Brand New Sky

[Beach]

Hi Scimitar.

Thanks for calling in.

 

[EddiePJ]

Here she is. (I actually took these photos with the intention of presenting them on this forum).

Is that a tidy PowaByke or what?

I was talking to an e-bike dealer only yesterday and the subject of PowaByke came up. Even he was saying that he would loved to buy a load up and store them away for when they become a collectors bike. I think that he was possibly taking things to the extreme, but I definitely fancy the idea of buying a mint original one as a keep forever bike.

 

[Beach]

Hi Eddie,

For sure!

As I stated earlier in this post, I used the collective experience of Powabyke owners on this forum, (and the positive comments of other contributors here), to do my own homework before determining that a Powabyke Euro, or similarly styled Powabyke Commuter, would meet my needs. (I decided I didn't need the fuss or complication of the Commuter's extra gears).

I needed the hill climbing grunt. I wanted a robust machine ... and I just loved the design of the thing.

Actually. Your comment about holding a desire to own one as a keep forever eBike allows me to correct something I stated earlier - and it might encourage you to seek out a mint machine yourself.

Earlier, (during this thread), I said that the average price of a Powabyke Euro was around the £350 mark.

Let me correct that comment.

The average price I've seen, as a wish or hope by those selling them, is indeed around that figure BUT, of three mint looking Powabyke Euro's I watched last week on eBay, one sold for £150, one sold for £215 and the other, (a 21 speed Commuter), sold for £300.50.

Another tidy 'Spare or repair' model reached £103.99. My memory isn't serving me so well at the mo but I think that machine needed new batteries.

(Pause)

Yep. Just checked. "Batteries not taking a charge".

Nevertheless, that too would have probably become a desirable commodity, (for under £200), allowing for the expenditure on brand new batteries.

Collectable ... and built to last.

I'm delighted with mine ... and, with the spares I got with it, (Both spare wheels and a spare battery pack with spare batteries), all I need is another Powabyke frame and I could build a second one!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

If I had one, I'd open up that battery box, remove the heavy SLAs and insert about 15aH of 12S lipos to save a fair bit of weight, and increase the power and speed by about 20%. The cost is still only about £120, which is not much dearer than SLAs

 

[Beach]

Fascinating thought, d8veh, and no doubt do-able ... but I am in no hurry, (personally), to dismiss the actual battery pack, (and SLAs), because the very weight of the whole machine is a fundamental requirement for my own, individual lifestyle and needs.

Eva is probably the same weight as a lithe, petrol moped ... and that fact suits me very well because it means that I don't always get an easy ride, (pun intended), or rather ... I need to work and exercise and apply myself diligently when cycling, (rather than motoring), with her ... or when shifting, pushing or generally having anything to do with interacting with her when she is not under harness.

Keeping fit matters to me.

I've discovered, joyfully, that I now get more exercise with my eBike than I have ever done with my mountain bike, primarily because, instead of dismounting when facing impossible hills, I find myself still aboard ... and still pedaling!

I take your point though ... and yes, she would still be an awesome and robust carthorse ... even with some TNT sticks of lipos in the battery compartment ... and it is encouraging to think she might improve performance as you suggest. That does sound like something I will need to consider.

... but not with Eva.

I'll possibly pursue that with Eva's sister!

As I've just related above, all I need is another Powabyke frame and I can create a second, lightweight, leisure version. (I already own all the fundamental spare parts to create a new one).

I hadn't considered your option. Rather, I had considered how I might meet my ultimate dream of actually traversing, not just the coastline roads and paths, but the actual shingle and sand beaches themselves.

No. A heavy Powabyke will not cross pebbles, shingle and soft sand but ... having used the battery power pack to arrive at a destination, there is nothing to stop me removing the pack and venturing onto a beach without it.

For example, a girlfriend of mine lives one minute away from the steps leading down to one of my favourite bass fishing haunts. My pack would be safe until I returned to collect it.

Remember the opening first paragraphs of this first, original post??

I wrote;

"Each morning, wherever we are on this spinning rock, nature delivers us a brand new sky and we have an opportunity, maybe even an obligation, to make the very best of such a gift.

Sure. We may not always see the world that way but each of us have interests, passions or objectives to fulfill, even if that thing called life sometimes gets in our way or threatens to stall or halt our immediate plans or aspirations every now and again.

Holding a dream or goal or some obscure desire to accomplish something, (aside from some hard wired instinct of nature), may be considered to be a unique human characteristic, though perhaps it is the raw, driving force in every living thing on Earth.

Whatever it is, it is fantastic when such things are realised."

One of those dreams, d8veh ... Heck, one of the most important of them ... was to imagine and visualise actually doing, on an eBike, what I had often done on my regular mountain bike ... but at greater distance - with wider scope, especially where fishing, photography or metal detecting was concerned.

My second Powabyke will have fat, low inflation, (capable), sand bike tyres and it will enable me to actually navigate the very fabric of the beaches I currently walk, cycle or drive to.

The difference is ... once I arrive at a beach location, the heavy battery pack, (with batteries), can be discarded, (temporarily), and my weighty eBike immediately becomes a Sand Bike!

And the space the battery pack took up?

I'm already creating a tackle box, (using thin marine ply), to nestle in the same space the battery pack occupied. After experimentation, a final tackle box will be created from glass fibre matting and resin.

Haven't got time to create a special image of a sand bike version here and now but we already know what a Powabyke looks like without its battery pack.

The former battery pack space becomes a resource, a place to install Thunderbird Two style pods like ... for example, a custom made tackle box, additional tools, yep, extra lipos, or, in my own case, an advertising medium to promote my services!

OK. I'm settling for tackle box for now but ... a Powabyke just screams out to be modded!

 

[Beach]

I very rarely use internet links on posts but I'm tired and it'll give me a chance to test another feature on the Pedelec text editor. If it works, this link will show you the kind of look, (and eBike), I'd like to create using a Powabyke frame.

Well. I included a link but my post ghosted out. (Perhaps because I linked to a commercial site).

Just google "Sand bikes" or "Fat sand bikes" and soak up those amazing, fat sand bike tyres!

Awesome. Eh?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Don't forget that you need a wide gap in the frame for a wide tyre. You'll have to cut and weld. Forks shouldn't be such a problem because you can get wide replacement forks.

 

[Beach]

A close friend of mine, and the guy who fabricated most of my metal and stainless steel prototypes during the R & D phase of my former business, is a genius with stainless steel, having built up quite a lucrative customer base with the RIB, (Rigid Inflatable Boat community) ... and other customers and businesses.

It has crossed my mind to ask him to create a new frame, in stainless steel, to enable me to build a sand bike version of my current machine with the spare wheels and battery pack I have waiting for such a project.

I could use a beach ebike version normally to motor to a favourite beach, leave the battery pack with a friend, (or bury it in the sand or shingle), and then allow the fat tyres to take me over actual sand and shingle by normal human pedal power.

A naked, stainless steel Fat Sand Bike version of a Powabyke Euro.

After cycling several hundred yards to my favourite bass or rock fishing location and enjoying the experience, I'd expect to cycle back along the the shore, reclaim the battery pack and motor home again.

Stashing the battery pack isn't even an issue because most of my angling and detecting locations are devoid of humanity anyway and very few folk venture far off the beaten track along our coasts so security or fear of anyone stealing the lumpy battery pack is not really an issue.

I'm in no hurry anyway. I'm still euphoric and excited contemplating introducing Eva to my summer coastal haunts!

Can't wait ...