It is a pity that in business it is difficult to make sure everyone is always happy, and it looks like a few recent buyers will be left caught short with a broken kit and no warranty comeback. My kit has already paid for itself and is currently still working well almost 2 years later. Thankfully I have the V2 kit which has its major components compatible with other systems. I am however on the look out for another elation kit or parts to get as spares. So let me know if you want to sell one.

But first for those interested the Yuba and the Elation are going strong 4 days and maybe 50ks per week, Everything ticking along beautifully.

I have some very set routines in my bike travel and some very tried and true routes. Two days per week I travel in evening peak hour on the very busy but very slow moving Cleveland Street in Inner Sydney. Until now I have not had a problem. I keep up a cracking pace and really only the most inpatient driver could ever accuse me of holding anyone up.

So this week for some reason I have had my life threatened with a car two days in a row. All cyclists have at some point experienced the the close pass but this it the first time I have experienced a driver purposefully changing lanes to drive directly at me; both drivers missing me by maybe 12 inches.

The thing that has shaken me is that these “attacks” were completely unprovoked, not the aftermath of some incident or exchange of words as might be expected if not condoned.

I was simply riding on the road. Indeed this is what the 2nd driver accused me of. “Get off the road you *&;^%&;$*” is about as intelligent as his explanation got as I rode up next to him only 20 metres on. He went on the say he hadn’t touched me and that next time he would hit me! Great death threats..just what I need. To be honest despite his foul language and bravado, I could see in his eyes and hear in the tone of his voice that he wasn’t comfortable being confronted like this (especially when I pulled out my iphone and asked him to repeat his threats, which he wouldn’t). So maybee he will think twice next time. Maybe.

Maybe I’ll think twice about riding on that road again, or riding at all if I can drive, it would be a sensible personal reaction to this kind of thing. So if they are trying to scare me off, it might just have worked.

It was not smart of me to approach him at all, I know this, but in these situations, adrenalin often gets the better of me (as with most males). I mean how do you feel when your life is threatened?

Why does this happen and what can we do about it?

Maybe these are just bad people, but I think they are more often good people with a bad idea. In Sydney and other parts of Australia the print and commercial radio media is in bike story overdrive. There are weekly news stories and shock jock tirades, mostly related to some controversy over bike path infrastructure, but always with an anti-bike slant.

Is this emerging antibike sub-culture giving weak minded individuals a bad idea, swerve at bikes?

What to do? Smile, be courteous, move over, wave drivers past, ring my bell? Well ask me again next week because this week I say *&^% that…

What we need is more bikes, riding in small groups. Mostly in Sydney bike don’t ride together, we are like lone antelope surrounded by leopards, but really there are enough of us around now to form little groups and I’m convinced that this would be safer even if it doesn’t lead to more acceptance from good drivers with bad ideas.

I travel 2 days per week with 50Kg of children plus school bags for about 2ks before carrying on to work. Two day per week I just have 30kg of children. Of course the drawback of this load is that it grows steadily heavier every day. When I started I used to ride up the short (30 meters) steep hill at the start of the trip fully loaded now I just get the “cargo” to meet me at the top of the hill.

The Yuba climbs hills fine really and I could ride up almost any hill fully loaded. However in the required very low gears the forward speed is so slow that balancing the bike with wiggly cargo becomes an issue.

My boys are pretty much over the novelty of the bike and treat it just like any other daily routine, which is good I guess. However the rest of the population is yet to get over the apparently amazing sight of 2 kids on the back of a bike. Every journey is constant attention from every passer by. We get pointing, shouting and head turning double takes everywhere we go. It’s all usually positive attention and good I guess but gets a bit boring after a while.

It reminds me of when I rode my Vespa ET4 in Sydney with very few other Vespas on the road about 10 years ago. Then I would often cop outright abuse. Ten years later they are everywhere and an accepted alternative form of transport.

So what is good what is bad, what has worked and what hasn’t.

Weather

The weather has at no time I can remember in 12 months stopped me riding. This I think is a testament to the good weather we have in Sydney but also to the idea that if it does rain the worst thing to happen is you get wet…The Yubas huge bag allows me to carry full wet weather gear and the only problem then becomes keeping the electrics in the eLation dry, so far so good. The recent heatwave was tricky and for 2 days I wore a tshirt and changed at work to cope with excessive perspiration.

Yuba Frame and forks

Good not broken, what else can i say, looks like it will out last my grandchildren.

ELation

This thing is good. Enough said. But to carry on.. it is robust, water resistant, adds good assistance when I need it and none when i dont. The 10 Amphour battery is is great and seems to have a range of 15-20 ks but really I have never let it run down and charge it every chance I get. I have only seen the orange low battery light once after about 15ks. Things have failed like the freewheel coming loose from the bottom bracket and the battery moving and shorting inside it’s housing but Allan at ELation has always been quick with service and advice. He now has a new model base on a 48volt battery, but unfortunately it seems to sacrifice the terrific forward mounted battery position.

Wheelset – Spinergy Xylone

Light lovely slick, I really loved these wheels they seems to roll forever…and broken. The rear rim failed after about 9 months (thankfully not catastrophically). I live and learn, the rims are just too narrow to support the tyre widths I was using at a pressure that made the bike rideable. I have updated to a nice reasonably priced Halos SAS wheelset with a 48 spoke rear and nice wide rims. I can now run much lower tyre pressures and this has improved the ride considerably allowing the balloon tyres to do the suspension work they are designed for.

On a positive note the rim was replaced under warranty and I am now thinking about building up a hardtail mountain bike with these wheels and a few spare bits and pieces I have left.

Go- Getter bag

I think my bag is great but it does hang down a bit off the side of the bike. I think this is because it is a V1 bag on a V3 Bike the newer ones look a little different and might sit a bit better. It’s a great bag for losing stuff in I’m often pulling things out that I lost 6 months ago. I used the separator panel to create a false bottom so I can hide my tools and stuff underneath when I lock up in public areas.

Pletscher Stand

How good are these things! In a word TOUGH. I must admit I really feared it wouldn’t last long with it’s spindly looking legs but it has been excellent and taken a world of abuse in the last 12 months. It’s no good for serious cargo loading and will tip if the bike is too unbalanced, but really I love the lightweight and great design.

Other Stuff

I’ve broken a few things over the last year like chains and derailleurs and things have worn out like brake pads and the rear tyre is going a bit bald, but overall the bike has been a fairly reliable form of daily transport. That said, it would have been different if I had to attend a bike shop everytime I have a little problem, in terms of both time and money, so having the skills and tools (a basic bike repair kit has been a great investment) to keep the bike on the road has been an important factor.

Heres the box I made for the ping battery. It’s made of plywood (3 or 4 mm) and painted black. It’s quite an odd shape and needed lots of little adjustments with my belt sander to get it to fit Ok.

The standard 15AH 36volt ping is wide and I needed all of the original bottom bracket width to get it to fit. The original greenewheels bottom bracket is ok but it is a primitive affair and if you want a better bottom bracket it could be a problem. The battery also just fits under the seat stays (if that is what they are called) but is is such a tight fit that I have yet to seal the top of the box I built (I’ll use some kind of fabric I think). Lastly all the wiring is messy and i don’t have enough left over room in the box to mount plugs etc and I just have wiring, charger cable etc coming out of the top. Oh yeah I’m also shopping for lower profile tyres because the rear wheel only just (by about 1mm!) clears the new box.

I really wanted to do this so I could keep the back rack free for a child seat but mounting your battery there would be much less hastle. One of those little black topeak bags or something on a rear rack would likely be ideal.

Another option would be the 10 Amp hour version which is much less tall (but still just as wide) or to have Ping Battery make a 15AH battery in a different shape. I have heard of others having batteries built in 2 parts for example. You might be able to get a taller but narrower shape. But keep in mind I needed the room above the battery for a saddle bag which I keep the controller in.

Regarding the ping battery itself it seems really good. I ride from Glebe to Randwick and back not sparing the motor and I never even see the green light go out, so this 15AH battery is likely overkill for me. The “free” charger is not worth the price, it uses some mad coaxial wiring which breaks if you stare at it too hard, spring for the upgraded charger would be my advice.

On the bright side it is all working and mobile and still a pleasure to ride. And an essential backup for my Yuba when it is off the road.

I’m back on the mundo and really enjoying some early spring weather cruising around Sydney. The Mundo is great to ride again. It really is just as good a ride as my other hub motor bike even with the extra weight. I broke another chain and in the process snapped my derailleur but I think I’ve finally worked out what I was doing wrong with the chain joining thing.

I have recently got some great pics from a fellow ebiker, Mark, with a greenwheels, very bling. These picture just go to show how these bikes can make efficient and stylish transport if your willing to keep them maintained and update the more dodgey parts. Here’s the pics of his bike

Below is my greenewheels with a new ping 15ah battery in the rear basket. It is working great and while it seems to feel a little torquer on takeoff it has the same or a little lower top speed (28kph on the flat no pedaling) as with the previous battery and controller. Now I just need the motivation and time to mount the battery more permanently so I can give my wife back her makeup travel bag!

I’m also going to repost a response Mark gave me to a previous post as I’m sure there are others out there with these greenewheels bikes who want some help in keeping them going

“..So my Bafang motor lasted 2700km before failing, which was better than the 13Ah greenewheels battery, which only lasted about half that before the BMS fried itself, thanks to you I managed to fix that with the BMS in your your dud GW battery with the cactus cells. Thanks again for that and the spare charger, it’s coming in very handy.

In any case ordered some honeywell SS411 hall effect sensors from Farnell and some 1.6mm heatshrink, on monday morning, arrived at work tuesday morning. farnell have free shipping for any order(might be sydney only), which is amazing as the two sensors and the heatshrink only added up to about $10 which is the min credit card limit.

Did the open heart surgery on the Bafang last night and hey presto, it’s working fine again. The original hall sensors don’t appear to be any good, as seems to be a common failure if you look at the endless sphere forums.

Have also just taken delivery of a whole stack of upgrade parts from ChainReactionCycles from the UK, so cheap with the strong dollar. Got a new disc only Halo Freedom Disc 26 front wheel, a shimano XT M775 hydraulic brake and 160 rotor, plus new wider Easton bars and stem, (original bars a bit narrow for me at 585mm new ones 684mm) plus some continental city contact 1.75 tyres. Also have recently upgraded the extremely woeful original bottom bracket to a shimano cartridge one and some new campy cranks and 53T chainwheel, and new 13 to 34T freewheel cluster, (original 14 to 28T) so pedalling is much nicer and easier to cruise at low cadence, plus can spin to 55km/h down the hills on the way home from work each day.

The new headlight I put on the beast is amazing as well, It’s a VisionX Solstice Solo S1102 15° beam, 50,000hr 10W LED, 900 lumens, as powerful as a 100W halogen, runs from 9 to 50v so a perfect fit for the 36 to 42V of the onboard power.

So these bikes are great but only if you are willing and able to patch up, repair and modify due to quality issues. I would not recommend them to anyone who is not a DIY type. I note that Shimano are releasing electric bike kit in the 4th quarter this year, ‘Shimano Steps’ it’s called, no doubt will be more reliable than this gear.”

No I didn’t come off my bike, no it wasn’t that dangerous downhill skateboarding thing I sometimes do. I was switching off a light and just took a bad step…such is life.

With the greenewheels bike I’ve not mounted the battery in the original location yet, although I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to, I’ve got it sitting in a rear basket to test the whole thing before I go to the trouble of making a more permanent solution.

The Ping battery will physically just fit in the space where the original was so in order to make a casing for it out of plywood I need to be millimetre perfect in it’s construction or it will foul either the rear wheel or the cranks. My first attempt at cutting out the wood just didn’t fit so I’ll have another go making the box a little bigger and slowly reduce it’s size until it fits perfectly.

So I’ve got the Greenewheels going with it’s new battery and even with a broken foot it is the best way to get to work as I can ride right up to the front door (it’s walking that is difficult!).

The handlebar change and front disc fitting was very easy really and the brakes are great, strong reliable (no shudder!) and work well even with the pretty average original electric cutout brake levers. The bike is again pretty much the same as it was when I was riding it last year but I have disconnected the primitive pedal sensor setup. It took too long to come on, too long to turn off again and added too much power when I didn’t want or need it.

I have really been able to appreciate this lighter and faster ebike this week or so. I’m convinced the new controller makes the bike much torquer but it’s been a while since I rode it in original configuration so it’s hard to remember. Top speed without pedaling feels basically the same (28-29ks) but I’ll need a speedo before I can be definitive.

Riding this style of bike with the whisper quiet hub motor makes me realise that my “eLated Mundo” is really a bike for the enthusiast. More pedaling, more gear changing and more noise. My wife for example is an Ok bike rider but she has just not been able to come to terms with riding the heavier, longer, more gearchangier Mundo. I think for your average non cycling person the hub motor style bike is a compelling ride and makes a strong case for the ebike in general. Now all we need is reliability, good aftersales backup and reasonable cost and these things will be everywhere!

I got my first puncture last week in the rear (Kevlar tyres or not this nail still got in!) so I took the opportunity to have another look at the rear brake. Basically I tried a bit harder to mount the 160 mm bb7. But really it was never going to mount well, ie have the caliper grab the disk correctly without significant modification of something so i have gone back to the 185mm. Which is still working fine and locking up the rear wheel whenever I want.

Anyhow given that Yuba seem to have changed the rear disk mount point in recently sold frames my experiences with rear discs are probably a bit out of date. Check some of the other Yuba links in my blogroll for pics of the new offset mounting point, and some pics of some great new mundo creations!

And get that tight rear end you have always wanted with these little beauties! 25mm furniture endcaps. Available from your local hardware store now! (warning end caps may cause rear end fluid retention leading to premature rustification).

…and for the nature lover why not go troppo with this great garden setting for your Yuba Mundo! (children not included)

Battery

The main thing needed is a new battery, and I’ve ordered a 36v 15AH LiFe from pingbattery.com who has a good reputation.

The old battery was compact (36v 10AH) and in a purpose built case (it has been donated to another needy greenewheels rider – thanks for the beers!). The new one is bigger but from my measurements should just fit in the same space, with some modifications, but I won’t know for sure until it arrives.  If it doesn’t fit I’ll  just put it on a rear rack but I would like to keep that clear for a child seat if possible.

Also a battery locking plate will need to be removed.

Controller

I’ll need to move the controller electronics to the top of the seat post so the battery can sit low enough to fit. I will just get a medium sized under seat bag to put this in, Anyway I wont miss jamming the controller and wiring into the triangular box, not alot of fun!.

I have already replaced the original controller with one that is sensorless. This means it works without the small hall effect sensors in the motor telling it when to apply power.  The motor makes a brief knocking sound on taking off but otherwise it’s just like the old one.

I needed this as the original motors hall effect sensor wiring melted into a horrible mess! The wiring was cheap and used cheap looking heatshrink laid right on top of the motor coils so it was not surprising it melted (esp under the loads I subjected the poor bike to).

Disc Brakes

Yes I know, I know I am a sucker for punishment, but I’ve got all these lovely BB7 brakes left over from my Mundo adventure and i just couldn’t let them go to waste. The front is easy anyway and the disc mount tabs on the fork are great (better than the Mundo, ie the correct thickness). I think I’ll leave the Vs on the back for the moment as it will need some kind of threaded adapter for the disc to mount on the hub motor.

I did need to get a new wheel for the front and I am just using a cheap “joytech” brand hub from Morouya Bicycles.  The bearings on this seem a bit primitive but no worse than the ones i’m removing.

I’ll start with the big 203mm disc and see how it goes.

Handlebars

My wife insists I change the handlebars to more swept back crusier style. No problem I thought, but of course now all the brake cables and wiring is too short…. Oh well I need new cable for the front disc anyway and all the wiring needs rerouting because i’m moving the controller.

Note to self..remove cable inner before cutting outer sheath to size …opps.

The cheapish stem seems to not be gripping the handlebars too well so a new stem might be in order at some point.

All done and looks neat as i reused the curly plastic tape which was covering all the wiring.

Now I’ve just got to wait for the battery, try and fashion some kind of case or mounting system then remember which wires plug where and i’m in business!

It looks like a side plate has come loose same as happened previously. (is this the normal way for bike chains to fail?). I’m now not sure if it is me not joining the chain correctly or just that this SRAM chain is not up to the job. I think I’ll repair it and mark the links that I join so I can check it if it happens again.

I am a slow learner on predicting upcoming problems with my bike. On my previous bike I listened to the rear wheel making clicking noises for weeks then was surprised when I broke some spokes!

This time the gears have been “autoshifting” for the past few days.  I thought this was because of poor dérailleur adjustment but was more likely the chain starting to fail.

We live and learn.