Mountain Biking general thread

[Rich B]

The other big thing is I tend to upgrade/sell bikes after about 4 years, so if I do go to sell my Decoy I'd rather it has the real bike park heavy use mileage rather than a massively inflated road mileage, because people will assume it's all heavy use anyway!

[speedingfine]

Where'd you buy that Rich, eBay?

[Rich B]

I've ridden the Cube to work a few times now, I've also derestricted it which has absolutely transformed it. My best standard (stops assisting at 15.5mph) time for the 17.5 mile journey was 1hr 9 mins - Mainly because it's not actually assisting for the majority of the Time.

With it derestricted my best time has been 50 minutes.

In this mode it does eat battery, but there's more than enough to do one way. Which I found out today, when I forgot the key to remove the battery (to charge it) so had to try and get home on 1 1/2 bars. I didn't make it and ended up having to ride home with no assistance. Which was fucking hard work!

[Jobbo]

My Orbea came with two keys. One normal key to put on a key ring, which I’ve never used. The other fits inside the stem, attached to the back of a screw cap so it’s always with you. Inspired - I’d miss that if I changed bike. I always take the battery out and keep it in the house, after reading about storing in cold conditions being bad for them. Also makes the bike a lot lighter to fit into the boot.

[Rich B]

My YT has the socket on the outside, you don't need to remove the battery to charge it, this makes far more sense to me.

[Jobbo]

My Orbea has a socket on the outside, which I've never used - I assume pretty much all e-bikes do. But I like to take my battery out when I finish a ride to keep it separately rather than with the bike for security and to keep it from getting too cold in the garage. Also means I unplug it when it's finished charging because it's next to my desk, though I imagine the controller is clever enough not to try to keep charging when it's left plugged in.

[drcarlos]

I've ridden the Cube to work a few times now, I've also derestricted it which has absolutely transformed it. My best standard (stops assisting at 15.5mph) time for the 17.5 mile journey was 1hr 9 mins - Mainly because it's not actually assisting for the majority of the Time.

With it derestricted my best time has been 50 minutes.

In this mode it does eat battery, but there's more than enough to do one way. Which I found out today, when I forgot the key to remove the battery (to charge it) so had to try and get home on 1 1/2 bars. I didn't make it and ended up having to ride home with no assistance. Which was fucking hard work!

Where does this fall within the laws governing EPAS and electric motorbikes?

[Jobbo]

I've ridden the Cube to work a few times now, I've also derestricted it which has absolutely transformed it. My best standard (stops assisting at 15.5mph) time for the 17.5 mile journey was 1hr 9 mins - Mainly because it's not actually assisting for the majority of the Time.

With it derestricted my best time has been 50 minutes.

In this mode it does eat battery, but there's more than enough to do one way. Which I found out today, when I forgot the key to remove the battery (to charge it) so had to try and get home on 1 1/2 bars. I didn't make it and ended up having to ride home with no assistance. Which was fucking hard work!

Where does this fall within the laws governing EPAS and electric motorbikes?

If anyone were to notice, it would no longer count as an electrically assisted bicycle so it would only be rideable on roads legal for registered vehicles, and should itself be registered, insured, taxed, require a helmet etc.

I remain of the opinion that the more common this is, the more likely it is that all e-bikes will start requiring registration, licence, helmet etc and be banned from bridleways, cycle paths etc. If you want to ride with assistance over 15.6mph then lobby to change the law rather than breaking it. But this is just a personal fear and I'm not going to get into an argument about it. I doubt Rich is going to ride like a bell-end on his commute to attract attention anyway; it's the people fitting 1000W motors with throttles to their bikes, going round at 40mph without pedalling, who are the real issue.

[dinny_g]

it's the people fitting 1000W motors with throttles to their bikes, going round at 40mph without pedalling, who are the real issue.

Very true - there's a world of difference between what you guys have, even de-restricted and bikes you don't need to pedal

[Jobbo]

it's the people fitting 1000W motors with throttles to their bikes, going round at 40mph without pedalling, who are the real issue.

Very true - there's a world of difference between what you guys have, even de-restricted and bikes you don't need to pedal

Yep, but legally if your standard legal e-bike assists over 15.6mph then it falls in the same category. If we had a decent government rather than the shambles of most of the last decade, they might introduce sensible legislation to distinguish but I don't hold out any hope of that - it'll be some OTT knee-jerk reaction like deportation to Rwanda when it happens.

Sorry, will get off my high horse now. It's not about the bike, as somebody used to say... forgotten who, no record of him in the TdF archives

[dinny_g]

[Rich B]

As Jobbo says - it falls "outside" the EAPC rules...

(no idea what EPAS is).

[Rich B]

I've ridden the Cube to work a few times now, I've also derestricted it which has absolutely transformed it. My best standard (stops assisting at 15.5mph) time for the 17.5 mile journey was 1hr 9 mins - Mainly because it's not actually assisting for the majority of the Time.

With it derestricted my best time has been 50 minutes.

In this mode it does eat battery, but there's more than enough to do one way. Which I found out today, when I forgot the key to remove the battery (to charge it) so had to try and get home on 1 1/2 bars. I didn't make it and ended up having to ride home with no assistance. Which was fucking hard work!

Where does this fall within the laws governing EPAS and electric motorbikes?

If anyone were to notice, it would no longer count as an electrically assisted bicycle so it would only be rideable on roads legal for registered vehicles, and should itself be registered, insured, taxed, require a helmet etc.

I remain of the opinion that the more common this is, the more likely it is that all e-bikes will start requiring registration, licence, helmet etc and be banned from bridleways, cycle paths etc. If you want to ride with assistance over 15.6mph then lobby to change the law rather than breaking it. But this is just a personal fear and I'm not going to get into an argument about it. I doubt Rich is going to ride like a bell-end on his commute to attract attention anyway; it's the people fitting 1000W motors with throttles to their bikes, going round at 40mph without pedalling, who are the real issue.

like all these things, you decide how much risk you want to take - like driving over the speed limit, which we all do daily - should we be lobbying for the limit to be raised or do we know it's pointless.

One press of the walk button and my bike is back to legal spec again - Which is always useful!

[John]

I've finally converted the commuter to tubeless. The Kenda tyres were swapped for a pair of Schwalbe G Ones which are more like a very fine knobbly MTB tyre compared to the cut slick style of the Kenda tyres. You wouldn't think so by looking at the tyres but the Schwalbes roll much better and I can feel a noticeable difference, it'll be interesting to see any affect on the battery usage.

[Jobbo]

The tyres which came on my Specialized Crosstrail about 10 years ago were similar to those in terms of tread. They did indeed roll very well, though they were useless on grass and clogged up quickly with mud - as you'd expect, of course.

Had a nice ride on Sunday round all the fields near me since the farmers had left the gates open after the harvest. Despite the ground being dry I still managed to get a fair bit of mud in the Maxxis treads; I'd never previously appreciated how well they clean themselves because I noticed shortly after I got onto some tarmac that they were clear of all mud. Impressive.

[Jobbo]

Got my new bike coming:

[John]

If it looks right...

[John]

I’ve broken through 500 miles and just under 39000 feet of elevation gain commuting. Lost 1.5kg too

Edit to add - that’s on 13 battery cycles.

[Jobbo]

That's a hilly commute - I have looked at my stats since I got my e-bike, bought specifically in order to go up hills when riding for fun and living in a fairly hilly area, and I've only managed 35,000 ft of elevation gain in 617 miles.

[John]

There is certainly no shortage of hills in the Sheffield area!