I bought an electric bike

[caja-dglh]

Is the controller spec thing a commitment to open source or a way to allow people to go at illegal speeds? I still can't get used to disk brakes on bikes.

It does look smart.

disk brakes are brilliant except when it comes to home maintenance.

[hobbes]

Is the controller spec thing a commitment to open source or a way to allow people to go at illegal speeds? I still can't get used to disk brakes on bikes.

It does look smart.

Quite the opposite in fact. You can change the speed limiter so it'll go 22mph instead of 15.5mph but that's illegal in the EU.
The main benefit is that they set the bike up to accelerate as quickly as possible to 15.5mph and stay there. thats a bit fruity for me, especially on London roads (even though it was designed here.)
But as it's a generic controller there are all sorts of settings you can change. For example you can set it so that it gives a range of assistance levels depending on what you want, rather than all the power all the time which is their default setup.
So after a load of begging, they released the programming guide.

[Tony C]

Good luck with it, Hobbes, it could be a life enhancer.

[hobbes]

It finally arrived. I had to swap the bars and the saddle for different reasons. (The bars it came with were tragic, like the bars on a Raleigh 75 and the saddle was designed for someone rather less padded than I.)
From a couple of short rides it seems well made and good fun.
Need to get the brakes tuned up though. I've never had disk before.
It also came with mudguards (which I didn't order) and a kick stand (likewise) and the tyres are enormous. I reckon getting rid of them and putting on normal tyres will make it feel a lot more manoeuvrable.

[Incandenza]

For the longest time, I really disliked the look of e-bikes. They were generally enormous fat-tire comfort bikes or bikes with some really ridiculous looking frames. Now they're getting a bit more traditional looking. I'm interested in RadPower's Rad Mission model, which looks like a regular hybrid (though with a giant battery on the down tube):



It's also the cheapest bike that RadPower offers. Still, it remains over $1000 and I can't just spend that much on something exclusively for myself at this point, especially when I probably wouldn't be riding it all that often. If I ever get back in the office on a regular basis, then perhaps.

[Ginger Yellow]

Finally made it to Richmond Park this weekend for the first time since I got my bike. About 17 miles each way and then about seven miles around the park, which is the longest ride I’ve done since last summer, so I was pretty knackered by the end of it, but it was well worth it. They had closed at least some of the roads to cars, which was nice - not sure if that's permanent. Also it’s the first time I’ve been in West London in over a year, so it was fun just seeing new or at least less familiar places. Slightly scary coming back along King’s Road, however, which I’d never cycled before and does not have good cycling provision for most of it.

[caja-dglh]

Chelsea always was awful for cycling - I always used to shift over at Battersea Bridge and go that side from there onward when heading to Putney or other areas West but South of the Thames. I seem to remember making the mistake of going through Chelsea once and missing the bridge one other time. Mistakes not to be repeated.

[Ginger Yellow]

On my way there I was only north of the river between Southwark Bridge and Chelsea Bridge, which is almost all protected cycleway along the bank now. I made the mistake of allowing my routing app to decide the way back for a bit of variety.

[slackster]

Finally took the e-bike plunge last week - a Raleigh Motus Tour - as the hills in Pembs are even more of a grim challenge for an old codger than the High Weald, where we were before.

The blurb claims the battery will see you through 105 miles in eco mode, but realistically you can knock a third off that, and more if you use the higher-powered assistance modes. That’s still a good 4+ hours of leisurely-paced cycling without blowing out of your arse up the inclines, mind. Which makes cycling pleasurable again.