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E-Bikes

Monday is a light mow day. I mowed my five lawns then cleaned up and went for a ride. I rode to the second town South and back. It's a 32 mile loop. The loop is boring but there isn't any stop and go about it and I rode at a 24mph clip. It was great weather for the ride and it felt great to be on the bike.
 
The weather is just too enticing, I had to ride after mowing. I just rode my normal 21 mile loop but it was fun... it's always fun. The odometer read 803 when I shut the bike off. I've averaged 19.58 miles per day since I first rode the bike. That says how much fun I'm having!
 
The_Chief said:
I was just looking at a couple for the Darling Bride and me, but it's WAY down the priority list. However, thanks for the link!
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I get it. It's amazing just how many manufacturers are into the e-bike game now. A wise man does his research before he invests.
If nothing else, the linked forum should give a bit of guidance. I love my bike and can't imagine wanting more or different. I got lucky in my buying. I only looked at two other brands and I got the best for me of the three. That doesn't make the other choices I looked at bad buys. And now there are so many to choose from and I know nothing about them. I could spend an entire riding season just shopping the options. :)
 
Out of the blue, my potential buyer called me today. He still wants the bike but can't buy now. He called to let me know that he would understand if I sold it to another and for not to feel any obligation to wait on his purchase power to return. I told him that I appreciated his call and would not likely actively market the bike but wouldn't pass up an opportunity to sell it. He was plenty cool with that. A bit of communication goes a long ways.

I got in a ride today. Same old 21 mile loop. The bike is a blast to ride but I've come to know ever crack in the sidewalk and have even named some of them. :) I need to find another loop. The route I'm riding is starting to become boring.
 
The_Chief said:
Ride it in the opposite direction?
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It would be a completely different ride if I were to ride it backwards. I ride the loop clockwise which puts me going with traffic without crossing either highway. It would be a two stop and cross traffic ride going counterclockwise. There are two highways leading to the next town South. They are a couple of miles apart at my city but cross each other at the city South of me. Riding with traffic is state law and my loop keeps me in compliance and crossing traffic free. It would be fun to ride the opposite direction but dangerous at best.
 
I rode the same old loop this afternoon. I jazzed it up by riding as fast as I could. Instead of 22-24mph I was riding 30-32mph. That time of the afternoon there is zero people on the sidewalk so I only had to slow down through town. That was the way I used to ride all of the time in race mode on the old bike. I did all of that in assist level 2 which was a lot of work. I couldn't have rode like that a couple of months ago. It showed me just how much good riding the bike is for my old body. Besides having a blast, I've lost weight and gained muscle mass. I highly recommend bike riding for everyone and an e-bike to get your legs back.
 
I discovered a bike path leading North of my town. It's far from a direct route but eventually intersects the bike paths of Wichita. I have always thought there should be a path but I never considered it getting to the city that way. Google Earth showed me the path and I plan on riding some of it as soon as my battery gets topped off. I don't want to go exploring with only 30 miles or so charge remaining. My wife says I'll get lost and she might be correct. More battery is my friend. :)
 
I didn't get lost but I didn't access the river walk path I had hoped for. After riding 36 miles I came home and Googled my route again. I was on the correct path all along but what was a nice wide sidewalk turned into a narrow unmaintained walk designed for pedestrians. It felt all wrong so I headed back home. I found a better route to take... I will be riding a half mile or so of four lane road before I can hop onto the river walk path. Not ideal but better than walking the bike across a bridge and under a turnpike bridge because they are too narrow to ride. Once on the river walk. I will have no traffic to cross and have the river on my right side until I decide to turn around. I will never ride it to the end for it goes to the far NW part of Wichita and would be too far to ride on a single charge. What I did ride today was fun mostly because it was different. I think it will be a blast to ride along with the river for eye candy.
 
The first time around my loop this morning I caught sight of what appeared to be a ladies coin purse just as I blew by it. I made note of where it was and thought I'd slow down and investigate my next time around. It wasn't there the next loop but I found it miles later again along side of the highway. I stopped and walked back to investigate. It was a zippered coin case with the zipper tang broken off. It contained nothing and was unzipped. I can only assume someone spotted it and stopped to get it. Then removed the contents or it was already empty and then tossed it back out of their auto. I often fantasize about finding someone's lost item along the road and being that guy that returned it. I might have missed my chance today.

I'd like to be the guy that returned the trash people tossed out of their cars. Shame on them!
 
Unless my plans for tomorrow get spoiled, I plan to ride early. After putting my dinner on the smoker, I'm going to slime the old bike tires. Being as I'm not selling it anytime soon, I have a desire to ride it and compare it to the new bike. I'll likely just ride it a few miles to get the slime distributed but I'm way curious to compare the two bikes. I have just over a thousand miles on the old bike and just under a thousand on the new bike. I should be able to give an accurate comparison between the two. Besides, it's not healthy for the old battery to sit without being discharged now and then.
 
I didn't get as early of a start as I had intended but I'm on schedule now. I put my 21 miles on the new bike, slimed the old bike tires, and took it for a 12 mile ride. There is a slow leak in the old bike's back tire so the slime should fix that. I had the bottle of slime so it might as well be used. It's an easy project that takes about 15 minutes of time. The rides were fun. Though it was a beautiful morning, I found the sidewalk to the next town only mildly busy. I met two cyclists and passed one, I met one jogger and passed one, and met three pedestrians in my three loops to the next town. It must have been the holiday that kept the numbers low.

Comparing the two bikes was fun and interesting. The larger motor on the new bike makes its assist level 2 comparable to Race mode on the older bike. The cadence sensors seem to work the same on both bikes when in riding in 2 new and Race old. Where the big difference is noticed is the torque sensor between the two bikes. Not that the old bike is sluggish, it seems quite sluggish in comparison to the new bike. Torque measure the pressure you put on the pedals. The old bike is quite slow on reading that pressure in comparison to the new. I never thought it was slow but it is. It takes an accelerating down stroke of one pedal before it responds. The new bike just a fraction of pedal movement throws assist into play. It's not a big deal but that is the big difference between the two bikes. That and the fact that Race on the old bike is similar to level 2 on the new bike which has 3, Sport, and Race modes that are beyond what the old bike assist has to offer.
 
My ride today was windy! I've rode when there was a tail or headwind but this was a crosswind with gusts around 25mph. It was easy enough to crab into the wind but I couldn't help thinking that the bulkier bike, high rider profile, and fat tires caught more wind than my old road bike. I'm not disappointed in how the bike handled but wanted to mention the crosswind factor. If you anticipate a lot of crosswind, the bike's broadside might be something to consider when shopping.
 
I fought the North wind again today. Wind is a big bummer without some assist.... how well I know! I once rode a loop taking me miles South and it was all against a bullish wind. I was greatly looking forward to my return trip with the wind on my back. I no more started the return leg when the wind suddenly switched to the North bringing in a thunderstorm. I had to fight rain and wind all the way home. I needed some help that I didn't have available and I was thirty years younger.

I couldn't help but notice that the slow air leak in the old bike's back tire still exists. I didn't check the pressure but my guess by feel is it has lost a couple pounds since Sunday. I've also read, since sliming the old bike tires, that more product than I used is a good thing. I might have to add more slime to both bikes.

I rode again tonight. It warmed into the high 80s but the wind quit and it made for a beautiful night to ride. I logged 47 miles between the two rides.

After my ride this morning, I ordered a pair of cyclist glasses. They were fairly cheap and are designed to help shelter the eyes from the wind. I wear glasses but they are not designed to do anything but correct my vision. If these glasses help, and I can see well enough to ride :), I'll invest in some prescription glasses. The normal 20+mph wind I can deal with. When riding into a 20mph wind at 20+mph, the 40+mph wind makes my eyes water badly and they are red and irritated following my rides.
 
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I like my riding glasses. My vision isn't that great but keeping the wind out of my eyes is really nice. I rode yesterday morning and again last night with them. I will see what options I have for riding glasses with my prescription.

Being as I rode twice yesterday and after the last loop it was almost dark, it was late when I charged my battery. I'm not comfortable leaving it on the charger over night so I unplugged it when I went to bed. I charged it another hour this morning then decided I'd just use the other bike's battery and get my ride in before it got hot. I rode again tonight and decided it would be a great time to see just how much capacity the old battery still had. I logged 48 miles on the battery before it warned me it was low on charge. Not bad at all for a 2019 battery. I've not run the new battery down to that extent but I'm guessing between 55 and 60 miles would drain it.
 
I rode 43 miles with the new battery today. I had two bars of power remaining out of five. I was surprised at the amount of riders on the pathway to the next town South this morning. Yesterday was a nicer day and I was the only cyclist on the path. Today there were at least a dozen and perhaps fifteen other riders.
I did a little R&D on prescription cycling glasses. There are a number of options available. Nothing cheap or desirable is offered. The cheaper and most functional wind protecting glasses are a single corrective lens which is fine if a person needs the same correction for both eyes. Another option is to buy a shield lens that allows an insert of corrective lenses behind the shield with required correction for each eye. The third are oversized sunglasses that allow different corrections. The preliminary research was disappointing. More research hopefully will find better options.
 
It rained Monday so I had to miss a day riding. I rode yesterday and today on a freshly charged battery. I was working against some wind both days and only got 48 miles out of the new battery... which was the same miles I was able to get out of the old battery. With no wind I suspect the new battery will last longer than the old but they seem to be pretty close in compacity. One does have to consider that the new battery has already assisted over two hundred miles more than the old battery. I owned the old bike four years and the new one fifty six days. :) I guess that pretty much sums up how much fun I'm having on the new bike... that, and I'm now retired. I now have a lot more free time on my hands and I'm not fond of just sitting around.
 
That is extremely interesting and exciting for a bike rider. Nobody wants to deal with a flat tire but with a bike it becomes a big deal. No spare means you are on the side of the road trying to patch or replace a tube. I hope the company is successful and they eventually offer a tire that fits my bike. It looks like it's not a cheap option but the peace of mind while riding has no price.

Speaking of bikes, I'm well on my way to 1,400 miles on my new bike. I'm still riding daily and loving it!!!!
 
Before I rode tonight I checked the air pressure in my tires. They had both lost four pounds of pressure since I slimed them the eighteenth of last month. I don't know if that's good or bad. They are leaking at a rate that's not alarming but I'd like to see them hold pressure. I might revisit the sliming process. I have since read that most riders double the amount of slime I used per tire. It's an easy and cheap project so I will likely add more at some point.
It was a beautiful evening to go riding. There was very little wind and temps were in the low 80's. I was the only rider on my normal loop tonight. I was surprised.
 
I actually passed another E-bike this weekend. I had finished my loops and was in town heading home.
A big kid was riding a small bike, it might have been a foldable model, at least it had that sort of size.
We were on a residential street going up hill. He wasn't struggling but was going much slower than I was so I blew by him and hollered hey. He waved. I've seen a couple of E-bikes while driving but that's the first I've seen while riding.

Today was day 70 since I started riding the new bike. Some days I didn't get to ride and some days I rode twice. I've averaged 20.72 miles a day and having a blast.
 
It's been crazy windy here for the past two days. I just looked and tomorrow is to be more of the same. What a bummer. I might take the opportunity to clean and relube my chain and give the bike a good cleaning. I'm going nuts.
 
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