craneplaneguy
10 kW
This was a first for my recent Montague conversion, it was easy to lug the still folded bike through the deep snow, in one trip, then another for the battery and front tire (I take both off before hanging/securing the bike in the plane).
Looking back later at a couple texts I sent a flying buddy, from the time stamp, I saw that on my return it took 5 minutes from the time I took a picture of the assembled bike (I had just ridden back from the small town I was outside of, hit 35 MPH at one point thanks to a tailwind, a personal best so far) to the time I was sitting back in the plane and ready to takeoff. That included hauling the bike through the snow, and securing it in the plane. Even after nearly 20 years now of flying with 2 different Montague's, it's always kind of like a magic trick, how fast it folds and fits that very small plane just frigging perfect! It was really meant to be.....and I was hesitant to mess up a good thing by adding the e power, at first. But now, after around 10 times of flying in somewhere (I use the plane a lot, as basic transportation, like like for the future solar customer who called me this weekend, instead of a 1.5 hr. drive I'll fly there in 30 minutes and land in the field behind his place, this saves gas and time, and is of course way more fun, and my customers love the fact that I provide this service AT NO EXTRA CHARGE) and then going through the reassembly process including the new process involving the battery etc, it's as fast and easy as always. The small amount of extra time it takes to hang the padded battery from the cross tube and plug it in, is more then made up for by the improved way I am folding and securing the bike in the plane. I used to have to walk around and open the other door to secure the bike, now I can do it from one side, using the much faster web straps with the click in fasteners, I probably knocked at least a minute off my best time, so even with the new power system it's less then 3 minutes from landing and riding off. That used to blow a lot of minds before, other pilots anyway, but now when I ride off I am really hauling ass!
http://imgur.com/M83MALj
Looking back later at a couple texts I sent a flying buddy, from the time stamp, I saw that on my return it took 5 minutes from the time I took a picture of the assembled bike (I had just ridden back from the small town I was outside of, hit 35 MPH at one point thanks to a tailwind, a personal best so far) to the time I was sitting back in the plane and ready to takeoff. That included hauling the bike through the snow, and securing it in the plane. Even after nearly 20 years now of flying with 2 different Montague's, it's always kind of like a magic trick, how fast it folds and fits that very small plane just frigging perfect! It was really meant to be.....and I was hesitant to mess up a good thing by adding the e power, at first. But now, after around 10 times of flying in somewhere (I use the plane a lot, as basic transportation, like like for the future solar customer who called me this weekend, instead of a 1.5 hr. drive I'll fly there in 30 minutes and land in the field behind his place, this saves gas and time, and is of course way more fun, and my customers love the fact that I provide this service AT NO EXTRA CHARGE) and then going through the reassembly process including the new process involving the battery etc, it's as fast and easy as always. The small amount of extra time it takes to hang the padded battery from the cross tube and plug it in, is more then made up for by the improved way I am folding and securing the bike in the plane. I used to have to walk around and open the other door to secure the bike, now I can do it from one side, using the much faster web straps with the click in fasteners, I probably knocked at least a minute off my best time, so even with the new power system it's less then 3 minutes from landing and riding off. That used to blow a lot of minds before, other pilots anyway, but now when I ride off I am really hauling ass!
http://imgur.com/M83MALj
