For the start of this journey into ebikes see this post http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/6113-my-19-year-old-gt-mb-conversion.html.
As you can tell from the subject I am very happy with my results & decisions.
About 3 years ago I started having ectopic beats, the SVTs (Supraventricular tachycardia) kind, and this seriously dented my confidence (I was 39 back then). The cardiologist assured me that my heart was in good condition to maintain a working heart rate, so the old bike came out and I started riding to work.
On the 4th day, I finished my 5 mile trek into work and my heart doubled in speed, with it being 140bpm at the time, it went up to almost 280bpm (recorded)! Let me tell you that 5 seconds is a long, long time at 280bpm, I honestly thought I was going to die then and there. Again, I went to the Docs but to be honest they didn't give a BROWN LOG, statistically, I don't fit a risk profile and after every test in the 'Beginners Book To Cardiovascular Function' they don't even discuss it anymore. So with them not giving a flying fornication and my own lack of self confidence my health went downhill fast.
Anyway, during that period I started looking at ebikes and found the suppliers to be woeful on two fronts; looks and price. Being a relativity young man with image hangups I wanted something that would pass as a normal bike - no cigar! If I were in the ebike business I would go to lengths to hide the technology, but no, the ebike business is into obvious and IMHO this is detrimental for a wider demographic takeup. The only players that like subtle is Cytronex but it's a very expensive trek bike, so I left it for a couple of years to see if things progressed - they didn't - in my opinion the market is much the same as it was back then only prices have got even higher. So I asked here and Phil (I think) advised me to go the DIY route and put me in contact with 'German' Frank for which I am very grateful.
back in June I was 15.5 stone (about 98kg), today I am 14.5 stone(92kg), fitter, firmer and feeling much better in myself. There is another stone to drop but I have almost lost the weight of the kit I added to my bike which is utterly brilliant. My car came up for it's MOT and Tax and I decided not to renew it, that coupled with the cost of fuel I have saved about £600 so far (profit!)
How is the bike running? I would like to have a negative but honestly can't find anything that you would not adapt to, like pedalec control, it's slow to kick in but a little twist on the throttle when needed works great. Rocket take-off in slow moving traffic was a problem at first but the 3 speed switch works well in this situation. Power wise the motor and battery combination have been perfect with a fully charged battery giving me about 35 mile range (+ a little reserve ), the rear wheel could do with better truing but it works. I think my only negative is the throttle, it worked it's way towards the grip and started sticking - so redesign on that could fix the problem as could making sure it was tight in the first place
Do I love my bike? you bet, it's already given me 20 years of service and now thanks to a motor could give me another 20. If you commute through Hampton court I'm the aggressive rider on the blue bike (that doesn't look like an ebike) hand signing the car drivers that get too close
Now, lets see how much cold I can handle in the coming months.
Rob
As you can tell from the subject I am very happy with my results & decisions.
About 3 years ago I started having ectopic beats, the SVTs (Supraventricular tachycardia) kind, and this seriously dented my confidence (I was 39 back then). The cardiologist assured me that my heart was in good condition to maintain a working heart rate, so the old bike came out and I started riding to work.
On the 4th day, I finished my 5 mile trek into work and my heart doubled in speed, with it being 140bpm at the time, it went up to almost 280bpm (recorded)! Let me tell you that 5 seconds is a long, long time at 280bpm, I honestly thought I was going to die then and there. Again, I went to the Docs but to be honest they didn't give a BROWN LOG, statistically, I don't fit a risk profile and after every test in the 'Beginners Book To Cardiovascular Function' they don't even discuss it anymore. So with them not giving a flying fornication and my own lack of self confidence my health went downhill fast.
Anyway, during that period I started looking at ebikes and found the suppliers to be woeful on two fronts; looks and price. Being a relativity young man with image hangups I wanted something that would pass as a normal bike - no cigar! If I were in the ebike business I would go to lengths to hide the technology, but no, the ebike business is into obvious and IMHO this is detrimental for a wider demographic takeup. The only players that like subtle is Cytronex but it's a very expensive trek bike, so I left it for a couple of years to see if things progressed - they didn't - in my opinion the market is much the same as it was back then only prices have got even higher. So I asked here and Phil (I think) advised me to go the DIY route and put me in contact with 'German' Frank for which I am very grateful.
back in June I was 15.5 stone (about 98kg), today I am 14.5 stone(92kg), fitter, firmer and feeling much better in myself. There is another stone to drop but I have almost lost the weight of the kit I added to my bike which is utterly brilliant. My car came up for it's MOT and Tax and I decided not to renew it, that coupled with the cost of fuel I have saved about £600 so far (profit!)
How is the bike running? I would like to have a negative but honestly can't find anything that you would not adapt to, like pedalec control, it's slow to kick in but a little twist on the throttle when needed works great. Rocket take-off in slow moving traffic was a problem at first but the 3 speed switch works well in this situation. Power wise the motor and battery combination have been perfect with a fully charged battery giving me about 35 mile range (+ a little reserve ), the rear wheel could do with better truing but it works. I think my only negative is the throttle, it worked it's way towards the grip and started sticking - so redesign on that could fix the problem as could making sure it was tight in the first place
Do I love my bike? you bet, it's already given me 20 years of service and now thanks to a motor could give me another 20. If you commute through Hampton court I'm the aggressive rider on the blue bike (that doesn't look like an ebike) hand signing the car drivers that get too close
Now, lets see how much cold I can handle in the coming months.
Rob
