Newbee's got wheels!

[kwackerman]

Hi All,

My Cyclamatic folder arrived yesterday and like others on here I must admit it looks quite smart and not too cheap and nasty.

It came well packaged and undamaged. I took it out for a quick test ride for a couple of miles and it performed really well. I think I will change the front sprocket as has been suggested on here. Do you get these from an ordinary cycle shop and are they very expensive, also will it invalidate the warranty?

Reading some of the posts on here regarding the cold weather affecting battery performance I have the following questions;

When I get to work my bike will be locked up in a fairly open to the elements bike shed. Should I take the battery indoors with me and store it in my locker where it will be much warmer?

I am not going to be able to charge it at work but if I bought one of those invertor things that you can plug into the 12 or 24v socket in my lorry which would enable the use of the 3 pin plug of the battery charger would this be an ok way of charging the battery? What wattage invertor would I need to buy?

How long does it take to condition the battery?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Regards

Andy

 

[NRG]

Congratulations!

Bring the battery in from the cold. Cold is OK for storage but not for performance, better to keep it at room temperature for the ride home.

Here's a recent thread on charging via an inverter, scroll down to Fecn's post....a 100W inverter should cater for your needs but check the output of the charger and compare to Fecn's example.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/5291-electric-petrol-when-weight-issue.html?highlight=inverter

If the battery is Lithium based it won't need conditioning however, some recommend at least one full charge / discharge / charge cycle to reset the battery 'fuel' gauge.

Have fun!

 

[Old Timer]

Hi All,

My Cyclamatic folder arrived yesterday and like others on here I must admit it looks quite smart and not too cheap and nasty.

It came well packaged and undamaged. I took it out for a quick test ride for a couple of miles and it performed really well. I think I will change the front sprocket as has been suggested on here. Do you get these from an ordinary cycle shop and are they very expensive, also will it invalidate the warranty?

Reading some of the posts on here regarding the cold weather affecting battery performance I have the following questions;

When I get to work my bike will be locked up in a fairly open to the elements bike shed. Should I take the battery indoors with me and store it in my locker where it will be much warmer?

I am not going to be able to charge it at work but if I bought one of those invertor things that you can plug into the 12 or 24v socket in my lorry which would enable the use of the 3 pin plug of the battery charger would this be an ok way of charging the battery? What wattage invertor would I need to buy?

How long does it take to condition the battery?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Regards

Andy

Kwackers

Enjoy the bike

You will need something like this
nice quality double road bike alloy chainset/crankset on eBay (end time 14-Feb-10 18:11:51 GMT)

because you can`t add a decent chainring to the existing crank. That one comes with a 52 + 42. you might find that the jump up to 52 is enough but I found that I needed a 55 or 57 to really get the bike to ride like a proper road bike as far as gearing goes. If you stick with the 52 then your chain might be long enough.If you do go for that crankset and find you need a larger than 52 ring then when you source one( or e mail be and I will point you to a supplyer) you will need a 130 BCD 5 fixing ring. (The BCD is the distance between the fixing bolts x 1.7)
If you find another crankset that you want to buy then the type of fixing is square tapered but the bcd might be different.
If you do go for that crankset then leave the smaller inner ring on 1. you can change the chain by hand if ever needed and 2. you won`t have to source shorter fixing bolts.
Spa cycles in Harrogate do a variety of larger rings.
It is well worth upping that chain ring size, it transforms the bike.

Not wishing to teach you to suck eggs but you might need a crank remover tool. You might not though because it`s been my experience that these new Chinese bikes have the crank set just slightly tightened up and with a bit of teasing you can loosen them but if the crank has really been tightened up then you`ll need a tool.

I`ll find a link

Dave

 

[Old Timer]

crank tool

This is the sort of tool you might need to get the crank off
BBB Crank Extractor BTL14 | Buy Online | ChainReactionCycles.com

Make sure you screw the thread intended for the ali crank arm (large outer thread) all the way in as far as it will go because they can strip out and just double check that there isn`t a washer under the main nut before you try to remove it.

Sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, PM me or E mail if you need any more help.

Dave

 

[Mussels]

I am not going to be able to charge it at work but if I bought one of those invertor things that you can plug into the 12 or 24v socket in my lorry which would enable the use of the 3 pin plug of the battery charger would this be an ok way of charging the battery? What wattage invertor would I need to buy?

IIRC it's a 24V battery and you have a 24V Lead acid charger on the lorry already, when the engine is running what voltage do you see on the 24V socket? If it's high enough it might charge your battery up enough with a direct connection, maybe one of the battery experts on here will know as it might be too slow to charge.