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Old 06-14-2018, 03:45 PM   #21 (permalink)
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IGL - '04 Saturn Ion
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Made my first trip out to work today! Admittedly it wasn’t for my shift, but to do some paperwork, so I felt okay about trying it out with no light, and the cars short on fuel so I wanted to save the remaining fuel until payday...

The hill on my way there was steep enough I still burned out 3/4 way up, and going down the other side on my small chainring(shifter is stuck) I quickly ran out of cadence, so only coasted up to 26-28mph (est), and the trip took 12 or 13 min, with waiting for traffic at intersections... the hill on my way home wasn’t quite steep enough to make me walk, but it was a long grind at ~4mph...

Going forward, I could really use a cycle computer (a speedometer at least)... I’m fairly confident that I could get going fast enough to get myself a speeding ticket, which I wanna avoid... I still can’t fully commute on my bike until I get a light but now I know for certain that I can make the trip!

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Old 06-20-2018, 04:18 PM   #22 (permalink)
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After a 16 mile ride with my son and daughter I decided to order a double wall wheel for the rear. The stock single wall wheel did not hold true under my 260 lb butt. Otherwise a pleasant ride with no hills, not that there are not plenty to be found.
Like most states WV uses the federal standard of 1500w for an electric moped and 50cc for gas power. Your maximum speed is 30 mph and PA is 25 mph.
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Old 06-21-2018, 04:07 AM   #23 (permalink)
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IGL - '04 Saturn Ion
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I’m about to order a headlight, so I can ride it after dark, and actually use it for most of my commuting... still deciding on other components to replace/upgrade along the way...

Seems that most high end bike parts are ridiculously expensive lol

I don’t figure I’ll often exceed the 30mph max on flat ground but going downhill, I could conceivably hit close to 40 on the big chainring...
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Old 06-21-2018, 12:58 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
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yes. i noticed and dislike all the slick looking and expensive parts for bikes. but sometimes the cheaper stuff is really not that well built. i have done ok on amazon and ebay. just ok. my core parts I tried to get the best: motor, controller, battery. nothing fancy. just good reliable hardware. 5000 miles and three years later all that stuff is still churning along happily.
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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Old 06-21-2018, 01:16 PM   #25 (permalink)
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You'll want a tail light, too. I've seen enough people driving without their headlights on at night that a reflector alone doesn't cut it.

I currently use this light combo https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IO12ZPO/ For my ebike, I used this headlight with a different lens https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QQX3C4/ It's bright, but I wouldn't charge the battery on anything flammable. Both are bright enough for doing 30+MPH at night.
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Old 06-22-2018, 12:16 AM   #26 (permalink)
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IGL - '04 Saturn Ion
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I was given a dual bulb holder for 194 bulbs, with an LED upgrade and red lens I figure I’ll be alright... found a 10Klm headlight that comes with an 8.4V lithium battery for like $16 to my door on eBay( https://m.ebay.com/itm/3-x-CREE-XM-L...anner=1&_rdt=1 )debating between that and a fog light housing with H1 bulb and LiFePO4 pack to run it...
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Old 07-06-2018, 03:28 AM   #27 (permalink)
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Been a while since I updated this, but I tried riding to my workplace and my cassette shifter stuck, making it impossible to downshift... growing weary of grip shifters, and analyzing the cost of replacing all that’s wrong, I ended up just buying a new bike...

It’s a Kent Roadtech 700, a steel frame road bike (still department store quality), with double wall alloy rims, narrower tire(32mm), and it doesn’t have the grip shifters, shifting gears is now effortless...
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Old 07-06-2018, 11:26 AM   #28 (permalink)
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This is a decent starter bike. I rode a Ross Gran Tour years ago and tuned it to fit me. There is a wealth of info on adjusting a road bike to fit. Some folks would plot the gear ratios and tape them to the handlebar to get the best shift sequence. I used a mirror that fit into the end of the handlebar. Move the water bottle holder to the top of the seat tube to reduce the air flow between the legs. Lights, horn, and aero mods apply equally to the road bike. Consider keeping a mountain bike for winter.
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Old 07-06-2018, 11:24 PM   #29 (permalink)
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IGL - '04 Saturn Ion
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I still have my hybrid bike for winter, should I choose to bike in the snow at all... I’ll grab a can of WD-40 and try and free up its shifters for fowl weather use... I had to borrow one of its tires though...

I bought my Kent with a bad rear tire (bead was ripped) for like 25% off retail, but I had to borrow a tire from the hybrid to get my road bike going... right now it has a 35mm rear tire and 32mm front... considering buying a pair of good road tires and returning the hybrid tire to the hybrid...
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Old 07-08-2018, 12:11 AM   #30 (permalink)
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IGL - '04 Saturn Ion
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So for the last two nights ive ridden to work on my bike, taking about 9mi off the car... I ended up buying a $1 flashlight from a dollar store and zip tied it to my handlebar/stem and it is *just barely* adequate, but it got me on the road...

So far, my cassette shifter needs indexed(sometimes will skip gears or not shift quite right, and the shifter has more “clicks” than I have cogs), and sometimes my chainring shifter is really slow to downshift... my brakes also kinda suck, I think they cheaped out on the pads when they assembled my bike but it’s an easy fix, but I digress... I AM saving fuel now...

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