RVD
1 kW
Hi Everyone,
This started with me getting bored on Black Friday. Everyone else seemed like they were out shopping but I don't like big crowds of people, waiting in line, etc. so I just went online as usual to all of my local bike shops, etc.
I noticed an ad on performance bike that said 20% off your entire purchase. I started browsing around. Unfortunately I already own 4 bikes, my 5 year old son owns 3 bikes, my wife has a bike already, etc...but I did notice that they had some folding bikes. Hmmm...that's a bike that I don't own. I then started thinking about all of the ways that I can carry around a folding bike in my trunk at all times to whip it out to go for short rides, errands while at work, etc.
Too bad I knew almost nothing about folding bikes so I did some research. In the end, I chose the Dahon Speed D7.
This is a chromoly frame, 7 speed bike with 20" wheels. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty well made bike. At around $640 it's also not a cheap bike. But with 20% off it was $512. But then I had to pay $30 for shipping and I also had to pay tax so it ended up at $590. Not the best deal around but I figured it wasn't too bad either.
It took about 2 weeks for my local Performance to get the bike and assemble it. I drove over to the shop and picked it up. I was immediately happy. Playing with this thing was sort of like an EV grin over again. Probably just me, but it's just cool. I folded it up, put it into the trunk of my car, and away I drove.
The guys at the shop knew almost nothing about the bike. It was assembled but the guys there had no idea how to fold it, etc. It was fairly self explanatory though.
The next thing to do was figure out how to make it electric!
I had a few rules:
1) Bike must stay foldable. After all, what's the point if I make it electric and it can no longer fold?
2) Bike must be as light and as portable as possible. After all, what's the point if the bike is so heavy that you can't actually carry it around?
3) Bike must be as stealth as possible.
4) Try to conserve costs by reusing what I already have. i.e., going out and buying all new stuff is cheating.
So then it came time to buy...
This started with me getting bored on Black Friday. Everyone else seemed like they were out shopping but I don't like big crowds of people, waiting in line, etc. so I just went online as usual to all of my local bike shops, etc.
I noticed an ad on performance bike that said 20% off your entire purchase. I started browsing around. Unfortunately I already own 4 bikes, my 5 year old son owns 3 bikes, my wife has a bike already, etc...but I did notice that they had some folding bikes. Hmmm...that's a bike that I don't own. I then started thinking about all of the ways that I can carry around a folding bike in my trunk at all times to whip it out to go for short rides, errands while at work, etc.
Too bad I knew almost nothing about folding bikes so I did some research. In the end, I chose the Dahon Speed D7.
This is a chromoly frame, 7 speed bike with 20" wheels. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty well made bike. At around $640 it's also not a cheap bike. But with 20% off it was $512. But then I had to pay $30 for shipping and I also had to pay tax so it ended up at $590. Not the best deal around but I figured it wasn't too bad either.
It took about 2 weeks for my local Performance to get the bike and assemble it. I drove over to the shop and picked it up. I was immediately happy. Playing with this thing was sort of like an EV grin over again. Probably just me, but it's just cool. I folded it up, put it into the trunk of my car, and away I drove.
The guys at the shop knew almost nothing about the bike. It was assembled but the guys there had no idea how to fold it, etc. It was fairly self explanatory though.
The next thing to do was figure out how to make it electric!
I had a few rules:
1) Bike must stay foldable. After all, what's the point if I make it electric and it can no longer fold?
2) Bike must be as light and as portable as possible. After all, what's the point if the bike is so heavy that you can't actually carry it around?
3) Bike must be as stealth as possible.
4) Try to conserve costs by reusing what I already have. i.e., going out and buying all new stuff is cheating.
So then it came time to buy...