WattWagons Ti CT Fattie

[Fast n' Furious]

I went with that horn and the alarm function works great. As anticipated it weighs too much.
The bracket is heavy and ugly. Hey, they tried. My plan all along has been to to mount in the head-badge port, preferably using a short flat-headed bolt drilled thorough the horn's rear casing and a nut in between.

But is that hole even threaded ??? Is it for a Riv-nut ?
I lit it up and magnified and I see threads in there.

The (way overbuilt) bracket's gotta go. It's close to 1/3 of the weight.
I don't want my horn turning into my bottles either.
Since I can't get info from the frame maker, it may come down to asking an LBS, WW - and I hate asking stupid questions when I'm not going to be buying anything probably Ace Hardware and I can buy a bolt.
Problem solved: A (whatever pitch) 3/8" flat-head w/ nut and a hole drilled in the back plate. If I like it I might even remove the anodizing, turn it silverish again.
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The horn's loud and the alarm is perfect. I can hear it 200 yards away, wind blowing away from me, so a cheap, lightweight cable-lock prevents problems. Fishing, I don't need distractions and cabling to a bush or immobilized the wheels reduces my chances of opportunistic theft to about zero.
It took double the time (instructions) listed to fully charge.
Not to be negative, but that indicates a dead battery - which should be 1/2 charged before shipping - a bad cell.
Beeping at every perceived offense not being my style, I bought for the alarm and prepared to replace or hardwire.
Annoying shock value and blaring persistence make the weight worth it for me.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Here's how I'd mount the battery holder on the rack.

View attachment 152682

View attachment 152683

That's such a cool set-up.
Info for you.
Done a few miles since last posts. Found the big cog on cassette acting oddly.
Raised on the park stand, run through the gears. Sure enough, 11 is off. It chatters every few teeth.
Hmmmm, it was perfect - before I went from 46T to 50T Ring Gear. So thinking how this might affect you, it comes to mind that a larger Ring might solve your issue on the little cogs?
Going 46T to a 50T definitely moved my bias well off the larger gears.
It also implies that the longer the chain, the more bias towards the big cogs, and vice versa.

After frustrated efforts, I've (finally) ferreted out the last rattle. It was the foot on the kick-stand . Tightening the adjuster eliminated the intermittent buzzing rattle. Laugh if you will, but swatting parts of the bike wouldn't induce the noise and I couldn't locate it's source.
Only by picking up and dropping Gumbo, I got a clue.

There's a new alarm from that same company I've posted before. It's 1/2 the weight, attaches to most seat-posts and frame tubes, has a strobe light underneath and loud.
I set the sensitivity (simple, right from the remote) and yes indeed, it's perfect. Bump bike CHIRP CHIRP. Do it again it CHIRPS for 30 seconds and resets. Three levels of CHIRP volume/ Sensitivity. Set the correct amount of hell to get your attention in 5 seconds.

I still never cease to be amazed by this bike.
My one complaint's the machine leaves little room for a Mark III dream. Improvements are incremental, largely whimsical/ aesthetic preferences.
My chain's just getting some stretch. Perhaps riders with short chain longevity are affected by other factors, or I've a rare stroke of luck.
I like the Shimano drivetrain. Yes, Mia Culpa, how I wanted belt drive and still do. An IGH was a nod to that, not vice versa.

Looks awesome in the back of the truck or booted and suited in dress uniform and on the road in the Cali Sun.

Still haven't mastered precisely tuning that beastly Mastodon fork - rather, I should say developed the expertise to take complete advantage of it's vast capabilities. Hit nasty street terrain, holes, ruts at 20mph - I'm 'damn that was crazy' super-glad for that fork.
Get home and it's only used 25% of it's travel ??? I've managed to get a hit where I used 80%. Intense.
Well worth it's weight.
The Domino throttle works superb. Saves me a ton of wear and tear on the drivetrain.
I keep Gumbo clean with Eagle 1 All Wheel and Tire.
Cleans tires and tar marks off my Gum sidewalls/ dirty chain/ cassette/ battery case/ frame ...

Ride on !!

 

[Deacon Blues]

I'm now running 26" tires/wheels. The goal was to bring the top tube hight down for a more comfortable standover. The top tube is just over 3/4" lower. I was hoping for a bit more, but I'll take what I can get.
I went with a set of Nextie carbon wheels and Continental eRuban tires.
Overall, I'm happy with the results.
What I'm not happy with is the power output. A while back I used the Archon X1 programming tool and did some minor changes. I haven't ridden the bike much since the changes, but today I had the chance to wind the bike out and go through the power levels.
I was surprised to find that no matter how hard/fast I pedalled or what power level the bike was in I couldn't get the motor to produce more than 720W.
I basically followed Pushkar's video, but I suspect I did something wrong. Time to reprogram again.

My more will be coming out in the next few weeks, when the new gaskets arrive. It's starting to get noisy, so I want to see how much grease there is surrounds the gears.
I've already bought a tube of John Deere Corn Head grease.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

I'm now running 26" tires/wheels. The goal was to bring the top tube hight down for a more comfortable standover. The top tube is just over 3/4" lower. I was hoping for a bit more, but I'll take what I can get.
I went with a set of Nextie carbon wheels and Continental eRuban tires.
Overall, I'm happy with the results.
What I'm not happy with is the power output. A while back I used the Archon X1 programming tool and did some minor changes. I haven't ridden the bike much since the changes, but today I had the chance to wind the bike out and go through the power levels.
I was surprised to find that no matter how hard/fast I pedalled or what power level the bike was in I couldn't get the motor to produce more than 720W.
I basically followed Pushkar's video, but I suspect I did something wrong. Time to reprogram again.

My more will be coming out in the next few weeks, when the new gaskets arrive. It's starting to get noisy, so I want to see how much grease there is surrounds the gears.
I've already bought a tube of John Deere Corn Head grease.

Awesome. Can't keep a good man down!
Did WW send your programming cable?
Reminds me I need a refund on the undelivered 3 years of updates.
I went through the Archer programming and set up the shift spacing.
The big cog was actually set too far out. They say it varies from 60 - 80 spacing.
Doing it by ear and sight, observing the derailleur's geometry worked. It seems the magic number between gears is 70.
Take care and let me know about how that motor's gears look.

Paul

 

[Deacon Blues]

Yes, I have a programming cable.
I think what I did was set the maximum watts to 750 for all 9 levels. I thought I set the first 5 levels to 750W max and the remaining 4 levels up to 2200W.
I also think I'll go back to 5 levels. I don't really need 9 levels.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Yes, I have a programming cable.
I think what I did was set the maximum watts to 750 for all 9 levels. I thought I set the first 5 levels to 750W max and the remaining 4 levels up to 2200W.
I also think I'll go back to 5 levels. I don't really need 9 levels.

My feel's: Gumbo came set to 750 - 1500 in Eco modes.
I lack experience for a reference in touchstone for SP modes.
Highest I've been was SP 3. Waaaay too much power - beating on components.
On takeoff, even SP 1 beats the hell out of parts.
I only go there if I'm already rolling. This bike shall get me to Winter, and I'm bringing my alloy Lm'td back to life. 53lbs 1250watts 100mn Hub.
I hooked it up with Magura MTe's, the best fork it'll take, Kinekt XR - even a Domino Twist Throttle. lol - on a $1700.00 Bike. It'll do for the Winter while I stroke Gumbo.
My problem's those 4.0 brogans Gumbo wears have me so spoiled that "2.7's feel like jackhammers.
I'd no idea fat tires felt this way. Running 16 - 18lbs, in tight cornering at speed, nubs rumble but no roll or sudden effects - even slaloming.
Go down to 12lbs, mushy, some roll-under in turns, but super bouncy suspension effect over rough terrain.
I may have WW build me a 4.8 wheelset.

BTW, 3rd time's the charm !!! I just retested the shifting with D1x - after resetting each cog in 70 increment from the base number.
A vigorous, real-time work-out in heavy DT (Ball Game) Traffic. Wild. Intense. Pedestrians too (Ball Game again), so sidewalk use is iffy. 25 - 30 zones. A lot of shifting.
Even in rapid 'up 4 - 6 gears, down 4 - 6 gears' work, not one crunch.
Pause input and shift. A touch of pedal and slight pause - ka-chink and ride on.
My D1x came adjusted great. It's much improved.
On my end, no fishing w/ red tide. My secret Oyster patch is a hot zone since April/ May, now this and the water's getting too warm - 'till September.
So it's about Gumbo Tours the Bay and Harbor to shake down my kit.
Will post photos soon.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I figured out why I wasn't getting more than 750W. When I used the X1 program to adjust the settings I forgot to hit 'write' when I'd finished, so nothing was changed when I left the program.
Yesterday I went back in and did the changes again and this time I hit 'write'. I then took the bike out for a short ride and the power's back!

 

[Fast n' Furious]

I cartwheeled my last phone riding at 20mph - from my back pocket. Boing, bash, boing - 20 x down Broadway. Still worked the same, screen didn't even crack, but I wiped, gave away to someone that could use it and bought a new, identical S8 Active (in a nod to the toughest damn phone ever made by anyone at any price).
Hey, I've witnessed an $1200 iPhone dropped once from 3' shatter the screen.
It was evident (from the smashed corners) the Active had taken some brutal hits and my paranoia was the rear case was cracked, bulging a bit, so a damaged battery might be expanding.
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The silicone holder I now have, grips my Galaxy and has a Garmin fitting on the backside.
A requisite for a holder is that it can be positioned in Portrait, or Landscape mode.
I have a whole box full of various Garmin bar-gripping holders and such, but zero tolerance for clutter on my bars.
The only spot that mounts right - for me - is off the head cap, but that needs to be moved forward from dead center where it fits perfectly and can be seen in a downward glance. If I have to move my head to see the screen, it it's a fail. After many fails and a lot of tries, I found a few nice parts.

These expanding plugs have different grain grip areas and allow any top cap - unlike others.
Also, one has a rubber O-ring for a clamp (okay), the other a metal spring (great).
I'll be using the one with the coarser grain (on the right), I switched to the metal spring - in combination with that alloy GUB cap and extender, which also has a GoPro fitting under the Garmin.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

A nice day for an Eco Level 3 cruise, but a little squirrely understeer through a slalom at 34mph. Got home, let tires cool down. Front is 14psi, rear is 17psi.
10 days since I checked and filled to 18psi F & R. I can see losing a pound (rear), but 4lbs in front seems excessive.
I look closely at the gauge - it's an 'Accu-Gage' (sic). My confidence fled.
Please, someone recommend a quality gauge for presta type?

The alarm works nicely. I wrap the rubber (super) bungie I carry around my rear wheel and over the stays and strap it with tension then - beep, beep - set the alarm. You can't get it off without moving the bike and if you even bump the bike the alarm goes off. It's loud enough at medium setting to be too loud to tell where on the bike it's coming from. HONK, HONK, HONK, HONK; AND, today I found out shutting it off with the remote works clear across a store !!! They should call it Thief-Off !!!

This is No. 3 of 4 x charges I'm running to check the real average mile per charge/ range.
I've gone 95.2 miles using two charges and 15% of my third. I mean real world hotdogging, not trying to set a world miles-per-Kw record. Short version, I've (actual) 55% left before recharge @ 47V, and thus far the last 55% has produced 22 miles. So, 95.2 + 22 =117.2mi [ / 3] = 39.06 MPC.
Hope that helps to get a feel for what to expect from a 52V, 16Kw battery and WattWagons 2300watt tuning.

Riding this machine, the feel's 'total control, let's rock-and-roll !!!
No Way are the MT 7's too much. Same with the Mastodon fork - that bullies the road into submission.
Great fun locking the front and modulating the rear, you can slide up side-ways at a yellow light - as off-the-curb pedestrians leap back in abject terror, clutching the cell-phones (they were obliviously texting with only moments ago) for security !!! 20mph stops from 20 feet are fun.

Jones' Bars are solid as a rock, roomy with long, straight runs. The Bison hide on surfaces where I really grab was planned a year before. Initial install w/ contact cement and treated with Mink oil does the trick.
Plan is, Winter comes I'll change that spindly ti road-bike stem to a blockier alloy type.
Chopping 20mm off the the fork's top end is also on my shortlist.

It's so rare to have no regrets.

Fn'F

 

[Deacon Blues]

Paul, how do you find the sweep-back on the Jones handlebar? I'm asking because I really like that handlebar, but I've read that the sweep-back is a bit too much and it puts a rider's hands/wrists at an uncomfortable position on longer rides.

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Paul, how do you find the sweep-back on the Jones handlebar? I'm asking because I really like that handlebar, but I've read that the sweep-back is a bit too much and it puts a rider's hands/wrists at an uncomfortable position on longer rides.

Since I've owned JB loops, I see other owners and always ask them the same question. Yesterday, a guy about 260, on a Trek asked me 'are those Jones'? Then I realized he had a set of the black non-butted - which look thinner. Same story. He loved them. He was running 710 x 2.5's.
I hear/ read of rumors that some dislike the sweep angle.
While physiology varies, I've shown this technique to several folks - which often demonstrated their bars were certainly stressing their wrists - sometimes a lot.
I close my eyes, reach out front and make a natural grip with my hands - roughly the width and distance I'll be grabbing. Open my eyes and my grip shows the angle. That's '0' (neutral).
Rocking my wrist side-to-side from that position I can assess how my stressed my wrist will feel at various angles.
The angle is most natural when the first knuckle is most forward, in a straight line from elbow to knuckle.
The further the arm extends, some inward rotation of the wrist is required to stay at '0' point. The opposite is true with more inward positions - outward rotation is normal.
Try it. Eyes closed, fully extend arm without turning your wrist. Now try it with wrist twisting inward.
Sight tricks me into conditioned response. The feeling in the joints is a more trustworthy guide.
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The JB's require a longer stem than other bars or your control point is moved aft - dangerously so.
Risk of tucking the wheel become very real. That's BMX style. I posted links that show the major cause of BMX accidents are wheel tuck. Having been there I brook no dissent. My grips must be at (perfect), or slightly forward (slightly slower control) of the stem.
The stock Salsa stem is 60mm. JB's require 75mm (min) - 80mm (max).
I can't speak to real distance riding, but company vids show riders in a semi-road bike position grip as part of the design.
I can tell you this. Trying to find a used pair there's very few available and always at high prices. Like your Archer.
If the JB's have a drawback I haven't found it.

Hope you're enjoying the weather !!!

Fn'F

 

[Fast n' Furious]

Paul, how do you find the sweep-back on the Jones handlebar? I'm asking because I really like that handlebar, but I've read that the sweep-back is a bit too much and it puts a rider's hands/wrists at an uncomfortable position on longer rides.

I see you ordered rear lighting. I'd appreciate your impressions. What do you think?
Which model is that; what voltage? Is it plug-and-play?
My best guess is the snipped wires at my front splitter were for lighting controls - and possibly the front light.
It's the rear signals I'm craving.

Thanks !

 

[Deacon Blues]

Rear light came with the bike.