Mongo, 48v 1000w 'Magic Pie' ehub on a Mongoose 'Snarl'

[BarelyAWake]

Homeward bound;

[BarelyAWake]

Well... winter riding is always a case of not "if" but when ya crash and my first of the season was a doozy, it should suffice to remind me of my mortality for at least a lil while. Defo a case of "operator error" I'd been decelerating down a slight hill before a turn, after the turn & on crunchy snow pack I thought I'd the traction to gun it up the next incline, accustomed & complacent with an ebike's "lack" of horsepower.

Ofc I didn't account for the glare ice after the crunchy patch, ofc I failed to remember an ebike's torque and the second my rear tire touched the ice I immediately experienced a massive wheelspin, the bike kicking out from under me I met the pavement with a startlingly fast vengeance, smashing into the ground on my left arm & tumbling up the hill with the bike inverted atop me, for a moment anyway lol

I then learned another nice aspect of ebikes, as one can lay there in a heap for quite a while, sucking wind & contemplating one's general foolishness without concern of a runaway bike or fuel spill FTW

No real harm done though with just the rear rack knocked askance a bit, the unphone mount unmounted and mirror cockeyed & all easily fixed... after I recover some range of movement in my left arm, which is currently refusing to cooperate, which ofc made for a very interesting ride the rest of the way home lol

[skyl4rk]

ouch

done that before, I'm not bike commuting on ice anymore

when you go down, you go down fast and hit hard

[BarelyAWake]

Defo skyl4rk, you'd think after four years of all season riding in Maine, I'd have figured that out by now... but nooooo, every winter I find myself relearning the same lessons again lol

While I've been all healed up for awhile now (turns out I'd fractured the radius in my left forearm...gettin' old I guess), I didn't bother fixing Mongo's rack supports, they're just a bit bent & I figured if I fixed them, I'd prolly just bash 'em again, but so far so good *crosses fingers*

Once used to the sneaky torque of an electric, this ebike has turned out to be my best, most reliable commuter ever - since I built the thing (roughly 4500 very hard miles ago) all I've needed to do is lube the chain & cables, fix one flat & repair the thumb throttle, which busted only due to my carelessness (yea, I dropped the bike parking it on squishy ground)... none of that is really a failure on it's part.

As a result & despite some naysayers ("geez -you can't ebike in winter!") I've learned that an electric with essentially it's one moving part is by far more trustworthy than anything else I've tried, subject to both cold & caustic conditions it jus' keeps gettin' me where I need to go with nary a complaint & best yet, no needy begging for ongoing maintenance, no costs of upkeep, no costs at all for that matter heh - leaving me finally free to tinker other things

[Slow_s10]

What an awesome project. I just read through the whole thing and I am quite impressed. It really makes me wish I lived colser to where I work because I could definitely see myself commuting on an e-bike. Do you plan on doing anything else with the bike or are you just happy with it? Also what ever happened to the tadpole?

[skyking]

Glad to hear you are on the mend.
I have given more thought to the wheelchair ideas. I may build a 3 wheel single rear drive trike that he can back his existing chair into. Not going to be as light or convenient, but I can optimize it for travel, and build in a lift system to lift his chair up for decent ground clearance. I am not at all comfortable with two e-motors and only differential power for steering at any high speed. Things happen too fast

[BarelyAWake]

Originally Posted by Slow_s10

What an awesome project. I just read through the whole thing and I am quite impressed. It really makes me wish I lived colser to where I work because I could definitely see myself commuting on an e-bike. Do you plan on doing anything else with the bike or are you just happy with it? Also what ever happened to the tadpole?

Thanks Slow, naw I can't think of anything I'd really wanna change or add on the ebike 'cept get my blasted summer tires back on it ofc lol, this 'un seems to have turned out just right the first time... ofc basic hub motor bikes like this really aren't much of a project, it's truly just a "bolt n'go" in most cases.

In contrast, yea I'm still slowly tinkerin' away on the taddy - I did sneak it out for a quick test run (or two... mebbe three... ok, so all day then), if you'd like there's some babble about it here;
http://ecomodder.com/forum/362121-post75.html

Originally Posted by skyking

Glad to hear you are on the mend.
I have given more thought to the wheelchair ideas. I may build a 3 wheel single rear drive trike that he can back his existing chair into. Not going to be as light or convenient, but I can optimize it for travel, and build in a lift system to lift his chair up for decent ground clearance. I am not at all comfortable with two e-motors and only differential power for steering at any high speed. Things happen too fast

Yea, that seems like a good plan - not only for safety but simplicity & ease of use. Twin electric motors would help with both acceleration & terrain, but at the cost of ...well cost, but also range & added complexity. There's also the fact that given the relative simplicity of electrics, it's always something that could be added on later *shrug* I think in this case the chassis is prolly the most important bit

[Grant-53]

The secret to riding on ice is in the tires-studs, chains, or what ever it takes. Maybe adjusting the resistance in the controls or a form of traction control like the superbikes use. Definitely I like my fairing in the cold and rain, at $10 of plastic is silly not to have one. Hope you mend well. The boys had me join their karate lessons so I learned to fall safely.