The photo tonight shows how my mirrors fold down and back in order for them to get through doorways.
Start time 10:15 pm
Temp 25.1 C
JULY 30/22 TONIGHT
The photo tonight shows how my mirrors fold down and back in order for them to get through doorways.
Start time 10:15 pm
Temp 25.1 C
JULY 30/22 TONIGHT
Only wore a T-shirt tonight. Quite comfortable. No Bugs at all. Maybe the heat killed them off. Who knows?
Start time 10:20 pm
Temp 25.5 C
JULY 19/22 TONIGHT
Start time 10:08 pm
Temp 21.5 C
JULY 20/22 TONIGHT
Start time 10:28 pm
Temp 19.5 C
JULY 20/22 TONIGHT
Start time 9:39 pm
Temp 21.5 C
JULY 20/22 TONIGHT
Tonight's end of ride photo was taken in my driveway in virtually total darkness. Pretty good, I would say, for no flash. Previous photos had, at least, some ambient light from a streetlamp.
Start time 9:39 pm
Temp 24.5 C
JULY 19/22 TONIGHT
Start time 9:50 pm
Temp 21.7 C
JULY 18/22 TONIGHT
Start time 9:10 pm
Temp 22.5 C
JULY 05/22 TONIGHT
The bike will be up and running Monday night.
This latest mess taught me a valuable lesson. Because of the long time since I had my last flat tire, I had become complacent about the risks of tire failure when help is far away.
In spite of having a top notch tire and having it lined with Kevlar the bike ended up crippled by a flat tire. "How did this happen?" I thought - on the long walk home.
Even the best of tires eventually wear out. This actually happened and I had a tire go flat. My bike guy replaced the tire and replaced the old tube with a standard tube. Ordinary tubes are distinguished by their lack of uniform thickness. That means it will have thin spots. This would come back to bite me. I had a second flat the first ride out after the repair.
Bicycle tires are constantly being impacted by irregularities in the road. An impacted tire causes a compression in the tire and tube resulting in an abnormally high tire pressure at the impact point. If the tube has a thin spot at the point of impact the resulting extremely high pressure will cause a tube to burst.
When a tube bursts the tire immediately goes flat. At regular bike speeds (20 kph) one can bring the bike to a stop quickly but at e-bike speeds (35 - 40 kph) it takes longer. This greatly increases the risk of rim and tire damage. In my case the increased stopping distance was very hard on the tire and caused the tire bead to be damaged and resulted in a broken and protruding bead wire. This protruding wire slashed the tube to such an extent that resulting gash rendered the tube irreparable.
The upshot of this is that from now on I will install only the highest quality tubes and, of course, carry spare tubes when far away from any help.
My new tube:
Rated as the Most Durable Bike:
SV21 BICYCLE TUBE by SCHWALBE
Made of butyl rubber, Schwalbe tubes are both resilient and puncture-resistant on the trail.
These tubes are made with a higher-quality rubber than some more bargain-oriented models.
These tubes have superior resistance to both thorns and pinch punctures and the overall tough feel of the tubes gives me confidence in their durability.
Start time 9:30 pm
Temp 21.5 C
Tonight July 01/22
You will notice that I have stripped the bike of its chain, derailleur, and chain tensioner. This completes the removal of the entire drive chain and gear shift mechanism. Weight saving? About 6 lbs. I like the minimalist look, too.
I went back to two batteries because the increased Wh/km of transporting three batteries was too high a penalty to pay for the extra energy in the third battery.
Start time 9:30 pm
Temp 18.5 C
July 01/22 Tonight
Tonight was the 1st night pulling the trailer. There were three batteries in it. The additional weight was about 35 lbs. The average speed tonight was almost identical to last night but the Wh/km shot up from 20.9 to 25.74.
The two primary reasons for this are the additional rolling resistance of two more tires closely followed by the additional wind resistance of the trailer. A distant third is the additional weight.
Start time 10:05 pm
Temp 22.3 C
WOKE DEI + GREEN NIHILISM = DRESDEN IN CALIFORNIA by Victor Davis Hanson / January 13, 2025 The Firebombing of Los Angeles Over 25,000 a...