Evolution or Revolution

[neptune]

You do not have to be very old to remember a time when there were no electric bikes . Or at least , no commercially available ones .I personally have experimented with electric bikes since the 1970s . I was always experimenting with different technologies , and virtually all the raw materials were scrounged from the local dump . For political reasons , that source of supply has dried up , but that is a story for another day . The first successful electric bike , was based on a Corgi . This was not a dog , but a motor scooter originally developed for use by paratroopers in warfare . We found this corgi on the dump with no engine or transmission . We powered it with a ford starter motor friction driving the rear wheel , and energised by a big car battery . It had a speed of about 8 MPH , and , surprisingly , a range of about 5 miles . We rode it on a disused airfield . After lots of fun , we abandoned it because the dog chewed the tyres . I realised that what was needed was a more efficient motor , and a better drive . Over the years i tried every motor I could find , including 4 car heater motors at the same time . Success was finally achieved by using a motor from a most unlikely source . It was the motor from a Phillips washing machine ! These motors are a DC motor with rare earth magnets as the field . In the wash part of the cycle they run on 24 volts , and on spin cycle , 230 volts . The motor weighs about 8 pounds . I realised I would need at least 24 volts and preferably 48 . The only batteries I had were small car batteries ! . I built a recumbent trike to carry the weight . It was front wheel drive through a multivee belt onto sturmey archer 3 speed hub . So the motor had 3 gears . It would do about 14 MPH with a range of at least 20 miles . Stopping it was the big problem . It was strictly illegal , overweight and no pedals . It was impressive enough for two of my mates to make copies of it . We used to go out for rides together , and the local coppers used to stop and chat with us !
Now what i am really getting at , is this . There was no one invention that lead to commercial electric bikes , it was really a combination of things coming together . The first , was better magnets , first the ferrite magnets and then the Neodymium ones . Then we had the development of power FETs . And microchips . Then the availability of Sealed Lead Acid Batteries . Then , brushless motors . Of course battery development is still ongoing , with no reason to believe that we are where we want to be . The 200 mile , low cost lightweight battery is yet to come , and it may yet be a capacitor instead of a battery . We have seen evolution . The revolution may be yet to come . What do YOU think ?

 

[funkylyn]

Hmmmm.......well the technicalities have lost me Neptune..........impressive though they sound.....
maybe the Revolution is that we are all about to turn into

Electric bike riding Nazi Bankers ......

Lynda

 

[neptune]

@Lynda , the only problem I can see with that , is that when you are doing a Nazi salute , your hand is a long way from the front brake ... By the way ,you must all remember to alter your clocks tonight , I have aready done mine to be on the safe side .

 

[funkylyn]

Yes, but Neptune......

Ve haff vays of making of making you 'break'......

Lynda

 

[flecc]

Nothing new under the sun Neptune. US patents were granted for electric bicycles in 1895, 1897 and 1898. In January 1924 an article was published detailing an electric bicycle that drew induction power from buried road sources.

 

[NRG]

.... What do YOU think ?

I think you should have used at least two maybe three line breaks and not placed a space before a comma or full stop! LOL! My eyes, my eyes!

 

[Kudoscycles]

There is a lot of development going on in China at present-the development of Lithium battery chemicals is happening almost on a monthly basis,I still have no reason to regret our decision to use LifePo4 on all bikes which are not primarily weight sensitive-if we can get the energy density up (weight down)then this will be the perfect battery for e-bike usage.
The hub drive is for 90% of the time my prefered motor selection even over the Bosch crank drive system,the motor manufacturer Suzhou Bafang is quietly and steadily making improvements to their motor but the improvements have to be considered over a period to be noticeable.
The Shimano Nexus 8 hub gearing has inherited all of the Alfine improvements but Shimano have been quiet unless pressed about these changes.
The quality of the welding and hydro forming of frames has transformed the quality of manufacture of 6061-T6 ally bike frames but it's only evident if you compare a 3 year old frame direct with todays offering.
There are some revolutionary developments under R & D but I think the e-bike has reached a point where development is evolutionary.
Dave
KudosCycles

 

[neptune]

@NRG . The purpose of language is to enable us to convey our thoughts to others .The acid test is , did you understand what I was trying to convey ? I never had any formal training in typing . I have friends who are wizards at typing . However if you wanted them to sweep the floor you would have to show them which end of the brush to use . I may not be the worlds best typist , but I have one or two other skills .I have a license to drive anything with wheels on , and some things without . I can , at 67 , still ride a unicycle . I can transcribe morse code at 20 words a minute . I hold an Amateur Radio license . I can rebuild an engine . I am a reasonably skilled radio controlled aircraft pilot. I can repair domestic appliances . I can play a guitar , and several other instruments , but not simultaneously . Oh , and the last time I read " War and Peace " there was not a line break in sight .Sorry about your eyes . I only have one that works !

 

[bode]

Oh , and the last time I read " War and Peace " there was not a line break in sight .

I think you'll find there are; as well as gaps after full stops, not before. Adopting a few formatting conventions will make it much easier for the rest of us to read your valuable contributions. (I am being totally sincere, not snide or sarcastic.) It is not just a question of whether a meaning is conveyed; why make it harder to read?

 

[flecc]

Politely suggested reconstruction of your last post Neptune:

The purpose of language is to enable us to convey our thoughts to others. The acid test is, did you understand what I was trying to convey? I never had any formal training in typing but I have friends who are wizards at typing. However if you wanted them to sweep the floor you would have to show them which end of the brush to use. I may not be the worlds best typist, but I have one or two other skills.

I have a license to drive anything with wheels on, and some things without. I can, at 67, still ride a unicycle. I can transcribe morse code at 20 words a minute. I hold an Amateur Radio license. I can rebuild an engine. I am a reasonably skilled radio controlled aircraft pilot. I can repair domestic appliances. I can play a guitar and several other instruments, but not simultaneously.

Oh, and the last time I read " War and Peace " there was not a line break in sight. Sorry about your eyes, I only have one that works!

I think this is easier to read and also has more impact.
.

 

[neptune]

First of all , can I say a big "Thank You " to those people who actually commented on the content of my first post in this thread.
You know I feel like I am on trial here. "The prisoner is charged that on the 24 th day of April did wilfully and maliciously abuse one of Her Majesty`s punctuation devices, on several occasions by failing to place it in the location required under the Punctuation Act of 1555, missing the required location by distances up to 3 millimetres. " If you read the small print in my contract, it warns you not to expect perfection. When we speak among friends, we like to feel that we do not need to watch our grammar, pronunciation, and dialect too closely. I feel that it should be the same with the written word . When I post on this forum, it is, among other things, a form of recreation. I should not need to live in fear of the Punctuation Police. As an old hippy , I find it hard to conform for the sake of conforming. Not only, but also, I had rather flattered myself that some of the things I had to say transcended the accuracy of my punctuation marks. Sadly that does not seem to be the case

 

[flecc]

I certainly didn't intend my suggestion to be negative Neptune. It's just that I do find lengthy posts in a single block of text very difficult to read while maintaining concentration on the content. When the punctuation is missing or defective, it's even worse, since part of my concentration is on sorting the content as I read, rather than absorbing it.

This isn't being pedantic, it's just that having learned a written language one way, trying to cope with a different format is rather like reading in a foreign language while translating "on the hoof". I know I'm far from alone in this, as others have indicated. I have no educational advantage, if anything the opposite, since I had a year less in primary school than most and the rest of the primary time with unqualified teachers, finally leaving secondary school at 14 years old. My English usage I've learnt from others example since.

 

[funkylyn]

Well....I can see both points of view here, but I just feel that although it might be easier to read if not all in one block of text, I just feel it would be sort of rude or bad manners somehow to comment on the way someone writes things.....but thats just me.

To each their own and all that.

Not that I am suggesting that anyone who has posted about grammar is being bad mannered, only that I, personally, would feel that I was being bad mannered........but we are all different.

Lynda

 

[neptune]

@flecc. I did not regard your post as negative, indeed you will notice that i posted a "like" . @Lynda, thanks for your support. Although I had a fairly good education, I was over 60 when I first touched a keyboard . We all are what we are and I never met a person yet from whom I did not learn something. I will try to do better , but no promises . Sometimes when I am writing , the thoughts come so fast that it is all I can do to write them fast enough. Anyway , what is all this about being conformist? Don`t we all ride them weird electric bike thingies?

 

[flecc]

I was over 60 when I first touched a keyboard .

Me too, 63 in my case. Despite over twelve years of "typing" since, I still make a mess and have to correct everything I hammer out on the keyboard. I describe my typing method as "zone approximation", basically lashing out at the general area of the keyboard where I last saw the required letter, but often hitting more than one key. Afterwards a quick scan to delete or add as necessary.

I did once make an attempt at learning touch typing, but I couldn't make any useful progress so continue with my index fingers only.

 

[bode]

I was only trying to be helpful; I am sorry if it came across as negativity.

 

[flecc]

I just feel it would be sort of rude or bad manners somehow to comment on the way someone writes things....

I can appreciate that Lynda, and I did hesitate before replying to Neptune with a suggested layout. However I don't like to think I'm not getting the correct meaning from someone's post through difficulty in reading it. I also think ignoring posts is ill mannered, but in the worst cases I've done that after struggling and failing to understand what the poster was trying to say. Those are generally the posts with a long solid block of text all in lower case with no punctuation whatsoever, resulting in many ambiguities.

 

[funkylyn]

Yes, as I said Flecc, I fully understand where you and others are coming from.

Maybe I am just more used to reading solid blocks of text, but in any case we are all part of lifes rich tapestry, however we write, and thats great.

Lynda

 

[Morgann]

I didn't have to put my clocks forward because I never put them back in the first place and as a result I have in the last six months built a formidable reputation at work as a good timekeeper although this has been tempered by my tendency to slope off early.

There's just no pleasing some people.

 

[neptune]

@bode, no worries mate. @everyone, thinking about it, I am probably a bit over sensitive to criticism at the present time, due to circumstances which have no place on this forum . But hey, the light nights are here, spring is sprung, and summer is coming. We can all look forward to riding without so many layers of lagging. Let`s all make the most of it . @Morgann, I tried to do that same thing, but my resolve lasted all of two weeks .