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Author Topic: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike  (Read 3463 times)

quixotic

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #30 on: May 07, 2017, 08:01:46 AM »

On a hot day, I love being able to immediately take it into the garage without having it heat up the garage.

On a cold day, I put the Zero on eco (more braking via the motor), and then I love being able to wear mitts, and not have to fiddle with either a clutch lever or a front brake lever (the combo of regenerative braking and the rear foot brake does the job).
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ctrlburn

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #31 on: May 16, 2017, 11:41:37 PM »

Disadvantage

You stop using your car - and fuel lines dry out from being parked so long.
And when you need to move it, it will not start.
You crank on it so long that the battery dies. (There is no sender pump in the tank, it is a mechanical pump direct off the engine (VW TDI) no matter what Hayes manual says).
So you push it into the garage (slightly uphill) and charge the battery, then hook up a vacuum pump to pull fuel back into the lines.
Even with the fuel filter loaded the pump is still dry.
But you still can't seem to pull fuel through to prime the pump.
So you hook the vacuum up to the return fuel line and crank the engine a few times.... well one time too many.

Fuel successfully passes through the pump - overfilling the vacuum pump and dumps onto the garage floor.
What a mess.
Take apart the vacuum pump and clean all the fuel out of that.
Clean the garage floor - which stinks of spilled fuel.

Still doesn't start... the injectors too are dry - so you crack one open and crank some more.

You re-tighten the injector and crank some more...
FINALLY the car starts.
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MostlyBonkers

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #32 on: May 17, 2017, 12:20:39 AM »

That'll teach you for buying a diesel. Infernal machines! ;-)
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hubert

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #33 on: May 17, 2017, 03:48:29 AM »

Especially VW diesels!!

I have a large diesel car which is no more used except for holidays or transportation of bulk goods. Mostly parked. However, in order not to let it dry out and also to get some money, it is occasionally rented to people in the vicinity who need a car for a few days, either because they haven't one or it is broken or they need a larger one. Not sure if that is legal in all countries. There are some web sites specialised in "dating" between car owners and car searchers. There is an official leasing contract signed and another car insurance applied (not that of the owner), payed by the web site's markup on the transaction amount. Not bad.
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Fred

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #34 on: May 17, 2017, 03:58:29 AM »

I had to pick up my Zero before it was registered and legal to ride on the road, so it took it's first journey home in the back of my VW T5 Transporter. It might be a VW diesel but I still like it! The two spend their nights cosied up in the same garage too.
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ctrlburn

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #35 on: May 17, 2017, 10:22:03 AM »

Especially VW diesels!!

I have a large diesel car which is no more used except for holidays or transportation of bulk goods. Mostly parked. However, in order not to let it dry out and also to get some money, it is occasionally rented to people in the vicinity who need a car for a few days, either because they haven't one or it is broken or they need a larger one. Not sure if that is legal in all countries. There are some web sites specialised in "dating" between car owners and car searchers. There is an official leasing contract signed and another car insurance applied (not that of the owner), payed by the web site's markup on the transaction amount. Not bad.

I've loaned my cars out - pro bono. I've got very few neighbors.  We live in a rural subdivision.

I've considered:
https://turo.com/rentals   (back when it was relayrides)


and in my bookmarks includes...
https://www.riders-share.com/

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ESokoloff

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #36 on: June 08, 2017, 10:09:27 AM »

There are a lot of obvious advantages of an electric motorbike, but what about the ones you weren't expecting? .........

Rear view mirrors that actually work.
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42Cliffside

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #37 on: June 27, 2017, 04:15:11 AM »

Disadvantage

You stop using your car - and the brakes corrode and don't work

F'n front calipers are all f'd up =( gonna cost more than I saved riding the bike =(
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Curt

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #38 on: June 28, 2017, 12:36:10 PM »

Unexpected disadvantage: I sheepishly had to check that no other drivers/pedestrians heard me when, coming up to a light, I farted.
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hubert

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #39 on: June 28, 2017, 04:40:02 PM »

 :) ICE bikes are permanently farting heavily! And everybody thinks this is normal situation...
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MostlyBonkers

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2017, 03:33:44 AM »

Today I saw a London taxi blowing so much smoke that it might as well have been a steam engine. That thing was probably causing more pollution than 50 cars.

It's easy to assume that all ICE engines are running perfectly and within emissions laws. I think the reality is very different. People keep running ICE engines even when they're ruined and burning oil like mad. An electric motor is likely to last a lot longer in the first place and will die gracefully having used only the grease in the rotor bearings.
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togo

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2017, 10:25:23 AM »

Especially VW diesels!!

I have a large diesel car which is no more used except for holidays or transportation of bulk goods. Mostly parked. However, in order not to let it dry out and also to get some money, it is occasionally rented to people in the vicinity who need a car for a few days, either because they haven't one or it is broken or they need a larger one. Not sure if that is legal in all countries. There are some web sites specialised in "dating" between car owners and car searchers. There is an official leasing contract signed and another car insurance applied (not that of the owner), payed by the web site's markup on the transaction amount. Not bad.

I've loaned my cars out - pro bono. I've got very few neighbors.  We live in a rural subdivision.

I've considered:
https://turo.com/rentals   (back when it was relayrides)


and in my bookmarks includes...
https://www.riders-share.com/


I've got cars on Turo and Getaround. Works out great.

Riders-share looks suspect to me. There doesn't seem to be any mention of insurance.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2017, 10:29:54 AM by togo »
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calamarichris

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #42 on: December 02, 2017, 02:10:11 AM »

Not giving the coppers a heads up is a big bonus. They can hear most bikes coming, especially if the rider is trying to make progress.  By the time I pass and they look up, I've gone. 

I can certainly vouch for this. I don't yet own one, but I've always kept the quiet, stock mufflers on all my ICE bikes. I used to get frustrated with the Loud Pipes Save Lives crowd, because I imagined they were creating a bad image of all motorcyclists, but I've since changed my mind.
I now have stealth bikes that didn't cost me a penny. All of the other gazelles on the Serengeti Plain have voluntarily donned belled collars to let the lion (LEO) know that dinner is on the way. I have slid past speed traps with the policeman's radar gun pointing straight at me while going 15 mph over the posted speed limit, and the police don't even bother coming after me. One of them even waved(!) and I was on my wicked-evil ZX9R.
Of course we are breaking the law and this won't work every time, but the police have largely been conditioned to equate speed with noise. If they can't hear us, they generally don't bother.
So I always wave to the nice loud Harley men and stuntaz from my quiet "Newbie" bikes and chuckle to myself when they don't wave back.  ;)
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JaimeC

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #43 on: December 02, 2017, 04:06:27 AM »

Not giving the coppers a heads up is a big bonus. They can hear most bikes coming, especially if the rider is trying to make progress.  By the time I pass and they look up, I've gone. 

I can certainly vouch for this. I don't yet own one, but I've always kept the quiet, stock mufflers on all my ICE bikes. I used to get frustrated with the Loud Pipes Save Lives crowd, because I imagined they were creating a bad image of all motorcyclists, but I've since changed my mind.
I now have stealth bikes that didn't cost me a penny. All of the other gazelles on the Serengeti Plain have voluntarily donned belled collars to let the lion (LEO) know that dinner is on the way. I have slid past speed traps with the policeman's radar gun pointing straight at me while going 15 mph over the posted speed limit, and the police don't even bother coming after me. One of them even waved(!) and I was on my wicked-evil ZX9R.
Of course we are breaking the law and this won't work every time, but the police have largely been conditioned to equate speed with noise. If they can't hear us, they generally don't bother.
So I always wave to the nice loud Harley men and stuntaz from my quiet "Newbie" bikes and chuckle to myself when they don't wave back.  ;)

Typically, radar locks in on the BIGGEST target in range (as was proven many years ago in a test in Road & Track magazine).  If you are surrounded by trucks and vans doing the speed limit, the radar gun probably never even "saw" you.  You can test this if you have any of those "Speed Signs" in your area... you know, the ones that show you how fast you're going?  These things will show the speed for an approaching car long before it gets to the sign.  If you're all alone on the road when you see one of these, see how close you can get before it ever shows your speed and you'll have an idea.  If you and a buddy (in a car) approach one of these together, as soon as it displays your speed have your buddy maintain his/hers and you can accelerate away and the sign will still be displaying your buddy's speed.

Moral:  If you're all alone on the highway, you're a sitting duck for radar traps.  If you're in traffic, you'll probably never even register (especially since your bike doesn't call attention to itself with a loud exhaust).
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Richard230

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Re: Unexpected advantages of an electric bike
« Reply #44 on: December 02, 2017, 04:54:17 AM »

Do cops still use radar guns to check your speed?  All I see now are LADAR instant-on speed guns. They use a laser to get your speed and have a telescopic sight to zero in on their victim.  Once the cops pull the trigger you are toast.  And detectors don't work with these devices since the laser is so narrow and directed.
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