My econo-e-bike

[Eastwood]

That bike is crazy quick; he's past 50mph when I'm reaching 25mph, and it looks controlled off the line too!
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=113672&start=75#p1710933
https://youtu.be/on_bjkgD2yw?t=190

I'm not sure what kind of upgrade I'll need to beat my previous times. If I were serious, I could switch to lighter tires and tubes, since mine have an extra tube each and sealant. Future experiment.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=115012&p=1700804&hilit=acceleration#p1701042

Yeah his Enduro bike is bad ass!


Feel like switching tire and tube would be minimum improvement. If you switch the rim size smaller that would give you much greater acceleration. I still haven’t been able to use this app because My hub motor was completely rusted again. It’s now fixed and varnished but rebuilding that motor with a 16 inch rim and street tire. Plan on doing some 0 to 30 mph runs on the app once I get it built. I have everything but the spokes they’re being shipped.

I’m not sure if you seen my new QS205 it’s in a 16 inch rim but has an Enduro tire. I put up some hole shots on my build thread. It sounded like those tires were about to chunk lol.
That’s why I’m taking the old motor and putting the small rim and a street tire For racing purposes, Well just messing around racing not any official racing lol
My top speed is too slow to actual race so it’s just all about 0 to 30

Wish I lived near you, we could go on some rides. Looks like you adventure out into different types of terrain as well!

 

[thundercamel]

I'm surprised to see you so interested in power and acceleration.

 

[E-HP]

I'm surprised to see you so interested in power and acceleration.

Yup, that's a problem. It's mainly for when I ride in traffic, which has been more often lately, but otherwise, I like looking at data and how things relate. I'm still observing the temps, but too lazy to record them, so I'm just getting used to knowing how hot the motor gets under different conditions or going up different steep routes. It's funny, but it seems to heat up about the same whether it's a cool vs warm day, so I'm not sure how effective the heat sinks will be once I add them.

Since I switched my freewheel to the cheap Shimano 6 speed with 14 cog, I've been pedaling less; I think because with the cadence I like, I'm going too slow. I think I'll be pedallng more again, since I just got an old 6 speed Shimano freewheel with a 13 tooth cog. That will get me back to about 17mph when pedaling at a comfortable cadence. With the current 14 tooth, I'm at about 15-16 mph. I can ride at 20mph without much effort, but I don't like pedaling like a hamster. When I was using the DNP freewheel, I mainly used the 13 tooth cog, and very rarely used the 11 tooth. For me, more pedaling means less throttling, less throttling means less riding with cars and more on the paths/trails and taking longer rides.

It's definitely used, but so is my chain, LOL. I'm don't pedal that hard anyway. 2nd gear looks most worn, but I'll be able to tell more once I clean it up. I think the lowest gear I'd use is 3rd, even when climbing really steap stuff. The clicks seem crisp, but I'm taking the whole thing apart to clean, inspect, and lube, before installing it. Didn't pay a lot for it, NOS would be 3 or 4 times that much from searching around.


Been riding with the Specialized Big Roller on the back for a couple of weeks and it seems pretty good. the sidewalls are slightly thicker and the knobs are slightly bigger, and just feels more substantial than the CST tires. I haven't done any panic stops or leaning too deep into corners yet.

EDIT: Well it cleaned up pretty good. On closer inspection, it doesn't look overly worn and should perform fine. There's a small chip in the second gear, that you can see near the top of the pic a little to the right, but it seems like it may have always been there, but doesn't matter anyway since I won't be using that gear.

 

[simonov]

I've seen you refer to a twist throttle. Which side is it installed on?

During my second, most recent build, for a friend, I installed a twist throttle on the right side (for my first build I never bothered connecting a throttle), simulating a motorcycle. Problem we found is you use the right lever (rear brake) a heck of a lot more on a bike than on a motorcycle (front brake), and you sure don't want to accidentally hit the throttle while you're fooling around with the brakes. So now my friend has asked me to replace her right side twist throttle with a left side twist throttle.

Does that sound right to you, or is it a nothingburger?

 

[E-HP]

I've seen you refer to a twist throttle. Which side is it installed on?

During my second, most recent build, for a friend, I installed a twist throttle on the right side (for my first build I never bothered connecting a throttle), simulating a motorcycle. Problem we found is you use the right lever (rear brake) a heck of a lot more on a bike than on a motorcycle (front brake), and you sure don't want to accidentally hit the throttle while you're fooling around with the brakes. So now my friend has asked me to replace her right side twist throttle with a left side twist throttle.

Does that sound right to you, or is it a nothingburger?

I use a half twist throttle. Half refers to how half the grip twists, and the other half is stationary. I can use the stationary part to help control, or more finely manipulate the moving part. Since I also use the throttle for regen braking, I'm already slowing down the bike pretty quickly in the rear when I let off the throttle, and most of the hard braking come from the front brakes (left hand), like a motorcycle or car.

I use the rear brake on narrow, steep downhill trails, with no issues with accidentally twisting the throttle. I also use it if I need to come to a complete stop at an intersection. I can't get behind the seat anymore, so the rear brake is pretty useless in a panic stop.

EDIT: So I think I've semi-committed to building my next battery pack. I bought a pile of 21700 cell spacers on ebay, which are coming on the slow boat, so I can see what I can actaully fit in my triangle. Researching cells now. I looked at some LG cell specs, and they broke down discharge ratings into temp ranges, with the optimal in the 10 ~ 25ºC range. Drops off above that, and sharply below that. More specs to look at...

 

[thundercamel]

I've seen you refer to a twist throttle. Which side is it installed on?

During my second, most recent build, for a friend, I installed a twist throttle on the right side (for my first build I never bothered connecting a throttle), simulating a motorcycle. Problem we found is you use the right lever (rear brake) a heck of a lot more on a bike than on a motorcycle (front brake), and you sure don't want to accidentally hit the throttle while you're fooling around with the brakes. So now my friend has asked me to replace her right side twist throttle with a left side twist throttle.

Does that sound right to you, or is it a nothingburger?

I put throttles (thumb or half-twist) on both sides of my 3 bikes, just in case your hands get tired at all. The brake levers have safety switches that cut off throttle anyway.

 

[E-HP]

Hard to see, but is that some sort of quick release mount for that front basket? I think something like that would come in handy when carrying something that doesn't fit in my rear rack bag, and if it's detachable, I'd leave it off the rest of the time.

 

[thundercamel]

Yes indeed, linked here since it seems I forgot to include this on page 1 of my build thread. Was $23 and had black colors as well, but is out of stock now of course. It's kinda flimsy and we've broken a couple from bikes falling over, but generally gets the job done. Here's another one that looks to use the same mounting bracket.

 

[E-HP]

Yes indeed, linked here since it seems I forgot to include this on page 1 of my build thread. Was $23 and had black colors as well, but is out of stock now of course. It's kinda flimsy and we've broken a couple from bikes falling over, but generally gets the job done. Here's another one that looks to use the same mounting bracket.

That second one looks like it would work. Trying to think if 11lbs capacity is enough though. How flimsy is the mount? It didn't break due to load, it seem. I could have used it today when I was bringing home a shopping bag and had it hanging from the handle bars, which made steering difficult as it swayed back and forth. The bag was only about 5lb, so seems like the basket would have handled that well.

 

[thundercamel]

The mount is just fine. It's the aluminum ring around the top of the basket that breaks when the bike fell over, and starts to twist when you load too many pounds. I will be buying more once we move to our new house.

 

[E-HP]

The 21700 cell holders arrived. Turns out, the 3 cell and 2 cell holders don't mate together, even though they look like they do; bummer. I had enough 2 cell holders to more or less model how many I can fit in my triangle. Looks like 20S5P will fit, but I may go with 18S5P instead, so I can add 8Ah of lipos in parallel for extra range when I need it.




If I went with Samsung 40T cells, at 5P, that would be 175A, so if I'm only pulling 60A, I'm expecting very little voltage sag.

 

[thundercamel]

Designing a battery layout trying to maximize the number of serial connections if my favorite part of ebikes You wanted to go with a square layout instead of hexagonal? I've done both for our two upright bikes, and the square one did shed heat better, with the gap for air between the cells and the bag zipper open somewhat. If you can pack another parallel row with the hexagonal design, then you'd be drawing less amps per cell, but I'm sure you already know all this. I did get 21700 sized hexagonal holders for the recumbent battery that I'm building.

 

[E-HP]

You wanted to go with a square layout instead of hexagonal? I've done both for our two upright bikes, and the square one did shed heat better, with the gap for air between the cells and the bag zipper open somewhat. If you can pack another parallel row with the hexagonal design, then you'd be drawing less amps per cell, but I'm sure you already know all this. I did get 21700 sized hexagonal holders for the recumbent battery that I'm building.

Thanks for the tips! Actually, I haven't looked into the hex vs square, but I will now. It looks like I might be able to squeeze in 117 cells using all of the avaialble space with the square layout, and without a BMS (I will have it wired with balance leads so I can balance when I need to). So a few cells short of a 20S6P configuration; but if I can squeeze in enough cells using the hex layout, that seems like the best scenario for me, since 24Ah at 20S is enough for my riding currently.

So how much do I have to be concerned 21700 cells heating up, compared to 18650 ? I would only be drawing a fraction of the discharge rating, so maybe not an issue?

 

[thundercamel]

Sorry for the delay; I am moving to a new house next week and things are busy. My packs are 14s6p LG MJ1, which are rated at 10 amp max discharge. 60 amp per pack. I draw 30-35 amps from them, and even though they start around 20c, they heat up close to their 60c max by the time they're around half empty. The hexagonal pack heats up faster and takes longer to cool down. The square pack with air between the cells, battery bag zipper partially open on top takes longer to heat up, and cools down faster. Sounds really obvious after I've typed it out

I see the Samsung 40T rated at 30 or 35 amps max discharge; maybe there's a T3 revision or such. I was drawing 50% of max current, and you'd be drawing 33% of a 5p pack during a hard ride. The spec sheet says you can pull 45 amps per cell if you cut off at 80c surface temp! Also says to not re-enable BMS until they cool to 60c, which is a long time to wait on a bike.

Now I already pushed the temperature limits of 60c with my pack, and had to replace a few cells in the middle. I have the temp sensors hot glued to the surface of the cells towards the outside of the pack, so I lowered the temp cutoff to 52c or so. If you installed similar on your pack and set the temp limit to 70c, I'd say you have a chance of never hitting that temp limit drawing a current limit of 60 amps. If you set the temp limit to 60c, make a 6p hex pack or somehow have airflow through a 5p square layout pack, that's even safer and I do recommend, because replacing cells later sucks.

So how much do I have to be concerned 21700 cells heating up, compared to 18650 ? I would only be drawing a fraction of the discharge rating, so maybe not an issue?

In short, you are correct. Maybe not an issue with what you have planned. Everything I say here is my estimations though

 

[E-HP]

Sorry for the delay; I am moving to a new house next week and things are busy. My packs are 14s6p LG MJ1, which are rated at 10 amp max discharge. 60 amp per pack. I draw 30-35 amps from them, and even though they start around 20c, they heat up close to their 60c max by the time they're around half empty. The hexagonal pack heats up faster and takes longer to cool down. The square pack with air between the cells, battery bag zipper partially open on top takes longer to heat up, and cools down faster. Sounds really obvious after I've typed it out

Well I'm leaning toward the hex holders, just to get a little more capacity. I won't be running it hard enough to worry about heat, but I'm installing a sensor or two just in case. Now I just need to find a good source for the hex holders, which seem rare for 21700. This will be a project for next winter, which feels like it's right around the corner now, and the last winter upgrades haven't even been completed. Time flies.

So, for the last upgrade goals, I swapped the motor out for the Leaf and installed the thermistor and Statorade. I also swapped out the brake disc rotors to 203 in the rear, and replacing the bent 203 up front. So much for the actual planned upgrades. But I did change course to go with 24" rims, so that took some time planning and lacing the rim, and replacing the front wheel, and finding the right plus sized tires.

I didn't get around to relocating the lipo packs to below the down tube, replacing the brake calipers to hydraulics, or fixing my broken connector box. I'll need to take care of the latter just for safety purposes alone, since there are wiress hanging out of cracked cover. But the other stuff will need to wait for next winter, now that it's pretty easy to see it's not winter anymore....



I broke a seat rail a couple of weeks ago. Titanium even, but the seat was pretty old. I'm looking for a replacement, but swapped it out for the one from my full suspension bike. Funny, but that seat is narrower, but feels more comfortable. I was looking at wider seats for a replacement, but now need to rethink that. I'll use this seat for a 45-50 mile ride and see how it feels. It also has titanium rails, so it's decent.

 

[thundercamel]

Last order I bought 5 of these holder packs, 5 of these insulator sheets, and one of these 14s 60a JBD BMS units. Looks like I haven't added them to the first page of my thread yet.

 

[E-HP]

Last order I bought 5 of these holder packs

Those are a totally different style than I was expecting. Do they interlock so I can connect them together to see how they will fit in the triangle like with the square layout ones? I finally found these, which are the same as the hex style that's common for 18650 cells. I want to test fit before ordering 120 vs 100 cells.

https://www.batteryspace.com/battery-holder-for-21700-cells--offset---unlimited-expandable.aspx?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2tn1osiS-AIVyz6tBh32rwlJEAQYASABEgJP5vD_BwE

 

[thundercamel]

They do not interlock, and I just cut them with scissors to the length I wanted. I put two strips of Quick Grip glue between each row of cells and the plastic spacer. Makes for a solid pack when done.

The holders you found are pretty neat; similar (interlocking) to the square ones I've used before. They'd also leave a gap for air cooling when done, but rely solely on the holders (or something external) to hold the pack together. For my square pack, I cut two cutting boards to match the shape of the pack, and bolted them into a battery sandwich.

 

[E-HP]

They do not interlock, and I just cut them with scissors to the length I wanted. I put two strips of Quick Grip glue between each row of cells and the plastic spacer. Makes for a solid pack when done.

I still might end up going with what I have though, if space doesn't allow another parallel group.

It looks like I'm coming up on 7 months with the new setup with the Leaf laced in the 24" rim. Now I think 24" is just the right size and the Specialized plus sized tire has been a really good compromise, providing more cushion while not affecting my mileage too negatively. The tire is a legitimate 2.8" wide, and the rounded profile is good for cornering. The knobs are good enough to not lose traction on a 25 percent dirt hill, and perform well in mud, and decent on sand, so it works for any place I take my bike. Sand could be better, but at least I don't just flop over if I need to turn or maneuver.

I don't have an A/B comparison between the performance at 26" vs 24", since I laced the motor into the rim without every trying the 26", but the torque and acceleration continue to impress, even though I've been riding it a lot and used to it, and I'm guessing the slightly smaller rim just helps to improve those aspects. Plus, I only ride in low on the 3 speed switch, so limited to 4300W, which is also good for all of my riding, but there's more power available for a joy ride at the flip of the switch or changing the CA mode. I've actually decided that my eventual full suspension build will be with 24" wheels, which would allow me to go a size larger on the frame and still have manageable stand over height, and more room for the battery.

I did a quick ride out to Yerba Buena Island, in the middle of the SF bay, via the Bay Bridge on Saturday. 35 miles round trip with no side trips. The last time I rode there was a year and a half ago, with my old motor and the current frame My econo-e-bike, and before that was with the first frame, my old steel mountain bike (pic in the first post). Similar shot, but they've done a lot of construction work on that part of the island, so not the exact spot as the first pic.


One of the reasons I rode there was to see the progress of construction was on the adjoining manmade island, Treasure Island, which was built for the world's fair over 100 years ago using earth dredged up from the bay floor. It was later turned into a naval base, with a lot of military housing. That's all being replaced by a multi-billion dollar housing complex, with probably the best panoramic views of SF that you could find. Well, it was depressing to see all of the greenery gone, palm trees ripped out, and leveled, and not much constructed yet, plus they've blocked all of the access so I could ride around down there. Hopefully it will look nicer next time. This pic is from the top of the hill of Yerba Buena:


I ended up riding around Yerba Buena, which I never have before. I checked out the construction going on there, and stayed just ahead of the cops and security guards patrolling the area. I only had one security guard give me the "private property" routine, but he was cool and I just asked about the construction and what they were building. There was some pretty spectacular views of the bridge from below, so I snapped a bunch of those. It was a good way to spend a few hours on a day with perfect weather.

Here's a video riding up to the bridge, then over to Yerba Buena island. I generally ride pretty slow, 15mph, so I fast forwarded the video in a few spots:

I was at a little over half charge of my normal charge/discharge cycle routine (4.1V down to 3.7V) when I got home, thanks to the Leaf's efficiency! My butt can only handle about 50 miles, so I'm never worrying about the battery anyway, but I'm not tearing around at full throttle either. On this trip, I had mixed riding, but weighted toward more pedaling on the way there and more throttle on the island and on the way back. So more battery than I really need and more power than I ever use, so just right :lol:

As far as my winter upgrades go, I didn't get around to switching to hydraulic brakes, and haven't redone my connector box, and also failed to install my new used freewheel. There's probably a few more things I didn't do, but now it's riding season, so most of that will wait for winter.

EDIT: Looking at the bike as it sits today, I think the only parts remaining from the initial build, are the cranks, bottom bracket and rear derailleur. Everything else has been upgraded at least once, LOL.

 

[calab]

That is something I would love to test out, the riding difference between a hub motor set up in a 20" vs 22" 24" vs 26" vs 29/700.
I do not believe in mid drive systems, not for one bit. I believe you can have enough power in a hub motor to do just about all, unless of course you are in San Fransisco. Each case is different, you need to pick the right tool for the job.

You see the 29/700 is great for the little roll over affect on cracks and little bumps in the road that tend to add up on a rigid.
The only way to step up comfort is to then go full suspension, which means more parts, potential more repair and cost, but one could just get a suspension fork as a consolation prize, or a suspension seat which arent cheap. The problem I see there is seat posts come in certain sizes, buy a $250+ suspension seat, buy too big and sol, buy to small and adapters adapters adapters. Which era of bicycles do you want to be in, the new age stuff is to wonky. I just crawl like a baby at various speeds, I dont do no technical riding. Oh, then the sound of a mid drive, is different then the sounds of a square waved controller controlling at slow speeds, hear that orchestra sing and dog dont bark. Funny fact, during covid more and more people got a 2nd and 3rd dog. Why some dogs eyeball ya hard and other dogs dont care, who knows.

 

[ZeroEm]

Spokes doing ok? Can not tell the angel from the pictures. Sounds like they are not an issue. Glad the leaf is working well, it a great choice for power and still having a few gears.

 

[E-HP]

Spokes doing ok? Can not tell the angel from the pictures. Sounds like they are not an issue. Glad the leaf is working well, it a great choice for power and still having a few gears.

So far so good, but the wheel needs some truing, and I still need to replace some chewed up nipples to make it pretty. I keep saying I'll do that next time the wheel is off, but too lazy. Spokes aren't clicking or that just might irritate me enough to just do it :?
There's always something that's going to be tweaked, replaced or upgraded over time; I just remembered that I still have the Grin digital aux switch ready to install...

I didn't shift all day. Pretty flat ride and the bridge incline is long but not steep. I use my potentiometer for PAS power, so on the incline, I just gave it a little more power and pedal normally. Of course the digital switch would make that easier, lol. The hills on the island are 15% at most, but only for short sections of 50 yards or so, so just nudge the throttle to zip up those. That's the decision between twisting my left hand to shift and then pedal or throttle more, or to twist my right hand and pedal normally. The Leaf and CA combo makes it easy to make the lazy decisions.

Nothing major left on this bike since it's feeling pretty dialed in. It's down to the nice to haves, plus maintenance. The boken connector box is bugging me enough to do something about it soon though.

It looks like this summer there's a huge increase in ebikes, from what I've seen recently. Ranging from those $400 Costco toys to the $4000 levos or even suitcase bikes. It's almost proportional to price. For every levo I see I'd see 10 of the toy bikes or 3 moderately cheap factory bikes. There's decent amount of ones like the juice bikes level (for some reason, the juice-like riders seem to want to zip around on throttle more than the other bikes). The fat tires bikes are getting less common, or maybe just as common, but a lower percentage of the mix. The last few days, every time I stop, someone wants to talk about my bike and gas prices. Literally a 15 minute session of mixed questions and ranting each time. Of course, it's nice to be able to talk to people again, so I guess I should just build in time for that.

 

[calab]

Yeah even the slightest of slights and you can feel if the wheel is out of line.
Lately for me, the indications have been for the tire itself, casings break are cost the tire. I can feel when the tube bubble happens.
I have a slight case today that needs fixing, off to the community bicycle store at the Univercity to see if they got dirt cheap used tires which is a whole other game unto itself, is the tire still good, inspect. I put up with the wobble at various tendencies, if it gets to bad I know its time to act and not be lazy and cheap. But the most common is an out of line wheel, due to spokes breaking. Use good parts man and assemble those good parts in a good manner using good techniques. I often wondered to hire a wheel lacing wizard, perhaps the Grintech wheel guy, perhaps on my next motor, but yeah my Leaf 5t 1500w has held up nice, opened her up not long and bright shiney windings is what we like to see huh :thumb:

Just a heads up, the last few months have seen a spike in diy ebikes. Just my notations as I spin electrically. I honestly believe the high prices of ebikes on the show room floor of the bicycle stores have scared many away who dont have a lot of free cash floating around their bank accounts. They must've stocked up on herb and wasnt on the ball, liquor sales were covid strong at what cost.

The ebike toys are just that, childrens toys meant to carry around crack heads and children weighing a certain weight.

Toy bikes here, not many. Rad Wagon I havent figured out where those are coming from, perhaps Pedelec store ebikes or Amazon, Costco is just Jetson toy ebike. I would like to see Chalo on the Jetson. Legal power, only with the pedal version would it be legal.

Spokes doing ok? Can not tell the angel from the pictures. Sounds like they are not an issue. Glad the leaf is working well, it a great choice for power and still having a few gears.

So far so good, but the wheel needs some truing, and I still need to replace some chewed up nipples to make it pretty. I keep saying I'll do that next time the wheel is off, but too lazy. Spokes aren't clicking or that just might irritate me enough to just do it :?
There's always something that's going to be tweaked, replaced or upgraded over time; I just remembered that I still have the Grin digital aux switch ready to install...

I didn't shift all day. Pretty flat ride and the bridge incline is long but not steep. I use my potentiometer for PAS power, so on the incline, I just gave it a little more power and pedal normally. Of course the digital switch would make that easier, lol. The hills on the island are 15% at most, but only for short sections of 50 yards or so, so just nudge the throttle to zip up those. That's the decision between twisting my left hand to shift and then pedal or throttle more, or to twist my right hand and pedal normally. The Leaf and CA combo makes it easy to make the lazy decisions.

Nothing major left on this bike since it's feeling pretty dialed in. It's down to the nice to haves, plus maintenance. The boken connector box is bugging me enough to do something about it soon though.

It looks like this summer there's a huge increase in ebikes, from what I've seen recently. Ranging from those $400 Costco toys to the $4000 levos or even suitcase bikes. It's almost proportional to price. For every levo I see I'd see 10 of the toy bikes or 3 moderately cheap factory bikes. There's decent amount of ones like the juice bikes level (for some reason, the juice-like riders seem to want to zip around on throttle more than the other bikes). The fat tires bikes are getting less common, or maybe just as common, but a lower percentage of the mix. The last few days, every time I stop, someone wants to talk about my bike and gas prices. Literally a 15 minute session of mixed questions and ranting each time. Of course, it's nice to be able to talk to people again, so I guess I should just build in time for that.

 

[ZeroEm]

Laced my leaf 26" wheel put around 500 miles on it spokes seemed to need attention so Trued it up and added more tension as I don't have a gauge it's was all a guess but have never touched it again in the last 4 years.
You ride like me don't like to change my peddle assist for the odd hill just hit the throttle and zip up. depends on how much I ride but 75-150w was all that was needed unless was tired and heading home and used the throttle a lot.

Used to have the cost of riding my trike vs cars down a few years ago as far as mpg. Gasoline has around 17,000 watts per gallon i'm guessing now don't remember. I used around 1000w per 50 miles and had it figured that it cost me USD $0.18 to charge up my battery. My battery should take around 1,700 watts full charge so most of my charges cost me around $0.10.
For 9 months had a solar charger that charged my batteries but the buck charger did not last.

Remember stating that it got 5000 mile to the gallon at one point. If you look at the CA it will tell you the average watts/per mile used. when riding often and in shape for me had it down close to 5w/km. have my CA set to Km not miles.

Just things to brag to people about. the cost of travel not the money put in to the bike.

by E-HP » Jun 24 2022 7:05am

ZeroEm wrote: ↑Jun 24 2022 4:29am
Spokes doing ok? Can not tell the angel from the pictures. Sounds like they are not an issue. Glad the leaf is working well, it a great choice for power and still having a few gears.

So far so good, but the wheel needs some truing, and I still need to replace some chewed up nipples to make it pretty. I keep saying I'll do that next time the wheel is off, but too lazy. Spokes aren't clicking or that just might irritate me enough to just do it :?
There's always something that's going to be tweaked, replaced or upgraded over time; I just remembered that I still have the Grin digital aux switch ready to install...

I didn't shift all day. Pretty flat ride and the bridge incline is long but not steep. I use my potentiometer for PAS power, so on the incline, I just gave it a little more power and pedal normally. Of course the digital switch would make that easier, lol. The hills on the island are 15% at most, but only for short sections of 50 yards or so, so just nudge the throttle to zip up those. That's the decision between twisting my left hand to shift and then pedal or throttle more, or to twist my right hand and pedal normally. The Leaf and CA combo makes it easy to make the lazy decisions.

Nothing major left on this bike since it's feeling pretty dialed in. It's down to the nice to haves, plus maintenance. The boken connector box is bugging me enough to do something about it soon though.

It looks like this summer there's a huge increase in ebikes, from what I've seen recently. Ranging from those $400 Costco toys to the $4000 levos or even suitcase bikes. It's almost proportional to price. For every levo I see I'd see 10 of the toy bikes or 3 moderately cheap factory bikes. There's decent amount of ones like the juice bikes level (for some reason, the juice-like riders seem to want to zip around on throttle more than the other bikes). The fat tires bikes are getting less common, or maybe just as common, but a lower percentage of the mix. The last few days, every time I stop, someone wants to talk about my bike and gas prices. Literally a 15 minute session of mixed questions and ranting each time. Of course, it's nice to be able to talk to people again, so I guess I should just build in time for that.

 

[calab]

Better
Built
then
Bought

I dont mind those show room shines, so long as you did most of the work. Paint is a speciality, body work is a dirty job, a good mechanic is priceless. Thats why we venture out and do what we do, twisting wires togethers, bolting things to frames and dropouts. Spent money foolishly
like everyone else.