Comments on: Off Topic: My e-Bike Conversion…

By: RON WENNER

RON WENNER — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:51:04 +0000

I’ve logged tens of thousands of miles on my Treks (leg power) and now very happily zip around on a Vespa but your e-bike has a ton of appeal to me.
Perhaps you’ll sell a BCT e-bike conversion kit???

Post lots more on your build.

By: Rutager

Rutager — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:32:06 +0000

John,

How about a few pictures of the “killer in waiting” climb.

-Rutager

By: pfranks

pfranks — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 01:47:53 +0000

I was thinking brain issues, Rutager. But let’s pretend that I meant nicer drivers.

You’re lucky to live in such a bike-friendly city. From a weather point of view, San Diego is wonderful. From a road and driver point of view, not so much. I compensate by sitting on my a$$ a lot…

– Peter

By: Webb

Webb — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:20:15 +0000

What were the surprises? I have mtn bike from days gone by that is ripe for conversion.

By: Rutager

Rutager — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:32:53 +0000

Peter,

Clarification on no worries for me; is it because of brain issues or nicer drivers?

Minneapolis and Portland are always number one and two in bike “friendliness.” They pretty much flip flop from year to year. The metro area of MN is adding bike lanes and trails all the time. I can probably take off-street trail for over half my 20 mile commute and many of the other streets have bike lanes. I ride in a polite and mostly law abiding fashion and rarely ever have an issue with a dangerous motorist.

It would be cool if more people got on their bikes- electric or standard. I arrive home in a great mood when I take my bike, not so much when I drive the freeway.

-Rutager

By: dmarkowi

dmarkowi — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:34:13 +0000

Reading it back, to be fair to Rohloff, they all need an alternative way of tensioning the chain since the derrailleur serves that function on most bikes. The alternatives are horizontal dropouts or fork ends (like on track style bikes), modular sliding vertical dropouts, eccentric bottom brackets (the hole where the pedals go), or a tensioning arm or derreilleur.

By: dmarkowi

dmarkowi — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:18:52 +0000

You also asked concerning. Only the Rohloff has QR and it needs special dropouts or a chain tensioner and is heavy (actually, they all are). And the manufacturers, IMO, have a bad habit of dropping models out of production. Most of the manufacturers only made grip shifts, although Shimano makes a switch shifter (name?) for the Alfine which is on my Soho and there are after market shifters for some models. And I’m never sure how competent the local bike shops that don’t sell a lot of them are at working on them, although I’m sure a bike friendly city like Portland wouldn’t have that problem.

By: dmarkowi

dmarkowi — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:12:45 +0000

John: I probably can’t do the internal gear hubs justice. The last several years they’ve *greatly* increased the gear range, refined the manufacturing, and enhanced the technology. I wasn’t alive by a long shot in the days of two-gear Torpedo and three-gear Sturmey Archers. They now have 11 gear Japanese hubs with 400%+ gearing ratios (Shimano Alfine), 14 gear German hubs with 500%+ ratios (Rohloff), and an American-made (!) continuously variable hub (NuVinci). For a while, Shimano was making a three-gear hub with electric, automatic shifting for cruiser type bikes.

Sheldon Brown’s site (which I’m sure you’re familiar with as a bike guy and a gearhead-type guy) had a nice article. The technology has advanced since he died, though. If you need a link, I’ll look later.

If you’re looking to putter, I’ve got a built up wheel with an SRAM iMotion-9 (nine gear German) hub for a dream bike I never had built after I got a deal on a Trek Soho with an Alfine 8-gear a few years ago…I’m slowly curing my hoarding of never-to-be-used stuff and had been thinking of eBaying it. I don’t remember what I paid, but I’d give a nice price if I can dig the damn thing out.

By: pfranks

pfranks — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:57:54 +0000

Wow! A CT-18 and an electric bike. Looks like your work retreat in SD was productive!

And weren’t you accused of cheating with the JMP? Man – you delinquents from Iowa – always breaking the rules.

I see a lot of electric bikes around here. A neighbor of mine has two – a mountain bike, and a street bike. Having visited your gully, I can certainly understand the need for some assist in getting up that hill (the view of Mt Hood from the top is truly spectacular!). However, the problem in SD is not the need for more power, it’s the need for less aggressive drivers. It’s truly scary out there. I value my brain too much to attempt to bike to work.

Now Rutager – I can see why he’d bike to work. No worries.

Glad you’re having so much fun with the bike. Are you dreaming up new ways of improving the electric assist technology?

– Peter

By: John

John — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:43:41 +0000

Rutager, this is why I believe, along with the automobile manufacturers, that e-bikes are a disruptive technology. There is a reason most people use to avoid riding a bike… or reasons… This technology changes the rules. What if it only cost $200? That day will come.

Fun discussion nevertheless.

-John