stranger

Have they tried to make it look like a Powabyke?

My 'senior citizen' cyclist husband has had a 'run in' with this rather crazy 'officiousness'. It was a nasty damp drizzly sort of day too, with at least three people on the prom. (apart from the 'speed-trappers' and himself.) I thought he was pulling my leg at first.

Quite a jolly surprise for the car owner as well.

The tyres didn't go bang! (You knew that already didn't you.) :o

I read that as a STEAM raiser. HOO-HOO!

I think I might have made that mistake once. Tried a nifty turn at the mini-roundabout and the damn thing shied violently and we both ended up in a heap in the road. Luckily there was no-one coming at speed. So I need to get some more air in there do I? The Powabyke tyres are quite podgy (as I daresay you all know). Not at all like the ultra-thin ones on the husbands 'real bike'. Now they really do 'pump up well'. And, come to think of it--THEY don't go bang. I will be brave with the compressor tomorrow.

Peering knowledgeably at the Powabyke tyres this morning, (my husband usually deals with such things for me but he is away for a day or two) I was amazed to discover that the recommended pressure (on the tyre itself) was 65psi. Surely not! I am scared to try to blow them up to that in case they go 'BANG'. I chickened out at 40.

I haven't been able to cycle for a wee while now--but yesterday I put the battery on charge--and today me and the Powabyke went for a little trundle. We didn't go very far and I didn't do much pedalling but it was SO nice to be back in at least ONE sort of saddle--but I shan't be back on the 'oss for another week or three. And I still haven't bought me a helmet.

So if you should get siezed by an overwhelming desire to knock down a cyclist, make sure it is one that is not wearing a helmet and then your defence council can claim that it was not your fault at all.

Strewth! There is no mention in the accompanying 'burble' that it is gold-plated or diamond studied. I was looking at bike helmets t'other day--but I couldn't quite bring myself to buy. Especially as, at the moment, I am unable to ride. (Temporarily I hope)

Ooops. I meant Flickr (the on-line photo storage facility) of course. Actually--the one time I DID load the thing up with a bag of carrots, I was hailed by a friendly passing motorist who kindly advised me that I was leaving behind me a trail of 'breadcrumbs' (in the shape of escaping carrots) in true Hansel and Gretel style. I felt a bit foolish back-tracking and collecting my wayward vegetables.

What a lovely blithe fun video that is. Quite how the camera person was in the right places at the right times beats me. :o I love the folks at the end, all peering over the edge at the flying bike. And what a splendidly 'trained' bicycle. Does it have special suspension. Or does HE?

And such are the variables in life that one mans 'gentle slope' is another mans (or womans) 'hill climb'. My husband (who is even older than I am) can cycle (push bike) up hills at far greater speeds than the Powabyke at full blast and I can achieve. I am happy if I can 'make it' without having to 'get off and push'.

My especial favourite (so far anyway) is definitely the Dutch Canal. Can e-bikes (and e-bikers) SWIM?

I can't imagine anyone would really want to see a piccy of my antique Powabyke Shopper. It looks exactly like everyone elses antique PB Shopper--and it has never been anywhere more exciting than the stable yard, poor deprived thing that it is---but I can certainly take some pics of it if you think they may be of interest. I am however the worlds worst photographer and whenever I have tried to 'edit' a pic it has always gone disastrously wrong--so if you really do want a piccy it will have to be via a link to Flicka. And then you can see the 'osses there, as well.

Thankyou kindly. I shall be singing that for the rest of forever now, shan't I. :o Aaaaaaaa--gaaaaat tu--tu--tu------------

No government is serious about climate change and the environment. Unless they can find a way to engender revenue from it. It's all just a con anyway. The climate has been changing for the last umpteen billion years, long before any of us were around to either cause it or do anything about it.

My e-bike has indicators. They are called 'arms'. They need no special fixings and work very reliably. I stick Hi-viz gloves on the end of them in the dark.

How odd. I'm surprised he had the breath for all that shouting if he was climbing. Most 'real cyclists can overtake me and the PB though, without even trying, up hill or down dale. Most of them just 'smirk' at me. I 'e-biked' down to the local store early last evening. Just the time (when the weather is clement) that the teens begin to 'gather'. Some come on foot, some bring their dogs and some cycle there. They send their most senior (or oldest looking member) into the Co-op, to try to get booze and/or cigarettes, and pool all the rest of their dosh to get something from the Chinese--and then they sit on the grass or the benches outside and make a great deal of fairly harmless noise for an hour or so. When I pulled in on the e-bike they all cat-called and waved and shouted--so I waved and shouted back (they seem to like that) and then when one of them noticed that it WAS an e-bike, they all came surging over to take a look at it. 'Uh-oh!' thought I--but they seemed quite genuinely interested in the thing and some quite intelligent questions were posed. Then they all drifted away back to their benches--and waved and shouted when I drove (drove?) away again. I HOPE Sammy Miller doesn't suffer by an invasion of teens all wanting to take a look at the Wisper. :o

I don't have a Wisper--but I have been known to call my e-bike just that, when it was being irritating. It didn't seem that 'bovvered'. And I quite LIKED the music.

WHAT? You mean--STAND UP and PEDAL--all at the same time? No. If I can't do it from a sitting position then I'm afraid I revert to 'get off and push.' Although SO far, I haven't had to do this since taking up with the e-bike. We may not be flash and we may be a trifle 'out of date'--but we can get where we want to go without any unseemly 'bottom waggling'. Slow and steady is our watchword.

It's surprising how steep hills really can be though, even when they don't really look it. The lane from our place to the yard where the horses live is uphill all the way. The car and the e-bike kept this a secret from me until I tried it on the push-bike. Oof. I gave up less than halfway,(I am not very good at pedalling anyway) turned about and went home for the car. There are some good little sharp 'down and up' ones round us. The PB doesn't 'freewheel' as well as a push-bike--but it sure makes up for that, going up the other side. :o Have we any one in the Parkstone, Dorset area. Alder Hills might be a good 'try-out'. Or Constitution Hill.

Ah --but do you 'wobble'? :o

You know what? This is the first and only post/article/debate that has made me begin to re-consider my 'no helmet for me' stance.

Isn't that the speed at which the Universe disappears up it's own------------------------------? Oh no sorry. Wrong forum.