Month: June 2022

Purple Rans (on the way)

Purple Rans Stratus on Lake Monroe, 2010

I wrote the post below back in 2007, when I first started riding my Rans Stratus, the long wheel base recumbent that you may have seen me riding around the county. I had been riding “Long Green”, an older Rans that I got from Kevin Atkins, (thanks Kevin, you changed my life!). I had been riding my Trek hybrid on long trips for a couple of years, and developed a real pain in the neck from the riding position (in addition to a new computer job where my bifocals caused me to have a chin up position, just like when leaning over a bike). Both contributed, but I had to keep working, so something had to change with my riding, and thus the recumbent.

What a joy it was to ride pain free, and with the easy rider seating, I was free to scan the sky and surrounding scenery rather than the road in front of me. And with no pressure on the prostate and all, I was never going back, and least on the long rides.

So after my double bypass operation, I was not in shape to resume my normal 4-5000 miles/year schedule, but there was no way I was going to stop biking, and I bought a used Trek cargo ebike, and rode it around town for a year or so before wearing out the battery. I searched the web and 4 years ago bought my RadWagon, which has been a great city bike for me. But it wears on my wrists and butt on longer trips, and so with Emmanuel’s expertise, we retrofitted the old Rans with a front hub motor and a large capacity battery. Now I can again ride all the great ridges and valleys Monroe county has to offer in comfort!

March 2007- I looked all over web, trying to find the best LWB recumbent I could get for the price. If I were to buy new, I would have considered the Bachetta line, they look really good for the money. But as I cruised the few bike shops and bulletin boards that have recumbents, I found a 97 Rans Stratus that looked good to me. It was through easystreetrecumbents.com in Austin. I told the guy I ride a lot of hills and that my current bike has a 3 speed internal, which the 97 does not have. So I decided have him rebuild the back wheel with the internal gearing, and a Rans rack for the back. This should allow some longer rides, and the ability to move groceries, instruments, etc. around town without my numerous canvas bags. I am hoping it will be here sometime next week, I am still riding the LongGreen, but it is very wobbly at 20 mph, and the rubbing tire is tiresome. I hope I made the right decision, I expect that I will be using this for the next 5-10 years, and I figure I log over 4000 miles/year, counting both commuting and weekend riding. I would like to bring that up this year, with DST I might be able to get an extra 25 miles of an evening!

If you are interested in the recumbent style of bike, I have this Cycle Genius in the shop, 20″ wheels and super comfy seat, $650.

Tags Bike

Ebikes

Ecotric Trick

Post author By Mitch
Post date June 11, 2022

So this is the second Ecotric that came in the shop because the front tire came of on an early ride. In this case, I was able to replace the bent brake rotor and get it running (the rider ended with a broken wrist).

Ecotric Folding fat tire ebike – 48V/500W motor

I consider Ecotric to be a value brand, that is, they are less expensive than more famous brands like RadPower and Aventon. And so it is with parts, in this case the spindle ends on axle appear to be knurled in such a way that you could adequately tighten with your fingers, but no!

On one side there is a 5mm hex hole that must be used to get adequate torque on the wheel. So you can certainly finger tighten the wheel when putting it in the fork, but you must then use your hex and in this case, you should use a wrench at least 6 inches long, and apply pressure at the end of the hex key till it feels good and tight. If you choke up as in the second picture, you may not be able to apply enough torque to keep this wheel on, which seems to me to be a problem with this design.

Ebikes

Aventon Aventure Story

Post author By Mitch
Post date June 10, 2022

I was impressed with this Aventon Aventure, a 26″ fat tire mountain bike style that checks all the boxes for sturdy, well designed and good looking. It has an SUV vibe for sure, you feel really secure when riding. Unfortunately, none of that helps if the a fall happens, which was the case for this beast.

After the fall, it just would not shift worth a darn, and it was easy to see on quick inspection that while the derailleur itself was just scratched, the hanger was bent several degrees out of true.

So I removed the derailleur, took a ride to the hardware shop and got a long fine thread bolt of the correct diameter, and screwed it into the bent hanger. I applied some weight and leverage to the bolt, eyeballed it once, applied some more pressure, and voila, as close to perfect as I could get.

I reattached the derailleur, tightened the cable, set the high and low limit screws, and then (to my surprise) indexed the gears so that there was smooth shifting from top to bottom. I felt good that I was able to repair with having to replace anything.

But, if this were to happen again, I would want to replace the hanger, as it is softer metal, and will break with sufficient stress. But getting the right replacement is often a hassle, as each manufacturer has their own design, and with the supply chain issues we have, it can be a long wait for parts. So I think I did the right thing for now!

Aventon bent hanger — On the Aventon, the bent hanger would not allow the gears to get past fourth gear.

Ebikes

Ebike Curious on Kirkwood

Post author By Mitch
Post date June 9, 2022

Last week the City hosted the Ebike Curious Event on Kirkwood in front of People’s Park and the Bike Garage, and we had nearly a dozen different brands (and one home-crafted) ebikes on display. There were two recumbents, two folding fat tires, three cargo, and three commuter style ebikes. Quite a wide range, showing the various uses there are for ebikes in our city!