Richard_M

Thanks Trex. I was curious. Like d8veh, we all know emporiums with a vast array of eBikes to try.

Yes, that was rather unfortunate. Also the motorist who underestimated the speed of the eCyclist approaching in her mirror, opened her door on him and nearly had him off. d8veh, I agree. Starting the journo off on a quirky, prohibitively expensive £1600 BionX was a poor option. What I found interesting was the sweeping statement that bikes outside of the UK are routinely used as common transport whereas in the UK, the emphasis is on sport, competition and fitness. I haven't got the bandwidth to listen again, but does anyone know the bike shop featured ? That was a really duff choice. I still think it was a decent feature and rather enjoyed it after my testing ride in the rain yesterday morning.

Hello all, Did anyone else catch the eBike feature on You and Yours on Radio 4 this lunchtime ? The presenter had a go on a BionX conversion and checked out a Powabyke. I thought they gave us riders and the technology fair press. It's only 8 minutes: BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Straw power station , Electric Bikes

This is a really good topic with two issues. How long can electronics keep working and how long can batteries last ? I too have a Casio calculator that I bought for college in 1981. Still going strong. A 1982 Yaesu FT790 transceiver with its original Ni-Cds still holding charge. A Grundig radio in my workshop has played all day for 40 years. Stirling service ! Stuff can be still be designed for microscopic power consumption. My mobile phone is a Nokia 100. They claim 'Up to 35 days standby'. Unbelievable but true (with a very local base station). Unfortunately, our bikes get frozen, baked, and rattled about. Then we sting our batteries with 1C+ discharges. Clearly they're doomed, but I'd love to hear of more unlikely consumer electronics survivors. What have you got, fellas ?

Hello again to you all. I ride my bike to and from the depot and then drive a minibus all day. I had a near miss in Histon near Cambridge with a bike up the inside just before turning left. I indicate at least 10 secs, at least 400yds before a turn yet still had a bike come up the inside yesterday. I'm sure nobody on the forum ever rides up the inside of a commercial indicating left, but please don't do it right at the turn itself. We can only see what is in the mirrors. I have a good look before the turn, but just suppose...

Hello again, but under a different context this time. I've recently expanded my station aboard narrowboat 'Patent Pending' somewhat : [ATTACH]7372.vB[/ATTACH] I'm currently active on 40m, 2m and 70cms. Locals in East Anglia can find me on GB3PI and GB3PY. I'm always up for a chat about radio, more radio, ebikes, biking of all sorts and vaping. I'm sure I'm not the only techie sort into ebikes and radio too. G8VQN.

Courtesy of Hackaday, here's a link to some wingbike mayhem: Human Powered Hydrofoil, the Wingbike!

Mine's just arrived and it's a bit flimsy and optimistically rated, but cost less than a tenner. Amazing ! I shall pull it apart and apply all sorts of volts and currents. Thanks for the link, d8veh. With a bit of modding this could be a handy bit of kit. Just what my bike needs.

Can anyone shed any light on why these halls fail ? The halls are epoxied and should be OK themselves, so that just leaves electrical or mechanical damage. I can understand the halls in the hub getting flashed if the cable gets spun and shorted or if water conducts motor drive to the halls. But what's happening to these throttles ? @OldBob1, I'm using Morris K99 boat sterngear grease. Really thick and totally waterproof. @John F, I'm using old engine oil. It's free and I use it all over my bikes. Thanks again d8veh for an excellent repair guide. Good luck with your winter rides.

Nice post d8veh. Those halls really are as cheap as chips. Hello D C, I've been filling mine with oil. I use an oilcan and pump it into the gap until it overflows. You'll find that it gradually runs out of the cable hole, but at least nothing will corrode or short inside. As for covering it when parked up, I wrap mine with a carrier bag. A clothes peg retains it. While we're at it, disconnect all the plugs and sockets and push them into a pot of grease. Then reassemble. All the grease gets squidged through the contacts, the crimps and all over the cables. I've had duff contacts due to corrosion but a wad of grease and plenty of oil seems to do no harm at all. Good luck with the winter riding.

That's a good start, but look here at the astonishing rail network that serviced industrial Northampton: [ATTACH]7215.vB[/ATTACH] While it is always sad to lose a railway, just imagine that lot reborn as cycleways .

I think one of the secret pleasures of being an old git is the release from the pressure of ambition. When you're young, you're ambitious. Get on a bit and you're driven (but still a failure). Get to to be an old git and...you know. Other old gits I spot on the bikes give me a nod and a knowing look, and I love it. If we was born to change the world, we'd have done it by now. We still ride our bikes simply because it's rather nice.

"the sit bones and pubic bones are suspended in mid-air, with the fleshier sides of the buttocks absorbing the rider's weight over a wider area."

That's absurdly cheap, so I've bought one straight away. I couldn't buy the LCD for that price. I'll check its accuracy thoroughly when it arrives.

Dear CD, I knew this would happen. At last, this closed system has been broken. I never wanted to go faster, but I found the 25 Kph 'wall' downright dangerous at times. The power would tail off on a bend and throw me all over. I entered into a lengthy correspondence with the EU distributors and got nowhere. I have other gripes with BionX and have experienced bizarre behaviour, but that's another story... I ran a PL250 48V for 9 months. It had a sophisticated long ride, but it always felt constrained. Shot of it now, I now ride a system of dubious legality (as you do). Good luck on your liberated ride.