Watt Wagons Ultimate Commuter 2 rides 175 miles now 1075 miles, more than 2 rides

[Deacon Blues]

I'll probably go with 1000W in eco and 2300W in sport, with 99% of my riding in eco.

I have Di2 on my road bike and I love it. If Pushkar can't get the eTap groupset, but can get the Di2 groupset I'd be okay with that, but wireless is my first choice.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

I have not posted here for a little so let me update

went over a 1000 miles yesterday, quoting my self from another thread today

“pls check on larger gearing for people who have a slow cadence (if at all lol)

yesterday I said ”This is ridiculous!” Out loud I was so amazed at the power of the bike , selected wrong gear and low power up a short hill and it still was able to accelerate up the hill and also again just cruising “can’t believe it continues to get even better“ about 2 hours later.

2300 watts is so over kill , not needed at all for me but seem to make use of it every now and then”

I have had some hiccups from my Kindernay and rear brakes which will be taken care ofin the near future when I pick up my other 2 bikes, I am not concerned about how I will be treated and have spoken to Pushkar already.

1000 miles in a day. I said ”This is ridiculous!” Out loud I was so amazed. No kidding. That's a world record !!!
Quick heads up from an old guy: If it's too much, commonly, one can limit "overkill" Wattage through the display.
Another tip: Evenly adjusting belt tension (both sides) is a prerequisite. Failure, the belt comes off.
Owner's responsibility to know the obvious.
I'm constantly reminded by those I respect: High performance take hands-on understanding.
Ordering more of what's "overkill" that caused your malfunction seems odd.
In my 70's, I admit it's totally me. I've long since concluded: wisdom comes only from experience (largely blunders). The rest is error waiting to happen and same mistakes are insanity, or simply mental laziness.
Doubt I'll change my 'brutally honest' attitude.
Just my take.
-
I'm still wondering 'bout the 'fruit' and '36lbs+ of 'batteries' in panniers ?
In the old days (70's) we machine builders used to fill failing rear ends with bananas. Keep a demo-derby car running the whole race!
Worked great with Edsel's and the Studebaker's. Not sure using peaches, okra or fried chicken, but could work for your drive too - 'cept ours cost $100. Okra's plenty slimly, but chicken or squirrel, I'd certainly de-bone first and use thigh meat - adding a few tbsp of appropriate weight synthetic oil wouldn't hurt either.
Peaches are out.

I am,

(Unrepentantly) Fast and Furious

PS. I PRAY for your energy.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Opimax thanks for posting so much info about your experiences with your bike and thoughts/perspective. It adds a certain excitement to life while I wait for mine.

Maybe like when I was a kid and made vroom, vroom, sounds while fantasizing about driving.

 

[BruceBrown]

West , just read your post on oil change , part of my issue is a little leak too, you make the 3rd known leak issue.

on the Kinetic, I weighed 198 yesterday at the Dr office plus water a little over 200 lbs I did have the seat pushed all the way forward which puts extra pressure, moved it back some. I will see if Pushkar has a heavier spring . Today I am putting in my fancy Ergon seat and adjusting the pedal screws in to save my shoes some extra wear.

My hub is currently in Norway being looked at by Kindernay because of the leaking. I had an email from them this morning saying they were looking at it today and would let me know what they find. I'm hoping I hear something from them tomorrow due to the time difference.

My leaking was definitely more than a few drops. There wasn't much oil left to drain when I sent it back to them.

I was very hopeful my issue was isolated. I hadn't seen or heard other reports of it until reading this thread.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Opimax thanks for posting so much info about your experiences with your bike and thoughts/perspective. It adds a certain excitement to life while I wait for mine.

Maybe like when I was a kid and made vroom, vroom, sounds while fantasizing about driving.

At my age, I get that. Vroom, vroom. lol.

 

[opimax]

my typing skill stink and even if I reread I sometimes think it is ok and it isn’t. No I didn’t ride 1000 miles in 1 day, sometimes feels like it. I am still amazed at this bike , I really did say those 2 statements out loud and I never do that , speak out loud. The reason I buying more of the same overkill for my brother and wife is avoiding blame , excuses and accusations, if the bikes are ordered the same then they cost and perform the same. I have not spent more on myself . My bike will fall over the same as theirs , my bike will go as fast or as slow as theirs. This may not continue into the (n+1) as I may get some variety. If they want the same I open to it though. if your partner has a crappy bike and you don’t do you think they will ride as much as you? Currently enjoy both of their company so either/both riding with me even most of the time is good. Sometime by myself is still good too. Repairs/tests by part swapping will be easier too, end up with borrowed parts or and quicker diagnosis. I am in my mid 60s, I was that kid too, always play driving and match box cars , h/o tracks, always out n a bike since 1st grade wanting to upgrade to a motorized bike add on from Wards or Sears catalog. Always rode my bike to school, 4th though 9th grade, not cool at high school . Not sure how much these batteries weigh I don’t think 36 seems right, a little high? It sounds like you are talking about a demolition derby , always wanted to try , it is harder than it looks and probably a lot more painful than us spectators imagine. Deboning would be a must for me!

Bruce , is your bike not running ? Mine leaked at a very early point , I am expecting it replaced , not repaired. Mine is also slipping/skipping….at speed it is mostly normal . Slow or on take off is more pronounced or right after a shift. I dont know how much has leaked , think it is still in the “drops” region , have not seen any pooling.. I had a few hiccups/skipping before any leaking as noticed??? Most likely the ebike demons are still following me and making sure I get of the few lemons that a company makes, so far I am not happy with Stromer, Bh, or Trek. WattWagons needs to do an exorcism on me and bless me with good ebike vibes!

 

[BruceBrown]

my typing skill stink and even if I reread I sometimes think it is ok and it isn’t. No I didn’t ride 1000 miles in 1 day, sometimes feels like it. I am still amazed at this bike , I really did say those 2 statements out loud and I never do that , speak out loud. The reason I buying more of the same overkill for my brother and wife is avoiding blame , excuses and accusations, if the bikes are ordered the same then they cost and perform the same. I have not spent more on myself . My bike will fall over the same as theirs , my bike will go as fast or as slow as theirs. This may not continue into the (n+1) as I may get some variety. If they want the same I open to it though. if your partner has a crappy bike and you don’t do you think they will ride as much as you? Currently enjoy both of their company so either/both riding with me even most of the time is good. Sometime by myself is still good too. Repairs/tests by part swapping will be easier too, end up with borrowed parts or and quicker diagnosis. I am in my mid 60s, I was that kid too, always play driving and match box cars , h/o tracks, always out n a bike since 1st grade wanting to upgrade to a motorized bike add on from Wards or Sears catalog. Always rode my bike to school, 4th though 9th grade, not cool at high school . Not sure how much these batteries weigh I don’t think 36 seems right, a little high? It sounds like you are talking about a demolition derby , always wanted to try , it is harder than it looks and probably a lot more painful than us spectators imagine. Deboning would be a must for me!

Bruce , is your bike not running ? Mine leaked at a very early point , I am expecting it replaced , not repaired. Mine is also slipping/skipping….at speed it is mostly normal . Slow or on take off is more pronounced or right after a shift. I dont know how much has leaked , think it is still in the “drops” region , have not seen any pooling.. I had a few hiccups/skipping before any leaking as noticed??? Most likely the ebike demons are still following me and making sure I get of the few lemons that a company makes, so far I am not happy with Stromer, Bh, or Trek. WattWagons needs to do an exorcism on me and bless me with good ebike vibes!

No, it's not running. Once I noticed the amount that was leaking I reached out to Pushkar and Kindernay. It had already been replaced once due to what felt like gear slippage, but the same thing happened with the replacement. I ended up sending the bike back to Pushkar and it was the motor and not the hub. Pushkar replaced my motor and I got it back and it rode great but then I noticed oil on the garage floor. Thought maybe the plug was loose or missing an o-ring. Cleaned it all up and turned the drain plug up and the next day there was more oil. Took photos and Kindernay confirmed the amount leaking was abnormal so they sent me a DHL label and I sent it back a week ago. I was afraid to ride it after seeing the leak for fear of damaging it and having a warranty claim denied. Hopefully I'll have it back in another week or so and can put it back together and get these troubles behind me and ride.

 

[opimax]

Hmm couple of concerns , I want to keep riding, I am very concerned about down time in general and shortly will have my wife’s bike as a sparebut I don’t want to pay big dollars and not ride extended times in warranty period . I will reconfirm my concerns with Mr. P. The slippage being in the motor , how to tell the difference? When the K was replaced and did not fix the issue was it immediately noticeable? I will be taking the bike to Boston and it will be repaired there while I “wait” but not literally, doing other things , will he be able to tell or will I have to test a while 1st?

what warranty version do you have? Number of years

do you have other bikes ? Ebikes?

 

[Deacon Blues]

I wonder if there are any Hydra owners with the same two issues?

 

[BruceBrown]

Hmm couple of concerns , I want to keep riding, I am very concerned about down time in general and shortly will have my wife’s bike as a sparebut I don’t want to pay big dollars and not ride extended times in warranty period . I will reconfirm my concerns with Mr. P. The slippage being in the motor , how to tell the difference? When the K was replaced and did not fix the issue was it immediately noticeable? I will be taking the bike to Boston and it will be repaired there while I “wait” but not literally, doing other things , will he be able to tell or will I have to test a while 1st?

what warranty version do you have? Number of years

do you have other bikes ? Ebikes?

The motor I had was grounding out when hot. I was only experiencing the issue in high gears under decent load. It felt like the pedals would just lose resistance and slip and you could hear it. I made a few videos to send to Pushkar and he agreed at first that it sounded like the hub slipping. Pushkar immediately sent me a new Kindernay and I replaced it and when it still did it, it became quickly obvious it wasn't the hub. This was around the time that Pushkar had discovered the wiring issue inside a bunch of the motors.

I sent the bike back and he took the motor out and saw I had one of the bad ones so he replaced it. He rebuilt my bike and test rode it and sent it back. That completely eliminated the slipping and noise I was hearing and I got a couple days of riding in and put about 50 miles on the bike. The new motor was actually quieter, not that I thought the other was loud, but it was noticeably different. I'm guessing that he would be able to quickly compare the feel and sound of what mine was doing to determine if that is what's going on with yours. Replacing the motor doesn't take long, even replacing the hub doesn't take long so regardless of what is going on with your bike I'm sure he'll be able to get it quickly fixed.

Pushkar has been very responsive and done what needed to be done to resolve my issues. I don't have another eBike, but do have a road bike. The Hydra is my first eBike.

I have the standard one year warranty, but I still didn't want to take a chance of being out on a trail or the road somewhere and having my hub go bad because it was leaking and I knew it.

 

[opimax]

Today’s update not what I wanted to write. I went and visited my brotherin NC and we went to the Thermal Belt rail trail a little over an hour from his house. I brought my UC which I rode since it was slipping and the Trek Allant 7 is supposed to ready for sale so he should ride the better bike. After our standard late start and of course longer ride then anticipated we arrived. I finished setting bikes and off we go. We started at the 1/2 way point , maybe ride one section twice since the trail is shot at under 14 miles and just ends at each end.

1st section of this fine nice new trail, lovely, turn around head past the van no need to stop. Continue to about 1 mile to the other end , stop for snack. Head on ,finish trail and head back to the van. About 4 miles to the van I got near the edge couldn’t stay on the trail, went off, stayed on the large gravel for a little , to the left down and definitely bad landing but to get back on the trail I had a bad angle and too parallel to the trail but had to try , rear wheel didn’t come up,the trail and just skidded as the front wheel hopped up nicely. The bike and I went down, not fast maybe 10mph but me falling period is getting old and painful. Also this is how I broke my leg a couple years ago.

Happily not this time and I am walking around pretty well. I thought I may have done something bad to my knee this time but a lot of ice and things aren’t currently scary or in need of pain pills of any kind, may have gotten lucky this time.

Well somewhat lucky, I can’t ride the bike because it is broke. I was able to use the throttle to get back to the van. 2nd or 3rd time having a throttle has saved me. The crank which the the right pedal is attaches to is no longer shaped the way it was originally designed to be used . It does spin all the way around but it isn’t useable. Also either the right brake handle or Kindernay shifter has moved or bent and no longer has room to move leaning on the brake assembly so can’t shift down, stuck in top gear.

I am sore enough if the bike we’re working I don’t want to ride . Initially pain and numbness right after the fall had me thinking maybe emergency room next day but ice and good luck so far not and think I could ride if I had to. Bike is supposed to go in for adjustments at wattWagons on the week of the 2nd anyway so I will take a break I think till then , maybe do some visiting with family til then and recuperate

i have falllen and been hurt 3 times since October, this is getting old. If I don’t stop I won’t be getting old myself

 

[Merle Nelson]

Sorry to hear it Opimax.

Ice at first can work wonders to aid reduction of swelling , so glad to hear you're using it. Along with that and even after ice stops being beneficial I use turmeric to reduce inflammation.

The bike will be brought back to 100%, just take care of yourself for now.

 

[opimax]

My brother owns a health food shop , pushing turmeric or it’s extract I think. I took turmeric for a while , no issues , no major relavations the way fish oil has helped my short term memory. I prob will go back to it and pay a little more attention for results

thx

 

[Merle Nelson]

Fish oil huh? I'll bet my memory could use some of that.

 

[opimax]

Have to remember to take it

 

[reed scott]

Today’s update not what I wanted to write. I went and visited my brotherin NC and we went to the Thermal Belt rail trail a little over an hour from his house. I brought my UC which I rode since it was slipping and the Trek Allant 7 is supposed to ready for sale so he should ride the better bike. After our standard late start and of course longer ride then anticipated we arrived. I finished setting bikes and off we go. We started at the 1/2 way point , maybe ride one section twice since the trail is shot at under 14 miles and just ends at each end.

1st section of this fine nice new trail, lovely, turn around head past the van no need to stop. Continue to about 1 mile to the other end , stop for snack. Head on ,finish trail and head back to the van. About 4 miles to the van I got near the edge couldn’t stay on the trail, went off, stayed on the large gravel for a little , to the left down and definitely bad landing but to get back on the trail I had a bad angle and too parallel to the trail but had to try , rear wheel didn’t come up,the trail and just skidded as the front wheel hopped up nicely. The bike and I went down, not fast maybe 10mph but me falling period is getting old and painful. Also this is how I broke my leg a couple years ago.

Happily not this time and I am walking around pretty well. I thought I may have done something bad to my knee this time but a lot of ice and things aren’t currently scary or in need of pain pills of any kind, may have gotten lucky this time.

Well somewhat lucky, I can’t ride the bike because it is broke. I was able to use the throttle to get back to the van. 2nd or 3rd time having a throttle has saved me. The crank which the the right pedal is attaches to is no longer shaped the way it was originally designed to be used . It does spin all the way around but it isn’t useable. Also either the right brake handle or Kindernay shifter has moved or bent and no longer has room to move leaning on the brake assembly so can’t shift down, stuck in top gear.

I am sore enough if the bike we’re working I don’t want to ride . Initially pain and numbness right after the fall had me thinking maybe emergency room next day but ice and good luck so far not and think I could ride if I had to. Bike is supposed to go in for adjustments at wattWagons on the week of the 2nd anyway so I will take a break I think till then , maybe do some visiting with family til then and recuperate

i have falllen and been hurt 3 times since October, this is getting old. If I don’t stop I won’t be getting old myself

Hope you are feeling better. I just don't take chances anymore like I used to. The accommodations of age are real. Ignoring them is costly.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Today’s update not what I wanted to write. I went and visited my brotherin NC and we went to the Thermal Belt rail trail a little over an hour from his house. I brought my UC which I rode since it was slipping and the Trek Allant 7 is supposed to ready for sale so he should ride the better bike. After our standard late start and of course longer ride then anticipated we arrived. I finished setting bikes and off we go. We started at the 1/2 way point , maybe ride one section twice since the trail is shot at under 14 miles and just ends at each end.

1st section of this fine nice new trail, lovely, turn around head past the van no need to stop. Continue to about 1 mile to the other end , stop for snack. Head on ,finish trail and head back to the van. About 4 miles to the van I got near the edge couldn’t stay on the trail, went off, stayed on the large gravel for a little , to the left down and definitely bad landing but to get back on the trail I had a bad angle and too parallel to the trail but had to try , rear wheel didn’t come up,the trail and just skidded as the front wheel hopped up nicely. The bike and I went down, not fast maybe 10mph but me falling period is getting old and painful. Also this is how I broke my leg a couple years ago.

Happily not this time and I am walking around pretty well. I thought I may have done something bad to my knee this time but a lot of ice and things aren’t currently scary or in need of pain pills of any kind, may have gotten lucky this time.

Well somewhat lucky, I can’t ride the bike because it is broke. I was able to use the throttle to get back to the van. 2nd or 3rd time having a throttle has saved me. The crank which the the right pedal is attaches to is no longer shaped the way it was originally designed to be used . It does spin all the way around but it isn’t useable. Also either the right brake handle or Kindernay shifter has moved or bent and no longer has room to move leaning on the brake assembly so can’t shift down, stuck in top gear.

I am sore enough if the bike we’re working I don’t want to ride . Initially pain and numbness right after the fall had me thinking maybe emergency room next day but ice and good luck so far not and think I could ride if I had to. Bike is supposed to go in for adjustments at wattWagons on the week of the 2nd anyway so I will take a break I think till then , maybe do some visiting with family til then and recuperate

i have falllen and been hurt 3 times since October, this is getting old. If I don’t stop I won’t be getting old myself

My condolences. These old bones feel your pain.
Throttle, yes. I just had a e-rider tell me the reason he sticks with his rear-hub is his chain broke and the throttle got him home.
Good to hear you're not seriously hurt and wishing you a swift recovery.
Look at this guy, maybe you'll feel better about your accident https://electrek.co/2020/12/14/simo...tric-motorbike-maker-breaking-spine-accident/
Thanks for reminding me Omtimax. Even when acting sanely - unlike Mr Cowell - this is a hazardous sport.

Fn'F

 

[BarnBoy]

@Rome - RU Paka-Lolo?? Mainlanda no unnastan’ Peg’n!!! Write da way da Penguins taut U!!!
-BB

 

[opimax]

I am pretty happy with my thread and my bike (except it being bent lol) and I cant ride , too sore and see previous comment “bent”

can someone pls translate the comment above , old and out of touch….

 

[pushkar]

I am pretty happy with my thread and my bike (except it being bent lol) and I cant ride , too sore and see previous comment “bent”

can someone pls translate the comment above , old and out of touch….

Did you bend the crank arm ? (One with pedals).