Endless Sphere passes new milestones

[fechter]

I was just noticing we set a new record for the most users online a few days ago at 89. We also recently passed 30,000 posts! The forum software is somewhat limited in the statistics it tracks, but we're clearly growing. The old Yahoo Zappy group, which started in 1999, has about 57,000 posts. That group is clearly not growing.

Knightmb, is there a hit counter somewhere? (not that I really care, just curious).

[vanilla ice]

Woot.

[xyster]

Passing milestones is better than passing kidney stones.

[knightmb]

Here you go for some stats

[safe]

My guess is that the summer is the peak time for the messageboard because people are using their bikes and thinking about things to do with them. In the winter I expect people to park their bikes in the garage and wait out the bad weather. Some people ride year round, but most of us don't. So if the numbers go down from here I wouldn't take that as a loss of interest... just that the season is over.

There's always next year.

Actually one would expect that the folks in Australia might post a little more in the coming months.

It's nice to see that the messageboard doesn't take up all that much harddrive space. That's good to know because it means that there's no looming problems of cost to worry about. (a couple gigabytes of storage is pretty cheap these days)

[Fush]

hey i ride all year round thank you very much....but I will be posting lots more as soon as stupid tnt deliver my motor, and my batteries should rock up in 3 or so weeks

I would also like to add that Australia having such a moderate climate it does allow us to ride all year round without many issues. In Sydney the coldest it really ever gets is about 10deg C, and most of our rain comes during summer in the afternoon accompanied by thunderstorms.

Its usually quite refreshing because the temperature is up around 35deg C during the day in summer and the humidity is pretty high as well, then the thunderstorms come along and zap the humidity, the temperature usually drops about 10deg as well.

The weather the last few days has been awesome, about 30deg C, blue sky's, I wish I could have gone to the beach but I have had far to much uni work to do.

[safe]

When my family moved to California in the 1940's it was the most beautiful place in the world. I was born as the third generation in California. The land was once cheap, the population was small, the people were conservative. Then over the last few decades floods of people moved there in wave after wave and the culture changed, the land became expensive and now it's no longer a great place to live. I moved to Missouri a few years ago and so I'm stuck with bad weather, but at least the cost of living is nice. (I can actually own a house and a garage, which would have been tough in California)

Apparently an American could have moved to Australia 30-40 years ago and been able to become a citizen pretty easily, but now you guys are not too interested in bringing more people there, so the door is closed. (unless you can qualify for special status)

So be thankful for your Australian citizenship and good weather. But Sydney is pretty crowded and expensive isn't it? Are you forced into second class citizenship because of prices and crowding like in California?

Or do you have a job that makes a high income?

In California only about 10% of the population can afford a house (based on incomes) and to make matters worse they just went though a boom and bust cycle so the people that do own property are now seeing their prices decline. (as if the extreme prices weren't bad enough, now the price has gone down) This is all part of the "subprime mortgage crisis" that everyone talks about.

[ChopperMan]

Hi knightmb,

Do you have any server stats? Number of visitors, pages viewed and search engine strings etc? This would give you some idea of the number of non members veiwing and who is linking to the forum........ if any one was interested.

Cheers,

Ian

[Freddyflatfoot]

Hi!,
just like to add that I ride all year round in Australia.
I live in a rural city in Victoria, and can get quite chilly. (rode to work the other morning at -2.0 C), but rugger up, still quite doable. The only time I really balk at riding is when its really wet. Hasn't been a huge problem last 10 years or so, as we are in an extended dry spell.
Currently building a recumbent trike and may electrify it and put on a front shield, should make a good commuter!

Rob

[xyster]

Hi!,
...

Hi Freddyflatfoot. I'm a small fraction Blackfoot Indian. Maybe we're related?

[Freddyflatfoot]

Hmm, dunno about that!
Nick refers to my profession!
Lets see how good you are.
Rob

[Freddyflatfoot]

Xyster,
when I saw you location reference to sheep, I was thinking of the Land of the Long White Cloud, across tthe 'ditch' from us!

Rob

[safe]

Words of Wisdom:

It is always better that

Endless Sphere passes new milestones

rather than

Endless Sphere passes new kidney stones

[xyster]

Hmm, dunno about that!
Nick refers to my profession!
Lets see how good you are.
Rob

Police officer?

[Fush]

Well it appears you are correct xyster just check his profile.

quick everyone hide

If the police officer has an overpowered ebike does that mean i can?

[xyster]

Well it appears you are correct xyster just check his profile.

quick everyone hide

If the police officer has an overpowered ebike does that mean i can?

Aw shucks, we've been infiltrated. Guess we all better be on our best behavior now!

I didn't peek at his profile. I think I knew what flatfoot meant from the Cab Calloway song, "Flatfeet Floogie".

[Freddyflatfoot]

Fush,
My calcs give me over 2.3kW. Thats a whisker more over the 200 watt limit than I am getting. In fact about 10 times more!
I am trying to (mostly) stay within the spirit of the law, although I have to say that it is a bit frustrating. I mostly use the motor at 200 watts or less, which is sorta ok for assistance, but not much else. I'm looking at getting a higher amp controller, which should help a little bit.
I'm leaning towards using a 500 watt motor, which should give acceptable performance, without carrying around a bucket load of batteries.
That's the compromise I'm trying to find, the right blend of performance and acceptable weight. After all, the bike has to be usable without power.
I'm currently building a trike, and I certainly would not consider using anything less than 500 watts, unless its a Puma!
So, even tough I am a copper, and I should be working within the law, I'm not. Simply because most motors start at 250 watts, which is the first motor I bought.
The other issue is, that unless you have a honking big motor, and are scooting down the road at 60 kph+, most coppers wouldn't even know or care if you motor is over 200 watts max output. But if you get a keen one, watch out! The fines for unreg/unlic can be a killer!
Rob

[Fush]

Fush,
My calcs give me over 2.3kW. Thats a whisker more over the 200 watt limit than I am getting. In fact about 10 times more!

hehe well I don't plan on using my full 2.8Kw unless offroad, I plan on sticking around 500watt on my daily commute with the help of the Cycle Analyst

[fechter]

...So, even tough I am a copper, and I should be working within the law, I'm not. ...

I think somebody needs to get that law changed!

Geez.. Lance Armstrong is good for something like 600w average. Most places have at least a 500w limit.

I don't know how the process works down there, but there is usually a way to get stupid laws ammended.

[xyster]

...So, even tough I am a copper, and I should be working within the law, I'm not. ...

...
I don't know how the process works down there, but there is usually a way to get stupid laws ammended.

Process works basically the same way everywhere.

Spend time, money and risk your neck building a protest movement;

call your friend who knows the Governor personally;

start a referendum drive sure to fail if the subject affects less than a majority of voters;

run for office yourself and, if successful, get mired in the bloody sludge of a sclerotic political system;

hire a lobbyist or resort to less legal forms of bribery.

[Freddyflatfoot]

there are already moves to increase our power limit, to a whopping 300 watts!
as for a most places having a 500 watt limit, I'm not sure that is correct.
Europe has a 250 watt, with a requirement for pedelec.
Not sure of power in England, but a top speed of only 15 mph! And then the motor must cut out.
Unless you want count the US, and say that is 'most places'!
I think I'll just work within moderate power levels that give me a reasonable speed of 30 -35 kph, and take my chances.
I figure if I do that, then I wont attract any attention at all!
Rob

[fechter]

there are already moves to increase our power limit, to a whopping 300 watts!
as for a most places having a 500 watt limit, I'm not sure that is correct.
Europe has a 250 watt, with a requirement for pedelec.
Not sure of power in England, but a top speed of only 15 mph! And then the motor must cut out.

Yeah, you're probably right about that.

300w is not too bad for a lightweight setup. That's more than I can produce by pedaling for any length of time.

Since most cops don't carry a Fluke meter, they have no way to measure the actual power of the motor. If the sticker on the motor says 200w, how can they argue that? They also have no way to measure human input.

As long as you aren't 'flagrantly violating', I doubt you would run into trouble.

[Mark_A_W]

there are already moves to increase our power limit, to a whopping 300 watts!
as for a most places having a 500 watt limit, I'm not sure that is correct.
Europe has a 250 watt, with a requirement for pedelec.
Not sure of power in England, but a top speed of only 15 mph! And then the motor must cut out.
Unless you want count the US, and say that is 'most places'!
I think I'll just work within moderate power levels that give me a reasonable speed of 30 -35 kph, and take my chances.
I figure if I do that, then I wont attract any attention at all!
Rob

Attract attention from the cops?

Cop pulls Rob over...."Hey Rob"

"Hey Bruce, how are ya?"

"Wanna come down the pub after work?"

"Yep, seeya there."


Cop pulls Mark over in the big smoke..

"I saw you riding the wrong way up the highway, jumping the median strip and going straight through the stop sign - you're friggin knicked matey".

"Well, it's a bike, that's the whole point of bikes - you don't have to obey the road rules, otherwise I may as well get a motorbike."

"Little smartarse...well, well, well, what do we have here? A motor? How much power does it put out?

"200w"

"Bullshit, now I got you for unlicensed riding, unregistered motorbike...and being a smartarse...now where's my phonebook..."

"Bugger.."

[Fush]

that's why we have cycle analysts

[Freddyflatfoot]

Cop pulls Mark over in the big smoke..

"I saw you riding the wrong way up the highway, jumping the median strip and going straight through the stop sign - you're friggin knicked matey".

"Well, it's a bike, that's the whole point of bikes - you don't have to obey the road rules, otherwise I may as well get a motorbike."

"Little smartarse...well, well, well, what do we have here? A motor? How much power does it put out?

Actually Mark, if you are riding a bicycle you do have to obey the road rules. A bicycle is a vehicle according to the Road Safety Act, 1986. Check out the VicRoads website, it will confirm this.
Rob
BTW, how do you do that quoting thing on the replies?