All set for a long ride...

[morphix]

Hi all,

Hope you're enjoying the lovely weather and having a good weekend..

I was up last night until 3am!! working on my bike (didn't even notice the time) getting it ready for a ride today as the weather is too nice to stay in..

I re-fitted my Schwalbe Marathon tyres this time with Schrader valve inners (Presta valves and I just don't get along!)..what a kerfuffle! All good experience though. At least now I have puncture resistant tyres I will feel more comfortable going longer distances and also the Schwalbe inners should not lose air unlike the cheapo Chinese ones which seemed to constantly need inflating and seemed to lose air even when riding!

I must say the bike looks much nicer with the Schwalbe tyres and the inners really do make a difference, the wheels just feel much harder. I can't wait to see how much difference it makes on the road, I've heard it can be quite an improvement so I will report back shortly..

Other than changing the tyres and inners, I've also starting sorting out my dodgy wiring and fitted some handy DIN connectors I picked up cheap off eBay. They're not ideal though and I plan to replace later with something more water resistant, but they'll do for now.

Battery is fully charged...shades are on, so I'm all set.. enjoy the sun, catch you laters with an update..

 

[Caph]

That bike is positively gleaming! Do you hang your battery under your handlebars?

I like the look of the full LCD display unit. Definitely a step up from most.

Enjoy the ride...

 

[morphix]

Hi Caph, I just got back.. thanks for your comment.. yes I have the battery hanging off the handlebar in that little bag..it's secured with velcro straps but I want to modify it to make it quick release (can't find a ready-made QR bag the right size for my set up).. You're right about the LCD console it really makes all the difference when you're out riding lots of information and more intuitive than the usual basic LEDs for power.

 

[rog_london]

You must be young and fit, Morphix. A 5Ah battery wouldn't get me all that far round here - too many hills! I'd call 20 miles a medium length ride, and 30 miles a longish one. I've done 40 on the Wisper but knew all about it when I got back. (Only saddle sore, everything seemed to still function!) However, the Wisper has a serious battery.

I did about 20 miles today. After not doing much in the cold weather I need to get into it again.

I'm on holiday so as the forecast for the earlier part of next week looks good, I expect I'll be doing quite a bit more. The battery is now well into its third year but still seems to have plenty of life. It hasn't had THAT much use though - only pleasure riding.

I can't fault the Wisper, other than that like most of these things the frame size is really more suitable for the taller rider - I'm only 5' 7". It's only a minor gripe.

Rog. (Old and decrepit. But not TOO old and decrepit.)

 

[Caph]

Have you checked out the Topeak TourGuide range? They're not cheap but they do have quick release and come in a variety of sizes.

 

[morphix]

18 miles on 5ah battery, thumbs up for small battery power

Phew. What a brill ride that was...I just LOVE my ebike, can't wait until summer I covered an incredible amount of distance and was cycling for 2 hours non-stop nearly.. I wanted to push my little 5Ah battery to the limits again. Only this time from a single charge and on a single trip, to get a more accurate idea how far it would last...

This was also my first ride with aforementioned tyre and gear modifications.. mixed results on that..

I found the 1.75" Schwalbe Marathon tyres tyres not to be hugely better than my old knobbly 2.15" tyres..I certainly felt more bumps which the knobbly's usually cushion me from more (particularly as my bike has no suspension), so for me the Marathon's were not as comfortable, but that's to be expected... however they certainly provided better rolling resistance and a slight improvement in speed was noticed.. The big benefit though was the extra confidence of the puncture resistance, particularly when I keep passing so much glass on the road.

Now onto the gear change... I had set my chain to the middle chainset sprocket for a full range of gears. I had previously had it set on the largest sprocket which provided a lot of torque but limited the gears to 6 and 7. After riding on the middle sprocket I immediately did not like it at all.. there was nowhere near enough torque in the pedals even in gear 7, the highest. I found myself pedalling a lot more on the flat with full power assistance just to push it above 15mph. Quite frustrating at times.

I left it on the middle sprocket anyway for nearly all of the trip, and after about 7 miles my legs began to tire a bit. I suspect my chain may be too loose and may need shortening or tightening, because of removing the forward gears and/or bringing the rear wheel forward in the drop-outs. Perhaps someone could offer some advice on here? It just seems too easy to pedal on the highest gears.

Gear problem aside, I really enjoyed the ride and the fresh air of being out in the countryside... I kept riding and pushing it a bit further and further to different villages to see how far I could go. The battery was holding out well but I stayed on pedal assist (using max assist power level most of the time) and did not touch the throttle. So I decided to try and make it to my old town where I used to live in Birmingham which is about 9 miles away. I got pretty close, about 2 miles or so away but chickened out. I noticed my power had dropped down to 3 bars and I might be facing the prospect of cycling a chunk of the 7 or so miles back unassisted, so I decided to turn back. Also the battery had definitely lost it's "umph" which a lot of ebikers tend to notice when the battery gets half way I've heard.. it's funny how you can get a "feel" for when your battery is mid-way and you need to start heading back or being more economical with power usage..

Going back was mostly downhill...I was cruising at 24mph without pedalling which was fantastic and helped conserve battery power..I knocked the assistance level down a bit and started putting in more pedal assistance on hills. I decided at this point I couldn't stand the middle sprocket on the chainset any longer, particularly with the power level so low. So I set it on the highest sprocket and started moving along much quicker with less pedal cycles.. But it definitely started to become an effort after a while and I really missed highest power level. Luckily there were very few hills to deal with.

I got within 1 mile of home and the battery cut out completely. Usually it gives a warning, shuts down, but then starts up again if you wait a few seconds..but this time it was having none of it. It wouldn't power up at all. And I was facing a steep country lane so had to get off and push as my legs were really tired. At this point, riding with the chain on the highest sprocket in 6th gear proved impossible without power.. I had to flip the chain on the middle sprocket and knock the gears down to 4 to pedal the rest of the way home.. then to my surprise the battery found some reserve power and the LCD console came back on.. I was able to get home under power for the remainder of the way which was nice, except for another hill.

Summary:

Left home at 14:10, returned 16:15.
Journey Time: 2 hours approx.
Distance covered: 18 miles (on max pedal assist with plenty of hills).

Conclusion:

18 miles is bang on my estimate from my previous test.. Definitely a big thumbs up for my little 5Ah £90 LiFePo4 battery! With the battery weighing only 1.83kg, not a problem to carry my second battery on a rack or in backpack for an estimated 36 miles of power @ £180. Even if these batteries only last 6-12 months, I think at this price you can afford to replace them every year and still make big savings.

Few photos taken along the way..

My bike in all it's glory

The first village I came to, a delightful little place called Alvechurch.

 

[morphix]

More pictures..

Alvechurch Parish village in Worcestershire..

Could you get any more English than that?! As well as fish and chip shop there
was a nice old pub, but silly me I didn't bring any money, so no chips or beer for me.

The next village I came to was Hopwood, just outside Worcestershire..with it's lovely canal and barges, seen here..

 

[morphix]

You must be young and fit, Morphix. A 5Ah battery wouldn't get me all that far round here - too many hills! I'd call 20 miles a medium length ride, and 30 miles a longish one. I've done 40 on the Wisper but knew all about it when I got back. (Only saddle sore, everything seemed to still function!) However, the Wisper has a serious battery.

I did about 20 miles today. After not doing much in the cold weather I need to get into it again.

I'm on holiday so as the forecast for the earlier part of next week looks good, I expect I'll be doing quite a bit more. The battery is now well into its third year but still seems to have plenty of life. It hasn't had THAT much use though - only pleasure riding.

I can't fault the Wisper, other than that like most of these things the frame size is really more suitable for the taller rider - I'm only 5' 7". It's only a minor gripe.

Rog. (Old and decrepit. But not TOO old and decrepit.)

Hi Rog, I can't imagine riding 40 miles! That's quite some distance to cover, did you take lots of breaks? I was getting a bit uncomfortable today after my 18 miles even with my super comfortable saddle. Didn't help wearing jeans mind. When I got back I felt thoroughly exercised and the old legs a bit tired but not completely cream crackered or anything. I'm a fairly healthy 40 year old but not that fit. I normally go jogging about 1-2km every day so think my leg muscles are toned up.. However I've only started again recently after a break for a few months due to the cold weather so I'm a bit out of shape at moment (got a belly to get rid of!)

 

[dmcgoldrick]

looks like a very nice afternoon ride. thanks for posting...have you already put up info on your conversion ? looks very neat.....

regards

 

[morphix]

looks like a very nice afternoon ride. thanks for posting...have you already put up info on your conversion ? looks very neat.....

regards

Thanks, it was indeed. I'm looking forward to more days like this now the weather is warming up..

I think I did some posts about the progress of the conversion, mainly to get help when I ran into a couple of problems, but I haven't done a full write up yet.

As far as conversions go I think this one was fairly straightforward and easy. My only difficulty came from having German instructions as the kit I bought was intended for the German market. But other than that I had no problems.

I will do a full write up of the conversion and show how much it cost..

 

[rog_london]

Hi Rog, I can't imagine riding 40 miles! That's quite some distance to cover, did you take lots of breaks? I was getting a bit uncomfortable today after my 18 miles even with my super comfortable saddle. Didn't help wearing jeans mind. When I got back I felt thoroughly exercised and the old legs a bit tired but not completely cream crackered or anything. I'm a fairly healthy 40 year old but not that fit. I normally go jogging about 1-2km every day so think my leg muscles are toned up.. However I've only started again recently after a break for a few months due to the cold weather so I'm a bit out of shape at moment (got a belly to get rid of!)

I surprise myself with the distances I cover without having any destination in mind! On the 20 mile run which I often do I'd normally stop once for a few minutes. On the 40 mile run I stopped a good few times, but only for a few minutes each time.

I'm a lightweight, which certainly helps. As I weigh only around 65 Kg the Wisper has loads of power and I can average probably around 17 mph even when (as at present) I'm a bit out of condition. I've got a job which involves a fair amount of stair and ladder climbing and general running about so when I sit around and relax I usually feel I've earned it! Heading towards 66 and no sign of retirement in view.

I've got a 'Brooks Narrow' saddle, and they're a bit like Marmite - you either love 'em or you hate 'em. Having 'run it in' on the Wisper it's definitely more comfortable than anything I've tried before, and it shows its value on a longish ride.

Rog.