eMTB owners photo and ride thread.

Zlatan

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 26, 2016
8,086
4,289
Best ride of year so far today around Lady Bower. 18 miles. Averaged 13mph when moving, stopped for bacon sarnie at visitors centre. Only 10% (8km) left at end. Normally get more than that but was quite cold and knees bad...??? (couldnt work as hard as normal) Countryside looked stunning, pics dont do it justice.
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Stunning morning.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
That looks like a fantastic ride Zlatan and great pictures.:)

Now for Dom T. On my recent cross country ride to work I found some abandoned pink gloves. Now that is just damn right ruddery to come down to my neck of the woods, ride on my tracks, and not stop by for a cup of char. You should be ashamed of yourself.
 

Zlatan

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 26, 2016
8,086
4,289
That looks like a fantastic ride Zlatan and great pictures.:)

Now for Dom T. On my recent cross country ride to work I found some abandoned pink gloves. Now that is just damn right ruddery to come down to my neck of the woods, ride on my tracks, and not stop by for a cup of char. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Thanks. I think Lady Bower is amongst prettiest places I, ve ever been and its only 15 miles or so from home.
 

EddiePJ

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jul 7, 2013
4,632
4,012
Crowborough, East Sussex
www.facebook.com
Certainly, an interesting and painful week. Stupidly, I took yet another heavy fall over the handlebars during a night ride on Thursday, and have definitely learnt that I don’t bounce as easily as I did when I was younger! It wasn't helped by one of the clips not releasing on the pedal. Sadly the fall didn’t do my Magicshine light a lot of good either!

I didn’t drag the bike out until today, and as the first three photos show, it doesn’t pay to leave a bike wet and dirty.

The rest of the photos are from an afternoon ride today, on Ashdown Forest.

Painful to be back in the saddle, but it seemed a shame not to make the most of the lovely weather.

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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
Georgehenry I promise not to a) leave my gloves behind and b) not stop by for a cuppa cha ;)
 
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Zlatan

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 26, 2016
8,086
4,289
Completely disrelated but.... I, ve fitted a 12v pump onto drain cock of water tank of my campervan. 15ft of thin hose and "gun" came with kit (off ebay £15 for the lot) It claims to be 150psi but it aint but its perfect for a quick spray down of bike to leave mud nearer to where it was collected. Somehow seems less hassle than cleaning when home. End of ride, plug hose in, spray it down, wipe over with hand brush/cloth. Bike dries on rack on way home. Quick squirt with WD. 10 mins max. I, ll get a link to ebay item.
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Mine was £15 but new one comes with soap dispenser I think. They are great. Without water tank just take 10 litre container, plug unit into cig lighter. (used mine like that before I had van)
 
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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
Finally been able to get out, but not as muddy as Eddy's ride....maybe spring is on it's way finally.
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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
Got me some new tyres, front Michelin Wild Enduro and rear Michelin E-Wild (please be reminded I have one of them mullet bikes which I may add are the best bikes ever ;) ).
They've had a good enough write up and they should give me more confidence to shred that bit harder.
Me and hubs will have to compare as he's got Eddy Currents. Wild's look just as knobbly but feel a bit more tacky.
I'll be putting them on before we go to Scotland in April and then let you know.
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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
Sometimes you just gotta get out, put the haibike on charge and decided on a night ride. Not dark in the photo's as my phone camera ain't the best, only 20 miles but lovely.....
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georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
Been a while since I rode four consecutive return trips to work (Monday to Thursday, 9th to 12th of March) on the Haibike.

I was rained on and cold on nearly every day at sometime or other. Thursday was mostly sunny and fine and then it got colder and darker tantalizingly close to work and there was a brief but vicious period of hail and rain necessitating breaking out the water proofs, that then stopped as suddenly as it had started. On one trip home on the road it was a deluge of water from start to finish.

Ride to Work aftermath March 2020 005.JPG
More Suburban than Urban, encrusted mud, perfect for all the bearings!!

Even using my Winter cross country route to work the ground in places was saturated making progress difficult. One field I cross using a bridal path and with the motor off usually, required some judicious segments of eco to keep me moving over sections of water saturated ground. And of course there was slippery slimy mud that could not be avoided.

So the bike got filthy. There was no time to wash the bike between trips and the only maintenance was to add oil to the chain on arrival at work after my wet and muddy cross country ride in. I was not sure I would physically hold out for the week and was very tired on day two but rallied for the last two days and could feel my stamina returning.

Ride to Work aftermath March 2020 007.JPG
Fresh chain oil on a muddy chain, not sure that will make it into Eddies forensic, "How to maintain your ebike"

How much wear I have added to my chain and rear cassette I do not want to think about. I covered 54 miles off road in four days. The chain and rear cassette have now managed 1290 miles. The bike performed faultlessly.

One change from normal that was forced on me by the front wheel bearings suddenly needing replacing was that I swapped the front wheel over from another non electric 650b mountain bike I own that is shod with Continental Cross King 2.2 Protection tyres. This front wheel and tyre proved a bit of a revelation combined with the less grippy but very hard wearing (6196 miles so far) Specialized Crossroads Armadillo 650B 27.6” Wired Clincher rear Tyre in 1.9” width.

Ride to Work aftermath March 2020 008.JPG
Grippy wider front paired with narrower less grippy rear, surprisingly effective in challenging conditions.

Having a proper grippy mountain bike tyre on the front gave me oodles more grip in faster slippery muddy corners and everywhere else giving a real uplift in off road handling without the less off road orientated rear tyre compromising too much the better performance delivered at the front. This might be my perfect off road commuter bike combination, and it also worked well on the road.

Obviously if I had Continental tyres at both ends it would be even better but I am sure I would wear out a rear mountain bike tyre too quickly with the road work I need to do. Over these four days 40 miles was on the road to get me home after my shift and would quickly square off a mountain bike tyre at the rear, however on the front it should last a lot longer, and long enough to make the increase in off road performance worth it.

The nearly five year old battery resumed service just as it always has, using the same amount of its capacity on the 14 mile cross country route, around 30% of its 400Wh capacity and around 35% on the faster 10 mile road ride home using some higher middle assistance levels to climb steeper hills quicker and get me the 10 miles home in around 30 minutes.

I covered 94 miles in total and the bike has now managed 11,760. I am close to the end of my 5th year commuting and this year have done quite a lot less miles as I have not been required to go to my normal place of work. I will still have done about a thousand miles on the Haibike by the end of the year.

Also I now only use the Haibike when I can travel cross country to work. It is off road where a crank drive comes into its own and shows it marvelous capability. Just banging too and fro on the road wears out the drive train and I now use an old rear hub cadence sensor 2011 electric bike with an unrestricted throttle that I bought for £100 second hand instead and is a much better bike to ride on the road.

Whether all this will come to a premature end I do not know. I now have to leave my bike in a locker room, and other bikes are also left there and I can see that if a complaint is made we might be left with no where safe to leave them and that might be that.

I am so close to retiring in 18 months time, and have enjoyed so much riding to work, that it would be a real shame if it got kyboshed prematurely before I retire.
 
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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
My ride to work is on my haibike but it's not as good as yours GH. I do have a few places I can do a bit of urban street messing, but after a night shift it's just a case of I want to get home.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
Hi Dom T, as a fellow shift worker, I know what you mean.

The ride to work in the afternoon is a proper mountain bike ride through great countryside and lots of fun, but the ride home late at night when I am tired after my shift can be more of a chore.

I usually find that once I am actually cycling I feel better and start to enjoy it.
 
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Dom T

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 17, 2017
433
377
Shropshire
Likewise GH.
I work nights only as a nurse doing 12.5 hour shift and at the age of 56 and about 5 am in the morning I start wondering why the heck did I bring the bike, I have a perfectly good car at home :eek: ;):)
However no matter how pooped I am, once I'm on it I really enjoy it, even been known to just make my 5 mile ride longer and get to about 10-15 miles specifically on my last shift. It's not as far as you do and not as pretty either, but just getting out on it makes the world of difference and I then tend to sleep a whole heap better. My first night I generally just go home, after all getting, only getting a 6 hour kip inbetween can be a killer and that's if I'm lucky.
 
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