stokepa31_mk2

Ive always maintained ebikes saved my life. I now ride road and mountain but would never have been bitten by the bug if id not got my ezee torq on cycle to work. after moving over to a kalkhoff agattu i finally took the plunge a purchased a felt hybrid. that lasted only a few months before a 'proper' road bike. i really enjoy sportives and going hell for leather to set a time but on a standard weekend ride i just tootle along and enjoy the countryside. i would say though that once fitness reaches a certain level its pretty easy to maintain high speeds on a road bike. the ultra stiff bikes these days turn every bit of your efforts into forward drive. having had an ebike or three also allowed me one other benefit. when it came to shelling out £2k on a road bike it was only a bit more expensive than i was used to paying for my bike. I also got good money for my ebikes. ill grant you that most road cyclists are quite anti ebike and think they are gods gift. i cant share that, without ebikes id still be rotting in a chair looking forward to an early grave. i have been overtaken on climbs by ebikes but it doesnt harm my ego, and anyway, ill catch you on the way down the other side we all worship at the temple of velo, we just do it in slightly different ways To the OP, i hope you enjoy your new purchase. be prepared to spend lots more of your hard earned on upgrades and bling lol

Well the lord giveth and the lord taketh away but sometimes he giveth back again my ebay seller wanted me to return the incorrect cells at my own cost and then once he had received them back he would dispatch the lifepo4 cells. probably another 6 weeks of waiting so i had a rant at him and left negative feedback. i should easily recoup my outlay by selling them on so no harm done. I then stumbled across another potential bargain in the form of extender batteries for the archos media player. 3.7v lipos at 10ah capacity are inside each case and the housing makes for a nice alu heatsink http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu102/stokepa31/acf784d6.jpg http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu102/stokepa31/8a3895e5.jpg all for the great price of £34 delivered for a dozen of the above. Will allow me to build 4 11.1v 10ah packs so im well impressed at that price. still available at the link below JOB LOT 12X ARCHOS 3.7V 10Ah RECHARGEABLE BATTERY PACKS | eBay UK

i would happily endorse the 300w belkin one linked below. been using it on my solar setup in the office for 6 months. has a battery charge indicator too and is a paultry £13 edit: should have added it comes with good sized croc plugs to run directly of the battery or a ciggy plug too Belkin AC Anywhere - 300W DC/AC Power Inverter: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

I do have several big car and leisure batteries for collecting the solar panel output but prefer to make up custom battery packs for local light solutions so i dont have wires all over the place.

Just an update to this. received batteries yesterday after a very long wait. unfortunately, they sent the wrong ones grrr. i got 20 bog standard lipos rather than lifepo4. the item description clearly states lifepo4 but the pictures show 3.7v lipo. will be interesting to see their reply after the dragon boat festival holiday. hopefully they will dispatch new ones and let me keep these. that would be a result lol

I must confess im not using them for bike battery packs. Ive been on a bit of a project to LED the whole house. i have a solar panel set up which runs an inverter to power a charger and all our lighting is now battery powered. Ive been making up battery packs to between 10 & 12 volts depending on chemistry. these are only my second new purchase as ive tried to scavenge for the most part. Solar panels from an office refurb my company did cost me a crate of beer to the boys on site. 12v server backup batteries from a mate in IT. lots of cells from old drill batteries sold on ebay as faulty (its often just one or two cells that are duff).

couldnt resist these and thought i would share. very very good price imo new A123 18650 LiFePO4 Battery 3.3v 1000-1100mAH 20 Pcs | eBay UK

When i had my ebike i used the newyork kryptonite D lock with a cable. lock went though frame and cable went though wheels and the top of the battery. very secure. dont be put off by people who tell you it can be opened with a bic pen. that problem was a long time ago. i left my bike everywhere without problems Kryptonite New York Lock 3000: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure Kryptonite Kryptoflex 4 ft Cable Lock (10 mm x 120 cm): Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure search for best price. the lock is heavy but then so was i and so was the bike

my hack about bike is a felt qx75. stunning bike for the money. buy second hand and you will be getting a steal. if you want to go uber fast then i can highly recommend a scott cr1 pro with full durace . bit pricey but i love mine:)

put it on ebay. ill bet you get more than £20. bikes are very in demand - even old hacks

pro time trial riders tend to go as low as 19mm width but on some of the classics like paris - roubaix you will see tyre widths of 25mm this is generally to make the ride more comfortable. tyre deflection is also influenced by the psi rating of the tyre too so if you can get a very high pressure narrow tyre you will ofset more of the deflection. rims are also just as important to rolling resistance both in weight and drag. its a complicated area but as a rule thinner and higher pressure = faster. downside is less comfort, more punctures and the potential to batter ones crown jewels lol

I wondered that myself. seen one for £40 which will put out 5amps max. im in no rush to charge it but dont want to upset the battery if it likes a higher charge rate

Hi all im creating an led strip light using LEDs in parallel. this battery seems to be ideal given the 16ah rating at 3.2w which is bang on the forward drop voltage of my LEDs anyone know what i would need to charge it that is available of the shelf. im guesing id need a high output charger Headway 3.2V LifePo4 40160S 16AH Rechargable Battery on eBay (end time 05-Mar-11 20:09:38 GMT) thanks in advance Paul

get some coolstop or swissstop pads. They are the best pad available. generally speaking all brakes are fine these days its just the contact points that need upgrading.

not quite with income tax revenue at £397bn and the welfare budget at £116bn. still a lot of cash to spend on some although i would imagine there are a lot of folks at the moment with a genuine need of the help given the stte of the economy. one thing is for sure. they need to spend more on the roads whoever is paying. im sick of bouncing my crown jewels through pot holes FWIW im a big fan of clarkson but i dont take him seriously

just come across this on bikeradar

Godwin's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia All Aurora riders have one ball

i have a power jacket for my iphone which was £17 from play.com. doubles the battery life and is plenty for all but the longest rides. i always have my phone in my pocket and have a garmin 705 mounted on the stem. the garmins are completely waterproof but not a good investment for the casual cyclist.

for android i would look at 'sportstracker' or 'my tracks' for iphone 'map my ride' and 'cyclemeter'. i use mapmyride for iphone and cant fault it. keeps the gps signal even with the phone in my back jersey pocket.

My wife has no problem with the xs kalkhoff and she is 5ft 0 in

Mr Cancellara is being accused of using an ebike in winning two classics this year. have a read of this thread which includes a video. I would be interested to hear thoughts on the potential for this. Wonder if we'll see bike scanners soon on the start line Cancellara Caught?? | Pro Race | Road | Forums - BikeRadar

shes a real beauty. mostly ultegra wih DA chainset. Thats the one good thing about coming from an ebike background - you are already used to shelling out the big money for a bike :) I am starting to see a few more ebikes about now and always try and stop for a chat with the riders. they seem to like it that i take an interest as most of the cycling fraternity are still a bit elitist when it comes to electric. Hope you are well Tony. l drop back in and let you know how the Ralieghs are going in the LBS. For anyone who may be interested the bikes are going to be stocked at Covventry Cycle Centre.

Hi All - its been a while My local bike shop are stocking these now. Ebikes finally hitting the mainstream cycle shops. met the raleigh rep in the shop today. was interested to note that Lloyd from 50c (or formerly i guess now) is providing the dealer training. I remember him being a top guy so it could well work. its been a couple of years since i flogged my ebike. I now ride a scott CR1 which I can now pedal as quick as my old agattu Ive lost 4 stone in weight and have just returned from doing London Paris. just goes to show what a positive impact ebikes had on my life. I also now appreciate what Flecc says about the terrain in the Downs. Turners Hill near killed me Hope you are all well Paul

I can recommend hope clamps. my felt needed a replacement early on and its superb. come in a range of colours too if you fancy a bit of a change:D

I used to use the Aldi glasses but once I tried a pair of Spiuk Tortions I never looked back. the photochromatic lenses are a revelation and they also come with high conrtrast iridium lenses too. I found the aldi glasses a false economy as i tended to buy a few pairs every time they were on sale. I always treated them badly given the cheap price too. I have also noticed the difference in the distortion of the optics when compared to the spiuks. you get what you pay for!!