tall with a 32" inseam and I've got the seat set quite high, partly because a full suspension frame needs more ground clearance to help avoid pedal strikes when you squash the suspension, and I replaced my original forks that had 95 mm of travel with downhill air forks that have 160 mm of travel.

I also straighten one leg out at a time, with my heel pointing down from the pedal to stand on one leg to help take the pressure off my ass, so I need my seat set higher so I don't lift off the seat.
I kinda lock myself in so I'm less inclined to get thrown forward when I hit a pothole or some washboard roads.
I also have a suspension seatpost that compresses when I sit on it, so I have to raise the seat and fiddle with my seatpost spring tension to compensate.
And I've got a spring seat on top of the seatpost with a gell seat cover on top of that, and they compress a bit too.

That plus other issues do not allow me to lean my 84lb bike to get on without possibility of it falling over. I was getting on via the curb of the street but at least I can usually get on without issue due to the things I have done.

I've fallen off my e-bike a couple of times when I came to a stop on the shoulder of a gravel road.
The shoulder was sloped a bit, my right toes couldn't touch, and I fell over.

As I said it would have been easier if I had bought a step through. Getting old and surgeries are “hell”.

I didn't buy the step-through on purpose. It just kinda happened to be a step through.
I actually threw my leg around to get on most of the time.

 

[PCeBiker]

In my world I would be terrified going downhill with your rig

It actually feels very stable.
I wouldn't want to go screaming down the side of a mountain on a narrow dirt path but I'd have no fear of doing it on a road.

I did get going 43 kph went I unlocked the ebike, and I did it no-hands but I didn't like it at all, only because I was afraid of getting $5,000 in fines.

I would love to find a hill steep enough and long enough to scare the s*it outta me.
I'm allowed to speed when I'm going down a hill.

 

[GMA52]

Very few. The only hills are where a road crosses a river then I finally get going over 32 kph,..


View attachment 201602




I've got 8000 km on that ebike with over 6000 km of that with no-hands.

Now I see where you got the name “Daffy” LOL. “Over 6000km with no hands”. I don’t think I can go over 10 ft without hands

 

[PCeBiker]

I learned when I was a kid, and never forgot how.

 

[GMA52]

I learned when I was a kid, and never forgot how.

When I was a kid i could do it but never as far as you rhough

 

[PCeBiker]

One thing I am glad for is that My E-Bike doesn’t (or shouldn’t) need balancing due to the lower speed.

I spent months trying to get rid of a wobble or shimmy that would only happen when I carried a second battery on my rear rack, and only when I rode no-hands.

I ended up balancing both my wheels (by wrapping solder around the spokes), and broke two rear racks off my e-bike before I managed to make battery mounts for my top tube.

That got rid of the speed wobble but I'm down to only a couple multi tools in my pockets now.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Yeah I tried the rear rack battery on a fs mountain bike build and though ok for casual street rides I never really liked the setup. Ended up with a custom, much smaller 10ah battery from Jenny and then the bike was a delight everywhere. Proper center of gravity is golden.

And I went step thru on my latest bike even though I can still get up over a properly sized bike with a 30in inseam. Man it makes many things easier. My arthritic knees can act up and then add carpal tunnel on top and I want comfort and ease above all.

 

[PedalUma]

steering stem and installed it backwards

There are 110 adjustable riser stems that work with backswept bars. I am not showing this because it would be for you. Only to show that there are all kinds options. I might use something like this to convert a dropbar gravel bike so I can reuse the dropbar levers. It is called a moustache bar. I don't know why. You wrap it like a road bike. The shifting on that bike is in the lever. I am not sure how well that will work. This spanking new $1900 bike has been sitting here for almost two years. Got it with a bunch of others when a bike shop owner ripped me off with a bunch of others and closed the shop. It went there with four guys just before he closed and took a truck and trailer load of new bikes as a settlement.

 

[GMA52]

“. Got it with a bunch of others when a bike shop owner ripped me off with a bunch of others and closed the shop. It went there with four guys just before he closed and took a truck and trailer load of new bikes as a settlement.”

How did that work and more importantly why did the bike sit for 2 years?

 

[PCeBiker]

There are 110 adjustable riser stems that work with backswept bars. I am not showing this because it would be for you.

The Daffed part is that my first e-bike came with that very same adjustable riser, and it would have worked perfectly for me.
It didn't occur to me to just rotate it 180`

Instead, I bought and installed a new riser and handlebars, then bought a $70 windshield to cover up the ugly mess.


The first thing I did with my new ebike, (which also came with an adjustable riser) was to spin the riser backwards.

 

[GMA52]

The Daffed part is that my first e-bike came with that very same adjustable riser, and it would have worked perfectly for me.
It didn't occur to me to just rotate it 180`

Instead, I bought and installed a new riser and handlebars, then bought a $70 windshield to cover up the ugly mess.


The first thing I did with my new ebike, (which also came with an adjustable riser) was to spin the riser backwards.

Welcome to the club!

 

[PedalUma]

very same adjustable riser

How did that work? Well, the guy I trusted ripped of a bunch of people. He knowingly wrote me a bad check for $1000. That is criminal. Federal time. Attorney fees. Court dates for months. I just went in there with several big guys and loaded new bikes and called it even. No Police Report. One little old lady was ripped off for $1600. A legally blind guy and friend, Michael, paid in advance to have his eTrike disassembled and painted and rebuilt. All he got back after months of excuses was a bunch of unsorted parts. With no instructions, no labels. There were a bunch of others in town. For 18 months it was the coolest place to hangout in town. There were sofas and good free espresso with big screen bike videos and cool music, cool bikes. I would work on collaborative projects there. That bike is all GRX, Shimano gravel specific, and is sweet but extra-small. What grown woman wants to ride an expensive off-road analog dropbar? I think I will sometime find a small woman and sell it for half-price as part of a conversion to electric package with a higher bar and more lady friendly saddle. That is why it has just been sitting. I was counting in the rainy off-season to help make rent with that $1,000. I was pissed but did not blow my cool. We just marched in on a mission and loaded bikes.

 

[GMA52]

That is pathetic to rip of anyone but especially sick to take advantage of the blind and elderly. That is NO Conscience. Did the little old lady get anything back?

 

[PCeBiker]

Welcome to the club!

Well, being as you've joined the ebike mechanics club, I thought I'd give you some pointers about replacing your tires.
I've got the same rear hub fat motors on both my ebikes and getting the rear wheel off and back on can be a PITA.

As @PedalUma mentioned, the axle flats like to get jammed in the dropouts so you'll need a 10 mm wrench to rotate the axle free.

This is what my dropouts looked like,..

When I got the axle unstuck, it still got caught up on the derailleur while lifting the wheel out.
(yeah, do like @PedalUma says and turn your bike upside-down).

The axle likes to hit the part of the derailleur in the top right of the picture, and it's spring loaded to be the most in the way as possible.

The chain is wrapped around both the sprocket on the wheel and the derailleur, and everything gets caught up.
Getting your derailleur and chain on the smallest sprocket first, helps to get a bit more clearance.


You might want to remove your chain beforehand as well.
It will get it outta the way, and its good practice.
You might need a chain breaker to get the chain off and a quick link to get it back on.

Here's a link to me figuring out how to remove my chain,..

Post in thread 'What's You're Plan For Major Breakdown?' https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/whats-youre-plan-for-major-breakdown.51750/post-585264



This would be a good time to give your chain a good cleaning and wax job, if your interested.



The axle will have torque washers on both ends and their orientation needs to be correct.
They can be upside-down or backwards or both,..

Even the washers can be backwards.
The washers on my axles are conical washers.

Actually,..
Looking at this picture, it looks like I've got the damn washer backwards ??!!

Both my ebikes have a derailleur gaurd which further complicates things because it's mounted on the axle and it needs to come off to get the wheel out.

Everything is all jammed up in there, and I had to use the box end of an 18 mm combination wrench to loosen it with about 2° of rotation before you hit stuff.
(I didn't want to use the open end, because it only has two flats that grab the nut)

The black cover needs to come off the axle nut and slid down the motor cable and removed at the connector, then I fed the box end up the cable and on to the axle nut.

(I could delete the derailleur gaurd to make life easier, but I "use" it all the time. I had to replace it cuz it was all bent to s*it. )

If you don't have a derailleur gaurd like mine, the best thing to do is leave all the hardware on the axle and just back the nuts off.
You might have enough clearance to get your wheel out without removing anything, which keeps everything in order.

The wheel is kinda heavy, and I had to lift it with one hand while bending the derailleur outta the way with the other.
Getting the wheel back on is even trickier, even with the chain and axle hardware removed.

A third hand is always helpful so maybe you can get your wife to help.

@Jeremy McCreary posted about this stool a while ago. I bought one and I really like it.
I thought with your bad back, it might help.

https://a.co/d/8c2zHkx