Retired boomer, out to walk my dogs, ride my bike, and hike the forest paths around Monroe County Indiana. Recently found ADHD runs in my family, and apparently gallops in me…
This RadMini had a electrical problem, a bad connection led to a fire, no one hurt. But that spark that ignited the problem fried not only the wiriong harness, but the alao controller. Once those were replaced, it was possible to ride, but rode intermittantly wacky. So I replaced the LCD, and voila, it worked! All three parts were damaged by the voltage surge caused by the faulty connection.
But wait, there is more! For some strange reason, the wired-in headlight stays on unless the battery is turned off, not just the display! This seems to be a well known glitch with the upgraded RadRunner/Mini controllers. Fortunately, my well informed client understands the conundrum (she pointed it out), and is happy that her flaming RadMini is back on the road!
RadPower Mini Repair
This is a great ebike, unfortunately, it was discontinued by RadPower in favor of the RadExpand, and/or the RadRunner, (which is not foldable), but I think this one at least will live on for a number of years.
Our way of life (where cars have primacy in city planning) makes biking dangerous. As pointed out in the video, biking is not dangerous, being hit by cars is dangerous. Separated biking infrastructure makes cities better for everyone, motorists included.
Here in Bloomington we have the new 7-Line separated bike lane along Seventh St, and certainly there have been complaints from some motorists, but I don’t get it!
I’ve traveled Seventh Street between Walnut and Dunn Sts. several times in my truck, and it is now a faster trip, as there are no stop signs. The lanes are narrow, so you don’t speed even going downhill, but with an even pace, it is quicker than stopping at every cross street as in the past. By prioritizing bike traffic, traffic flow was improved!
Helmets verbotten? No, just funny
We need to reclaim our streets from the car/oil industrial complex that has almost taken over our public spaces. Our streets need people, bikes, buses, skateboards, scooters, onewheels, or any appropriately sized method of transportion. Two tons of steel, glass, plastic, gas, and oil is not needed to pick up groceries!
So while I am on this Holland theme, here is another great video from Holland. I’ve found that many of the ebike curious who come into the shop want most of the features mentioned in the video. Why? Because so many folks want to use ebikes for more than recreation, they want it as main form of transporation, to work, to school, to the store, to church, to the park…it is amazing how many activities require short trips that can be done on a bike/ebike.
I wrote the post below back in 2007, when I first started riding my Rans Stratus, the long wheel base recumbent that you may have seen me riding around the county. I had been riding “Long Green”, an older Rans that I got from Kevin Atkins, (thanks Kevin, you changed my life!). I had been riding my Trek hybrid on long trips for a couple of years, and developed a real pain in the neck from the riding position (in addition to a new computer job where my bifocals caused me to have a chin up position, just like when leaning over a bike). Both contributed, but I had to keep working, so something had to change with my riding, and thus the recumbent.
What a joy it was to ride pain free, and with the easy rider seating, I was free to scan the sky and surrounding scenery rather than the road in front of me. And with no pressure on the prostate and all, I was never going back, and least on the long rides.
So after my double bypass operation, I was not in shape to resume my normal 4-5000 miles/year schedule, but there was no way I was going to stop biking, and I bought a used Trek cargo ebike, and rode it around town for a year or so before wearing out the battery. I searched the web and 4 years ago bought my RadWagon, which has been a great city bike for me. But it wears on my wrists and butt on longer trips, and so with Emmanuel’s expertise, we retrofitted the old Rans with a front hub motor and a large capacity battery. Now I can again ride all the great ridges and valleys Monroe county has to offer in comfort!
I was impressed with this Aventon Aventure, a 26″ fat tire mountain bike style that checks all the boxes for sturdy, well designed and good looking. It has an SUV vibe for sure, you feel really secure when riding. Unfortunately, none of that helps if the a fall happens, which was the case for this beast.
After the fall, it just would not shift worth a darn, and it was easy to see on quick inspection that while the derailleur itself was just scratched, the hanger was bent several degrees out of true.
So I removed the derailleur, took a ride to the hardware shop and got a long fine thread bolt of the correct diameter, and screwed it into the bent hanger. I applied some weight and leverage to the bolt, eyeballed it once, applied some more pressure, and voila, as close to perfect as I could get.
I reattached the derailleur, tightened the cable, set the high and low limit screws, and then (to my surprise) indexed the gears so that there was smooth shifting from top to bottom. I felt good that I was able to repair with having to replace anything.
But, if this were to happen again, I would want to replace the hanger, as it is softer metal, and will break with sufficient stress. But getting the right replacement is often a hassle, as each manufacturer has their own design, and with the supply chain issues we have, it can be a long wait for parts. So I think I did the right thing for now!
On the Aventon, the bent hanger would not allow the gears to get past fourth gear.
Last week the City hosted the Ebike Curious Event on Kirkwood in front of People’s Park and the Bike Garage, and we had nearly a dozen different brands (and one home-crafted) ebikes on display. There were two recumbents, two folding fat tires, three cargo, and three commuter style ebikes. Quite a wide range, showing the various uses there are for ebikes in our city!
Tall Steve’s Hase Delta RecumbentBlix Skyline and RadWagonClassic Raleigh & Espin NestaHome Crafted tadpoleRadPower MissionAmsterdam Bicycle CompanyRadPower Mini
I never expected this from Bloomberg, but here it is, How to Make Cities Safer for E-Bikes by Ira Boudway really makes the case for the use of ebikes (my preferred spelling) in the city:
“With battery-powered motors that assist riders as they pedal, e-bikes enable a broader range of people to make more and longer trips than traditional bikes. And they are cheaper, more efficient, and less resource-intensive to manufacture than electric cars.”
So there are real economic and environmental benefits to ebike travel, as cited in the article, like ~60% of car rides in US are less than 6 miles/round trip (2017), meaning that a majority of our trips could be done easily by ebike.
But most importantly, Boudway emphasizes that safety is the main concern blocking wider adoption, and that this is best addressed through infrastructure choices that allow mixed use of our public spaces.
A 2018 poll from People for Bikes found that people “said that roads are not safe enough for families to bike and, of those, 63% said they would ride if they felt safer. The best way to make riders safer is to protect them from cars.”
7-Line Bloomington
So count me in, paint is not enough to stop aggressive drivers from making the streets feel unsafe!
Lots of folks want to take their ebikes with them when traveling, and there are a number of racks out there. I can’t recommend any of them from experience, but here are a few racks I see mentioned frequently online. The ones built specifically for ebikes can be a bit pricey, but are elegant. The ones built for dirt bikes are sturdier, but maybe a bit clunkier, but definately cheaper.
Hi, Mitch here at Zephyr Ebike Workshop. The shop is closed as of All Saints Day, 2023. I found that I was terrible at the business end of things, and according the IRS, three years of loss at a business means you have a hobby, not a business. So when the lease ran out, I moved my tools home, and pursue my hobby in my backyard shed (for now). Those who have been my customers have become my friends, and I will continue to help you with your ebikes, but I am not in business.
Scroll down to the blog posts for notes about ebikes, riding in Monroe county, music, nature and more.
This beast is one of this year’s new design with maxed out specs, yet is still within legal limits on bike paths and trails. (750W motor, 22A controller and, massive 48V/20 Ah battery, hydraulic disk brakes). This one has a 100mm stem riser, and with the front suspension, it rides very high and wide. This is great for the owner, who is well over 6 feet, and needs big bike. It is extremely sturdy, and has no problem handling the extra weight of the power train and 4″ fat tires. At the same time, it has a 21″ low step-thru height, making it much easier to handle its 80 pounds of power. At $1800, it is a great value for all these specs, and built for rough riding!
At the other end of the spectrum is this heybike Cityscape, an inexpensive ($900) Euro style commuter bike, it has a most of the extras that make it great for around the town errands, commuting, and just cruising. It has front and back fenders and integrated lights, as well as a chain guard and rear rack. It has moderate 36V/350W/10Ah power train, which will be good for 20-25 miles, more than enough for most city uses. I think it competes well with the Ecotric Peace Dove, which has similar specs, and sells for only $770. The Peace Dove includes a front basket, but has no built in lights. But the Cityscape has a damper seat post and front suspension, making it a cushier ride, and thus worth the extra $130 over the Peace Dove. All in all, I think it is a good value for entering the ebike world.
So I mentioned a new design this year, like the Bee Cool above, and suprisingly heybike has one called the Explore. It has very similar specs (48V/750W/20Ah), but seems to have mechanical disk brakes rather than the hydraulic disk brakes on the Bee Cool Pathfinder. So the Heybike costs $1900, while the Bee Cool is $1800 (down from the original price of $2000), and slightly better specs, and that makes it the winner in this catagory (for this month anyhow!)
A recent study from researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of New Mexico, found that protected bike lanes bring down fatalities for both bikers and motorists (at least in the large cities they studied.) So thanks City of Bloomington for the new protected bike lanes on the 7-Line downtown! And I say that as both a biker and a motorist!
BTW, have you noticed it is quicker and more fuel efficient driving from Walnut St to Dunn St on Seventh St? Narrower lanes thus slower speed, but no stop signs make it quicker for sure, so no brakes needed time and again, and you can keep your momentum and conserve fuel. Win/win).
Not to bury the lede, but another interesting poin: “Researchers found that painted bike lanes provided no improvement on road safety” and about sharrows (bike symbols painted in the middle of a lane) it was “revealed that it was actually safer to have no bike markings at all.”
Mitch's Btown Blog 