Getting fit again on a Cyclotricity Stealth

[Steve Hall]

On reflection, from the explanations in this thread, maybe snobbery was assumed incorrectly. But not everyone has the benefit of hindsight. Many potential ebikers are new to the concept and wont know of any historical significance to the seemingly high prices of ebikes.

I will second that, I had no idea the reasons behind why people on here buy the high end products, I now know why. Snobs the lot of ya, ha ha

 

[Artstu]

Something that has also puzzled me Steve. Although my experience of assisted bikes goes back 62 years, I didn't adopt one myself until 10 years ago when the hills in my area got too much when trailer pulling, and later too much for solo riding as well.

I found it a bit odd too, my experience has been that had I been healthy I'd have been faster on an ordinary bike, save for perhaps some of the steeper climbs (just)

 

[flecc]

Find something you enjoy and keep doing it.

'til you get caught.

 

[Steve Hall]

'til you get caught.

I work in prosection in the ticket issue section and thanks to you lot on here taking up all my time today, I have only issued 3 into Court. Also, thanks to you Flecc, Artsu and all the others, I now know more about electric bikes and trailers than anyone else in this building. It's home time for me now, another day complete.

 

[103Alex1]

I still haven't grasped it though, I can't understand, if you lot on here are actually fit enough to cycle, then why don't you just buy a top end road cycle?

Well, there are many reasons but for starters because :

1) We may as well be living in the Alps owing to the fact that every journey requires navigation of exhausting hills and even regular cyclists short of sport-mad masochists get fed up of slogging it every time they go out for a ride;

and

2) Because some of us ditched our cars, rely on our bikes for pretty much everything day-to-day and you cannot load up a carbon road bike with 6 litres of water, 3 bags of oranges and the rest of your shopping and get it back home up the hill (or readily tow a trailer with all that stuff on it) without wondering what in the name of all that's unholy you're actually playing at. A sturdy e-bike is a good compromise without resorting to a cargo bike

With additional personal size can come additional muscle capability to power more bike weight. Those of us who are small feel it more when we have to play Asterix rather than Obelix getting an unpowered loaded bike around and still be where we're supposed to be 'on time' ! Even with 2 eBikes, I'm still in the gym as a way of life when opportunity permits keeping strength up enough to keep on riding when I inevitably soar beyond the power assist levels in a very short time

 

[hopper_rider]

I will second that, I had no idea the reasons behind why people on here buy the high end products, I now know why. Snobs the lot of ya, ha ha

I must add though after undoubtedly meeting some members yesterday, even though I didnt publically announce myself, they did seem sort of normal. Mostly

 

[Steve Hall]

2) Because some of us ditched our cars, rely on our bikes for pretty much everything day-to-day and you cannot load up a carbon road bike with 6 litres of water, 3 bags of oranges and the rest of your shopping and get it back home up the hill (or readily tow a trailer with all that stuff on it) without wondering what in the name of all that's unholy you're actually playing at. A sturdy e-bike is a good compromise without resorting to a cargo bike

You could order your food from Tesco Direct, there's a snob who lives across the road from me who does that. Maybe she's not a snob, I think I saw a Tesco bike getting delivered one day.

 

[103Alex1]

You could order your food from Tesco Direct, there's a snob who lives across the road from me who does that. Maybe she's not a snob, I think I saw a Tesco bike getting delivered one day.

I do for large stocks of stuff, but never really bought into all that for fresh food. If they could be trusted to bring stuff that wasn't expiring within 2 days of being delivered, or turning up with what you actually ordered, that's an option. But most of the time I can't be bothered to wait in for them only to have to go out shopping after they've left (as happens almost every time). I like to see and pick what I buy especially fresh fruit & veg. Seeing as I'm out shopping for that, paying for supermarket deliveries on top has never become a regular thing for me.

It's just an illustration of many things you bring home on a bike or take out with you. I order a heck of a lot through mail order (no choice) but one way or another my bike's usually loaded up with a lot of stuff. Road bikes are for sport or people who commute to offices with a secure place to store them at the other end and an iPad in a rucksack .. or a computer at work.

They have next to no practical use in the rest of day-to-day life bar popping in to pick up a sandwich and a soft drink for a rucksack.... and hoping they're still there when you come out because you've no way of sensibly carrying about any serious security equipment to protect your astronomically expensive bicycle when you turn your back for 10 minutes !

 

[flecc]

1) We may as well be living in the Alps owing to the fact that every journey requires navigation of exhausting hills and even regular cyclists short of sport-mad masochists get fed up of slogging it every time they go out for a ride;

While I was fit enough to ride without assistance up to the age of 67, I used to revel in the hills in the North Downs. On one route I rode most days, I sometimes looped one section to tackle a particularly difficult hill twice just for the enjoyment of climbing it. I also enjoyed storming certain not too long circa 10% hills with the aim of cresting the top at 20 mph just for the kicks, and even earned some admiration from a lycra one day when doing that. It was frustrating when age finally called a halt to some of those antics. So obviously we are all different in this respect, and I've certainly never been a sports-mad type, indeed I've never played in a team game in my life. For me e-assistance has just been a necessary evil and not as much pleasure as many get from it.

 

[Steve Hall]

I do for large stocks of stuff, but never really bought into all that for fresh food. If they could be trusted to bring stuff that wasn't expiring within 2 days of being delivered, or turning up with what you actually ordered, that's an option. But most of the time I can't be bothered to wait in for them only to have to go out shopping after they've left (as happens almost every time). I like to see and pick what I buy especially fresh fruit & veg. Seeing as I'm out shopping for that, paying for supermarket deliveries on top has never become a regular thing for me.

It's just an illustration of many things you bring home on a bike or take out with you. I order a heck of a lot through mail order (no choice) but one way or another my bike's usually loaded up with a lot of stuff. Road bikes are for sport or people who commute to offices with a secure place to store them at the other end and an iPad in a rucksack .. or a computer at work.

They have next to no practical use in the rest of day-to-day life bar popping in to pick up a sandwich and a soft drink for a rucksack.... and hoping they're still there when you come out because you've no way of sensibly carrying about any serious security equipment to protect your astronomically expensive bicycle when you turn your back for 10 minutes !

I was joking, you would need to look back over my posts about snobbery to get the joke. Anyhow, I actually admire you adapting so well without a car, buses or taxi. Do you use the Kalkhoff to do all the towing? How is it on the hills?

 

[manalog]

I'm hoping to try a KTM this Saturday.

Is this the Kudos KTM? If it is, this is a great bike, put in on Turbo mode and you want another go! I tried this at Redbridge yesterday not knowing what it was. I had a go at the 29er version it was very smooth and managed 28mph on the flat, even though it has knoblies the other version has smoother tyres and I bet it can go even faster. Climbing was really good impressive bit of kit.

 

[Steve Hall]

While I was fit enough to ride without assistance up to the age of 67, I used to revel in the hills in the North Downs. On one route I rode most days, I sometimes looped one section to tackle a particularly difficult hill twice just for the enjoyment of climbing it. I also enjoyed storming certain not too long circa 10% hills with the aim of cresting the top at 20 mph just for the kicks, and even earned some admiration from a lycra one day when doing that. It was frustrating when age finally called a halt to some of those antics. So obviously we are all different in this respect, and I've certainly never been a sports-mad type, indeed I've never played in a team game in my life. For me e-assistance has just been a necessary evil and not as much pleasure as many get from it.

I think you get a lot of pleasure from this forum though, so that makes up for what you miss out on.

 

[Taff]

Is this the Kudos KTM? If it is, this is a great bike, put in on Turbo mode and you want another go! I tried this at Redbridge yesterday not knowing what it was. I had a go at the 29er version it was very smooth and managed 28mph on the flat, even though it has knoblies the other version has smoother tyres and I bet it can go even faster. Climbing was really good impressive bit of kit.

I don't think I can fit on this one sadly.

 

[GaRRy]

My son his cycling from Liverpool to Leeds down the towpath next month for charity. Not on an electric bike though. It must be great to be young and fit. 15.5 miles is just great, are you using all the battery power??. One thing I was wondering, can two batteries be fitted with a switch to turn one off and start the second battery? I have a bottle battery on mine and could fit an additional battery on the rear. If its possible.

Tell him to take plenty of kit for puncture repairs with him as he will definitely need it if they have been trimming the hedges as is normal at this time of year.

 

[103Alex1]

While I was fit enough to ride without assistance up to the age of 67, I used to revel in the hills in the North Downs. On one route I rode most days, I sometimes looped one section to tackle a particularly difficult hill twice just for the enjoyment of climbing it.

It does indeed depend on the person - you don't need to do team sports to be very sporty, flecc - marathon runners are a prime examples. You have to enjoy hard physical exercise to actually enjoy riding up steep hills.

I don't mind short bursts of effort but long very steep hills over a mile and my ride is suddenly not enjoyable - more of a horrid experience of physical discomfort and racing heart rate.

That's probably lack of fitness - but it burns too many calories to train out of it. Chicken & egg. 10 days unable to stick to 3000-calorie/day weight maintenance diet and work outs after the accident and I lost 8% of my body weight leading back to the BMI of an Eritrean. It'll take me 2-3 months to put it back on again working around other commitments and plans.

Lots of miles of cycling and lots of unassisted hills = same result. We each have our individual factors to work around. Sustaining a healthy weight and not having your ribs showing through means more to me than having a high level of cardiovascular tolerance, so unassisted hill slogging and long rides aren't going to be something that's actually net beneficial to me. It's all about balancing things and the eBikes help very much sustain that balance.

I was joking, you would need to look back over my posts about snobbery to get the joke. Anyhow, I actually admire you adapting so well without a car, buses or taxi. Do you use the Kalkhoff to do all the towing? How is it on the hills?

Ah - must confess I did skim the thread somewhat . Been a little over 6 months since car went and I've taken one taxi, 3 trains ... and an ambulance . A handful of trips out with family in a car but that's only when I go out into the sticks and don't have a bike there. That'll change soon hopefully too.

Kalkhoff is likely about as good as any competing legal eBike on hills, but (I suspect like all the others) only OK on hills up to a certain speed and for a limited time before being unable to give enough to sustain the assistance on very long steep climbs as you tire.

I'm not talking a steep slope in town - get annoyed with myself if I drop below 14mph on those - I'm talking those ones that look near vertical when you hit them and go on, and on, and on for miles...... The ones Lycras are seen dismounting and walking their road bikes up. To keep up any sort of pace you wind up working against little resistance but at a higher cadence in low gear and after a time that gets very tiring, your pulse starts to race, your mouth dries up and if you're out of training you feel like blacking out or being sick. Well, I do anyway - and it doesn't take more than a few days of not doing it to lapse back to having to start 'training' again. Most frustrating.

That said it's one of the best climbers over shorter distances you can buy. Steep car park ramps etc. for example and you don't even feel it. Blooming comfortable too and in more normal terrain would be pretty perfect for touring.

I don't use a trailer. Whatever I can't fit in 70L of panniers and a huge rack bag doesn't get bought and I do without or order in. Probably saved a fortune - which is just as well since my mail order expenditure had quadrupled and have ended up spending well over £5 on bikes and associated stuff in 6 months. So much for saving money on account of not having a car lol.

 

[Steve Hall]

Lots of miles of cycling and lots of unassisted hills = same result. We each have our individual factors to work around. Sustaining a healthy weight and not having your ribs showing through means more to me than having a high level of cardiovascular tolerance, so unassisted hill slogging and long rides aren't going to be something that's actually net beneficial to me. It's all about balancing things and the eBikes help very much sustain that balance.

You can have some of my fat if you want it... a fat transplant, I wonder if thats possible...emm

 

[Steve Hall]

Tell him to take plenty of kit for puncture repairs with him as he will definitely need it if they have been trimming the hedges as is normal at this time of year.

I am pleased you mentioned that, have you seen those bullet like compressed air capsules they sell on the net? Do they work?

 

[GaRRy]

I am pleased you mentioned that, have you seen those bullet like compressed air capsules they sell on the net? Do they work?

To be honest never used one. But all comments and reviews I have seen seem to imply that they work to a point but you still really need a pump to get to high pressures (may not be a issue for a MTB ?)

 

[anniegirl]

Hi Anniegirl,

The battery on your Woosh Sirocco Sport is a high quality one with Samsung cells. It does not need conditionning and you should avoid draining the battery completely.

Hatti

Hi Hatti

I'm taking care of the battery as per your manual. Being a woman, I always read and follow instructions lol.
I was curious as to why some bottle batteries had to be conditioned and others had not.

 

[trex]

Hi annie,
I am sure Hatti can speak for herself but I think it's worth adding a couple of points. Modern Lithium batteries do not need conditioning. You should read this article about how to prolong the life of your battery:
How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University
Lithium moves from the negative electrode (cathode) to the positive electrode (anode) when you ride your bike and moves the other way when you put your battery on charge. It follows that charging too much or discharging too much are equally harmful to your battery because the anode will swell up with Lithum metal when you put the battery into deep discharge, the cathode will swell if you prolong charging after the battery is full. That is why batteries are only 40% full when you get your bike.
Conditioning (I should say reconditioning) should only be done using the right equipment. The battery is slowly discharged to 31V then slowly charged back to full (40V). The equipment will verify the capacity of your battery at the same time and if successful, also run test cycles to make sure that your battery can cope with the requirement of your bike.