The ride home at 6:00 AM today was quick, 35 minutes. I didn't peddle too hard and there weren't too many cars on the road. The battery kept powering all the way home (7.5 miles). The last hill I hit with full throttle and I still pushed a pretty high gear, it took about half the time to get up the hill - a great boost.
The thumb throttle really started to hurt my thumb. I cut a 3/4 inch length of stout dowel and taped it to the thumb pad on the throttle, in effect moving the lever closer to my thumb - this was easier than flopping it to the other side of the handle bar.
The ride to work tonight was a blast - 30 minutes. I spun fast and actually overspun the top gear on a couple of the flats and all down hills - I should replace my chain ring with a larger ring set it will improve my travel time. I am still trying to find the limits to the battery pack, but tonight didn't even come close to draining them - they still should full charge by the time I got to work. I am thinking if I get a bigger chain ring, replace the rear wheel with a 40 spoke tandem wheel, and reshod the wheels with high pressure low rolling resistant AirFree tires I will probably get my travel time to 25 minutes [it takes 20 minutes to drive]. With all the tinkering, I can see the value in the Wavecrest powered bikes http://www.tidalforce.com/.
I have to keep reminding myself, this is an e-bike, this bike has a motor, the bike has a battery pack, this bike is beefy (almost 75 pounds), and this bike is much better than the moped I use to ride in 1980's.
Today I heard gasoline prices are likely to rise another $0.08 per gallon because the EPA is demanding oxygenated gasoline still be sold in New York State. I'll keep peddling.
Adding the dowel to the thumb throttle lever took a lot of stress off my thumb. I am thinking I will try a little longer piece of dowling - but this seems to be the solution.
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