The lost sheep returns!

[morphix]

Hello all!

I have been away from the forum for quite a while due to health problems..but not forgotten it seems due to all the messages in my inbox (sorry I wasn't able to reply but for some reason these didn't reach my e-mail inbox).

I have had some lovely messages off members and a lot of supportive words, so I wanted to thank everyone for being so kind and supportive during what has been a really difficult time.

I haven't had time yet to read back over the forum and I'm not sure what information reached the forum via the handful of people I've had some contact with outside of the forum over the last few months.

Basically I had two grand mal seizures and the second one which left me unconscious for many hours did some lasting damage to the neurological pathways in my brain that affect memory and motor-coordination.

This happened quite suddenly (I have no history of epilepsy or seizures) and the neurologist who has been looking after me is still at a loss to figure out what caused it or whether it might happen again even. I spent some time in hospital, and many months on different meds recovering hoping my memory and cognitive abilities would return to normal. My memory was so bad for the first 6 months I could not remember even things that happened a few hours ago. It's been a long slow process but my brain seems to have recovered and repaired itself thankfully!! My memory and concentration is not as good as it was still, but at least I'm not walking into things all the time, dropping plates of food and cups of tea over me and falling over...my insurance companies do not like me anymore!

The timing of this couldn't have been worse either. I was right in the middle of a final course for my OU business degree which was very challenging and demanding course even under normal circumstances. I tried to exclude everything else and focus on the course but ended up having to drop out of the course and have managed to re-book a place on it this October.

So I now have some time on my hands. I'll be active on the forum again and also will attempt to rekindle the Cycle Charge project. I feel terrible that I just disappeared and the project was left like that, but hopefully I can re-build some bridges with our Charge Points and continue where we left off. I think there is probably even more demand now for CC than that was a year or two ago when many places I visited didn't fully understand what e-bikes were even! Even in my town of Redditch now I'm beginning to see people on e-bikes at last which is great.

Before I sign off, I have some interesting news to share about a new hobby-project...

I have just purchased a Sinclair C5 from a nice elderly gent in Scotland. I've been wanting one of these for ages, but they go for silly prices now as they've become quite collectible with a worldwide club and everything (some have sold for prices up to and over £5k each and people do all kinds of weird and wonderful mods to them include a gas turbine engine and jet engine in another!).

Anyway I managed to get mine for a bargain at £280+£50 delivery. It's in need of some restoration as it's stood in storage for 30 years, but it will make an interesting project! I plan to clean it up and modernize it by fitting modern e-bike technology in place of the antiquated 1985 electrics, motor and car battery.

I'd like to share the project with the forum and post updates. I will no doubt need the help and skills of some the more mechanically minded members when it comes to the strip down and figure out how to go about the rear part of the C5.

Here's how the C5 looks now in my storage unit:

I'm thinking a front-wheel conversion is the way to go as it seems the most easiest way according to members on the c5alive forum?! The C5 has a 12" front wheel and 2 x 16" wheels on the rear on a rotating axle. The gearing is very weird and fixed in a high torque gearing arrangement.

I've only taken delivery of the C5 on Friday, so I haven't had chance to look it all over, but the owner tells me all the electrics are sound, and it should work with a new 12V battery. When get some time free I'll go over to the storage unit and take some more pics and video of the C5 so a better assessment can be made of how much restoration is needed and how to go about modernising it!

Paul

 

[morphix]

Oh, I hope everyone is well and no-one else has been afflicted with health problems? I expect a lot has changed since I have been away and you guys will have to bring me up to speed!

I know Linda my friend and co-director in Cycle Charge Ltd has been ill and also had to take some time out, we lost contact after she went on her travels again.. so if you're about Linda, I hope you're keeping well!

 

[JuicyBike]

Glad to hear that things are improving Paul and look forward to hearing more about the new project.

 

[D8ve]

Welcomb back, Glad to hear your on the path to recovery.
And the C5 restoration is a nice project.

 

[flecc]

Welcome back Paul, don't stress too much about Cyclecharge immediately, all things in good time. We haven't heard directly from Linda for a long time, but I assume she has been trying to get her business back on the rails after her illness.
.

 

[morphix]

Thank you flecc. It's great to be back and see all my old friends after all this time.

I do hope Lynda is ok, the last I heard she was on her travels in her mobile home and was just enjoying life she said taking it one day a time. She also had just completed her move back up north to be closer to her mother.

Cyclecharge I've been thinking a lot about this lately...Lynda created quite a little hub for us in the South West didn't she! That's really where Cyclecharge took root, and Bristol in particular, a place where community ideas really do take off..there's so many things going on down there! They even have their own local currency I heard.

I think you're right, there is no immediate rush with CC and let's see what happens...demand should lead the need for charge points really...the concept is sound, and we have put down the foundations and showed that a group of like-minded people can work together collectively on community-enterprises for the benefit of all. I would like to update the website and look at developing a mobile app to access it, but we'll see what happens.

I suspect there's a lot more e-bikes about than 2 years ago, but even now, e-bikes are not as mainstream or commonplace as one might think? Certainly not in my town anyway. The UK just seems to be lagging behind other EU countries in this respect. I think the government could do a lot more to promote e-bikes and offer more in the way of tax-breaks and other financial incentives such as grants etc for the industry.

I've recently have been taking an interest in electric cars with a view to buying one as my knee is very bad now and even carrying my little eMezzo up and down stairs is getting difficult. It's surprising how few e-car models and makes there are which fall into the "AM" (moped) or "micro car" class. There's basically Axiam (French company) and Reva G-Wiz (Indian). If you scan Chinese trade sites, there's literally 100's if not 1,000's of models and companies manufacturing all kinds of electric vehicles and cars in the AM category, and very cheap too! Maybe e-cars will eventually over-take e-bikes who knows!

 

[morphix]

flecc... as you have a brilliant engineers brain..I'd be interested to know what you think of the Sinclair C5...was it terribly flawed design and wasted opportunity, or an ok design and just too ahead of its time and badly marketed?

It's astonishing that £23 million of investment was put into that..it just has a toy-car look about it.. I think it's an early e-bike pretending to be an e-car.

The design is quite unusual and interesting though when you look at it more closely. Some aspects, like making it so low and open, and the handlebar below the knees...you just think...why! However the whole thing was designed around a price-point and very low budget, easy and quick to manufacture and service context. Sinclair's consistent marketing philosophy was after all, making something as cheap as possible, and hoping lots of people would buy it. I don't think he did any market research at all into the C5 to assess demand or consider what type of electric vehicle people might need.

He designed and marketed it as a serious electric vehicle and alternative to cars. But it was pretty obvious even from the drawing board stage, that was never going to climb hills or be able to cope on busy roads. So marketing it as an everyday EV was the biggest mistake I think. If they marketed it as a an e-bike, or leisure and off-road item, it wouldn't have got so slated by the media I suspect! There were a lot of practical uses for them, niche markets, for example, on golf courses, at airports, in large warehouses etc.

The other problem was the limits of 1985 technology I suppose. They had a lot of problems from what I read with the motors over-heating on hills and even the plastic wheels melting when braking under speed!

 

[stumpy150]

welcome back and enjoy the C5..I had one but it was destroyed in a garage fire..had great fun with it...

 

[Kinninvie]

Glad to hear you are on the mend.
A guy on ES recently did a C5 tune up but cant find it now.
I will try and find him on facebook as I reckon he could be a great help to you.

This might help.

 

[Kinninvie]

Found him.
His C5 project is on facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/otherhome/media_set?set=a.10155399769100370.1073741833.653260369&type=3

 

[stumpy150]

The problems I had with me be was the main drive gear which was plastic would strip without warning. The motor , which I recall was based on a washing machine motor , could overheat and melt the connectors and the battery was heavy and hopeless it was ahead of its time but as stated by previous posters, was limited by the tech of the period

 

[anotherkiwi]

I would love to see the C10 drawings, I dream of a Twizzy weighing 500 kg less (hyperbole guys, hyperbole! the damned thing is too heavy).

 

[flecc]

flecc... as you have a brilliant engineers brain..I'd be interested to know what you think of the Sinclair C5...was it terribly flawed design and wasted opportunity, or an ok design and just too ahead of its time and badly marketed?

It's astonishing that £23 million of investment was put into that..it just has a toy-car look about it.. I think it's an early e-bike pretending to be an e-car.

I think it was all of those, and essentially it was just a recumbent e-trike with cladding, an English velomobile.

I think it resulted from Clive over reaching himself when he had the idea of making an e-car. He didn't think it through before announcing that intention publically and then found out it was far more difficult than he had first thought. Trapped by his own announcement, he had to come up witn something since the media kept chasing him about it, so after a long delay, the C5 was the unsatisfactory cop-out, disappointing almost everyone. A car it certainly wasn't.
.

 

[anotherkiwi]

A body like that on a tadpole trike would work for me:

- better aerodynamics and dry feet
- protected chain line
- built in lockable storage space
- a place to mount the LCD and, hell why not! A smart phone come GPS come bluetooth interface to the controller and battery
- easier entry than a full body vélomobile
- better visibility than a tadpole trike (the indicators could be set to run in warning mode for example), huge brake light
- tadpole = high speed and better stability

A 2016 version of this idea could have it's place on the market.

 

[morphix]

welcome back and enjoy the C5..I had one but it was destroyed in a garage fire..had great fun with it...

Thanks stumpy, that's a real shame about your C5 and the garage fire :-/