zog blog mk II

Schwalbe Marathon plus tyre installed .. followed by a 44km country ride.

zog — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:06:15 +0000

Well I finally got one of my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (purchased from BikePro on the bike.. starting with the front wheel as it was easier to get off. Unlike various internet comments on this tyre I found it easy to change, I don’t think I’ve changed a bike tyre since I was a kid and I had no hassle.

Only thing I put it on with the “drive” label pointing the same way, but I dont think it will matter too much. Anyway it didnt have any effect on the very hilly 44km ride out to the country and back (to a picnic) that I immediately subjected it to.

Next step is changing the rear tyre.. this is a bit more work as I have not much idea how to get the back wheel off, I’ll also have to get some cable ties as I understand the operation involves snipping the ones that hold the power lead in place.

It’s hard for me to quantify how different the Schwalbe tyre is to the kenda knobbly trye that came with the bike.. mainly as with the Schwalbe I got a pump with a pressure meter as the marathon plus tyres need to be measured with a meter rather than just by feel… turns out looks like I have been underinflating my tyres a bit anyway.

Earthcore 2008

zog — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:59:05 +0000

I’m a bit of a homebody nowadays but I will venture out a bit for Earthcore at the end of this month. Should be good for a bit of fun.

ebay water tank and raintap installed

zog — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:56:21 +0000

Well had an attempt at doing home handyman stuff today and installed a 250L watertank (purchased from Bluetank6 on ebay and hooked it up to the downpipe using some cheap garden hose and a raintap water diverter from Bunnings. Still need to get a bracket mounted above the diverter to make it more stable, but I’m hoping using normal garden hose should make it easy to add more ebay water tanks as needed.

1000 km clocked up

zog — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:42:42 +0000

Well I have finally (after a bit of time off the bike due to illness) clocked up 1000KM on the bike. Probably notable for not being notable.. the bike is still working fine and doing its thing, just how I want it. Might get some slick road tires -probably Schwalbe marathon plus as they evidently are the best at not getting holes in them. I notice the newer greenewheels bikes also have road tires fitted now.

new greenewheels bikes available

zog — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:59:30 +0000

Just got alerted by Dazzassj6 that greenewheels have additional types of bikes for sale up on their site. Inlcuding a step-through bike, a folder (similar to the folders a few other places are selling on ebay) and a slightly different mountain bike style on with LiFeP04 batteries.
Also interesting the current range don’t appear to have disc brakes, just V brakes. As the disc brakes on the older Greenewheels were always a bit fiddly to work with this could be a plus for long term usability, though the extra stopping power of disc brakes are useful on an electric bike.

disclaimer: I don’t have any business relationship with greenewheels other than as a satisfied customer and ebike fan

full range test done at last

zog — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:07:33 +0000

Well it was a sunny day, with quite full on wind but I managed to do a range test at last.
Rode along portions of the Eastlink bike trail:

and the Dandenong creek bike trail to the sea at Carrum:

The the last few kilometres I think I had reduced power though it was hard to tell with the headwinds I was pedalling into, but at pretty much exactly 50 km the battery flattened to the level there was no power to the wheel. So even riding in quite demanding conditions (sometimes the winds were really buffeting the bike so I had to work hard to stay balanced), it met the advertised range.

Interestingly a full recharge of the battery only used 6.44 cents of electricity (i.e. 0.3 kwH).. all in all very happy with the range.

Another review of the greenewheels bike

zog — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:50:57 +0000

Endless Sphere poster mickk recently also got a greenewheels bike - this thread on the Endless Sphere forums documents his experiences starting out with the bike, and his ideas of some upgrades to get more performance from it.

Electric Motorcycles in Thailand

zog — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:35:22 +0000

Well not really electric bicycles, but good to see this article on the 4am expat blog about electric scooters getting traction in Thailand.

Electric Bicycle Parts Suppliers in Australia - part 1

zog — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:48:39 +0000

I haven’t actually used any of these vendors myself, it’s just information I have been gathering for future reference, but it’s good to see there is a range of approaches - from full service to complete DIY, and pricepoints catered for in Australia for Electric Bicycle stuff.

Australian All Electric Vehicles:
These guys have an ebay store selling assorted bits, as well as a web site.
Of interest to me as the 48v controller they sell looks like just the ticket if I ever decide to increase the power on my bike by adding an additional battery to it. Melbourne locations.

Brett / Solar BBQ:
I know two guys very happy with this guys products, DIY hub motor ebike central: http://www.users.bigpond.com/solarbbq/bikesale/bsale.htm. Newcastle (NSW) Location.

E-MTB:
Expensive but amazing looking bikes and kits.. the videos on the site look like a lot of fun of pushing the power limits:
http://www.e-mtb.com.au/

Zbike:
I just founds this site while googling the subject, and these bikes look cool going just from the web page, but you pay extra for Li-ION batteries. http://www.zbike.com.au/ - Sydney.

E-lation:
I know 2 owners of this kit, different approach to the hub motor style that I went for: http://www.elationebikes.com.au/

E-deals:
Also sell kits driving the chain through the gears, in a similar vein to E-lation kits, but different products - some very high wattage kits there. Sold via an ebay store that also sells assorted parts, and their own web site.

Electric Vehicles Pty Ltd
Melbourne business with a shopfront with some very nice looking bikes, who appear to offer the full level of service and support for those who don’t care to DIY. Located in Melbourne, with a web site..

Inside the Greenewheels bike

zog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:46:55 +0000

Well, thanks to the tireless efforts of dazzassj6 from the Endless Sphere forums, who has dismantled parts of his Greenewheels bike to see what makes it tick, here are some pictures of the insides of the various components - the forum article where I got these pics from also has some excellent discussion on what would be needed to increase the speed of the greenewheels bike, and how to go about it.

The controller:

Close-up of the controller, showing the model number:

The model numberKT36ZWP shows up once in google, at this link, which translates into English reasonably well here
.

Inside the battery pack:

Two pictures showing inside the motor controller: