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E-Bikes

I took my empty mow trailer to Lowes and loaded up the border stones I needed. I got them in place and then did my mowing. That put me into the middle afternoon before I was able to go riding. I saw a few riders on the sidewalk this afternoon. It was a bit windy but it is Kansas. I came home when I was low on battery and ate dinner. I then went riding again. I logged 74 miles today. What wind there was earlier died down this evening and made for some perfect riding conditions. I rode upon a group of cyclists tonight. I followed them for a while until the dad noticed me and he stopped his crew. I stopped and shot the bull with the dad. He and his three sons, I'm guessing the youngest five and the oldest ten, were all riding e-bikes. They were all just out for a spin and nobody was pedaling. I proclaimed, e-bikes are a wonderful thing. The dad readily agreed. It was fun watching them all coasting together. At least they were doing something together! Later, I caught up and passed a young lady that had a small child in a carrier on the back of her e-bike. That's the second time I've see them out enjoying some bike time. She was pedaling but I'm sure she was using some assist. That's a neat use of the e-bike.
 
Shop called ... it's fixed ! ! !

I ok'd some recommended maintenance and should be getting it back next week ! ! !


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I had a full day and riding was just the icing on the cake. I mowed my lawns and then went South and mowed my cabin property. I gave it the deluxe mow that it gets each spring. Not only mowed but trimmed around all the trees and what is the high water bank. I've seen the river that high twice though the years but it's a rare deal. It's impossible to mow and I take the string trimmer to it each spring. I came home and grilled out some chicken. I went riding after dinner. It was very windy today so I didn't miss much. I logged 33 miles before dark.
I saw e-bikes all over town today while mowing. I saw an older lady riding a full size e-bike and I saw a young couple riding scooter type e-bikes. The rest I saw were males riding road bikes that have the battery in the down tube. I thought to myself, the number of e-bikes I'm seeing this year is at least triple what I was seeing last summer. I know the number will increase once school is out and on days that the wind isn't in the mid twenties miles per hour. When I was riding tonight, I met just one cyclist on a traditional road bike on the sidewalk South.
 
I finished up the mother's day / birthday flower garden for my wife today. I was pretty much worn out by the time I had the garden completed. I rested up some and then decided I would ride. It was very windy but oh well. I headed South and my back was hurting. When I started to battle the South wind it really was bothering me. I decided that when I got back home I would just call it a day. I was just departing the town South when the assist became all but non responsive. Instead of cutting out now and then, the motor would assist now and then. I had the wind on my back and found that the throttle still worked. I stopped and unplugged the sensor cable and then plugged it back in which gained me nothing. I got home and came in and pouted for an hour. I then went out, turned the bike over, and changed the washers adding a fraction more distance between the number nine gear ring and the sensor. Flipped the bike back over on it's wheels and rode across three blocks, down to blocks, across the three blocks, and back home without a single cut out. I came in, changed back into my bike clothes, and took off. I rode around the block and back home. I had zero assist. I'm sorry.. I'm mad as hell. I can't fix something that is that fickle. What made it work.. and what made it stop working again? I simply do not get it. My wife said flip the bike over and back again and see if it's fixed again. I laughed but she might be right...

I looked back through this thread. It proves to be a great source and timeline. I read that the controller, like every darn bit of an e-bike, is not expected to last as long as it has on the bike. I took the upgrade controller I put on the bike when it was new off of the bike and put the original back on in hopes it would fix the problem 200 miles after the new sensor install. It fixed nothing so I put the upgraded controller back in the bike. I plan to put the original controller back in the bike tomorrow. The test will cost nothing and I can do it now. I will search for a new sensor as well.
$200 sensor
$150 motor
$200 drivetrain
$550 towards a new bike and the more I spend the worse it seems.
 
The controller swap gained me nothing. I ordered another sensor from the same guy I bought the last after market sensor from. I remembered when I installed the new sensor last time that it lacked almost an inch of cable being long enough. I stretched and pulled and even wire tied the connection together. When I put the original controller back into the bike, it had plenty of extra cable to connect to the sensor. The cables were the same length but the controllers are different in length making the wire too short. It's quite possible that tight cable is causing it to cut out... maybe.. I don't know. In any event, I have another ordered that should be here Wednesday. I'll not be stretching the cable on this sensor.

It was dang windy again today. I test rode the RCS after the controller swap which didn't take but a couple of blocks riding. I put on my bike clothes and took the Aquila for a ride. It is a bit under powered to fight the wind but I sure would have hated trying to ride with no assistance. I pretty much drained a battery before dinner and another after dinner. I logged 74 hot windy miles. I saw nobody riding on the sidewalk South.
 
I had hopes of getting in a good ride before it got super windy but it was blowing big time when I got up. I took my time and had my morning coffee and then went riding.
I only rode 24 miles and put the bike up. I have a low spot in my yard where a tree once stood. I had the tree felled and the stump ground but the root system eventually rotted away. I spent the day reviving my rototiller and tilling up the area surrounding the low spot, added a half dozen bags of top soil, and reseeded the area. I then fixed dinner and ate and then went riding again. It was windier than it was this morning. I rode another 20 miles and it was dark. I didn't see anybody riding tonight but I did meet a couple riding standard road bikes, with the wind, on the sidewalk South this morning. I've seen them a number of times this spring. It's always fun to see people enjoying a bike ride.

The guy I ordered the sensor from left me a message. He said he will ship it early tomorrow and I should receive it Wednesday. I'm not really in a hurry for it. I doubt it is the answer to my RCS power struggles. I owe it to the bike and my peace of mind to give it a try. I don't know what I'll do next. I will likely wait until the spring rush is over and then see if the best bike shop in town has a clue or know of someone that is an e-bike specialist.
 
I am scheduled to go pick the Harley up tomorrow, it is about a 15 mile ride to get home.

Talkin weather heads are saying thunderstorms for tomorrow.

It may have to sit up there another day or two.

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It still hasn't rained here. Just North there is an incredibly intense system but it's not looking very promising to sag into my area on it's way North East. The winds were brutal today. I had a plumber scheduled to clean out my sewer line this afternoon so I hung around until he showed and did his thing. I then fixed dinner and then went for a short ride. It was almost fun trying to ride. The wind gusts would nearly sweep the bike out from under me at times. There was no relaxing or riding without both hands on the handlebar. I logged 26 miles while playing in the wind. The max gust my station recorded was 36.9 mph. My station is in town surrounded my many mature trees and rows of houses. It was unreal out on the sidewalk and the highway siding. I had my riding loop to myself.
The sensor I ordered shows that it has entered the UPS system. There isn't any additional delivery information provided. It will get here sometime. I'm not in a hurry for I fear it will gain me nothing.
 
No riding for me today. Following last night's rain, the temperature dropped big time today. It was a bit over thirty degrees cooler than yesterday. With a stout wind from the North, overcast sky, and temps in the fifties, I decided mowing was all the outside activity I wanted.
I did see a UPS update that the new sensor is predicted to be delivered tomorrow.
 
I received the new sensor I had ordered this afternoon. It's the same sensor from the same guy that I put on the bike last fall when I first encountered assist cutouts. As I stated earlier, I had little faith that replacing the sensor again would fix my bike but I was wrong. The first replacement sensor had a problem that got worse over time. I could have saved myself a lot of frustration months ago if I had questioned the quality of the sensor. Instead, I started changing and replacing all of the other electronics. I can't beat myself up over it. The sensor worked most of the time. It just never acted as it should. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure the bike is fixed now. I rode 62 miles after the new sensor install and the bike felt like it was brand new. I ride tomorrow.. who knows. I think it's fixed. Time will tell. I can't begin to express how badly I want that bike to work. It is so much fun to ride when it's working. It was cold and windy today and I couldn't make myself quit riding. I was the only person out riding today and it's a good thing. I don't think there was room on the sidewalk for anyone to ride by my smile.
 
Sometime, before I got up, it rained just a little. It was just enough rain to get everything wet. It was in the mid fifties and the radar looked like there was more rain heading my way. I waited around hoping it would either really rain or the sun to come out. Neither happened so after my coffee I went mowing. By the time I got back home it had warmed into the low sixties. I went riding, naturally. It was still damp and not great weather but I wanted to put some additional test miles on the new sensor. I rode 34 miles and came home to get the rest of my dinner cooking. I had a PC problem that I couldn't fix and wasted my time trying or I would have had a longer ride after dinner. As it was, I only logged 57 miles today. It was misting pretty heavily at times so it wasn't like a great evening to ride. I have 119 miles on the new sensor and it hasn't had a single problem. I'm gaining confidence that it really is repaired this time.
 
We did some shopping yesterday morning and my son was coming over early afternoon so I had a short window to ride. It was nice and no wind so I was anxious to hit the trail. I was on the return leg of second loop when I had an instant flat. I had everything I needed to replace the tube and get home before my son showed up.
I pulled the wheel and replaced the tube and reinstalled the wheel to find that I had some sort of problem. I was in a hurry so I don't know what I did wrong but the bike could not coast. If the wheel moved, the chain moved. It didn't matter which direction the bike traveled. As I was trying to figure it out, a man stopped and offered help or transport. I took him up on a ride home. We loaded up the bike and my scattered tools in his van and I thanked him over and over for his kindness. He lives in the town South of here and has seen me on both bikes and on the sidewalk and the highway many times. He recognized me by my riding jersey. Thank you Nathen for your desire to be a good man! I will fetch my bike out of the shed when I get to the bottom of my cup of coffee and try to diagnose the problem and put a fix on it. I worried about it all night and lost sleep over it. The problem wasn't evident yesterday.
My trophy size flat culprit:
Flat1.jpg
 
I'm not totally but pretty certain my motor is done. I either ruined it while working my way around it breaking the tire off of the wheel or I damaged it when I bolted it back into the bike frame. The cassette (gears) on the hub motor no longer free wheels when I stop pedaling or try to pedal backwards. I removed the cassette from the motor and inside is what appears to be a washer that has opposing flat sides. I can't find a spanner wrench that will fit it but I used a needle nose pair of vice grips that will reach down in the cassette ring spindle and tried loosening it. I got it to barely turn which allowed the cassette to once again free wheel in reverse. I put it back on the bike but when I tightened it into the frame, the cassette was locked down again. It would be helpful if I had a clue as to how the damn thing is built. I've watched every break down vid on YT but none depict my particular motor. I looked online for another motor without any luck. I did find one on ebay for $999.99 lol. There is a guy on fb that posted he had a new front and back wheel assemblies for the bike in early May. I asked and now wait for his reply if he still has it for sell. If not... I think I'm done.
 
There was a threat of rain this afternoon so I put the back wheel back into the bike good enough to roll it into the shed. I didn't run back out to the shed and start working on it again after the threat was over. I wasn't in the mood. I might try to work on it again tomorrow and I might not. I rode the Aquila tonight. It does well when the wind isn't blowing like today. I rode 40 miles and saw five riders on the sidewalk. It was a pretty evening. When I was through riding, I pulled the battery from the Aquila and stuck it in the RCS to see how many miles it had on it when it died. 24,001

Part of my shopping yesterday was to run by the bike shop that laced my motor into my wheel last fall. I was needing some riding gloves. Something about the geometry of the Aquila makes my hands go numb. It happens rarely on the RCS but I thought the gloves would help. I rode with them on my Iguana years ago for the same reason.
I asked the guy working there if they would work on my RCS. I told him I thought I had it fixed but more miles would tell the tale. He said NOPE..... sorry. They did service on them while Juiced was in business but the scarcity of parts they moved on.
It made me feel better for my months of trial and error.

I thought I found @ozonetrooper 10mm wrench today but it was a 13mm. I found a locked padlock that I can try to pick and I found a slotted screwdriver. I hauled it all home and tossed them in the found tools pile.
 
I pulled the ol' olbriar late night compose and fail to post trick with the above... my apologies. I got up this morning to a fb message from the guy with the wheels. It sold the front wheel but still has the rear with the motor I need. I asked for a price and if he is willing to ship. Now I wait and see. It's almost a dream come true so it might be... I'm nervous. I'm still drinking my morning coffee. After a relaxing and optimistic morning I plan to do round two with my existing motor. I'll pull the wheel back off of the bike and try once again to loosen or adjust the clutch within the motor. I have no faith in fixing it but it's not like I'm going to harm it.

The time spent wasn't wasted but I didn't fix the problem. I found that the motor access cover was a bit loose. The allen screws were loose so tightened them. I next discovered that the shaft that passes through the motor has a fraction of lateral play. It has something inside of the motor that is supposed to prevent the movement. Pulling the shaft one direction allows the clutch to work and pulling it the other makes it stationary or unable to freely move. There isn't a way to tighten the wheel into the frame without binding the clutch. Perhaps tearing the motor apart would expose whatever is not preventing the shaft travel. .... a project I might have to explore someday.
 
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