This week has been a bit busy with preparing my new Wisper 905 for use, which means this posting is a little later than planned.
Saturday last, I paid my annual visit to The Classic Car rally at Wroughton airfield just outside Swindon. Apart from the local aero modellers, no active flying takes place now. The runway, peri's and aprons are still in excellent condition, testament to the skills of the engineers who built it between the wars. It is also the offsite storage facilty for the London Science Museum. The museum staff kindly opened one of the hangars containing, amongst other historic aircraft, a full sized 4 engined Constellation in TWA livery. So what's this got to do with electric bikes?.
Whenever I visit these large shows, and providing the organisers permit it, I always take my Alien Lynx electric folder...saves the old legs a bit!!. As usual, the little yellow bike drew a huge amount of interest, all the usual questions being asked:
Are you part of the show?
Where is your stand at the show?
Have you brought any bikes we could try?
Can we order one today?
How fast will it go?
How far on a charge?
How much?
Where did you buy it?
This begs the question, Is it time for the dealers, agents and importers to reach out to the public in a more positive way. There are I believe, three cycle shops in Swindon who are agents/dealers for various makes of electric bikes. Why on earth didn't they take some bikes to this and similar shows. Are they perhaps happy with their current level of sales?.
The 24/7 security staff really don't mind where you go on the aerodrome as long as it's kept sensible. One amusing incident was, when I decided to see what was going on at the end of the main runway. Now, I wonder how many Alien Lynx owners realise the switch on the left handlebar is actually a mode switch!. It is only marked with TWO positions.. E_economy and S_sport. There is a THIRD, central position which disables the pedelec sensor, the throttle remaining active. The runway has a slight downslope and, with a stiff southwesterly on my back, I overtook a 4X4 at 22 MPH, that's when I spotted the guy with a camera filming the progress of a 1929 electric car thrashing along at 10 MPH...oops!. Continuing on to the end of the runway I came face to face with Chris Searle ( 7 feet tall and a HUGE hooter ). Exit sharp left and hastily returned to the main show area.
Two more amusing incidents.
Parking the Lynx next to a well presented Ruumi 125cc twin 2stroke scooter queening it up under it's own white gazebo, I recalled the time back in the '50's when I was apprenticed to the dealer for this machine. They sounded like a hornets nest at 10 times the volume when running fast. When stationary, a threepenny bit would remain balanced on edge on the crankcase no matter how hard it was revved. While we were chatting, a crowd developed around the Lynx and he jokingly suggested "clear off, their supposed to be looking at my machine not yours".
Same thing happened when I was chatting to a guy with a really nice Rover V8 powered kit car, only this time, some wag came over and asked the owner of the kit car "so where's the pedals on yours then?". Another sharp exit!.
Best wishes to all
Bob
Saturday last, I paid my annual visit to The Classic Car rally at Wroughton airfield just outside Swindon. Apart from the local aero modellers, no active flying takes place now. The runway, peri's and aprons are still in excellent condition, testament to the skills of the engineers who built it between the wars. It is also the offsite storage facilty for the London Science Museum. The museum staff kindly opened one of the hangars containing, amongst other historic aircraft, a full sized 4 engined Constellation in TWA livery. So what's this got to do with electric bikes?.
Whenever I visit these large shows, and providing the organisers permit it, I always take my Alien Lynx electric folder...saves the old legs a bit!!. As usual, the little yellow bike drew a huge amount of interest, all the usual questions being asked:
Are you part of the show?
Where is your stand at the show?
Have you brought any bikes we could try?
Can we order one today?
How fast will it go?
How far on a charge?
How much?
Where did you buy it?
This begs the question, Is it time for the dealers, agents and importers to reach out to the public in a more positive way. There are I believe, three cycle shops in Swindon who are agents/dealers for various makes of electric bikes. Why on earth didn't they take some bikes to this and similar shows. Are they perhaps happy with their current level of sales?.
The 24/7 security staff really don't mind where you go on the aerodrome as long as it's kept sensible. One amusing incident was, when I decided to see what was going on at the end of the main runway. Now, I wonder how many Alien Lynx owners realise the switch on the left handlebar is actually a mode switch!. It is only marked with TWO positions.. E_economy and S_sport. There is a THIRD, central position which disables the pedelec sensor, the throttle remaining active. The runway has a slight downslope and, with a stiff southwesterly on my back, I overtook a 4X4 at 22 MPH, that's when I spotted the guy with a camera filming the progress of a 1929 electric car thrashing along at 10 MPH...oops!. Continuing on to the end of the runway I came face to face with Chris Searle ( 7 feet tall and a HUGE hooter ). Exit sharp left and hastily returned to the main show area.
Two more amusing incidents.
Parking the Lynx next to a well presented Ruumi 125cc twin 2stroke scooter queening it up under it's own white gazebo, I recalled the time back in the '50's when I was apprenticed to the dealer for this machine. They sounded like a hornets nest at 10 times the volume when running fast. When stationary, a threepenny bit would remain balanced on edge on the crankcase no matter how hard it was revved. While we were chatting, a crowd developed around the Lynx and he jokingly suggested "clear off, their supposed to be looking at my machine not yours".
Same thing happened when I was chatting to a guy with a really nice Rover V8 powered kit car, only this time, some wag came over and asked the owner of the kit car "so where's the pedals on yours then?". Another sharp exit!.
Best wishes to all
Bob
