E-bike mutual aid, introduction and gratitude post.

[HardWaterATX]

It was well over a decade ago that I came to this forum as user name Gestalt (lost access due to to defunct email) to learn about e-bikes from this fantastic community. And now I’m returning to get back on the knowledge train and thank everyone that set me on the path and what I’ve done with it since.

In 2020 my wife and I started doing food deliveries to the unhoused for food not bombs and quickly discovered two things: One that driving around in a car was horribly inefficient way to get the meals to people and two, that people were always in need of water. That second need kept gnawing at us we switched over to distributing food from the local food pantry on our e-bikes as we built relationships with an encampment of about 20 people. So two summers ago with a little help from people in our neighborhood we strapped two five gallon insulated water coolers filled with ice and water to the front and back racks of my bike and bringing them to camp. We use them to reduce the amount of single use plastics because they have no access to trash removal and they can keep the water cold for days. But our ice expenses grew to be too much with increased demand so we raised funds to purchase a large freezer, ice moulds, more coolers and other needs. So by the end of the summer with the help of a salvaged tipke yard cart strapped to the back of my bike with old bike tubes we were delivering 30 gallons (240lbs) of ice and water four days a week. Over the cold months we applied for and won a small grant from the city to upgrade and outfit my pedicab as a water delivery vehicle capable of carrying 65 gallons (540lbs) of ice and water per trip which helped stave off burning out from the effort.

Now in an effort to expand the effort with volunteers we are building an e-bike lending library, but due to tariffs and our shoestring budget are purchasing second hand as well as conversions. A lot has changed in the past few years and I’m finding with google search mostly broken and polluted as well as the ES facebook group being rather defunct that it was time to return to the forum. Which I probably should never have left in the first place

So here’s thanks for all the help I’ve received in the past and in advance for all I’ll need in the future, I hope that in turn I’ll have contributions to make as well.

 

[neptronix]

For some reason your image was not showing, so i fixed it.

What a cool story, welcome back and let me know if you need access to your previous account.

 

[HardWaterATX]

For some reason your image was not showing, so i fixed it.

What a cool story, welcome back and let me know if you need access to your previous account.

Thanks for the fix, any idea what I did wrong? I do have a variety of builds coming up as I thread the budget needle that people might find interesting.

As far as my previous account that would be great and at your convenience of course.

 

[E-HP]

It was well over a decade ago that I came to this forum as user name Gestalt (lost access due to to defunct email) to learn about e-bikes from this fantastic community. And now I’m returning to get back on the knowledge train and thank everyone that set me on the path and what I’ve done with it since.

In 2020 my wife and I started doing food deliveries to the unhoused for food not bombs and quickly discovered two things: One that driving around in a car was horribly inefficient way to get the meals to people and two, that people were always in need of water. That second need kept gnawing at us we switched over to distributing food from the local food pantry on our e-bikes as we built relationships with an encampment of about 20 people. So two summers ago with a little help from people in our neighborhood we strapped two five gallon insulated water coolers filled with ice and water to the front and back racks of my bike and bringing them to camp. We use them to reduce the amount of single use plastics because they have no access to trash removal and they can keep the water cold for days. But our ice expenses grew to be too much with increased demand so we raised funds to purchase a large freezer, ice moulds, more coolers and other needs. So by the end of the summer with the help of a salvaged tipke yard cart strapped to the back of my bike with old bike tubes we were delivering 30 gallons (240lbs) of ice and water four days a week. Over the cold months we applied for and won a small grant from the city to upgrade and outfit my pedicab as a water delivery vehicle capable of carrying 65 gallons (540lbs) of ice and water per trip which helped stave off burning out from the effort.

Now in an effort to expand the effort with volunteers we are building an e-bike lending library, but due to tariffs and our shoestring budget are purchasing second hand as well as conversions. A lot has changed in the past few years and I’m finding with google search mostly broken and polluted as well as the ES facebook group being rather defunct that it was time to return to the forum. Which I probably should never have left in the first place

So here’s thanks for all the help I’ve received in the past and in advance for all I’ll need in the future, I hope that in turn I’ll have contributions to make as well.

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Good story. The part about delivering for a local food pantry is interesting, and something I'm going to look into around here.

When the lock downs happened and everyone was working from home, I found I suddenly had some excess cash from not having to spend money on commuting and buying lunch out. I was riding my ebike every day for my lunch hour. All the restaurants were doing take out, and McDonalds had a walk up window. Realizing that I had a budget, on a smaller scale than what you and your wife are doing, I started delivering food too. I got to know the McDonald's workers, and they'd put hamburgers each in separate small bags for me, which made it easy to throw in my rack bag, and distribute.

Talking with the homeless folks was eye opening, and sad at the same time. Some of them were lucky enough to still have jobs, since it's pretty impossible to get a job once you don't have a mailing address and other stuff we might take for granted. One guy I met wouldn't take food or money. He had some artwork he drew in black ink that he would sell for whatever amount someone wanted to give him. He was saving for a deposit, since there was some sort of housing program coming out soon.

The hardest part about getting to know the homeless folks is that eventually someone dies. It's a higher probability when you're living on the streets, and nobody really knows about it when it happens, except people in the camp and the cops . Still, there's a sense of community in the larger camps, and displays of kindness between neighbors; at least something to offset the hardships.

McDonalds closed the walk up window a little bit after things started opening up. I still talk to the folks, but it's not as convenient to pick up food to deliver now; but the food pantry thing sounds promising. This issue is a very difficult one to solve, and you have to be in the trenches, not sitting in an office, to even understand how to approach fixing it. In the mean time, I just try to treat them like I treat any of my neighbors.

Have you had to deal with many road hazards and flats when riding through the camps?

 

[neptronix]

Thanks for the fix, any idea what I did wrong? I do have a variety of builds coming up as I thread the budget needle that people might find interesting.

No idea, that happens very rarely.

As far as my previous account that would be great and at your convenience of course.

Yeah if you can PM me the email address on that account ( hint: the domain looks like l***.com ), i'll let give you access to it. I think i can also merge accounts.

 

[HardWaterATX]

Have you had to deal with many road hazards and flats when riding through the camps?

I did until I put armor strips into the tires and started using sealant. Sometimes it seemed like was getting them almost every other ride but funny enough it was more the garbage filled bike lanes of north Austin than the camp. Now that I mostly use the trike for deliveries I’ve only had one flat. It doesn’t have armor or sealant but does have the schwalbe pickup cargo bike tires that do have some armor I believe, but I stick to the main path in camp and don’t ride it much around town as it is ungainly.

It’s great to hear that you’re out there helping folks, it’s fulfilling doing this kind of thing on an ebike. It increases the fun and lowers the cost, I really think of them as the ultimate urban mutual aid vehicle. I get to help people and kick an oil baron in the dick at the same time

The food pantry has been a great resource, we volunteered doing donation pickups and transporting food on the day of the pantry. It gives us a chance to snipe items that they might have too much of or are uniquely useful to our operation. It it is not super reliable which is one of the reasons we like doing water, the logistics are hard but the water itself is functionally free.

 

[ZeroEm]

Welcome back, like to see people in my area of the World.

Like your setup, trailers did not work out or why just bike conversions?

 

[HardWaterATX]

Like your setup, trailers did not work out or why just bike conversions?

Trailers are just a bit finicky because of the weight involved as well as capacity. I was only able to get 30 gallons on to the one I have and if I don’t load/unload right it tips over. It’s also a lot for a bbs02 to pull and I’m pretty sure it contributed to the eventual failure.

What I like about the trike, besides the 4000w cyclone is the improved handling and load capacity as well as not having to unhook anything from my daily driver.

Here’s a vid of my original setup