E-Bikes

[puppykickr]

i got one of these things a couple of years ago.

at a cost of ~$1500 i feel that the battery is now about done for.

i have traveled about 1500 miles so that is about $1 per mile, which makes this the most expensive vehicle i have ever drove

a new battery is about $700

is this the common experience with these things?
because for me, it seems that this is just more of "You will own nothing, and you will be happy"

in my opinion, this is an expensive toy, not a viable means of transportation

 

[olbriar]

i got one of these things a couple of years ago.

at a cost of ~$1500 i feel that the battery is now about done for.

i have traveled about 1500 miles so that is about $1 per mile, which makes this the most expensive vehicle i have ever drove

a new battery is about $700

is this the common experience with these things?
because for me, it seems that this is just more of "You will own nothing, and you will be happy"

in my opinion, this is an expensive toy, not a viable means of transportation

I am sorry you are having battery problems. My first e-bike was purchased in May of 2019. I sold it to a good buddy so I could buy the new and improved bike by the same company. The original bike had 1,024 miles on it when I sold it and is still serving my friend well. The upgrade bike is closing in on 22,000 miles and most were logged using the original battery. I don't think your short battery life is typical but I can only base that on my own personal experience. I do not get the distance a charge provided when the battery and the other's I've accumulated were new but even the original battery will still give me close to 40 miles of aggressive riding per charge. My good luck with my batteries may be due to my riding style. I do not ride a given distance, I most often ride until I have drained a battery... sometimes two and sometimes three batteries. I never drain a battery below 15% remaining capacity and a rarely stop riding before I have the battery drained below 20% remaining. I charge my batteries after every use. It might well be a sweet spot for the batteries.

 

[olbriar]

It was a nice afternoon and there were a lot of people out enjoying the weather. I think all of the doggies got their masters off the couch for a walk today. There were a lot of bike riders out as well. Most of the traffic was in town but there were a few riders and walkers on the Sidewalk. I have a feeling the sidewalk will be very busy this spring. The hot of summer will thin out the crowd but it will be busy until then... or at least I hope so. It's fun seeing the people and I don't mind sharing the walk with them. It breaks up the ride and far more interesting than looking at the fields and the trash in the ditch.
I got in a decent ride this afternoon. I logged 33 miles and had my oldest battery pretty much drained. I went back to riding the RCS which just doesn't get as good of mileage as the Aquila. But hey, it's more fun to ride and my hands don't go to sleep.
I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow. It is supposed to be ten degrees warmer tomorrow placing the high in the low seventies. With the warm comes the much hated wind, however. It is predicted to be in the 20mph range at riding time with gusts in the thirties. Oh well.. Many Kansas counties are under a high wind warning for tomorrow into Tuesday. I don't know how bad the wind has to be to warrant a warning. 20mph seems bad to a bike rider.

 

[ozonetrooper]

I got the switch changed out, had to glob a ball of silicone on the back of it to reseal it from the water, will be reassembling the thing today.

The rectangle is where I had to reseal it, and the arrow is the new switch :

 

[olbriar]

As much as I love riding a bicycle, I never owned a motorcycle. I had friends with bikes that I rode and one at the cabin where I used to fish all of the time. I was always a bicycle guy. I sold my first e-bike to my buddy that was hanging up his leathers and selling his bike. He is my age and had accidently laid it down. Try as he might he had to get his son to come by and help him set it back up. He said it was just too much bike and the e-bike was perfect. Especially considering he lives only a few residential blocks from hopping onto one of the best bike trails in Kansas.

I hope you have a great time riding. There is just something about the wind in the face that is a rush. Be as safe as possible and good luck.

 

[ozonetrooper]

I have been battling a bad back for the past 5 days, it is getting better everyday, but not done causing me pain, yet. (A few days ago I could hardly walk and spent most of my time on the couch while gulping down hand loads of Tylenol.)

I did not get out to the garage yesterday and today is a wash. I go spend the nite at a sleep study place,tonite, cardio wants it for one of their tools in finding out why my heart is pausing while I am asleep !

Hopefully it will be a restful evening at Club Sleep Study and I will feel like putting it back together tomorrow.

One thing about being retired is I can do it when I want to .... or not !

 

[ozonetrooper]

BBS, (Black Babylon Sister), you know the song by Steely Dan, Babylon Sister ? (Babylon Sister ...SHAKE IT ! you got to shake it babe you got to shake it !)

 

[olbriar]

↑↑That is a sweet ride↑↑

Yesterday was a nice warm day and would have been perfect for riding except for a vicious South wind. I went riding anyway but I was the lone cyclist out there. I rode two loops to the town South and then rode around in town where the trees and houses gave some shelter from the wind. I logged a high wind gust at 36.9mph yesterday. I'm surprised the number wasn't higher. It really puffed me around. Thirty two miles was all I was able to comfortably do yesterday. My back was feeling the strain and mentally I was beat up. It is supposed to be a couple of degrees cooler today and windier. The wind warning on my phone calls for 20-30mph winds from the South with gusts up to 45mph. At least the kids will be back in school today so I might try riding around in town. It will be way boring but there shouldn't be much for traffic.

 

[ozonetrooper]

Thnkx, it is alot of fun !

 

[puppykickr]

I am sorry you are having battery problems. My first e-bike was purchased in May of 2019. I sold it to a good buddy so I could buy the new and improved bike by the same company. The original bike had 1,024 miles on it when I sold it and is still serving my friend well. The upgrade bike is closing in on 22,000 miles and most were logged using the original battery. I don't think your short battery life is typical but I can only base that on my own personal experience. I do not get the distance a charge provided when the battery and the other's I've accumulated were new but even the original battery will still give me close to 40 miles of aggressive riding per charge. My good luck with my batteries may be due to my riding style. I do not ride a given distance, I most often ride until I have drained a battery... sometimes two and sometimes three batteries. I never drain a battery below 15% remaining capacity and a rarely stop riding before I have the battery drained below 20% remaining. I charge my batteries after every use. It might well be a sweet spot for the batteries.

i had issues within the first year.
the battery would crap out when the digital meter had 2 out of 5 bars left

originallly i could go almost as far as advertized, some 80 miles or so, and that was at ~24mph out of an original possibility of 38mph

there were some weird things even with the shipping, such as the packing slip being pasted right over the hazardous materials (because of the battery) placard.

at the time of purchase, an extra battery was $700, and about $400 of that was due to hazardous material shipping costs

just over 1600 miles now, took it on its first ride this year today
seems ok, but im only going less than 10 miles total so its hard to tell

when these things stop working they make for terrible bicycles at 84 lbs for bike & battery with only 7 gears that are made for use with assist.

without the assist, you are in the lowest number gear and walking up any kind of a 'steep' hill

 

[olbriar]

You are not wrong. To ride an e-bike without any assistance is more than a challenge. My bikes weigh around eighty pounds with the eleven pound battery. I do have a nine gear chain ring but so what. These bikes are not designed to ride without some motor help. The lowest level of assist on my bikes is supposed to make it seem like a regular bike... compensating for the extra weight of the bike. I call BS. Nobody would ride such a turd bike. It takes getting into level one to come close to a well tuned bike and level two to actually feel I'm being assisted. Without the E of an e-bike, you might as well be trying to pedal a boat anchor.

It's a shame the batteries cost so much. I bought one additional battery from the bike retailer and caught it on sale. Six bills with free shipping. I lucked into buying a barely used battery from a guy that had the same bike but it had been ripped off. All he had was the battery and I bought it on the way cheap. Later I bought a rebranded bike like mine after the original maker went tits up. The bike only had three hundred miles on it and came with two batteries. Now I have two alike bikes with five batteries. I've lived a charmed life.