All Activity

https://www.cedarparktexas.gov/521/2024-Parks-and-Recreation-Master-Plan Parks and Recreation Master Plan Pop-In Information Session #2 Wednesday, April 24, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm City Hall – Multi-Purpose Rooms 450 Cypress Creek Road, Building 3

Non mountain biking friends (in the 60 to 70 yr old range) who have done extended bike touring in Europe, New Zealand, Japan bought e-bikes this past year. Their bikes are Specialied S-Works somethings, they swapped out the drop bars for flat bars and added about 1.9" tires with a smooth rolling tread. They set it up so the battery is external and not inside the frame. This lets them pack the battery in a carry on when they fly with their bikes. Also, one can just carry the battery inside a hotel room for charging. We did a partly gravel (caliche!) road ride with them in the Round Mountain area a few weeks ago, and I picked up one of the bikes -- it's 30ish pounds, if that -- feather light. They are in Spain/Portugal right now and reported that the bikes did great on some incredibly steep roads. Side note: Google "e-bike + solar panels". Lots of interest on the topic of charging e-bikes with solar panels.

YouTube has saved me hundreds in refrigerator repairs. Now that I am mostly retired, I'm willing to try a lot of things because I have the time to putter around with them. Since I still do a little bit of consulting, I know what my "per hour" rate is so I can judge that against the amount of time and effort to get someone out to do things for us. I still find that, despite having a decent bike workshop in the garage, I still take my FS to Bicycle House for anything suspension related. Or anything requiring me to remove the crankset because a.) it is impossible to get off even with a breaker bar and b.) DUB sucks. My next bike will definitely not have a press fit bottom bracket, that is the devil.

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That helps to understand your experience, thanks! The power output isn't more or less because it is a lower weight bike. Most weight savings will come from carrying a smaller battery. Though I expect motors to continue to have higher power/weight ratios as the technology improves (same power from smaller motor), they will always be governed by the software. Available power will be determined by the max output of the motor, with the ability to limit this further by the Mode selected for operation. Most e-mtbs will have from 3-5 modes to select across a range of power output levels. These can usually be configured via a phone app to provide a variety of combinations based on % of total power, and to avoid exceeding a chosen % of what the battery can deliver. This way the rider can vary how they use their bike for any specific ride distance, elevation gain, etc. in order to conserve battery and/or get more of a workout. I'd like to think that most e-mtb riders don't leave it in max power mode all the time. I certainly don't do that. Being able to add a little help from the bike has me riding a lot more, and riding like this would be a markedly different experience than what you shared. Next time you have a chance to try one out, ask about how to switch between modes to select lower assist levels. One guy I ride will will select to ride without assist at all through flatter sections of Rocky Hill while winding through the trees. As with anyone experiencing new technology for the first time, I think if you had been provided a short briefing on the handlebar mounted control buttons you might have come away with a different perspective. Happy trails

We had about 70 folks start off. Good turnout for an iffy weather day. But the rain held off until the very last. Good event

Had an electrical company come out to give me a per-job bid on this. The cheapest was $688! However, during my conversation with him on the front-end prior to the quote, I gleaned enough basic info to further my own troubleshooting. With that and yet another YT video regarding GFCI outlets, I GOT IT FIXED! The wife was impressed and thats truly all that matters. (I wouldv'e lived without the electricity in the bathrooms) 🙂 Cheers, CJB

Man, I really shouldn't have inserted myself into this discussion. I don't have a dog in this fight...except for the fact that I spent the night at a holiday in once. I don't know the names, levels, details, categories or anything as such for these bikes. I just (think I) know that there are lightweight ones that give a little extra assist and then more robust heavier ones that have a higher output ability. (I think there are also throttle ones, but that doens't seem relevant to much of this). I was riding an Orbea Wild with the 750 watt motor, I think it weighed 52 lbs. I was riding it on some of the most techincal trail I could find. It was the day after a hard 70 mi ride for me. All I wanted to do was putter around the steep ups and steep downs. I was not trying to go fast. I truly found the experience to be closer to the way I ride my KTM 250cc enduro motorcycle. Bunny hopping was near impossible, lofting the front wheel took real effort and timing, getting the bike going on steep ups requires dirtbike type technique, and the extra power/velocity through the tight trees/tech makes this a skill all of its own. YMMV. I came away from the experience with the feeling that this activity was really a completely different sport all together. It just took place on our local mountain bike trails. And I'm not saying this as a hater, it was a fun experience, I can understand why people buy them. But it was simple NOT the same activity that I've been doing there for nearly 20 yrs. It was very much akin to if my FS MTB had a baby with my KTM MX bike. Cheers, CJB

I had a good time. What was the head count?

The clearing/mulching has definitely gotten quite significant. We still haven't lost much trail all told so far but between the burned parts, the bulldozing for the path and now the clearing around Church/Hog Jaw you don't ride long before you cross yet another impacted area. Still fun but a bit depressing and certainly not much of an 'in the woods' high left.

It would be interesting to know more about this. What defines a "high power" e-bike in this example? Was it a throttle bike, rather than pedal assist? Maybe a pedal assist that is not Class 2? Or, was this effect from riding a Class 2 in the highest assist mode only? If what you describe is relentless power coming on when it isn't necessary, that can likely be managed by selecting lower power settings on a Class 2 emtb. The thing I like about riding the Turbo Levo is how it rides like a normal mtb in the Eco and Trail modes. For each of these modes I have customized power delivery in the software to better suit my riding style. It is very rare that my bike sees Turbo mode selected (highest power). When it is used, this will be because I have reached "soup-sandwich" state and run out of meat-sack battery on a tough ride and just want to get to the beer at the trailhead before I collapse. 😰 I tend to ride like what AB described above, often enjoying negotiation of technical lines over powering through them. Unlike many people I have ridden with over the years, I enjoy riding smooth rather than fast. Things like KOM scores, lap times, and improving average riding speed has never been something to "work on" for me. I don't want a pickle, I just wanna ride my mountain bicycle. Though there are plenty of people who do like to chase the rabbit, and that's just another way to ride. When this type of rider takes an e-mtb for a ride, I expect some might want to open 'er up and see what it's got by running at highest power. This will not work very well in the tight stuff at all. The only finesse issues I face on an e-mtb are the same as I've had on a standard bike. Mostly from geometry, as my height makes for a longer wheelbase and I prefer a slacker head tube angle. I've been trading tight handling for downhill stability long before e-mtb was a thing. I know that with your frame-building background you know about all that stuff.

I rode a high power e-bike out at 4C last weekend. Finesse is not one of it's strong suits. -CJB

The weather doesn't look perfect, but it looks like it might work. So it's happening. Fast Friends is going to give all participants a dollar off their first post ride beer. Hey, it's something.

Wear long socks.

A little fun in Northwest Arkansas. Today should be the last warm day here for the remainder of my trip. It has been warm and muggy but also crazy beautiful! Dogwoods and columbines are blooming.

Forecast for Saturday looks wet.

I just saw this on MTBR: This is an interesting take. I had not considered the "finesse" that you can get from a bike that is just not present with an e-bike. So much of my riding over the years has become much more about feeling the bike through tight obstacles, rock gardens, etc. My Orbea Occam is exceptionally adept at helping me finesse my way through features, to the point where I often tell people to give me a little space because I have the ability to slow a climb to insanely low speed to slips through the appropriate line instead of just getting a head of steam and trying to power up something. The singlespeed really taught me this skill but the Occam lets me literally track stand in the middle of a climb or a rock garden and sneak through with the least effort.

We used Klock Electric in Austin when we had a lightning strike to fix some issues in the house, they were fast, did good work, and as I recall, pretty reasonably priced. Also, Mark Bedell who posted on the old Mojo site as "silverback" is an electrician: https://www.facebook.com/mark.bedell1/ I think he works for a solar company these days so I don't know if he is in the service market but if you are friends with him you may want to reach out to him.

I've got a GCFI curcuit in my guest bathroom that keeps getting thrown. I've replaced the receptical and a few other outlets that seem old or maybe problematic. I've unplugged everything I know of from that curcuit and still can't get it all to come back to life. I've reached the end of my troublshooting ability. Anyone have suggestions on an electrician recommendation? I contacted a few already, but they want $300 just to show up. I have a hard time swallowing that number, I just don't think I have a $300 problem. I'm open to suggestions. Thanks CJB 512-694-1319

Damianita and Annual Pennyroyal for those keeping score at home.

Almost looks like Warda

I checked it out yesterday. Pretty great for what it is ~ 9 mile xc race loop with basically zero rocks. You can get super fast on some of the straightaways. lots of nice turns. And plenty of challenging berms. On the back side there is a section built by KOM with some pretty cool features, but i found it hard to carry speed through. i would need to session it before i really trusted those berms. This seems to be Todd Eric's baby for now. He said its his buddy's property. It is not generally open. He's been opening it up Saturday morning's when Todd can make it out there to supervise. They need to get more tires on the dirt to help bed in the trails. There is a group on the facebook that seems to have the most up-to-date info.

when I worked at REI, every Diamondback bike we assembled came with a "fork direction" sticker, but it was not affixed to anything. I started collecting them and now I have a decent stack. I like to keep one in my pocket and stick it to forks at Target, Walmart, Academy, etc. There was a fat bike at Target with a backwards fork to which I adhered one of these stickers, and I came back to check on it every few months. it was still there, with the backwards fork, for several months.