I dared doing it

Laurent

Laurent

New Member


Hi everyone.

My name is Laurent from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I'm 62 years old. I purchased this Sofrider V2 in april 2009. On the very first try, I was so frustrated not being able to ride, I wanted to ship it back. Since the amount of money invested was important to me I decided not to give up and I determined to master this beast. To my surprise the learning process was very fast. From the moment I caught up I was hooked. I started to gather cycling data in 2010 and at the end of 2012 I had pedaled 2877.91 km (1788.63 mi). This included a 594 km(369 mi) trip from home to Rhinebeck NY about 90 miles north of New-York city and a 255km(155mi) "Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail trip, the longest bike trail in Quebec.

I tried commuting to work wich is a 40 km(25Mi) roundtrip. I found this pretty tiring especially coming back home after a hard physical working day.

So I was then curious about power assist. After collecting information about electric bicycles last winter and after long internet shopping I made up my mind and purchased an ebike conversion kit from Electric Bike Solutions in California http://www.gocarlite.com/ElectricBikeKit.php.

I purchased a 36v Complete 400 watt front geared motor kit including a Lifepo4 lithium battery. The front gear motor of course was installed on the back wheel in this case. It is made from Amped bike in California. I converted it with my daughter and it was rather easy to do. The service was great. Until I tried my new ebike I was rather skeptical about it's promised performances.

Let me tell you, I was very surprised. Performances were'nt promises, they were real. This tiny little motor is surprisingly powerful. I weigh near 200 pounds and this thing went as fast as 34km(21mi)/hr on flat ground, electricity alone. Where I live, we have all kinds of hills and it took me up easily on all of them even at one time with 2 paniers full of grocery. It is the best solution for starts, especially upper ones. It doesn't matter wich gear you're in. I have the freedom of using the electric power of the back wheel or the human power of the front wheel or both at the same time.

I don't mean to offense the purists, I was and still am so enthusiast about the experience. I could'nt help but share it with fellow Cruzebike fans.

Laurent

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John Tolhurst

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
Great post thanks

Great post thanks Laurent,

electric assist is part of my dream bike specification, for all the reasons you mentioned.
 
Charles.Plager

Charles.Plager

Recumbent Quant
Salut Laurent,
C'est

Salut Laurent,

C'est fantastique!

I've seen other Sofriders eletrified before. It makes sense to me because you can electrify the rear wheel and not have to worry about interference with the human powered drive train. And I am not good at starting on steep hills (except for the one time a friend of mine literally gave me a push). I can very easily see how having an electric push helps a lot.

Merci pour nous partager ce velo!

A+,
Charles
 
Doug Burton

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
I, Too, am intersted in electrification...

Over the past year, I've done a lot of work based out of Shenzhen, China. It's a city of 10.6 million that was only 350,000 in 1982. Traffic density is massive.

Internal combustion engine motorcycles, scooters and mopeds are outlawed by local ordinance in Shenzhen (except for police). Consequently, electric mopeds and scooters are ubiquitous. They are simple, rugged machines powered by lead-acid batteries. You also see electric workman trikes everywhere, sometimes hauling hundreds of pounds of materials to and from small manufacturers. They roll along at a stately-but-useful 15 mph, and seem to have pretty good range.

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I think if the future of cycling is expansive, bikes can't just be for athletes. Electric assist offers a way for less athletic riders to survive traffic crunches in urban settings, and where you have to survive interstate junctions in suburbia.
 
B

baov

Active Member
Salut Laurent, un autre

Salut Laurent, un autre Montréalais ici.

That's a nice panier rack you got there. Made that yourself? Looks awesome. But do the panier sway with only the top attached?
 
DavidCH

DavidCH

In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
Well if you have an electric bike and Maxwell starts to produce a 500 watt cells you will probably either go twice as far or have a lighter bike. My ideal would be a 250 watt motor with a light battery. I like the idea of having a solar cell charger option too. Like the gallium arsenide devices that Rayton Solar produces. They even charge in the shade.
 
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