Hello! Questions on Racing Bike e-bike conversion

Taller gears are a must if you want to assist the motor comfortably. As you've probably noticed, peak motor efficiency occurs as power is falling off, so you can get the most out of your battery/motor combo by gearing your cadence for optimal power at your motor assisted cruising speed.
 
drekar said:
OK, sticking with 406 then!

Perhaps I should put longer gears on the bike? such that I can comfortably pedal when going 35-mph... I definitely remember my top being 32 or 34mph, and that was with my legs going pretty quick....

Good idea. I used to stick a 56 tooth big chain ring on my time trial bike when I was racing on courses where I knew I'd have big downhill sections and it really helped me haul ass. What sort of gearing you running in the rear? If you can get a 11-23 in the rear and a 56 tooth big chain ring in the front you'll be able to give useful pedal input into the bike at some pretty high speeds and with the 23 in the rear you may still be able to start from stoplights while still in the big chain ring and the 23 in the rear (although you'd be cross-chained.)

And, oh yeah, wear a GOOD helmet. I just picked up one of the consumer reports top picks and it was pretty cheap (as opposed to Giros, etc where you pay for the racer name) this one actually tested at the top for safety. It's last year's Bell Slant and it fits really nicely too.
 
Miles said:
drekar,

Just noticed you're in Richardson. You don't work for Alibre, by any chance...? I guess there are a lot of software companies around there....

I do work for a software company, yes, but not Alibre. Ya, there's a lot of little tech companies here (and a lot of failed ones... you see little dot-bomb signs all over the place)...
 
Liberator said:
And, oh yeah, wear a GOOD helmet.

No kidding!! I have a race helmet right now which I got about a year ago which SHOULD be good, but I might invest in a better one just to be sure. As a motorcyclist, I am tempted to just throw on the full face helmet and leathers... though, that would look a touch odd :D
 
drekar said:
Liberator said:
And, oh yeah, wear a GOOD helmet.

No kidding!! I have a race helmet right now which I got about a year ago which SHOULD be good, but I might invest in a better one just to be sure. As a motorcyclist, I am tempted to just throw on the full face helmet and leathers... though, that would look a touch odd :D

It sure it would suck trying to pedal quickly in leathers too. Man, you'd work up quite a sweat.

You see this news story? Guy got his head run over by a truck wearing a Giro helmet: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/15/mangled.helmet.ap/index.html Talk about free advertising!
 
Liberator said:
You see this news story? Guy got his head run over by a truck wearing a Giro helmet: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/15/mangled.helmet.ap/index.html Talk about free advertising!


An analysis of the incident from chainguard list:

Re: Sidepath problems?
Posted by: "Bob Sutterfield" bob@[...].us bsut2002
Tue May 15, 2007 8:21 am (PST)
Details, photo, and discussion at
http://madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/133934
The location is http://preview.tinyurl.com/yumm89

The cyclist was riding "pretty fast" on a "bike path" (MUP). He saw the
truck preparing to turn right at the green light. The cyclist was in the
truck's right-rear blind spot and didn't brake until the truck had already
begun its turning motion. The cyclist braked incorrectly and lost control
of his vehicle. He fell, with his helmet beneath the truck's right-rear
tire.

A helmet doesn't have enough structure to protect a head from a truck's
tire. I suspect (speculation) the truck's tire didn't run over the part of
the helmet containing the cyclist's head. That bit of foam wouldn't make
the slightest bump, not even as much as running over a curb. There was
never any reason for the truck driver to look behind to the right.
 
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