Had a bad day..

[SF1901]

Today was one of those days where nothing seems to go right. If you ever had one of days, please share.

My bad day: I have a 15 mile commute to work and as I was riding out of my garage, my left foot accidently hit my front fender and a catastrophic chain of events took place.

First, my front wheel caught the tip of my freddy fender and ate up my fender through my fork. Now, my fender was stuck in between my fork and my wheel! Since I leave to work with plenty of time to spare, I was able to take my front fender off my ebike. I should have taken this as an omen, but I refused to be deprived by taking me away from my wonderful daily scenic 15 mile commute of San Francisco. It started raining....

Second, while cruising Ocean beach with a stretch of 5 miles, my cruise control on my 5304 Crystalyte got stuck in the "On" position while traveling the avg. speed of 30 mph! Luckily, I didn't give it the full throttle; soonafter, I was able to turn it off by being able to reach around my rear rack and turn off my controller. Just imagine, try balancing a bike going over 30 mph with one hand on the handlebar and one hand trying reach around the rear rack!

Third, At this time, I'm going through Golden Gate Park and next thing I know, I couldn't pedal! My chain somehow got twisted around my chainring, which is a chainsuck!

Fourth, I managed to pull over and fix the problem with still plenty of time to spare. Now, without my front fender, my body and face is wet and full of dirt! Nice way to start my day at work.. Luckily, there's a shower stall at work!

Fifth, on my way back home at night, I got pulled over by the cops! I was cruising at an avg. speed of 30 mph and I was pulled over with lights and sirens. Since I had my front white blinkies on, I couldn't tell if they had the lights on me. I couldn't hear the cop's air horn because of the wind going into my ear as my ear would be ringing thereafter. The cops tried asking me why they pulled me over and I couldn't hear a damn thing. Not only that, I accidently pressed my air horn at them while taking my helmet off. I had to apoligized why I couldn't hear them. I then saw them observing my bike and since it was dark, they only noticed that I was a bicycle looking like a touring bicycle going at the speed of 30 mph. The cop told me to slow down at the stop signs. I told them that I was trying to maintain my cadance, but there should be no excuse for it and only to obey his request. The irony of this is that, I too, am one of them, but did not disclose myself unless it was my last resort. I respected the officers and on I went, wet in the rain with no rain gear.

Got home, and I said to myself, "that wasn't a good day, but there's always tomorrow!"

 

[D-Man]

:lol: I'd take any bad day on an ebike compared to going after the bad guys.

 

[lazarus2405]

See, you had one of those days where despite each thing going wring, they were all different, unique, and interesting. Here's my most frustrating ebike weekend-ish-period:

The very first night I had my bike up and running, I decided to take it for a quick spin to get a burger at 2am. Over the .5 mile ride, I hit a nasty pothole in the dark. I must have been riding on low pressure, because the tire went flat and the rim got dented. So I got home a very frustrated fellow . The next morning I used a hammer to get the rim back to shape so that the tire bead would seat, aired up, and went out for a ride. I was on a downhill, getting up to 35 for the first time, when again my rear wheel went flat. So, I decided it was easier to push the thing, X5, batteries, and all, up a hill and another 2 miles to the nearest LBS. On a Sunday. I got to the bike shop exhausted, only to find that they don't do business on the sabbath. I gave in and called my roommate, who drove out and picked me up in his '67 Ford truck (Mech-E, genuine gearhead).

So the following Monday, after replacing my tube, I was a block away from home when, another flat. This time, I found the culprit: I had a hole in my tire's sidewall, where the tube bubbled out and popped. Realizing I needed a new rear tire, I went to the LBS and picked up some tubes, a co2 inflator, cartridges, a new tire, Mr. Tuffys, and a new front wheel (my old one was a steel clunker that kept going out of true). I went biking after transferring the old front tire to the new front wheel, installing the new rear tire, and installing other goodies. I left for a bikeride, and on the way home after ~8 miles, I got another flat! Well, I thought, I am prepared now!. I replaced the tube, inflated it, and was on my way.

I didn't get 20 feet. The tube bubbled out of a hole in the sidewall and popped. To my horror, I realized that there was a good chance that I had left the old tire on the rear wheel and put the new one on the front. Either way, I needed *another* new tire. So, I pushed to the nearest LBS and got a tire, tube, patch kit, and was off.

After a meal and a recharge, I went shopping on my bike. After ~5 miles of hard, >35mph riding, while coming off an inerstate overpass and coming into a turn lane, you guessed it: flat. I found the hole in the tube and a small hole in the sidewall of the tire! Then, I found it. Where that rim had hit the asphalt two days ago, there was sharp jagged edge on the rim. Each time I rode on it, it ground down the sidewall until the tube died. Thankfully, I caught this hole soon enough that it was small enough I could patch it with a big one and lots of rubber cement.

I placed a single layer of vinyl electrical tape over the offending part of the rim, and I haven't had a single flat since.

 

[Dr. Shock]

Hey, SF,

It never rains but it pours. I've had the fets blow and leave the motor running full blast a couple of times now. After the first time, I made sure there's a connector right where it is easy to grab so I can disconnect the motor wire in an emergency. Glad you were able to put that day to bed ok.

 

[deardancer3]

Today was one of those days where nothing seems to go right. If you ever had one of days, please share.
. ........

Got home, and I said to myself, "that wasn't a good day, but there's always tomorrow!"

If this had been on a motorcycle or in a car, you would be out LOTS of money and might be in a hospital.
Take liberties with a fisherman's bumper sticker: "The worst day fishing is still better than the best day at the office"

 

[Link]

Eh, at least even Lazarus' failures were more interesting than mine. He at least got to work on the bike. All that happened to me was my throttle popped. Put the whole damn thing out of commission :?.

I'mma go out to Orvac and see if they have a replacement. I ordered another throttle yesterday, in any case.

 

[Ian]

mine are typical kind of things over the last couple years, still each time I learned something and at least never made same mistake twice! and for each bad day I have had many more great ones. in fact maybe someone will start a new thread. The greatest day...

1. marooned at the bottom of sedona's steepest hill due to unknown electrical fault, at dusk, no lights. (crap amateur connections)
2. puncture 5 miles from home on busy narrow winding road just before rush hour (went over thorns could have been avoided)
3. rear tire blowout at night going downhill at 25mph. (old tire obviously frayed)
4. rear topeak rack bolt sheared off (sla battery attached) on dirt trail in the hills. (too much weight for bumpy trail conditions. a strange sight to behold)
5. new cool-looking rear light disappear in first mile of use. (as per numerous customer reviews)
6. early morning ride in winter totally failing to take into account wind chill factor. (yes there is windchill)
7. insect hits right eye going downhill. (no eye protection used)
8. forget to strap in coveted $600 nimh pack in battery bay when messing around with wiring. bike moves, heavy pack falls to concrete floor and ends up written off.
9. thorny roadside bushes cut into right hand (no bike gloves used)
10. over ambitious route, length wise (no watts up meter used)

 

[mvadventure]

I've shared SF1901 problem of having the cruise lock on in the rain and I didn't like it. Fortunately my controller was located in a position which was fairly easy to gain access to and I continued on by turning it on and off. Several hours later it had dried off enough to function normally.

Now, I've siliconed the it all to hell and still don't trust it so I carry a plastic bag with rubber bands to secure it with if I get caught in the rain. One bag for the throttle, one for the cruise and so far so good. Looks weird but works.

Was very proud of this last time I was in the rain but a mile from home the BMS went kaput and I wound up pedaling anyway. Oh well.

Mike

 

[SF1901]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm glad this forum existed. I normally would go to a bikeforum.net and share this under the commuter section, but the problem lies with some people lacking experience or the perspective knowledge of it in ebikes and the technical side of it. I'll probably get more unpleasant support by having one of the forums administrators criticizing how impractical it is to have an ebike.

Here's the bike forum's administrator (Brian) comment on the whole ebike community:
"I'm not trying to start a flame war. I think some of you may recall that as the forum administrator, I was a bit reluctant to even create an Electric Bikes forum. But since it's here, I would like to enter into discussions with an open mind, yet be able to question the wisdom of electric bikes.

You might not be able to ride your bike tomorrow due to electrical issues? Don't you see the irony in that?" -Brian

Once again, thanks for all the feedback and experiences shared in this forum. With the constant grind of running after bad guys, writing reports, the patience to listen to irate civilians or becoming an a#@hole just to get others to listen has all been too exhausting for me to ride home at times. Riding my ebike has become an outlet to get out from it all. Riding to and from work is something I look forward to. Bottom line; because it's fun!

 

[Link]

"I'm not trying to start a flame war. I think some of you may recall that as the forum administrator, I was a bit reluctant to even create an Electric Bikes forum. But since it's here, I would like to enter into discussions with an open mind, yet be able to question the wisdom of electric bikes.

You might not be able to ride your bike tomorrow due to electrical issues? Don't you see the irony in that?" -Brian

LOL, whut? I can choose to ride electric or not just by wearing a backpack.

 

[Lock]

You guys need road-side assistance.

Make the call and in 10mins a "man with van" pulls up to swap your vehicle for a fresh one... public transit!
Personal wheels are fun but also headaches...

So, instead, your vehicle as cell phone. ...a power tool. Grocery getter.

Disposable(recycleable), made, serviced, supported... by your town.

If UR on Facebook, join the Personal Electrics Project (PEP) group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27002365231
tks
LcK

 

[lazarus2405]

Because ebikes are such a young technology, those who are uninformed tend to draw their perception from the most sensational and disparate bits of information. I'd expect as a rule the cycling world to be hostile to ebikes and ebikers... until they ride one.

 

[ngocthach1130]

Yeah most people are hostile toward ebiker because we do not follows their purist belief of cycling as exercise only. Some people think i'm nuts for doing my own modification or repair. They think i would die one day from broken bike. I ask them if they trust the work they put in themselves or do they trust some shop owner doing their repair for 30 bucks. Also by doing the repair yourself you learn new skills and not dependent on the bike shop. Just like your car, some malfunction these days will require you to bring it to a repair shop and wait until it's your turn. The bike you can just take it a part and enjoy the tinkering. Tinkering with your bike will give you some insight into the bike and when things goes wrong you know what it is and not have to walk it home or wait till a repair shop open.

At the same time, you're sure of your mood when you work on your bike. Can you really know if the shop owner was on his bad day and forgot a screw on your bike until you eat the pavement? As far as exercising. Our bikes are great for it. Normal biker have to make sure they have the energy for the whole rides. Where as we could start out riding without power using the motor's resistance and not worry about exhaustion because we know the have untapped power for that ride home.

 

[needWheels]

This thread is almost as educational as this one: http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4459

I don't have ebike tales yet but I can suggest to always travel with those zip-lock strap thingies (zip-ties?)
Like duct tape they are incredibly handy to fix broken things to make it home(like snapped bolts).

I am definitely going to put a kill switch on my motor circuit after reading these posts.

 

[dogman dan]

Every time I visit the local bikeshop now, they look about to throw holy water on me and shout HERITIC! I just laugh, and say, hey here I am spending money in your shop for the first time in 25 years.