I swore I’d never do it, part I

I’ve been buying or making bikes for my wife for over 35 years. She’ll ride them and then say they don’t work for her. The latest, it seemed she might prefer a “ladies’ bike” with a lower top tube. I wanted to get her on a bike fast to see if that helped so I modified an old Nishiki mixte frame, rather than building from scratch. I added canti mounts, cable stops and guides for Shimano Nexus cabling, and a set of bottle bosses, then moved all the equipment over from her previous frame, one of my city bikes (the “Je ne Regrette Rien” model) with 26” wheels.

Well, she said it fit her but she was getting charley horses from riding, could I make her an electric?

One of our friends is zipping around on a front drive “Faraday” with a 350 watt motor. He loves it. We weren’t really up for spending $3K+, though, so maYbe the thing to do would be to put a motor into the mixte. I looked around at what was available and decided the easiest solution would be a front wheel drive kit. Dillenger had a sale on with a 26” wheel, Samsung 450 W motor, controllers and wiring for $650.

The instructions could have been better, but I did get it all together. The pedal assist is a little notchy, probably a fault in the controller or in the pedal speed sensor. There is a screen with a whole bunch of options and no clear instruction on how to get into them or what they are for.



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Salisa likes the bike and will now go riding with me, and with our son when he’s in town. I’ve been thinking about electric now …

Two things I’m thinking of – an electric utility bike for heavy hauling, and a motorcycle-like E bike with full suspension and road-holding capability at speed.


jn

One of my therapy clients asked me for my opinion regarding rental bikes for riding the French Alps. She is close to 70 years old and a dedicated long distance commuter. You can guess my answer...rent a high end e-bike and go nuts. This will get her up and down all the big Cols and allow the full experience which otherwise might not be accessible.

My position(s) on this whole E bike thing has evolved.

I'm doomed.

I'm thinking we should be looking at these things as motorcycles and designing accordingly. I have a huge garden and have been looking at all the leaves piled up in the streets around NE Portland this time of year. I need that compost! I can not see buying or renting a truck to pick them up, but a powerful E-bike with a big trailer might be just the ticket. I could use something like this frame

Thursday Bicycles

but with a 750 or 1,000 watt motor and probably direct drive.

jn