Recent content by spisska

It's actually the other way around. The vast majority of new businesses of fail, whether they're started by MIT grads or not. Either way, there are so many compromises required to make the Copenhagen Wheel a viable product, that it becomes a product that is only attractive to tiny prospective...

You can make the argument that regen braking on an ebike is not cost effective. That's fine. Renen braking is really only effective at speed, involves more points of failure, and only gains <10 percent of energy consumed. Those are all valid arguments. But you can't really make the argument...

The people driving this thread have already made it clear that they want to explore all the ways a person can hurt him or herself in playing with electricity, and that anyone who calls into question their lack of respect for the fatal energy in electricity is nothing more than a "nervous Nancy"...

I keep waiting for this thread to end with a description of the explosion and fire that will inevitably result. I mean, there are plenty of quality, off-the-shelf chargers already available, and they don't cost that much to start with. This seems about the worst way to save money next to...

Check out your local Army-Navy Surplus. Last year I picked up a genuine German cop, black leather motorcycle jacket for about $150. The best bit is that it says 'Polizei' on the back in big, reflective lettering.

It's a bit nonsensical, to be honest, and a great example of how statistics are often misused and/or misinterpreted. The theory is this: a greater proportion of cyclists involved in accidents are wearing helmets compared to the full population of cyclists. Therefore wearing a helmet makes you...

I've got about 800 miles on my bike now, and almost all the comments I get are positive. What bothers me is the people who *don't* comment. That is: the people (invariably in gigantic SUVs) who feel like they should be faster than anyone on any bike, let alone a beach-cruiser like mine. Off...

The issue is the mounts. There are a couple aftermarket mount adapters, but they all look pretty sketchy to me. You could of course weld on your own mounts, but that's a whole other project on its own. Either way, brakes are not something you want to skimp on.

Your goals are definitely achievable, and within your budget too. So that's great news. Here's a picture of my bike, which was about $2k all-in, including some rookie mistakes that added a couple hundred dollars to the cost that I could have avoided. My bike tops out at about 28 mph, and has a...

Paul @em3ev is about as rock-solid a vendor as you'll find referenced in this group. My experience with him has been brilliant, and you'll hear the same from many other very satisfied customers. I know when I bought my gear from him last year, the Bafang kit you ordered was not even on offer. I...

Well, I *have* been looking for a way to add a steam whistle instead of a horn. Too bad it would only work while charging. That said, I'm not sure the place to cut corners is the one place on such a bicycle that might explode. It's a bit of a Pinto solution -- seems a good idea right up until...

By the way, danjpendleton, in case I didn't make this point loudly enough: YOUR BIKE IS GOD DAMN BEAUTIFUL. That board-track cruiser thing was what I was chasing, but you hit it far more elegantly: If it were me, after having read the OCPD statement, I would still take my bike to the beach...

For general use, you're going to want to use the middle position. This will charge the battery to about 90 percent of its total capacity. The 'II' position charges the battery to its full capacity, but you should only really use this if you're going to ride it right after it charges. Even so...

I don't know that I'd worry about it, to be honest. The season is over, for one thing, and you're far less likely to have a problem now than in the middle of July or August. For another, ebikes are not exactly common anywhere in the US. It's new and exotic enough, and falls under so many...

I hate to be Johnny Raincloud here, but think hard about what you're doing before committing a lot of time to it. Ebikes are not an established market, so what storefront locations there are might not be around for long. A dataset like this is only useful if it's large and current, and it will...