Retired the e-bike
 

After about a 1 1/2 years I retired the e-bike last June and went back to Old school. Although the e-bike saved about 25 minutes on the longest commute it was not cost effective or worth the hassle to keep running it. I was going through lead acid packs about every 4 months if store bought and every 3 months if using the fire alarm rejects, if I could get them when I needed them. Rear tires were wearing at a much faster rate also because of the extra weight.

I do miss the power on days when the wind is blowing or the short hops when it's a 105 outside. Overall though the simplicity of a bike with panniers is hard to beat for hassle free reliability.:thumbup:

Welcome back to the dark side ;)

Sorry to hear it. I'm going the other way.

I ordered up a rear wheel with a hub motor and I'm figuring out a design for a bolt-on modular "xtracycle" type extension that will have the motor wheel and battery, as well as cargo racks that I can hook up to either my tadpole or 2 wheel recumbent. I have a 36V 20AH lifepo4 that I was going to use to revive a Giant LaFree, but never got that to work the way I wanted.

My goal is not for great speed, but to get as many assisted miles as I can. I was very inspired by watching the video of that guy that went all the way across Canada with his electric assist bike by plugging into outdoor outlets along the way. I'd like to try the same thing in America, but I don't think the outdoor outlets are as easy to find, because much of the country doesn't get cold enough for block heater outlets to be placed everywhere. I'm sure that the outlets can be found, but I'm also sure that there are no shortage of people who will charge you a couple of bucks to plug in for a couple of hours.

Why?? I'm still on my bike just about every day. It's just my day is about 40 minutes longer now:)

Sounds like a great project can wait for the thread on it.:turtle:

Thas cool, as long as it's just the "e" that's retired, with the potential that it'll make it's way into something else someday.

SLA is problematic enough in EVs in general, but on a bike, I just don't see the practicality. I've got my fingers crossed that the lifepo4 will do the job.