Worth the wait, Hydra is here.

[JRA]

I accomplish the same as above without them running 15psi in i35 rims. I rode home on a front flat, due to my fault of not tightening down the valve properly on a new wheel, for over two miles the other day on a gravel logging road with ups and downs. The bead never let go like they would bitd before TLR came along. Tightened down the ring nut, added a little more Cream for good measure and its holding just fine.

 

[bexamous]

Got a inline power meter for charging setup so I can monitor ah and wh used for each ride... still limited data but:

(1) 30.16mi, 3094ft elevation, 102ft/mi, 10.54ah 544.88wh ~18.06wh/mi 128bpm
(2) 7.21mi, 144ft elevation, 19ft/mi, 1.37ah 74.58wh ~10.34wh/mi 127bpm
(3) 18.13mi, 864ft elevation, 48ft/mi, 4.23ah 229.37wh ~12.64wh/mi 143bpm
(4) 34.90mi, 3421ft elevation, 98ft/mi, 9.88ah 513.04wh ~14.70wh/mi 137bpm

Will be interesting with more data, I want to see how ft/mi, wh/mi and bpm affect eachother.

This is me avging 16-18mph on flat ground, and maybe avging like 6-9mph on trails. Basically always pedaling. This is how I wanted to ride bike, kinda typical mtb speeds, just with a little help and a lot of help on climb.. I think this makes these numbers more 'best case'-ish.

 

[bexamous]

I think this makes these numbers more 'best case'-ish.

Err another way to say this.. I think I'm not really making use of Ultra motor on these rides. So if you have any intention of actually making use of Ultra motor these numbers are almost unrealistic.

 

[bexamous]

Replaced Stamp1 pedals with OneUp composite pedals.

I don't recall ever 'needing' to replace pedals before, usually after a couple years I just want new pedals. But after only few months with Stamp1s one of them has some play in it and its annoying me. I wasn't able to 'fix' it.. really just took it apart and then tried to tighten the crap out of everything. To be fair they have taken some pedal strikes with rocks, there were couple pins near spindle that were bent over from hitting rocks. So not putting 100% blame on pedals, but still.

Oh and out-of-the-box OneUp pedals have much more grip than Stamp1. Stamp1's spindel is like raised up a bit which makes all the pins in center make poor contact with shoes. Its really only 5 pins along front/back that make contact... and even then shoe almost wants to seesaw on raises spindle to not sure front and back pins are always making perfect contact. Just holding up my shoe to Stamp1s it just slides around.

Hold up shoe to OneUp and it doesn't move, all 10 pins make good contact. I didn't even notice any real difference in pedals till I installd OneUp and rod earound and noticed my non-mtb shoes were gripping super well compared to how they felt on Stamp1s. When I got home I inspected and saw how Stamp1's spindle is raised up in center. Presuambly I could a gotten like longer pins for Stamp1s, but oh well. Didn't need to with OneUps.

LOL wondering if I was just crazy googled around, scroll down to see reviews: https://www.competitivecyclist.com/crank-brothers-stamp-1-pedals#the-wall

So its not just me, lol.

 

[bexamous]

Also ordered a Schwalbe Johnny Watts 2.8" tire to put on rear.. not right now but I'll have it when needed. The Nobby Nic on rear is wearing much faster than the front... makes sense with weight on rear tire, plus low PSI, plus lots of miles on paved paths. 2.8" will be a bit narrower, hoping this lets use of big 46T on cassette without chain rubbing on tire.

Also random pic from last week or something:

 

[Csubi]

You get a 27.5 or 29?

 

[Merle Nelson]

Also ordered a Schwalbe Johnny Watts 2.8" tire to put on rear.. not right now but I'll have it when needed. The Nobby Nic on rear is wearing much faster than the front... makes sense with weight on rear tire, plus low PSI, plus lots of miles on paved paths. 2.8" will be a bit narrower, hoping this lets use of big 46T on cassette without chain rubbing on tire.

Also random pic from last week or something:
View attachment 120012

Great that you're riding enough to notice significant tire wear. Idea of miles put in? I look forward to putting on new more agressive tires but mine show little wear in 300 miles or so on dirt and gravel.

Do you know which Stamp pedal you had on your Hydra? Mine shipped with Stamp 2's that are still in a box. For anyone wanting to know Stamp 7's have a lighter body I believe, a depression in the middle, come with 20 or more replacement pins, are rebuildable, and lock up my non MTB hiking boots as bexamous describes his new pedals do.

 

[scrambler]

What kind of pressure do you guys use on your hydra?

 

[Merle Nelson]

Ran down as low as the high teens and up to the high 20's. High 20's feels the most practical for my sane level of riding right now.

 

[bexamous]

Idea of miles put in?

1075 miles. Can't really see any wear on front tire, only on rear.. its not really needing replacement yet but will sometime this summer so wanted spare on hand.

What kind of pressure do you guys use on your hydra?

I usually run like 25 rear 22 front, though I don't really get that exact.

 

[Merle Nelson]

1075 miles. Can't really see any wear on front tire, only on rear.. its not really needing replacement yet but will sometime this summer so wanted spare on hand.


I usually run like 25 rear 22 front, though I don't really get that exact.

Ahh, great, thanks.

 

[scrambler]

I appear to be in the 25s

 

[kwseattle]

Also ordered a Schwalbe Johnny Watts 2.8" tire to put on rear.. not right now but I'll have it when needed. The Nobby Nic on rear is wearing much faster than the front... makes sense with weight on rear tire, plus low PSI, plus lots of miles on paved paths. 2.8" will be a bit narrower, hoping this lets use of big 46T on cassette without chain rubbing on tire.

Also random pic from last week or something:
View attachment 120012

I'm willing to bet the rear tire is worn because of 2300 watts of power lol. My rear is actually pretty worn too, I don't have a ton of miles on the bike yet.

I'm thinking of getting a set of Tannus armor which would lock me into a tire size, seems 27.5x2.8 might be easier to find than 27.5x3... Haven't decided what to do there yet.

 

[kwseattle]

Replaced Stamp1 pedals with OneUp composite pedals.

I don't recall ever 'needing' to replace pedals before, usually after a couple years I just want new pedals. But after only few months with Stamp1s one of them has some play in it and its annoying me. I wasn't able to 'fix' it.. really just took it apart and then tried to tighten the crap out of everything. To be fair they have taken some pedal strikes with rocks, there were couple pins near spindle that were bent over from hitting rocks. So not putting 100% blame on pedals, but still.

Oh and out-of-the-box OneUp pedals have much more grip than Stamp1. Stamp1's spindel is like raised up a bit which makes all the pins in center make poor contact with shoes. Its really only 5 pins along front/back that make contact... and even then shoe almost wants to seesaw on raises spindle to not sure front and back pins are always making perfect contact. Just holding up my shoe to Stamp1s it just slides around.

Hold up shoe to OneUp and it doesn't move, all 10 pins make good contact. I didn't even notice any real difference in pedals till I installd OneUp and rod earound and noticed my non-mtb shoes were gripping super well compared to how they felt on Stamp1s. When I got home I inspected and saw how Stamp1's spindle is raised up in center. Presuambly I could a gotten like longer pins for Stamp1s, but oh well. Didn't need to with OneUps.

LOL wondering if I was just crazy googled around, scroll down to see reviews: https://www.competitivecyclist.com/crank-brothers-stamp-1-pedals#the-wall

So its not just me, lol.

I just ordered some of those OneUp Pedals. I think the picture illustrates why

 

[kwseattle]

Order this

I do need to get some pads. The issue here though was that my foot slipped and the pedal dragged up my shin.

 

[PDoz]

I do need to get some pads. The issue here though was that my foot slipped and the pedal dragged up my shin.

For what it's worth, the one up alloy pedals grip even better than the one up composites - almost too much! I love their even lower profile, but am undecided about the extra grip. Both are awesome, but I suspect that after I destroy the alloys I'll go back to their composites.

Ps measure your thighs before considering g form knee pads - they seem to be built for people with chicken legs rather than mtb riders. ( at least I was able to hand them down to my 13 yo son....)

 

[bexamous]

I went with black composite because after some pedal strikes alloy get all scratched up looking and composite generally looks fine, lol.

 

[bexamous]

Used old mousepad to make a sleeve to put spare battery in... didn't measure plan much and just wingged it.. had scissors and a hot glue gun and hoped for the best. Did keep two goals in mind:

• Two layers of mouse pad on the bottom, for extra cusion between battery and frame.
• Keep it tight so end result looked clean and form fitting. I didn't want like a bag or something.

Mostly worked out but two big mistakes, lol:

• It is tight, I kept squirting on glue, pulling it tight and then holding it while glue cooled. But then at end went to try to slide battery out... yikes. Takes me like 15 seconds to get it out and 30 seconds to put back in. Combination of needing to stretch a tiny bit for battery to go in and the back side of the mouse pad having some grippy surface on it.
• It all made sense to me in my head, but then part way through I realized I was going to have a huge visible seam.. and uh.. yeah doesn't look great from one side. Not sure what I'm going to do to hide this a bit.

Oh and top is shown with flaps open, they sorta fold over eachother and look fairly clean, but I need to add some clasp or something to hold it shut.

Slide battery in tube then this will get strapped to downtube. Rarely will bring 2nd battery on rides, but when I do yeah not going to be able to swap very quickly. Will take a couple minutes.

Oh and will see how hot glue holds up.. its not just along edge as seam shows.. like entire surfaces are glueed together. I don't think it'll come apart, but will find out. If anything does I have some kevlar thread to sew a bit.

 

[rtp]

@bexamous Good idea of using old mouse mats
You can get some 'industrial velcro' and perhaps hot glue or sew that in on the tabs. I expect if you strap it in place with a pair of Voile straps it's probably not going anywhere, although I might put a layer of rubber mat on the side contacting the frame.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096157CMQ/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JJPPYF8/

 

[kwseattle]

That reminds me I'd like to try and waterproof the battery cover a bit better! Is your battery the 48V or 52V? I'm thinking I should eventually get a spare to keep around.