I got it!!!!!!!

I picked up my new Worksman Newsboy bicycle on Friday afternoon, May 11th. This is the first bike I have bought in 10 years that came completely assembled and ready to ride without needing as much as a little wrenching to tighten something up. Even the seat was properly adjusted at the factory. And yes, I picked the bike up at the factory from the person who actually took my initial order. [For safety I did add a bell, and LED head light and tail light - so a wrenched just a little bit.]

This is a big bike. With the baskets and fenders, the bike weighs forty+ pounds. At first I was a little skeptical that perhaps I made a mistake with such a heavy bike, but with the 3-speed transmission (rear hub) and the smaller (37 tooth) chainring the gearing is perfect for my riding needs. Around town I can cruise along at 10-12 MPH, I can easily hit 30 MPH going downhills, and the gearing is low enough that I can climb the hill leading to my house easier than I could on my mountain bike. And how can I climb better on a heavier bike? Because the Worksman's upright ergonomics are better than the crouched over mountain bike position, the Worksman is more comfortable and much easier to peddle up hill.

The workmanship on the Worksman bike is as industrial as the bike, and it is excellent. Despite all the chrome and the baskets, nothing rattles. I cruised around all weekend running errands and all I could hear was the tire rubber against the road (and at first I thought it sounded like an electric car - that spooked me).

Part of the plan for this bike was to use it as an advertising platform for my wife Heidi's toy business. The baskets on the bike provide almost 10 square feet of advertising space. So as the bike is parked at the train station all day waiting for me to come home from work, it is advertising Heidi's business. We used Buildasign.com and made up corroplast signs (corrugated plastic) which are zip-tied to the front a rear baskets. I have included here a copy of the sign attached to the bike.

Until next time.

The new bike arrives today!!!!!!

My new Worksman Industrial Bike arrives today. I got the call on Tuesday that it was ready to be picked up, so I drove to work today (only the 5th time in 11 months I have driven my car to work) and will pick up the bike in just a few short hours. Here's a picture of what the bike looks like. Mine will be yellow and it will have a 3-speed Sturmey Archer rear hub. I will also be adding a front caliper brake when I install my Wilderness Hub motor on the bike to make it an eBike.

So, I have dusted off the wheel and electric hubmotor from my old Cannondale mountain bike and I am looking forward to mounting the motor on the new bike. e-Bikes are just the sort of transportation solution I need in this soon-to-be $4.00+ per gallon of gasoline world. My lead-acid batteries from 2 years ago are shot. I am exploring my battery options. With the exception of the price (almost $800.00) LiFe phosphate (lithium iron phosphate) batteries look like a really good investment. From what I can tell they are half the weight of lead acid batteries, and they look like they will last almost 1 years (that's about $80.00 per year - much cheaper than getting new lead acid batteries every year!!!!!!). The LiFe phosphate batteries may make electric cars a soon reality.

More when the bike arrives.

Train converts!!!!

It has been 11 months since I started my bike-to-train commute and I think it has worked out really well. In the morning the bike ride to the train wakes me up, the train trip is very relaxing, and I arrive at work ready to concour the day. I usually sleep on the train trip home - I think is has to do something with the rhythmic hum of the train wheels on the track, and the bike ride home from the train station again wakes me up to finish up the end of the day.

During the past 11 months I have driven my minivan to work 5 times, either because I was picking something up or continuing my trip in another direction - not bad. I have had no delays caused by the trains. Actually, I have made some friends who share my commute, and we are a lively bunch on the train platform at 5:15 in the morning.

With gasoline price rocketing past $3.20 per gallon I have had two of my co-workers ask me about train commuting. One has already started taking the train and loves it, and the other will start in a week. I am hoping more people will start riding the train as gasoline prices increase further. Now that's two less cars on the road.

One more eBike on the road.

The Estelle is on the road! One more eBike is cruising the streets of Westchester County. The bike was picked up about 2 weeks ago, last week there were flood causing rains which squashed (I should say squished) gettting it on the road. Because the tires and tubes were rotten it took until Sunday morning to get the new rubber set and going. Now its going.

My first riding impression. The Estelle is a pure power assist so you have to peddle to actuate the motor, whereas my Wilderness Experience setup can move the bike independant of peddling. The power assist is great, good torque, and descent top end speed - but speed isn't everything on this type of commuter bike, reliability is the most important thing here. To enhance the reliability I installed the "triple protection" Bontrager slicks - I have run on these tires for three years without any flats.

Now it is up to D. to start riding the bike instead of driving the car. One less car here we come. Good luck D., you have a great ride.

Update on my next eBike. The bike has been ordered, this week I order the new battery pack and charger. It will be about 4 more weeks before I am back on the eRoad again.

Until next time.......

New bike coming and add a convert to eBiking

I had a very interesting experience, and not one many people have when they are shopping for a new bicycle. Last week I went to the Worksman Bicycle factory in Queens, NY, because I had a few technical questions about their bikes. I was met by an Associate who directed me to a more knowledgeable person to help me with my questions. Well, blow me away, the more knowledgeable person I was introduced to was the President of Worksman Bicycle, the oldest continually operating bicycle manufacturer in the United States established in 1898. Try going to Cannondale, Trek, or Schwinn and having the president of any of those companies try and answer technical questions about their bikes - I don't think it will happen!

Worksman is a different type of bicycle manufacturer, they manufacture industrial bicycles and tricycles used to transport people and material in factories, and industrial and business complexes across the country. [see www.worksmancycles.com for more information] Worksman cycles are a terrific green solution when they replace Cushman style motorized work vehicles - more on this later.

I order myself a Worksman Cruiser, the bike arrives in three weeks. Better yet, I found Worksman was selling electric Estelle City Bikes, a German made eBike at a significant discount. Of course I will soon have all the components together to reassemble my eBike, but it was a really good deal. I mentioned this to friend who jumped on the opportunity and bought one of the eBikes. I helped assemble the bike only to find the tires had aged and need to be replaced, so it will be a few days before the Estelle City eBike hits the road. This is cool because it means one less car on the road, and I have converted another person to the simple pleasures of ebikes - we are one person closer to a better world.

I have to figure out how to post pictures in this Blog to help illustrate the things I write about. Perhaps that is a task suited for another day.

The plan, the action, and acting locally

The plan....... right now the plan is to order a yellow 3-speed Worksman utility bike with a full complement of baskets for posting advertising for the toy business. I will be ordering the bike with a smaller chain ring for easier uphill pedaling) and I will install my Wilderness Energy electric hub motor on the bike's front wheel for their added zip. I am still not decided on whether or not to use 7 amp hour batteries or 12 amp hour batteries, there is a significant weight difference between the two and if I don't really need the range this time around then the lighter battery pack would be much better. Regarding the range - at this time my radius of traveling by bicycle is about 3 miles, so it is likely I will not need much more than a 10 mile range. The first time around my travel radius (to work and back) was 9 miles, this is where the larger amp hour batteries are worth the added weight. For longer trips I have my 100 MPG Honda scooter.

The action..... right now I am about 6 weeks away from placing the order for the bike and batteries. Some other things have gotten in the way (like paying for a root canal, kid's summer camp, and new inventory for the toy store), so I need to wait a bit for the cash flow to catch back up to my expenses (or the other way around).

I have been asked to participate in a "green vehicle" symposium and a local college, and I really excited to be able to talk about my experience living with an electric vehicle - this will be cool. The symposium will be sometime in April.

$25 Million?

Hello March!

For the past few days I have been having reoccurring thoughts about winning the Virgin Earth Challenge prize for demonstrating a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth’s climate.

Winning the prize is too simple, just prohibit cars and give everyone a bicycle. The design already exists!

I am actually disappointed in the contest because I feel the premise is to award non-sustainable designs for gadgets to scrub the atmosphere so mankind can still live our unsustainable lives and continue to pump pollutants into the atmosphere.

What is really needed is a paradigm shift from unsustainable growth to sustainable living, and the basic design of the bicycle is perfect to start the transformation required to make this shift. For example, if the bicycle, e-bike, or whatever variant were to immediately replace personal motor vehicles there would be an immediate reduction in negative impacts to the atmosphere. Gone would be the tons of carbon dioxide and other toxics gases we pump into the atmosphere for each mile of roadway driven. Also gone would be the energy requirements and resources needed to support the production and use of personal motor vehicles, and well as the associated gaseous toxins. Further eliminated would be the unsustainable energy policies, dependence on foreign resources, failed foreign policies, and the fallen and maimed youth fighting pointless wars protecting finite and likely trivial natural resources. The spiral of the effect each change makes compounds the benefit to the planet and helps move mankind toward sustainable living.

I could go on, but I am satisfied I made my point that the bicycle is the design for a better, safer, and healthier world. Now show me the money so I can go out and buy bicycles to give to people who share my visions.

I'm Back.........

It's almost March, I hope the last of the snow is now melting, and I am itching to buy a new bike on which I can reuse my hub motor.

Don't get me wrong, my current ride is great. Oh, here's an interesting story, my current ride is a Montague folding mountain bike that I bought on eBay from Wavecrestlabs. Actually, I bought the frame set only, the wheel set was from my old Cannondale which I originally had the hub motor setup on. A bunch of the Montague frames became available when Wavecrestlabs sold Tidalforce to Matra Sports. So it is kind of ironic that I went from riding an electric-conversion Cannondale to a de-electric Tidalforce. The old Tidalforce frame set came equipped with all necessary components (including the braze-ons for running the electric wires between the motor, batteries, and control - they are all still there but now empty), all that was missing were two wheels - I think I only paid $200.00! for the bike. Too bad the hub motor doesn't fit the front suspension fork, otherwise I would just mount the Wilderness Energy hub motor to the old Tidalforce frame - an odd partner of sorts.

Currently my old non-e Tidalforce serves as my station bike. I ride everyday, rain, sleet, snow, salt, heat, cold, or sun - no exception, the mile or so from my house to the train station where I chain it and catch the train into New York City to go to work. I also use the bike for short trips around town (milk runs, to the Post Office, etc.). The only problem I had was with the chain. The chain broke because it wasn't the proper size for the cogs on the Cannondale cassette - this has been fixed. I would not do this to any other bike, but once a week I spray down all the movable parts with WD40 to keep the workings well lubricated from the wintry nasty things that tend to gum up machinery. Usually I would use a good quality synthetic bicycle oil and grease. I will likely have to service all the bearings at some point during the spring.

Getting back to my itching, here is what I have been thinking about...... I will keep the non-e Tidalforce Montague for my wintry and rainy day commuting to the train station. I want to purchase the 2007 Schwinn cruiser that has the 7-speed Nexus rear hub and install the hub motor on the front fork. I need to mount baskets on the bike, so I want to mount large Wald wire baskets both front and rear - this will give me more cargo capacity than the trunk of my wife's VW Beetle convertible. The best part is, I think it will actually make money for me!

Here is where the revenue comes from - advertising! You see, I get to the train station at about 5:00 AM (really early - the first train of the day) so I get to park my bike right at the bottom of the stairs leading to the platform where everyone gets the train (this is first-come, first-served). Literally hundreds of people walk past my bike every day for the ride into New York City. The Wald baskets offer almost 10 square feet of conspicuous space where I can place advertisements for local businesses.

I have the location, hundreds of people pass the spot every business day, there will be a conspicuous cool-retro look, and it doesn't need to be expensive to be conspicuous, especially if local businesses can supply me with their artwork - then I just slip it into a mounting sleeve on the exterior of the baskets. On holidays and weekends, I can park the bicycle out front of the advertised establishment so there will be the advertisement-establishment association to more easily direct people to my sponsor. Spread out over 5 years, my cost is less than $0.75 per day (assuming 10 months of operation per year). So, even if I only charge $2.00 a day to have someones advertising on my bike, I will be able to buy a nice new bike every other year - not a bad way to stay in new wheels! Taking the concept further, I can sell franchises by offering a free bicycle to bike commuter if they park their bikes conspicuous public places (Anyone interested?).

Regarding the Schwinn Deluxe 7, I have ridden the bike. I feel it will make a great commuter/short trip bike. I like the ergonomics. I fit the bike really well. It has a very cool retro look, and the 7-speed Shimano Nexus hub has great gearing for around town. With a hub motor mounted, the bike makes a perfect urban/suburban cruiser, and with the baskets added the machine will move more groceries and stuff than any steroid pumped SUV.

Until next time.