Age of my LA Free

[sparky5]

Hi all.
Does anybody know how to find out the age of my La Free ??
it is probably quite old (like me) it is a three speed model without the rear wheel locking device, if that helps.
Is there any way of finding the age from the serial number ??
also since owning it it has always made a "num num num num" niose from the motor when under power, as most info says it is almost silent when running should I be worried or taking some action to remedy the noise ?
I am on holiday this week so have time to strip it if required.

Also is there a handlebar mounted battery meter avaliable that I can add that will give a sensible reading of the battery power remaining whilst riding ??

Thanks for looking.

Cheers, Mark.

 

[flecc]

I'd need to see a photo of it to possibly get some idea Mark, as there are a variety of small changes during their life, carrier, paint finishes and the like. I'm surprised to hear it has no lock and think it must have been removed. If so, the mounting stubs will still be in place. Your model is the Lafree Twist Lite, originally £869, later £899, both including VAT.

The rhythmic sound is normal, the level of it varying with each bike though, and age can increase it a bit. The reason for the nature of the sound is that power is applied in exact proportion to the thrust on each pedal downstroke, so it's your pedal rhythm that you hear from the motor. This tells me your pedelec sensor is working perfectly.

I'm afraid it's not possible on your model to add a meter to show battery charge remaining. These handlebar meters are generally very inaccurate anyway, even the 3 LED handlebar one designed into the latest unit being less accurate than the 5 LED one on the battery. Even the battery one itself is not linear, each LED representing very different mileages. the reason is that there is no way the charge in a battery can be determined electrically, since they are chemical devices. All a meter can do is check the voltage available at the battery terminals, and that's a very crude and inaccurate measure of what the battery has in it.
.

 

[derrick7]

An old Lafree

I have a Lafree bought in December 2004 still running well, I never had much faith in the battery meter being accurate, I set my trip meter to zero when I recharge & when it clocks up about 23 miles I know it's getting very low. I find the LED on the handlebars is reliable, when that starts to blink I have approx. 2miles left. Like flecc says you will get a hum from the motor when you pedal, when you don't that's the time to worry!

Derrick - Llanberis