Broken rim
It has not been all plain sailing with my electric bike. I have done around about 500 km on it so far. I did have a problem with the rim on the back wheel that has the motor connected to it . I hit a pothole and I had to replace the rim and that cost me €36. I have had to replace one spoke in the wheel since then. I have to constantly check that the spokes are tensioned properly. Maybe what I need to do is to go round all of the spokes and to put on some stuff to lock the threads, just to stop them from undoing themselves as I ride the bike.
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| Down at the beach with my eBike |
Broken battery carrier
The battery for the bike is held in a rack on the bicycle above the back wheel . The battery is very heavy and it is too high and too far back to give good balance for the bicycle. I would like to move the battery to a place near to a lower centre of gravity. The latest problem is that the rack for the bicycle came loose and broke and I have had to do some more running repairs to the electric bicycle. In time I will try to find a way of getting the battery in a different place . If I was to start again with this electric bicycle project by using a kit then I would go for the battery that fits into the water carrier position.
Recumbent bicycle next time
I would be quite interested in getting a bicycle that has the recumbent cycling position. The problem with this sort of bicycle for me is that they are more expensive to buy. This is because there are not many of them out there and so vendors tend to charge more money for them. With those recumbent bicycles usually there is a place where it is quite easy to situate the battery lower down for a good centre of gravity . They bicycle that I have now is very wobbly when I'm going around some corners.
Plenty of exercise
I really enjoy riding the electric bicycle and I get quite a bit of exercise from it too. I could just sit on top of it and let the electric motor do all of the work. Usually though, I prefer to pedal and for me what I get from very cycling with the electric bicycle is the fact that I can go much faster. I did use my other bicycle the other day and I found it quite slow in comparison. Another thing with the electric bicycle is that cycling into the wind on a bicycle is hard work, but with the electric bike it is a little bit easier. I can keep up a similar speed as I would have without the cycling into the wind problem.
Electric bicycle is fun
There are some people that are diehard muscle usage cyclists that look down upon the electric bicycle. They also look down upon the people that ride electric bicycles . To a certain extent this is reasonable because most people that write the electric bicycles are the old folks who only ride them very slowly because that is all they can manage. I come at the electric bicycle usage from the point of cycling faster and still getting some exercise . It is also true that I actually get more exercise due to being more often cycling than I would be if I was just using an ordinary bicycle. Today I am missing my electric bicycle because I didn't have enough time to use it for getting to work and I had to use my car instead. I spent too long fixing the rack for the battery this morning. So now I am just looking forward to being able to get back on the bicycle again tomorrow.
Leaning along the way
I seem to know what's what with electric bikes now, much more than when I was buying. Sometimes that is the only way to find things out - Dive in and test it personally. You can ask loads of people about what you want to know about and you will get various answers. Some people are more helpful than others. In any case I have found out that getting a bike with suspension on the part that will be getting the electric motor. It makes the spokes of the wheel last longer. Definitely get a bike with the battery positioned in a low centre of gravity to help the handling.
