I came across this video and thought it would be a good one to share with others. This man rides a HP Velotechnik Scorpion FS26 Pedelec trike which is a factory made electric motorized trike rather than an after market add on kit.
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In case you had not noticed in many parts of the world we have entered into a season of colder temperatures. It doesn’t take much to notice it around where I live as the trails are nearly void of cyclists and there are very few walkers out. Most definitely we notice the colder temperatures with our bodies, but one thing I have noticed as well it it’s effect on my bell and squeeze bulb horn. In warmer weather both are fairly loud, but in colder weather their volume level decreases dramatically. Fortunately during such weather I really don’t have much need of using either one.
Another effect of colder temperatures I have noticed is that my battery for my electric hub motor loses a considerable amount of it performance range capacity. In warm weather I usually get 35+/- miles out of a full charge. In colder weather I am doing good to get in the low 20s. That is something which I am not happy about although truthfully in the winter time I don’t usually ride much farther than the low 20 mile range.
Of course, as humans we notice the wind chill effect on our bodies when out in colder temperatures. Just riding provides “wind” and if there is actual wind (which we usually have here in NE Indiana) we can really notice it, especially when riding into the wind. So riding along at 15-20 mph is not something all that pleasant in colder temperatures. Oh yes, we can always bundle up as much as needed … at least up to the point we can’t function. 🙂
For me personally definitely Spring and Fall are my two favorite seasons. Summer and Winter not so much. Too much heat or too much cold most definitely effect me. I try to ride regardless of the weather … but only to a point as I like to …
ENJOY THE RIDE!
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Many of you know what all has happened since early last summer when I bought my 350 watt hub motor kit from BionX. At first I loved it even though it topped out at 19 mph instead of the 20 mph they advertise. I did have a problem of the battery not lasting nearly as long as I needed it to, but BionX was good enough to replace the battery with a larger capacity battery free of charge. All was fine for awhile, but then the “pedal assist” mode stopped working and all I had was the hand throttle which was not only a pain to use holding the button on as I rode, but it drained the battery down much quicker than using the pedal assist mode. BionX sent a new replacement motor under warranty, but they sent the wrong motor. This replacement motor lacked the torque (power) the original motor had. It would go 20 mph though which I liked. I complained about the low power, but it pretty much fell on deaf ears thanks to the BionX dealer telling BionX that my unit works properly. I didn’t appreciate that as I know how it worked when I first got it. This dealer didn’t know what he was talking about and wouldn’t listen to me. I talked to both the dealer and BionX about getting a full refund. The dealer said that I would have to pursue that with BionX and BionX said I would have to pursue it with the dealer. After some weeks past I emailed BionX about all of this, but it seemed to fall of deaf ears. I mailed a letter to the CEO/President of BionX explaining everything to him. I asked for his help and told him if BionX continues to ignore me I will have no choice but to contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. BionX never responded back to me so I filed the complaint. BionX had so many days to respond to the BBB about the complaint, but they were silent. Being past the alloted days the BBB contacted BionX again and shortly after I got a phone call from BionX in which I was told BionX wants to resolve this to my satisfaction. I had been saying all along that this replacement motor is not the same motor I had originally, but I was ignored. As far as the dealer was concerned it was the same motor and it worked the way it was suppose to. The phone call from BionX finally got the truth out of them as they admitted that they had sent out the wrong motor … one which was not as powerful. So they sent out what was suppose to be the correct motor and I took my trike back to the dealer for the motors to be exchanged. While at the dealer I took the trike for a test ride and came back very disappointed. It still didn’t have the power of my original motor and the top speed was only 17 mph instead of 20 mph claimed by BionX. A few weeks past by and nothing changed so I emailed BionX requesting a full refund. I received an email reply today saying that the refund is being processed. Once I have the refund in hand and they have their hub motor kit back I will look into getting a different brand as I am sold on having a hub motor with torque sensing pedal assist and manual hand throttle. I will keep you informed of how that goes. Hopefully it will be better than my experience has been with BionX. It is a shame as I really liked the BionX unit. I will miss their display console and handlebar mounted control. They are probably the best of all those in use for e-bikes. I know many people have had no complaints with their BionX systems. I don’t know why I have had all these problems. I sure would have liked for it to work out otherwise. With my expensive but very nice BionX system I was hoping to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
update Jan. 16, 2018: I took the BionX system back to the dealer and got the full refund. Now I am looking to see what I will try next. I am definitely sold on having the electric pedal assist system. I loved having it and am anxious to replace it. BTW, getting a different system can be done for half the cost (or even less) of the BionX unit and it will involve a larger size (power) hub motor and a larger capacity battery.
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Sooner or later if we ride any kind of a cycle with pneumatic tires we are likely to get a flat tire. Many of us have been fixing flats since childhood so we can handle flats when they happen. However, some riders have never done so and don’t know how and are intimidated by such a challenge. In today’s world there is help as close as our computers/smartphones/tablets. There are quite a lot of tutorials available in the way of videos where things are not only explained, but they are shown making it even easier to understand. Here is one such video which is pretty comprehensive:
One cardinal rule is never use a sharp object such as a screwdriver as a tire lever. Doing so is just asking for problems as one can easily puncture an inner tube. This young person in THIS VIDEO uses two of them.
If you find you have a damaged tire that you are concerned about continuing on riding on there may be hope for it. HERE is an article I wrote on dealing with such tires.
HERE is an article I wrote on rear wheel removal and reinstallation.
One tip I would share here which makes a whole lot of sense, but is seldom mentioned in instructional videos is to use the punctured inner tube to discover the location in the tire where the puncture occurred. Simply carefully remove the inner tube from the tire paying careful attention to its exact positioning in the tire so that you can later place it upon the outside of the tire the same as it came out. Pump the punctured inner tube back up with air to discover the location of the leak. Once you know where the leak in the tube is at you can determine where to look in the tire for the cause of the leak. The cause may or may not be there, but if it is still there it is most important to remove it before installing the new inner tube. Otherwise it will just cause the new inner tube to fail also. Be very careful running your fingers around inside of the tire attempting to locate the cause of the flat as you could get cut or otherwise injured.
When I watch most instructional videos I usually find at least one thing they cover which I take issue with and don’t agree on. That’s okay, I guess. They can do whatever they want and I will do the task the way I want. That is just the way things are in this ol’ world we live in. I guess the most important thing is that we “git ‘er dun” so that we can …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
I came across this video which I thought was a pretty nifty homemade canopy.
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
Tadpole Rider 