hardcore commuter now in the 20K mile club

Hey all, I've just joined the 20,000 mile club with my hardcore commuter!!!

This bike does a round trip of 25 miles per day in all weathers with a ferocious 30mph howling gale from the pennine range on the way in and an 800 foot uphill slog on the way home. The terrain is everything from fast freeways, single track, river banks and a swamp!

I added a post at 15K listing everything used up to that point, now I've kind of fallen into the following routine;

replace brake pads (Shimano zee 4 pot front and rear using Uber kevlar orange pads) every 6 weeks / 750 miles
replace chain (sram) every 4 months / 2000 miles
replace driveline every 8 months / 4000 miles

I had to replace the front forks after panic braking from 35mph but to be fair the stanchions were badly scored from the mud.

Notable features on this contrivance are:

the 24 inch bow saw strapped to the frame, we have had a lot of fallen trees after this years winter storms.

MTB knobleis as road tires refuse to climb the muddy inclines across fields and root covered single track.

Air horns, there are those who choose not to hear my bell when I come up behind them (usually ramblers)

Rear facing camera for watching scary stuff happening behind like big rigs overtaking with half an inch clearance and watching cool stuff like rooster tails and flying mud in the wet.

Suspension seat post (thudbuster) to limit any further internal injuries from potholes and soften the ride for the electronics.

Motor cycle rear light with brake lights for turning right in heavy traffic.

custom front lights, Arduino controlled with day / night / flash modes.

Carbon composite rear mudguard ( nothing else survives the constant pounding)

Bag on front containing full water proofs as if its not raining when I start the journey it often is before I Finish. Also the bag contains thick gloves as the temperature drops as the altitude increases.



The commute is often as scary as hell but man is it fun wheel spinning for a good half a mile in thick slippery mud while the front wheel is nothing more than a rudder!

This is no slouch either I do the 14 mile home run in 43 minutes which works out around an average speed of 19mph with some hard pedalling.

This time next year if I can survive it will be the big 25K!!

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That's a lot of miles. Looks like some pretty challenging terrain in spots too. Since I ride mostly on weekends and just for fun, I don't rack up the miles very fast.

What about the battery? Still the original?

This is battery number two, I think its got about 15K on it, I built it to be waterproof and it has a built in heater so I can pre-heat it on those chilly -10 C mornings.

If I used this bike from when I started my current job I would have had 65K on this bike now, man I'm pretty sore after only 20K


Edit.

OK looking at my records the battery has done 12000 miles which equates to about 1000 charges, the battery being charged both at work and at home , the inward commute discharging to 65% DOD taking 7.5Ah to recharge and the home leg discharging to 44% DOD taking 9Ah to charge, so looking at the data sheet I estimate the 16.5Ah pack is now good for aprox 11.2Ah, I ran the pack completely flat a month or so back when the charger tripped out and seem to recall using about 12.5Ah to fully recharge it, OK it wasn’t completely flat as the under voltage didn’t trigger which is quite lucky as the lights run off the pack, but it was VERY close.

Congrats on a new milestone, 20,000 K is unthinkable in my bikeing life, so kudos to you on what appears to be a very reliable commuter.

Pretty impressive battery performance. Imagine using lead-acid.

What do you mean by
"Howling gale.."
you mean noise?

Great story. I can remember when you built it. It really gives me a warm feeling when I see success like that.

Interestingly, I built one at the same time for a guy that only had one leg and one eye. Unfortunately, his health deteriorated further so he couldn't ride the bike anymore. Out of the blue, he sent me a message and offered me the bike back with only 400 miles on it, so it's sitting in my garage at the moment. Bafang CST 48v motor, S12S controller and the battery cell-pack was welded up by the forum member in Germany that used to do them. Sorry, I can't remember his name at the moment. Weird frame because he couldn't get his false leg over. It has a dropper seatpost to help. Let me know if the image link doesn't work:

Rad dude! So good to hear stories like this! I see no reason why more people can't offset car usage like this. Way to go!

Really impressive, mostly the size of your balls to ride in those conditions. Here in the "OC" we have mostly trophy wives in SUV's fixing their makeup or texting to contend with, which has resulted in me being mostly an off road rider.

Thanks guys some awesome comments there.

'Howling gale' I work in a valley so have to ride west from the top of one side into the prevailing wind on a strait bit of freeway facing the maintain range that divides the center of the UK, for the last week the winds were gusting to 50mph, luckily there is such a gyroscopic effect from such heavy wheels the bike is surprisingly stable even though there was no way I could ride in a strait line, oh yes and the roar of the wind is totally deafening. I ride through a wind farm on the way home and the bike is often leaning at 30 degrees when there are no hedges!

It is pretty awesome riding through what is often borderline unrideable conditions every day knowing that I have built the bike up from a bare frame and knowing if it breaks down there is no plan B, its a 5 hour walk dragging the bike, I had that last year after snapping the forks, it focuses the mind on preventative maintenance!

Nice to see you are still about d8veh, I remember us chatting, it must be 4 years ago now, at the time I was struggling with 20% hills and 250W, in fact I was loosing so much weight it was making me ill, I'm now using a 'bigger' 250W motor, I've now got the legs and the heartbeat of a race horse apparently!
I like the concept of the frame battery box in your picture, I have built one for my bike to tidy things up but have yet to fit it.

I would love to move away from using a battery and instead use a feulcell as I have an unlimited supply of hydrogen as the company I work for are involved with hydrogen filling stations, I'm not sure how things would hold together on the rougher trails like where horses have been riding, or the roads are particularly broken.
We had some big wigs from NASA visiting work a year or so ago, they were standing in front of the bike shed pointing at my bike, if it was fuelcell powered it would justify the attention!



The big turbine powers the electrolyser that fills the white tank with Hydrogen and then uses a compressor to fill the vehicles.

I wanted to get my T5 Volvo converted to run on Hydrogen but couldn't get it approved for private use plus the carbon wrapped ally tank would have taken the entire load space so I had to opt for LPG (propane). Up to recently we had a fleet of gasoline powered vans running on Hydrogen but the fuelcell cars are just out of this world!

RK, if that's you in the picture, I'll modify my comment.

No modification necessary, us English girls are respected for the size of our balls :lol:

Dang, that is impressive. Looks like part of your ride is pretty with nice patches of nature. I though I commuted a lot, but I probably only do 3000 miles a year. I blame winter! Nice photos – the woman in that last photo looks like someone I used to date in Germany. That is an impressive build, impressive commute, and impressive accomplishment. I like how that saw fits against your frame so well. I find that I really go through knobbies a lot on an ebike, so I’m mostly on slicker tires. I don’t have to worry about mud though.

Very nice. A year and a half ago I got motivated to build a bike after seeing a video of a guy who had put 10,000 miles on his. That seemed insane at the time. But now I'm less than 100 miles from hitting 7500 miles myself. It will be a while before I get to 20,000 miles though!!

Your post reminds me that I should put a chain with a fresh wax job on the bike this weekend.

Impressive! I myself am over 16,000 miles on my motor, three frames and 4 forks later. However, your ride is far more rugged then mine. The ride itself is impressive, let alone how often you do it.

20k miles commuting with that terrain and weather on a hardtail...you're a lot tougher than I am. Even if only to reduce maintenance, I'd up the stakes with a big DD hubbie with regen and go moto rims and tires. Then there's the safety and fun aspect...get that speed way up on the good road portion of the commute, so far fewer vehicles pass you. It's simply not safe slow and at the side. Of course the bike will be heavier, but the benefits and cost will outweigh the inconvenience of more effort to haul it over downed trees. You've proven the practicality of an ebike in tough conditions, so step it up a few notches.

Yes!

You've proven the practicality of an ebike in tough conditions, so step it up a few notches.

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I've had the idea of something with a bit more go for a while now, regen would be a huge advantage as freewheeling down some of the hills I can hit 40mph and have to brake hard at the bottom, I can't imagine harvesting too much power but anything put back will lessen the depth of discharge and extend battery and brake pad life. I’m using Shimano Zee 4 pot callipers and 203mm rotors and have had them smoking!

The firm I work for was due to move premises to a mile from where I live so I didn't want to replace the motor and battery but it seems that the move is no longer going ahead and as I'm in my mid fifties I could potentially have another 20 years of this commute so need to look at a bike with more power, the overwhelming issue however is that it has to done in full stealth! The reason behind the success of this bike and the fact that I'm still alive is that I can use the cycle lanes and river / canal banks around one of Europe's largest cities. Just about everything in the UK is illegal and I have to cycle past the counties main traffic police division (as seen on TV!), many of the officers are jogging on the very path that I share so can get a close look and I have to be careful not to overtake any of the unmarked police cars so the bike has to look like a normal pedal cycle hence all my add on bits being in camouflage colours.

I'm considering an all-wheel drive setup maybe using Mac 10T / 8T gear hub motors as they are small and maybe 48 - 52V battery pack mainly for better weight distribution, I would love DD hubs but think they would be too big, heavy and easily visible.. A mid drive would be better as I get endless punctures in the rear tyre and it can be a nightmare removing and refitting the wheel on a freezing, wet and dark evening, however the chain wouldn’t last 5 minutes with mid drive, it would also put the weight in the centre of the bike, I hate the weight at the rear, the ride is bone jarring, it feels like my spine is going to shatter and I’ve been to hospital with my kidneys a couple of times, hence the suspension seat post.
Originally I wanted awd for the thick mud but have found it to be a disadvantage as there is no control of direction, the muddiest section is half a mile long 3 feet wide and lined with thorn trees which damaged my left hand badly a couple of years back, I’ve now regained the use of all my fingers thankfully, for a while after I couldn't use the rear brake which made riding on ice very sketchy! Rear wheel drive with knobblies give much more control even if I am spending most of the time traveling sideways I do at least get some say in the direction of travel. With awd I would build some form of traction control to limit the power going to the front.

I totally agree about more speed being safer, I’ve been pushed of the road a couple of times by people overtaking too close and had my mirror knocked off by a passing 18 wheeler on the dual carriageway. Many people get stuck behind me on the windy mountain roads then overtake hard leaving me in a cloud of black diesel smoke.

There is however no way I would ever go back to driving this commute, spending 2 hours staring at someone’s brake lights is no fun, hooning down the side of a quarry slag heap with white knuckles on the way to work is totally awesome!!

I'm using the tire inside a tire trick and also have a plastic tire liner to boot. No punctures in 2500 miles - knock wood.

While more speed can enhance safety in some situations, it can also reduce it in others - and then you have the problem of the police possibly noticing you if you speed looks too unusual. So if you do increase the speed, use caution.