alex

Highgate West Hill!! Pedelecs Commuter has mentioned Highgate West Hill, my body went into an involuntary shudder just reading that name. Over 30 years ago I had to rouse myself at the crack of dawn & cycle from Tufnell Park to Highgate Village every morning to start a newspaper delivery round. A good 2 miles of severe uphill riding to one of the highest points in London, it was a struggle & is certainly a challenging test for any electric bike. Maybe that difficult ride is the reason I now love the whole electric bike experience & appreciate that the motor assistance takes the pain & strain out of cycling.

Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. I have checked the controller to hub cable, in fact I managed to destroy the soldered cable to pin connection thinking it might be loose (I had to buy a new cable). Tried a newly charged battery. Cannot see a way to open the controller to check for water ingress or faulty connection in socket, but will try again, hope I do not destroy it also. Alex

Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. I have checked the controller to hub cable, in fact I managed to destroy the soldered cable to pin connection thinking it might be loose (I had to buy a new cable). Tried a newly charged battery. Cannot see a way to open the controller to check for water ingress or faulty connection in socket, but will try again, hope I do not destroy it also. Alex

My bike powered by a Sram Sparc electric drive system has developed a minor fault. The handlebar mounted switch which turns the system on / off & selects mode has some indicator lights, a red one which shows when 'speed' mode has been selected & three green ones showing battery level. The green battery indicators have stopped working completely, though the red one still works. The switch still does it's job & the lack of indicator lights is not a big problem since I know pretty much the state of the battery by watching the miles covered. Any suggestions for a way to coax the lights back to life would be appreciated. It does not seem worth replacing the whole switch assembly but is irritating when life's gadgetry starts the decline towards decrepitude. Hopefully, Alex.

carrera Hi. I bought a Carrera Sparc in October & have been very happy with it. It gives gentle assistance & takes the sweat out of riding around Edinburgh. I get about 14 miles per charge, if I run out of power the bike is easy to ride unassisted. Replacement batteries, cables, etc.. are available online or through your l.b.s via Fisher Outdoor Sports. If you put some effort into pedalling you quickly reach 15 m.p.h. when the motor almost imperceptibly cutsout, if you are feeling lazy merely turn the chainwheel & let the motor do most of the work. The steepest hills defeat it / me but overall it takes the pain out of cycling & allows you to enjoy the ride. Alex

Hi Joe. I am very pleased with my Carrera, range is generally 14 miles on speed setting with light pedalling in hilly terrain. Economy setting & greater effort on my part would no doubt improve this but I find the range adequate for riding around Edinburgh & I have a second battery for those extra evening rides. I have sent you a peronal message.

Do I have a ladies' bike? When I bought my electric Carrera from Halfords in October it did not occur to me that it was a ladies' bike. True it is quite a small frame (17") but I thought the sloping top tube accounted for that & what I have is a fairly standard mountain bike style frame. I submitted a review to this forum which eventually appeared in the owner's review section under the headline "Halford's Ladies' Bike". I would class it as more a unisex bike & I certainly do not feel "unmanned" riding it

Halfords sold me an electric bike. Concerns about dealing with a distant seller should I need repairs / spares were a major reason for me deciding to buy a Carrera Sparc powered by the Sram system from Halfords. Fortunately I have not had any problems, but am reassured that a local seller is on hand should need help. If the trial sale of electric bikes is deemed successful perhaps the electric option will become a permanent part of the Halfords range?

Scare stories cause fall. Hi. I have learned alot from the postings here regarding battery charging. The possibility of fires starting from recharging appliances indirectly caused a nasty accident; before Christmas my aged father awoke in the night & thought he heard a noise downstairs, he had read of fires being caused by Nokia phone batteries & worried that his re-charging phone downstairs might be alight went to investigate. He fell down the stairs & has had a leg in plaster from hip to ankle til yesterday. Some sort of dedicated re-charging station for the multiplicity of modern gadgets might need to become a standard feature of house design. An uncluttered non-combustible cabinet or counter & an overhead smoke detector rather than a dusty corner surrounded by paper or curtains. I will adopt Flecc's rules about being in the house & not charging overnight.

Hi. Branwen & all. I have met you Branwen & you are not a fatty, just the fact that you cycle puts you way ahead of the real 'lard-asses' in terms of fitness & mobility.It is admirable that anyone with health difficulties such as those you have spoken of can keep fitness levels as high as possible by electric biking. Our enormous 24 hour local Asda seems to have an exceptionally high ratio of seriously fat customers, there is seldom a bike of any description there just acres of carpark, a cafe serving chips with all their meals, fit young people parking in disabled only bays & ranks of electric powered buggies for those who have lost the use of their legs! Alex

Insurance I recently did alot of shopping around for house & contents insurance after my old insurer upped their renewal premium by a huge amount for no good reason, they had asked 40 pounds to cover my 750 pound electric bike. Many of the other companies who quoted had a limit of 500 pounds on the pedal cycles they would cover, others specifically exclude motorised cycles. Eventually I went with Churchill who were alot cheaper than my old insurer & asked about 15 pounds to cover the bike. I don't think I would have bothered to include the bike on the policy if I had to pay 40 pounds, better to buy a serious lock & cover the saddle & battery with a tatty plastic bag when parked to hide the fact that it is electric from casual observers.

insulation People considering knitting teacosies for their batteries or sewing wee covers might investigate some of the modern materials used to insulate buildings. There is a robust polythene material like bubble wrap which includes a metalic reflective layer. Another product has numerous layers of a shiney reflective material similar to the 'space blankets' we see around collapsed marathon runners, this is interspersed with this fleecy stuff. Total thickness around 25mm yet the insulation value can be equivalent to 200mm of glass fibre quilt. There are also some amazing handwarmers which consist of a plastic sachet with a gel like substance inside which can produce considerable heat for about half an hour & are re-useable, pop one of those into a space age hot-box & your battery will think it is on holiday in Las Vegas

Sunrunner I was seriously considering buying one of the Sunrunner cycles (the gents 28" wheel one) though never managed to organize a test ride & eventually decided I needed more gears than the 3 speed Sunrunner so plumped for the Carerra Sparc from Halfords. I was attracted to the Sunrunner by its light weight, large wheel & outstanding battery performance (claimed), initially 5000 charge cycles were the stated life at a cost of 80 pounds for a battery. I suspect such performance is too good to be true so will wait for someone else to risk trialling LiFePo, I look forward to reading real life experiences of this technology on this forum.

Reduced range. Interesting to hear your Sram Sparc experiences Rooel. I certainly look forward to the 18.5V Lithium boost when the NiMh batteries have expired, for now I do not feel particularly dissatisfied I just noticed a big reduction in the miles I was covering on one charge & feel this illustrates the difference rider input can make. Because my pedalling effort changed overnight when I was afflicted by a sore back the reduction in range & speed was very noticeable. Previously I adjusted gears so I continually pushed against moderate resistance & so quickly accelerated to cut out at 15.5mph, & stayed at high speed more thus saving on battery power. In my enfeebled state I barely push the pedals at all, the riding position is upright & I turn the pedals just enough to keep the motor operating, if I had a throttle option I would doubtless use it to the max. & not pedal at all. I ride at lower speeds with the motor providing nearly all the motive power, seldom topping 15.5mph. Miles per charge has probably dropped from 16 to as low as 8 with cold a contributing factor. I am on the mend now so with my programme of back strengthening exercises I should be able to measure my recovery in terms of miles per charge. Racing up Dublin Street will be my attainment goal.

Thanks Rooel. I feel familiar with the Sparc innards thanks to previous threads (remember Krauterbuter?), but hope I will not need to go there, well perhaps a peek inside when I have the wheel off. All seems to be running well today after swapping to a fully charged battery, I will watch that nut in future. The range of my NiMH batteries seems to be well down of late, partly my pedalling effort is less due to a dodgy back these last few weeks. But wondering if the colder weather could have much effect? I was getting 16 miles plus (sometimes 20 miles), now sometimes only 11 miles. I suspect my puny input is the main reason, I probably should give up the bike until the back is fully restored., but it is a slow process.

I don't mind standing in the corner with a fairy on my head if it adds to the festive spirit but surely it is too early. Perhaps mid-December?

I had a problem with a fairly new Carrera Sparc with the Sram Sparc drive system. I have ridden about 160 miles & while out on a dark cold evening ride the motor completely cut out, also lights on mode selector died. I rode home easily enough without power, once in the warm with decent lighting found the entire plastic hub cover had come adrift, a plastic lock nut must have worked loose without me noticing, a jolt threw the cover off. I dont think there has been any damage, anyone with Sram motor should check this nut is well tightened.

impact protection & insulation Brrr it is freezing out there tonight. My bald bonce really benefitted from the insulation value of the polystyrene helmet lining coming home. Having lost the sight in one eye after a jigsaw fell on my bare head on a building site I can vouch for the value of any protection from impact head injuries. Lots of lights are a 'must' on these dark nights, high vis. jacket also, & my 'piece de la resistance' refective armbands from Lidl (or was it Aldi ?) with flashing red lights.

Another gripe While talking to my friend the electric biking decorator today about how he needs a replacement for his ancient Heinzman Estelle we bemoaned the unfair treatment of self-employed electric bikers. Any tradesman with a work vehicle can offset the cost of that vehicle against tax liability, spending on a van is viewed as a legitimate business expense. We assume an electric bike would not be allowable, perhaps a good accountant could make a case for the self employed e-biker? We don't benefit from the equivalent of the 'Bike to Work' scheme offered to empoyees of participating firms so some incentive to stop congesting city centres would seem fair. My friend transports pots of paint etc in a trailer & would be helped by some means of spreading the cost over a few years like the capital allowance given to van owners.

big bikes The Carrera is definitely too small for you, it is only available in one size. If I were 2m tall I would consider a bigger framed German or Dutch machine. E.g. Kalkoff Agattu, Heinzmann Estelle Sport, Koga Miyatu, Gazelle Easy Rider.

Carrera report Hi. I bought a Carrera a few weeks ago & am delighted with it. It copes pretty well with some fairly formidable hills around me in Edinburgh, but you do need to keep spinning the pedals briskly in first gear & progress is slow. On slight inclines & the flat the ride is brisk & not strenuous, downhill you bomb along under pedal power only because the motor cuts out at 15mph. The frame is 17'' with a sloping crossbar. Ideally I would prefer a bigger frame, at 5' 11'' it is just big enough for me with the seat at max. height, but for the price I can compromise a bit, & I felt able to buy a second battery (125 pounds). My experience is that an electric bike has made me much more inclined to travel by two wheels & even gentle electric assistance is alot of fun. Alex

Carrera calling. I am wondering if I should change my forum name to Carrera rather than just being Alex or would that just get confusing. Branwen refers to me as 'the guy on the Carrera' , it is always good to see her and her faithful Lafree. I saw her recently & heard how pleased she is to have the re-celled battery (as per flecc's expert guidance), then a moment later saw a little Urban Puma chained to a post, the owner turned out to be the local Minister who was sporting a helmet disconcertingly like a W.W.II. German Army helmet. A local family share an ancient Heinzmann Estelle, the man of the house is a decorator & regularly shifts ladders on a special bracket, & uses a trailer for pots of paint. I have spotted a plucky old gent on a Powerbyke but felt rather concerned for him as he wobbled up a hill. So that is the grand total of 4 electric bikers spotted in a city of 500,000. Alex (Carrera).

Hi Rooel. That is a useful link (batteryspace), & I am interested in your Sram Sparc upgrade. I will probably try 18.5V battery packs myself when my 16.5V ones are worn out. Does the Ah of the new packs have to be the same as the old ones (8Ah), & if anyone have experience of ordering batteries from the U.S. have they had problems, are they classed as hazardous perhaps? Alex

NIMH for sram sparc I picked up my second battery from my local bike shop today & hope it will be a very long time before I need to buy any more batteries. I now have two new 16V batteries each capable of 16 to 18 miles & each weighing 2.7kg so carrying both is not too burdensome if required. Fully discharging each battery in turn should not be too inconvenient so I hope to get long life from both of them. The Sram literature claims that 200- 300 charges should be possible depending on user behaviour, I will log my charges & see if I can get to 300. I hope performance will be better than others in this thread have reported. Does anyone know if there is much variation in quality of NiMh batteries, are there alot of duff ones out there? I am reassured that both my batteries arrived with a sticker attesting to the date of the last factory charge & they are both 'fresh'. Will they have been made in Germany (Sram is a German co. I believe) & if so does that mean quality will be any better than some from the Far East. Cost was 125 pounds for the new spare so at least if I do need to replace sooner than 300 charges I can get 2 batteries for the price of one Torq battery.

I lost the sight in one eye due to a blow to the head. A helmet would have saved my sight so I am acutely aware of how fragile a head is & in principle I think wearing a helmet is a sensible protective measure. I would certainly prefer my children to wear them on a bike though overall think it is best that helmets are not obligatory. I also lost several teeth in a bike accident which a helmet would not have saved. Go carefully out there!