Grizzlymanjay
1 mW
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2022
- Messages
- 11
Hi all,
So first day back at work today after the summer holidays and I did the commute on my DIY eMTB for the first time (8 miles, hills, paths, roads and lanes).
It’s a fully rigid 26” steel MTB with a front hub motor and did my commute in only 5-10 mins more than my car, and was massive fun.
Reflections:
I have some hand and wrist pain. I’m 45 years old and 83kg, 5’9”, so no spring chicken but no pensioner either (yet).
I invested in some gloves with a bit of padding, but to be honest it’s quite thin now they’ve turned up. I’ve got a skinny Road tyre on the back at the moment and the standard tyre that came with the Chinese hub motor on the front. I’ve just ordered some new 26”x2.35 tyres and inner tubes for it in the hope that will ease the ride a little.
The road and pavement and path surfaces around here are all pretty bad, do you think I need a front fork with suspension? I would want an all steel one if such a thing exists.
Also, given that my bike I think dates from early 2000s (It’s an Optima Storm, I think part of the Falcon cycles company), will it be hard to source forks that would fit the frame?
I don’t know if tube sizes have changed on MTB frames. If so, anyone have recommendations what kind of fork I need (specs, sizes etc) to run my hub motor in there, any examples of brands or models? Happy to look for used from the same era as long as I know what I’m looking for.
Or will my tyres make enough of a difference to not worry about forks?
Just at the pondering stage at the moment, but I’d like to commute on it as much as possible!
Sorry for the long-winded question, I’ve not ridden bikes for 20+ years!
Really appreciate anyones input!
Cheers,
Grizz
So first day back at work today after the summer holidays and I did the commute on my DIY eMTB for the first time (8 miles, hills, paths, roads and lanes).
It’s a fully rigid 26” steel MTB with a front hub motor and did my commute in only 5-10 mins more than my car, and was massive fun.
Reflections:
I have some hand and wrist pain. I’m 45 years old and 83kg, 5’9”, so no spring chicken but no pensioner either (yet).
I invested in some gloves with a bit of padding, but to be honest it’s quite thin now they’ve turned up. I’ve got a skinny Road tyre on the back at the moment and the standard tyre that came with the Chinese hub motor on the front. I’ve just ordered some new 26”x2.35 tyres and inner tubes for it in the hope that will ease the ride a little.
The road and pavement and path surfaces around here are all pretty bad, do you think I need a front fork with suspension? I would want an all steel one if such a thing exists.
Also, given that my bike I think dates from early 2000s (It’s an Optima Storm, I think part of the Falcon cycles company), will it be hard to source forks that would fit the frame?
I don’t know if tube sizes have changed on MTB frames. If so, anyone have recommendations what kind of fork I need (specs, sizes etc) to run my hub motor in there, any examples of brands or models? Happy to look for used from the same era as long as I know what I’m looking for.
Or will my tyres make enough of a difference to not worry about forks?
Just at the pondering stage at the moment, but I’d like to commute on it as much as possible!
Sorry for the long-winded question, I’ve not ridden bikes for 20+ years!
Really appreciate anyones input!
Cheers,
Grizz