Demographics?

[swampjeep]

I'm 39, recently married, no kids... CAD designer currently working as a contract person in GM, but that will end soon I believe. I have been into off-road vehicles since before I could drive (interest anyways) and with all this hybrid stuff in the market I wanted to learn more about EV's. I bought an Ezip mountain bike from Walmart and think it's pretty cool. I can't wait to start mod'ing it. As an avid off-roader, nothign stock is good enough, everyvehicle I have owned as a toy, has ended up getting highly modified, and I see no reason this will be any different. To go along with this new hobby, and with the auto industry changing so much, I plan to go back to school. Currently looking at a degree in electomechanical, which hopefully will give me lots of knowledge for this EV hobby. I live in Waterford Mi, about 25 miles north of Detroit.

 

[D-Man]

I'm a white guy.

 

[swbluto]

Are you sure you're not slightly tanned?

 

[D-Man]

Let me check....

 

[michaelplogue]

42, never married. Federal law enforcement officer w/ 23 years government service (counting 12 years Military time). I chase bad guys. I eat my lunch. I go to the lavatory. On Wednesdays I go shoppin'. And have buttered scones for tea.

 

[swbluto]

I am a federal law enforcement officer

Oh noes! THE LAW is watching over our degenerate activity of flouting it. WHATZ R WEZ EVAH GOING 2 DOOOO?

 

[michaelplogue]

Oh noes! THE LAW is watching over our degenerate activity of flouting it. WHATZ R WEZ EVAH GOING 2 DOOOO?

Run fer da hillzzzzz!!!

 

[TylerDurden]

I'm a [age] [descriptive identity] regularly involved in [frequent activities] with [entity description], [group class], and [activity focus]. I live in [location] with [names, species]. I was attracted to this [organization] and [organization's focus] when [related event]. I regularly listen to [programs, recordings] and read [publications, authors]. I enjoy [interests] and avoid [dis-interests]. Explore more about my [specific activities] at [web site].

 

[boostjuice]

22yo, live in Austrlia's capital Canberra (NOT Sydney like most of the world seems to think). Have Advanced Diploma in Electronic Engineering. Work in the Laser Physics research Labs at Australian National University designing and building Opto-electronics.
Starting degree next year in resource and environmental management. I am passionite about conserving what is left of our planet.

Favourite pastimes include:
- Building Highly overpowered/illegal e-bikes to make my car redundant.
- Overtaking ultra competitive cyclysts wearing lycra. Pedal power purists as we call them. I will never get sick of their reactions.
- Hassling local bike shops to keep some floor stock e-bikes so customers would actually know they exist.
- Burning holes in things with class 4 lasers
- Engineering things to work better!

 

[swbluto]

I've always wanted to burn things with lasers. Can you slit people's tires with lasers?

 

[Eric]

Guess this is as good a place as any for my first post; I've been lurking far too long.

I'm 44, divorced, 3 kids (16-10yo) on other coast of US, GF playing Guild Wars next to me, dogs at my feet, fishing poles, small boats, and bikes in the garage. Avid bike commuter. Currently unemployed RF engineer with lots of time but little money for a battery pack. New 5304 w/48A controller & CA awaiting installation on my first e-bike.
Eric

 

[boostjuice]

I've always wanted to burn things with lasers. Can you slit people's tires with lasers?

Well we have burn holes in the laboratory walls from beam-stops being removed accidently.
Industrial metal cutting lasers are class 4 lasers. a 10watt highly focussed laser will cut through 10mm of steel billet in seconds.
I know what your thinking.... revenge attack on that SUV that almost ran you over on your e-bike. It'd be nice but the beam would have to be focussed on an exact point on the tyre for a few seconds, not possible for a moving vehicle. Also, a 10watt laser is not exactly portable. There has been times when i would have if i could have..

 

[Fumesucker]

Fifty eight, married, one kid, three grandkids.

I'm basically a professional JOAT (jack of all trades) but my primary expertise is troubleshooting and repairing high powered electromechanical equipment, mostly stuff that the manufacturer has gone out of business and for which parts are not available. Lots of fabrication and repairing the unrepairable :lol:

I'm also a silversmith and make miniature antique and fantasy weapons from silver, bronze, ivory and exotic woods that I sell on ebay, stuff like swords, pikes and battle axes..

Astronomy, astrophotography and digital image processing (I have a program that will do 96 bit deep images http://www.msb-astroart.com/), RC planes and cars, sound studio recording and digital audio processing are a few of my other areas of expertise.

 

[rbelisle1]

47, wife, 2 kids, 3 dogs, 1 goldfish and no cats.... 30 year IT professional (yep, started on mainframes at 17!!)
Parking at work got up to 780 per year, gas hit 4 bucks a gallon and a craigslist evglobal ebike followed me home one day. 7 ebikes in the house now and I ride to work (7.5 miles) every day. Electronics and mechanical things are a passion. Pinball, slots, pachinko, tube radios, etc etc etc.. Only two things I dont work on...The human body and radioactive stuff!!!

bob in phx.

 

[beef_wellington]

Fun post. I always wondered who you people are.

32, not married, no kids, no pets. I am a self-taught audio engineer and teach at a major recording school for my real job. Otherwise I am a composer, producer, and remixer with some decent credits to my name. I've had music licensed for network TV, video games, extreme sports DVDs, MTV, et al.

I found some videos online regarding ebikes, and then found this forum. After months of researching and saving, I assembled my first ebike about two months ago. I ride it every day and already have to replace the tires.

 

[pwbset]

I am a self-taught audio engineer and teach at a major recording school for my real job.

Cool! Where? Full Sail or something like that? I did The Recording Workshop immersion program in Chillicothe, Ohio a bunch of years ago and also went to Music Tech in Mineapolis for a year (now McNally Smith). Bass player and amateur audio engineer.. for fun.. not for work.. never really caught a job break, but didn't try that hard looking back on it. :?

I have a 16 track EZ8 (old school PCI-ADAT cards, but awesome bandwidth and like zero latency compared to firewire/usb2) computer setup in the band I'm in running through 2 Behringer ADA8000s and a 20 channel board and we record a bunch of stuff using Mackie's Tracktion. You know.. using all the cheap crap we can afford. I miss the days of working on the massive MCI and Neve flying fader boards with 2" in Minneapolis.

 

[Rassy]

Retired, 68, married 47 years. Taught high school math for a few years and spent the rest as a mainframe COBOL Programmer/Analyst. Spent one year in Alberta, Canada, three years in Pittsburgh, PA, seven years in the California bay area, and the rest in Oregon. Number 1 hobby since retirement has been Trout and Salmon fishing, mostly trolling in lakes and bays, and catching lots of Dungeness crab. Electric assist bike came about because my house is up a 1/4 mile hill that I couldn't ride up, was tired of walking up, and didn't want to drive all the time.

My 62 year old brother is a hard core long distance biking enthusiast and I have joined him and his buddies a number of times this last year on rides up to 100k (67 miles), with my electric assist. He retired over a year ago and has been planning to ride accross the U.S. next spring with a buddy. I had recently decided to join them, using electric assist, but he had a severe stroke a month ago and is now in re-hab recovering the use of his left leg and arm, so the trip has been postponed for a year.

 

[beef_wellington]

pwbset,

Yeah, I work at Full Sail. I teach MIDI specifically, which is my area of expertise. I didn't think it was such a great place to work until the economy went South. Now I am quite content there, working three 12 hour shifts a week. That's gives me lots of time for being creative, doing freelance work, and tinkering with my new ebike. I never had any experience on a big console, and am more at home on a small project studio. I mostly make sequence based music, adding vocals, percussion, guitar, etc.
http://www.tastebeef.com

I also do computer graphics and technical illustration. I used to illustrate textbooks and can draw a pretty impressive schematic, but have no idea what all the little symbols mean. I also got into litigation graphics when I lived in LA, and still get some freelance work from the company a couple of times a year (which is what paid for my ebike ).

 

[Joey]

I'm 55, married, and have PhD in electrical engineering. Live and work in Albuquerque.
Began e-bike hobby in February with purchase of eZee hub kit from ebikes.ca. Love to
tinker. Built up ebike #2 from Giant Boulder donor bike, 24-72V 35A Crystalyte controller,
EVTECH BMC rear hub motor, and eight 28V Milwaukee Li-Mn packs. Commute to work
on ebike #2 when it's not too terribly cold. Rain and snow are infrequent here.

-- Joey

 

[ekline309]

Just turned 24 20 minutes ago, currently live in Silvis, IL, and lived in SF and San Diego for about 6 months each this past year. Will get my BS in Accounting from U of Illinois in May 09 after I finish my last French class. Grew up racing BMX and used to be sponsored by Standard Byke Co (standardbyke.com).

Am very concerned about the path we are taking concerning natural resource consumption, which is what sparked my interest in electric bikes as an alternative transportation option.

Other than that, I like to go to clubs, tailgate, and spend time with friends and family.

 

[beef_wellington]

Happy Birthday ekline!

 

[JinbaIttai]

32, former Navy, submarine nuke.
I ride to save $$ on gas. Emissions are meaningless.

I think the idea of going green is the silliest bull$hit ever. Carbon tax is about as big of a scam as is participating in our farcical modern day Diebold spnsored elections. I am all about saving a couple of bucks in this world, which never evolved--it was created--here we go...

 

[philf]

Jinba Ittai... "Rider and horse as one", or somewhat close... A romantic handle for one who just rides an e-bike for the sake of fiscal frugality. :?

 

[nomad85]

Emissions are meaningless.

Disagree. Pollution is real, no doubt less is better

Carbon tax is about as big of a scam

Agree

as is participating in our farcical modern day Diebold spnsored elections.

Lots of people say this... what is it based on? I understand that there is corruption, but it seems rather apathetic.

 

[rguy56]

Hey! Lots of 52 year olds.

Me too!!

Married divorced shacked up married again. Hah.

Two university educated kids still at home because I don't want them to go, two dogs, seven guitars, I honestly have lost count of the bicycles (really). Packrat, eh? err...Canadian.

Happy to be a firefighter, and love the notoriety of biking to work through winter.

Bob