Brian I was going to moan about my worn out knee, your story will be my inspiration. Glad you're getting out there.
Fixed your link: RadRover Electric Fat Bike Version 5 (assuming you didn't go with the step-through frame) It kind of looks like the Harley of e-bikes - still a big jump from an electra glide to this. Have fun!
I just sold a 2018 Honda NC750X dct to buy a compact tractor. It was killing me not being on two wheels so I did a lot of research and bought this. It is good to get back out on a bike again with zero worries about getting back up hills or getting home again.
Well I got all excited over nothing. I must have just wished it was the bike, forgetting that I ordered a front rack. I assumed that this didn't require a signature, (FedEx's sent a text yesterday) they did warn that it was needed to receive the bike. It'll be a long month waiting for the advised "mid August delivery". When the Harley sells I'm hoping to turn those dollars into a jeep, wifey never liked riding on the mc and we haven't had a jeep or bronco in 30 years. Gotta have an open air vehicle!
Interesting observation - I pumped up the Kenda Juggernauts fat tires on this bike to 25lbs for road use, and went for a ride tonight. Previously they must have been very low when they left the archery shop where I bought it, because they wouldn’t even register on two different tire gauges. They didn’t look flat but I’m thinking they must have been in the 6-8lb range. I had a hard time keeping the bike moving more than a couple hundred yards in PAS1 before. By increasing pressure to 25 pounds I’m able to ride in PAS1 all the time, and contribute a fair amount towards going forward, as long as I keep my speeds low. In PAS2 it’s harder to keep up with the pedals but it’s perfect on hills. But there is no longer any bouncing with faster pedal cadences now either. Plus I put extenders on the pedals as my heels were hitting the pedal cranks before. That solved that problem nicely.
I managed to ride 13 miles today, pedaling strongly the whole time, with the PAS level 1 and 2 adequate to get me up all the hills. As my own cadence improves, I’m even able to keep up with the faster PAS3 for short sprints. So what at first I thought were shortcomings of this e bike, even with upgrading to a 46 tooth front sprocket, is actually working out quite well as my own cadence gets faster. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise but I just never considered my own efforts would improve so quickly. Not bad at all for a bloke who’s had 5 strokes.
I’ve got a nice 10 mile back country bike loop laid out now. I can ride the whole trip in the lowest PAS1 assist level now, including some fairly long hills, one of which is a 2 mile gravel road. Some e bikers near my sister are planning a 30mile (FLAT!) rails to trails bike ride on August 16 around Mt. Gretna PA. If I can keep up this ride daily till then, maybe increase a couple miles a week, I’m going to join them for the ride. And I might be able to complete that 30 mile trip with one fully charged battery. After ten miles on PAS1 today, the battery is still showing 5/5 bars on the charge level.
One of my dreams for years has been to complete the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. Due to limitations from prior strokes, I doubt I’ll ever be able to complete this pilgrimage by foot. However, one can “officially” complete the pilgrimage by bicycle by completing at least 200km of the route, and that includes via e bike. Apparently at least one company offers e bike rentals for the entire pilgrimage: FAQ: Cycle the Camino on an e-bike - Caminoways.com I’m definitely making this my next major trip destination, after my Maine to California and back van journey last fall. It might take a couple years to build up to it, but it’s now a when, not an if.
Really interesting thread! My wife and ride Mt Bikes (29ers) on a converted (not paved thankfully) rail trail near our place in VT. Earlier this year, a guy passed us on an e-bike. He was moving! They advertise them a bit locally on the radio stations in VT as being good for the hilly terrain. After reading this thread, I can see how they could be a huge help on exploring around us. We have a ton of dirt roads, class IV roads and the biggest obstacle; hills! That electric motor would really help.
I couldn’t have gotten back into riding a bike if not for this e bike. Now I’m riding ten miles a day, on the lowest assist level, so I’m doing most of the pedaling. Hills I never would have attempted are now no issue. These are my recent rides that I actually remembered to set my health app to record.
I purposely haven’t recharged my battery for three days now, just to see how far I can go on one charge. Riding ten miles a day on the lowest assist level PAS1, with no throttle, on hilly back country roads, I’ve ridden 30 miles on one charge. The battery indicator has dipped down to two bars out of five on hills this last ride, but recovered on flats at first to four bars, then to to three bars by the time I got home. I’m debating whether to try another ten mile ride (total 40 miles) on this current charge. If so I’ll do a continuous loop closer to home so I’m not “stranded” if the battery gives out. I have no idea how fast the second half of this current charge will deplete.
Chit Brian, you're gonna make me feel guilty (when my bike comes) I was going to REMOVE the pedals and rig up some old Harley floorboards and just carry an extra battery .
I certainly understand that. I just took the bike to a local guy who builds Bafang driven mid motor e bikes. He has all the cables and software to “jailbreak” my motor controller, and just reprogrammed it for me to increase the top speed from 18 where it had been set by the manufacturer to 24mph. That’s more than enough for me for now. (He could have set it at 30mph.)
I'm seeing a whole bunch of "hacks" that can be done to ebike's on YouTube, a lot of them are very inexpensive to do in comparison with hot rodding motorcycles or auto's.
Yeah, the biggest part of the cost for a lower priced e bike is the lithium 48v to 52v batteries, which can go for $300 to $1000 and more depending on their capacity
I had the electronic controller for my e bike reprogrammed for better functionality. The new e bike parameter settings increased my pace about 1.5 mph, so that meant I could increase my distance and still ride the same amount of time. I had been riding 10 miles a day at 11.5-12.5mph for about 50-55 minutes. Today I rode 11.5 miles at 13.4mph in 51 minutes. Nice improvement. I just ordered a 52 tooth front sprocket to replace the 46t so I can keep up my pedal cadence with my increased average speed. That way I’ll also be able to make more use of the lower two speeds of the old fashioned 3 speed gear rear hub.
