Video: Winter Solstice Morning Commute

[LesMcLuff]

If your idea of a good time is watching a video of someone commuting on his ebike to work on a cold, dark, snowy morning while listening to 5 of Canadian folk rock hero Bruce Cockburn's greatest hits. I have the video for you.

http://www.vimeo.com/8346389

 

[tritonwow]

Excellent.
Reminds me of a time when I didn't have a drivers license and HAD to bike or walk. Funny, I was thinking about that as I was working on my battery box this evening. 15 1/2 years old and I couldn't wait to get a license so I'd NEVER have to ride a bike again. ALOT of years later and I can't wait to get my bike together so I don't have to sit in traffic!
Was that a bike trail you go on at the first T interesection (right turn about 4 minutes into the vid) or were you just off roading it?

 

[beast775]

what a great video,and might i say what a great driver.i know how difficult driving in the snow is,i rode in northern ontario for years.great video,i will watch it again.how many miles was that voyage?

 

[ambroseliao]

I posted on your video page, but what kind of bike, light, battery, motor, tires, video camera, etc.?

Thanks,
Ambrose

 

[biohazardman]

Great ride and video! I am not equipped for that my bike is all over the road and I have to pick a rut and stay in it or I don't get far. Got a job closer to home now just a mile instead of 25 so I can ride in the snow again if I am careful.

 

[grindz145]

This is so awesome. My commute is about 16 miles and in the snow I am normally forced to take a car. I really only drive a car December-February and I have a feeling my next ebike build might allow me to get rid of my car all together. Great job. 8)

 

[zap]

My hat's off to you for riding in that kind of weather.

Very nice job on the video. The GoPro seems like a pretty good camera.

It was fun going through the "Morning Work Commute... Double Speed" and seeing the same sights during daylight.
I'll bet a split screen of both would make a good video also!

 

[LesMcLuff]

I appreciate your comments and video views ladies and gentlemen. Hopefully there are some ladies around, ebikes are for everyone. I'll try and answer all your questions.

tritonwow : Yeah at 4mins or so that is a piece of city owned green space. Nice little shortcut and it lets me avoid a set of streetlights.

beast775: Thanks for the compliment. I find the extra weight of my ebike has some benefits in the snow, it holds a line better and doesn't get jostled around as much by ruts as my other non-electric winter bike. My commute is slightly over 10km's long.

ambroseliao: You and the do it yourselfers might be disappointed to hear my bike has a off the shelf BionX system. It's 2008 PL-350 system with a 36V lithium battery mounted on a 2001 Rocky Moutain Vertex Team Only. The orginal suspension fork was removed and a rigid fork installed. The bike is very light for an ebike. The bike it is mounted on was at 23 pounds before the system was installed. I have disabled the speed limiter on my system which nets you only a few extra KPH's but makes the bike much smother to ride. It doesn't pulse the power at 32kph anymore and the power just seems to trail off nicely.

MY light system is this. On my handlebars I have 2 of cyglolites 600 lumens TrionX lights with wide beam pattern and on my helmet a 350 lumens cyglolite Mitycross with a spotlight beam. So combined lumens of 1500 or so. If they look good in the video they are even better in person. I love my lights.

The tires are Schwalbe studded tires. 303 studs in front and 108 studs in back. They work great but are very heavy. On a non-electric bike they are noticeablely more sluggish in acceleration and handling, but on my eibke I barely notice.

That brings me to my camera. It's a Gopro Hero Wide helmet camera. It's pretty basic with not a lot of features, but it is purpose built and rugged. It does not like low light conditions at all. I have tried to make night riding videos before the snow came and they didn't really work out. The snow on the ground makes all the difference and make this video much more viewable. That said I did add a video brightening effect in post production. Gopro has a new HD version out and I might upgrade to that one next summer.


biohazardman: I know what you mean about the ruts. That morning the snow was still soft and the car tracks had yet to really freeze and harden. They rarely threw me off my intended line but in that video it did happen 3 or 4 times. When it does the worst thing you can do is make a sudden correction, you just have to let the rut take you where it wants to and make a slow purposeful correction. Eventually you get back on course. This is what makes winter riding most dangerous to me. At any time ruts can take you a few feet off your intended line right into the path of traffic.When rut conditions are really bad, I will ride on the sidewalk if there is one around. Police have never given me a problem with this when conditions are that bad.

Merry Christmas everyone,

LesMcLuff

 

[LesMcLuff]

Here she is when the system was first installed. Obviously for winter duty those tire are gone, and the platform pedals were put on so my mom could try it. I ride Time Atac clipless pedals on all my bikes.

If you are curious about how my commute looks in summer, here is it with a couple route diferences ridden on a my non-electric cyclocross bike. Not to boast, by late spring my fitness is usually at a point where I am faster on my non-electric bikes for my commute. Since the torque cogging effect of my motor slows me down once I hit 38kph. Trying to get any extra speed on my ebike isn't worth the extra effort.

http://www.vimeo.com/6217227

 

[Patriot4]

That is a great video! I do not drive and ride my bike to work 2 miles away rain, snow, sun, wind, hot, cold, etc. Tonight I did the ride in 10 minutes. Here in Denver we had a light snow, maybe a 1/2 inch that covered the packed icy side roads that allowed me to go faster than I would normally due to added traction of the fresh snow. That averages 12 miles per hour and I was pushing it as I left the house late. If my math is correct using 10Km in 25 minutes, that makes your average 15 miles per hour average. That in snow is quick. How fast was your peak speed? I am definitly next year going to be riding on studded tires providing my financial conditions improve. My biggest problems is the frozen rutts or very Icy conditions. So far this year and once last year, lost it on ice when the morning sun had given it a nice wet shiny sheen. As in your video, I love riding in fresh snow as you can really plow through on an Ebike. Everyone at work thinks I'm crazy. Ray

 

[LesMcLuff]

That is a great video! I do not drive and ride my bike to work 2 miles away rain, snow, sun, wind, hot, cold, etc. Tonight I did the ride in 10 minutes. Here in Denver we had a light snow, maybe a 1/2 inch that covered the packed icy side roads that allowed me to go faster than I would normally due to added traction of the fresh snow. That averages 12 miles per hour and I was pushing it as I left the house late. If my math is correct using 10Km in 25 minutes, that makes your average 15 miles per hour average. That in snow is quick. How fast was your peak speed? I am definitly next year going to be riding on studded tires providing my financial conditions improve. My biggest problems is the frozen rutts or very Icy conditions. So far this year and once last year, lost it on ice when the morning sun had given it a nice wet shiny sheen. As in your video, I love riding in fresh snow as you can really plow through on an Ebike. Everyone at work thinks I'm crazy. Ray

Hello Patriot4,

Thanks for watching it. It wasn't a particularly fast ride compared to how fast it can be done spring, summer and fall. My average speed was only 24.7kph/15.35mph and my max was only 33.5kph/20.82mph. I was extra careful in the corners since I only had the one take and didn't want to go down on video....lol.

Yes, people at my work think the same way. It's nice to have sites like this where we can provide support each other to keep riding through winter. This is the first winter in a few years where I have been really diciplined about riding to work as much as possible. I have driven my car to work this year less than 10 times.

 

[grindz145]

. This is the first winter in a few years where I have been really diciplined about riding to work as much as possible. I have driven my car to work this year less than 10 times.

That is really awesome. I have ridden my motorcycle/bicycle/ebike more and more every year, to the point where I am wondering why I am paying 70 bucks in insurance on top of all the other car costs and maintenance hassles to have it sit around and drive 1000 miles a year. I live out in the sticks a bit so its a little bit harder, but I am definitely contemplating getting rid of my cars all together. My girlfriend still has a car just in case anyway, but I would use the ebike in particular to commute in the sometimes heavy snow and ice around here. I have about 16mi one way to work, but It is still quite doable in the snow. I have a set of Nokain extreme 296 tires with studs which work incredible well on my old XC bike. Besides the extra drag, its like riding on wet pavement in a complete blizzard. I am thinking a 2wd purpose built winter ebike will probably do the trick

Keep up the good work. Ill be joining you shortly

 

[morph999]

loved your video.

 

[Lock]

My girlfriend still has a car...

Hehe... I stand across the road from a campus w/50K young ppl... so get to chat `em up all the time about `ectric two wheels... In one recent convo a young guy insisted he "needed" a car to get the grrls.. funny plus sad I figure... But I am urban 21st century north american and YMMV
;->
Lock

 

[grindz145]

Theres a very small subset of girls that will hop on the back of your motorcycle and never care. But then again, those are the keepers Of course we have been together 7.5 years now...