Eureka!
things have finally come to some fruition with the electricwheelcompany...my conversion kit for my wife's Brompton was ordered at the begining of July, and we finally went down to Marleborough to pick up the kit this week...
the whole thing has been undermined by the lack of any communication by the EWC, and its a great shame because the end result is a delight (as promised by Flecc et al)...
the retail park where EWC have their new premises is a real hot bed of expensive options, with the the very epicentre of powered hang gliding being right behind EWC, with a landing strip right alongside..
EWC have a permanent 'back in 5 minutes' attached to the front door, which could be their business motto...the business itself is now run (and owned??) by Martin (Jackson, I think), who is a quite charming and personable young man, who did a degree in Engineering...he seems to have met Tony Castle who couldnt cope with the enormous numbers of orders his nano creation brought in, and who decided that this was a business opportunity...
he employs someone to help him with the mechanical work, but this week was doing all the work himself...
he took about 3/4hours to spring the front forks, open up the drop outs, replace both brake levers with new ones incorporating circuit cutouts, and replacing the brake cables as well...
the hand throttle itself was source of contention, as my wife was not totally at ease with the twist grip, as for her, twisting it back to go forward was counter-intuitive...but Martin had a thumb lever which seems a far better option generally, as the hand can stay in the one position, and the natural movement of the thumb seems to be downwards..
the only addition that I wasnt aware of, was a small metal box that is mounted in the dip in the Brompton bars, and seems to pick up the info from brake levers...it is due to be re-located, with Martin working on it at the moment, possibly down into the luggage block..
the past comments about the possible breakage of the copper pick up from the luggage block, are pertinent, and one has to be carefully sliding the bag on...the copper is only bent to follow the shape of the block, and stands proud slightly which might be an issue...I might try and use some contact adhesive on the underside of the copper to lower the risk..
the Brompton bag has an aluminium frame work, that has to be changed to one with built in electrical connectors, and its all quite neat...the 37v 10a/h battery fits snugly into the bottom of the bag, and cable and slide connector work well...the battery had a 06/07/09 sticker on it, which was reassuring as to its provenance time wise...
when the whole thing was finished, Martin said that now either the bike wouldnt fold properly, or the motor wouldnt work ( a very confident lad!), but his smile was broad when it did both
by wife was tickled pink (where does that phrase come from??), and had a grin broader than Martins after her first run..
as the weather was fine, and the countryside very beautiful around the Avon and Kennet canal, we had a 20 mile run to check things out, with me being on my unpowered Brompton..
the interesting thing is that now the Brompton is powered my wife seems too guilty to actually use it!!...it was strictly only on the hills, and seeming only to bid au revoir to my good self....but the prospect of hills now are almost enticing for her, so the whole project is so far a success..
...just a great pity that Martin doesnt seem to have the PR side of his fledgling business under control, although he has promised me that he is going to do just this
so he is worth given another try to, if you are after an 80mm Nano conversion...even pay a visit if you are in the area
the question the e-community (although it has been answered umpteen times before), his how to best handle the battery, in the light of its only very occasional usage...
should I stick it in the fridge between uses???..could be days or weeks
as it didnt have a lot of use in the recent 20 miles, should I put it on the charger, and for how long???....I know 40% charge is the optimum
if refridgerated, is it OK to use it straight from cold????
is it OK to charge it from cold???
the wireless computer I installed doesnt seem to work, so could this be the magnetic field around the battery, and would a wired one be a better option?
thanks to every one in advance........barryc
things have finally come to some fruition with the electricwheelcompany...my conversion kit for my wife's Brompton was ordered at the begining of July, and we finally went down to Marleborough to pick up the kit this week...
the whole thing has been undermined by the lack of any communication by the EWC, and its a great shame because the end result is a delight (as promised by Flecc et al)...
the retail park where EWC have their new premises is a real hot bed of expensive options, with the the very epicentre of powered hang gliding being right behind EWC, with a landing strip right alongside..
EWC have a permanent 'back in 5 minutes' attached to the front door, which could be their business motto...the business itself is now run (and owned??) by Martin (Jackson, I think), who is a quite charming and personable young man, who did a degree in Engineering...he seems to have met Tony Castle who couldnt cope with the enormous numbers of orders his nano creation brought in, and who decided that this was a business opportunity...
he employs someone to help him with the mechanical work, but this week was doing all the work himself...
he took about 3/4hours to spring the front forks, open up the drop outs, replace both brake levers with new ones incorporating circuit cutouts, and replacing the brake cables as well...
the hand throttle itself was source of contention, as my wife was not totally at ease with the twist grip, as for her, twisting it back to go forward was counter-intuitive...but Martin had a thumb lever which seems a far better option generally, as the hand can stay in the one position, and the natural movement of the thumb seems to be downwards..
the only addition that I wasnt aware of, was a small metal box that is mounted in the dip in the Brompton bars, and seems to pick up the info from brake levers...it is due to be re-located, with Martin working on it at the moment, possibly down into the luggage block..
the past comments about the possible breakage of the copper pick up from the luggage block, are pertinent, and one has to be carefully sliding the bag on...the copper is only bent to follow the shape of the block, and stands proud slightly which might be an issue...I might try and use some contact adhesive on the underside of the copper to lower the risk..
the Brompton bag has an aluminium frame work, that has to be changed to one with built in electrical connectors, and its all quite neat...the 37v 10a/h battery fits snugly into the bottom of the bag, and cable and slide connector work well...the battery had a 06/07/09 sticker on it, which was reassuring as to its provenance time wise...
when the whole thing was finished, Martin said that now either the bike wouldnt fold properly, or the motor wouldnt work ( a very confident lad!), but his smile was broad when it did both
by wife was tickled pink (where does that phrase come from??), and had a grin broader than Martins after her first run..
as the weather was fine, and the countryside very beautiful around the Avon and Kennet canal, we had a 20 mile run to check things out, with me being on my unpowered Brompton..
the interesting thing is that now the Brompton is powered my wife seems too guilty to actually use it!!...it was strictly only on the hills, and seeming only to bid au revoir to my good self....but the prospect of hills now are almost enticing for her, so the whole project is so far a success..
...just a great pity that Martin doesnt seem to have the PR side of his fledgling business under control, although he has promised me that he is going to do just this
so he is worth given another try to, if you are after an 80mm Nano conversion...even pay a visit if you are in the area
the question the e-community (although it has been answered umpteen times before), his how to best handle the battery, in the light of its only very occasional usage...
should I stick it in the fridge between uses???..could be days or weeks
as it didnt have a lot of use in the recent 20 miles, should I put it on the charger, and for how long???....I know 40% charge is the optimum
if refridgerated, is it OK to use it straight from cold????
is it OK to charge it from cold???
the wireless computer I installed doesnt seem to work, so could this be the magnetic field around the battery, and would a wired one be a better option?
thanks to every one in advance........barryc
