Scorchio

[georgehenry]

First off road ride to work after a couple of weeks off. Rather embarrassingly although I had changed the worn out brake pads I had forgotten to wash the bike and it was covered in dried mud.



However it was a great 12 mile ride on a beautiful if very hot day. The tracks were mostly dry and hard packed allowing the bike to roll quickly. Fortunately Surrey is a very wooded county and those parts of the route under the canopy were noticeably cooler which was very welcome.



The road ride home after one in the morning was warm enough to allow shorts and T shirt to be worn. I have one more off road ride today, then two days off and back to early shifts where I use my splendid 2011 Oxygen £100 second hand bike to ride to work and back on the road in both directions.

I replaced the 12 tooth top gear cog on my rear cassette when it started to play up to extend the life of the cassette and to date I have got a further 406 miles out of it. With warm weather my original battery is at its most resilient using 27% of its 400Wh capacity on the 12 mile ride to work where I only use lowest assist and off, and 39% on the quicker road ride home where the middle assist level is used to maintain speed and climb hills quicker. The total mileage for the bike has now crept up to 13,564.

 

[georgehenry]

Another lovely ride in on Tuesday. I used just 25% of my battery on the 14 mile cross country route to work. I was really quite tired at the end of my shift but again the weather was warm enough to ride in just shorts and a T shirt. I caught a glimpse of the clock at the start of my ride and sure enough when my wheels stopped turning on my driveway at home the 10 mile journey had taken 30 minutes. I used 40% of my 400Wh battery going faster on my ride home, but that after all is the advantage of an electric bike.

I bumped into a work colleague who also commutes to work but by non electric bike. He pays a good bike mechanic to keep his bikes in good order and commented that he believes that his bikes cost more to maintain than his wife's car! However you don't have to pay for insurance and tax of course.

He noted the short supply in parts and how they are now more expensive.

I am pleased I bought a job lot of the cassettes I use on my bike when I saw them at a really low price on amazon a couple of years ago and still have two left on my garage shelf. They were £12.50 each including delivery and the same pretty basic shimano 9 speed cassette that I use (12/36) is being sold at close to £30 at the moment. Someone is doing very well!

It is my faster road ride home that wears out my 12 tooth top gear. The power of a crank drive pushed through a small cog with less teeth when you want to maintain a higher speed on the road. I am pleased to have quite recently found an ebay seller that I can buy just the 12 tooth 9 speed top gear cog from and will I think now change the chain at the first hint of it reaching its wear limit and as necessary the top gear cog to squeeze the most miles I can out of my drive train.

I wasn't sure how it would last but it has now completed 430 miles and extended the life of my rear cassette by the same.

 

[georgehenry]

My replacement top gear cog is still lasting after another week of commuting duties, or in the case of The Haibike, three return trips and a total of 74 miles, 30 on the road where the top gear gets hammered on my rides home, and 44 off road where it maybe gets used briefly a couple of times on road connections between tracks, although luckily for me the off road route is mostly completely off road.

The top gear replacement cog has now lasted 498 miles, and extended the life of my cassette by the same, so a good three quids worth delivered.