For Sale to help fund next eBike project.

If you follow me you will know already that I am trying to sell my existing eBike as I need to get a more suitable eBike built for my disability, if you don't then you can read up on it here: For Sale! One Awesome eBike, my Dutchess.

Now selling the eBike was to cover the cost of the conversion kit & I was saving to get the right sort of bike, unfortunately my eldest 19yr old cat Tinker became very ill in June/July & the vet bills mounted up & was worth every penny to help my Tinker who is on a slow recovery atm. This put a big dent into my savings for the purchase of the bike.

So I have gone through my cupboards & attic & pulled out various items I have kept for future use or to sell for occasions like now. Now ideally I rather like to sell locally as it will save having to sort out the costs of P&P to the buyer but if buyers are prepared to pay upfront to have it posted then I am more than happy to. So the following is for sale & are of in good condition if used or new & unused.

To start with I have a pair of Schwalbe Land Cruiser (reflex) 700x35 that were used on a bike I no longer used & went to use on eBike but were too wide & not able to use on any other of my bikes. I would like £15 for the pair.

  

Next is 2 sets of Panniers, the all Black throw over one is Basil & the White paneled clip on roll top one is Bikemate. Both comes with straps & looking at £10 for each pair.

I also have a bike rack/hanger that can hold 2 bikes & folds down when flat, does need some padding added back onto the area where the bikes sit but is in working order. I like £10 for this.

 

Next is the SKS Chainboard, suitable for upto 48 teeth front Chainwheel & was bought for a previous bike but never got round to fitting it on the bottom bracket. So is still new & unused & would like £15 for it.

And lastly there's The Jawbreaker Multi-tool, another gift which I rather sell than use. New & unused & like £40.

So if you are interested then you can comment on this blog where I can read but not publish it or can contact me on Twitter @2_Wheeled_Wolf or just email me on wolfdragonrider@gmail.com. I have other stuff to add later when I get them, this is just the first few to start off to recoup the savings to get the next eBike started.

NOW SOLD! One Awesome eBike, my Dutchess. Updated with new lower price.

Note: Updates to the blog are at the bottom of the blog, scroll to this if you just want to read the update.

Yes that is right, my Dutchess is going up for sale.

So you're asking, if so awesome why is it going up for sale? Simply put my disability is getting worse & finding the shape of the bike isn't getting to be as comfortable to ride for my disability as it used to be. Shame really as I love riding the bike but I'm finding that riding my Cruiser bike without any pedal assistance is more comfortable, easier on my disability despite harder work to cycle.

So the plan is to save up for a new better ebike for my disability, so far I have put some money aside for a cruiser bike but need to sell (reluctantly) Dutchess to buy the conversion kit to make the E-Cruiser.

 

So if anyone is interested I better give the spiel on the bike herself...

Well the bike itself is originally a Momentum Upstart but I have made some additions when I bought her, more about the additions later. It has the road legal 250W front hub motor, 9Ah battery with a simple controller on the handlebar to turn on/off & select 1 of 3 power ratings to use. The Pedal Assisted sensor is attached to the bottom bracket. Bike itself is like basic bicycle frame with 700c wheels & with hub gears. Total weight of the eBike is under 18kg & is why I bought it. The total mileage I have managed on a full charge so far on a good day (with no wind, not to much luggage, legs not playing up, etc) is 45 miles & still had around 25% charge left. So I feel if used on minimum & lil resistance it is possible to get 60 miles on a full charge but not done it myself. To charge battery from flat takes around 6-8hrs.

The additions & upgrades are as follows, when I bought the bike it had no mudguards & generic tyres. So I added mudguards & Schwalbe Marathon tyres.

I also found the 2 gear SRAM Automatrix was a hindrance to the eBike's performance when cycling long distance, so I replaced it with a Sturmey Archer SRF3 hub kit & tidied up the chain & adjusters with new ones. The new hub is a dream to ride with & now sold on hub gears for my next ebike.

 

 

To get a better upright position I have added an adjustable stem & Dutch style handlebars. For luggage I have fitted an Axiom StreamLiner Road DLX Rear Rack which have a carrying capacity of 50kg with a removable USB chargable rear light with built in reflector. Also added a sidestand as I prefer to have one myself. This photo gives you an idea of what it looks like (panniers not included in sale).

Of course as I use the bike, parts wear out & I have so far replaced the headset bearings & both front & rear brakes (all in silver to look nice), as well as the brake levers which has a built in bell on left lever tho I have fitted a rotary bell on the RHS of handlebars.

So I think that is it but if you're interested then please ask any questions. And here's a most recent picture from May this year of the bike.

Now for the price, with all the additions described & the bike itself as well as what I need to get the next eBike I am looking for £750 £600 ono. Anything less & I am going to be without an ebike if sold for less until I can find the additional money & I rather not do that.

The bike has been great for me (especially for shopping) but I need to move onto one better suited for my disabilities.

Update 31st March 2018

It's been a fair few months now & still trying to sell Dutchess, in the meantime I have been working on getting the next eBike started & at the end of 2017 a brand new Electra Townie was selling from a reputable bike shop online for half the price so went for it. And now working on fitting the hub gear on it this month. 

  

So I am now lowering the price I like to sell Dutchess to £650 ono as this will cover the cost of the eBike conversion kit. And I like to sell it soon as like to get the next eBike up & running before the end of 2018.

So if you are interested then you can comment on this blog where I can read but not publish or you can contact me on Twitter @2_Wheeled_Wolf or just email me on wolfdragonrider@gmail.com. Ideally I like to sell locally (so I can keep seeing her around town) but if anyone like to travel & buy her I am happy to accommodate with a cuppa too. :D

Update 23rd August 2019

Well after over 2yrs of trying to sell Dutchess I can now say it is finally SOLD! So pleased it has been sold as I was going to remove it from sale next month & strip it down for parts to use on other cycles. An elderly couple have bought it & it's going to help the elderly gentleman back to cycling. :D

Breaking the skewed perception of cycling

As many who cycle will know & those who don't cycle will think, they see people who are cycling just Wiggins wannabes clad in Lycra cycling around in packs! They see cycling as a hobby or a sport so need to be clad in Lycra, helmets & shouldn't be on the road but in Velodromes.

Those who know me know I sure aint no Wiggins wannabe, I aint no sporting person to compete (not with my disability) & I definitely do NOT wear Lycra, I sure hell don't have the figure for it & if I did I would look more like the Michelin Man.

But I do cycle! And strange enough I get all the hatred & misconception claptrap mentioned above I get online coz I cycle but never in person & why is this? Well this photo says it all & yes that is what I wear when cycling at any distance!

Photo thanks to Peter Monk

Definitely don't fit the misconceptions & to be honest most do not...

 

  

 

And when I mention shopping by bike I often get the look of horror as if it is some feat that can only be done by car or possibly by bus. Again I blow this out of the window too...

 

 

But the best one is when I get asked if I went out cycling on my days off during the past few months & I go yeah I went to this place or that place & cycled 30 or 40 miles on my 20+kg Cruiser.

 

And its the OMG moment I get as if I am totally mad (like I had today), as if it is some impossible task & in some cases I've had been mentioned that cycling 5 miles is quite far (REALLY??), its something I can do in 30 mins easily & not break a sweat. And as I have said, I aint fit & I sure don't do those 100 mile rides on lightweight racing bikes (roadies) & go as quick as possible. Why bother? I go at a pace I like in clothes I feel comfortable in, I stop when I want or feel I need to & eat & drink whenever I like & do these rides with friends or alone.

I often get remarks on my feat of cycling on these long rides or when shopping which I just smile & shrug, often tho I get comments on my Cruiser as one person said last week as they went past its a 'Radical bike'. :D

To me it's just a bike that's comfortable to ride, easy to ride & very reliable. I think my limit so far is 50 miles (due to disability) but hope I can increase that in the future (depending on disability) but every time I am out cycling I am showing the world a bike is a mode of transport, nothing special needed to ride one & if you get the right bike for your body you can eventually build up the miles & do what you would never think possible. And I have 4 I can use, all different & all bought for a purpose in mind.

Photo thanks to Ashley Parmenter

Hell, when I got back to cycling I found 1 mile was an effort until I got cycling regularly & it is possible to do far more miles than what I am doing now on any bike. :D

But for now I am happy with how I am doing & smashing the skewed perception of cycling.

I asked for your help & with many thanks you did!

Almost a year ago I wrote a blog asking for help "I need your help & hopefully you can" to help me get an eBike to try start cycling to work & with many many thanks a fair few of you did.

And with being so busy with life, work etc (the usual life stuff we all have to put up with). I have been neglectful in thanking everyone & updating as to what is happening so this blog is for you & anyone interested in how it all went & what is happening.

Well with all your help we raised £750 & with help of Cycling Made Easy in Coulsdon who had a customer selling a secondhand one in good condition & with warranty with the shop themselves, it was enough to go buy it.

And as soon as I got it home I used the remainder of the funds (& a bit more) to kit it out with new comfy Brooks saddle, mudguards, etc...

And I did try it out & rode it to work tho found the automatic gears a hindrance on the hills, so upgraded them to a nice Sturmey Archer 3 speed internal hub.

 

And this proved to help the bike & extend the battery life as not fighting the automatic gears. And I have ridden the bike to work a few times now but the route has been worked on in the time I was working on getting an ebike & Highway England made a right hash of it & made the route more awful than ever (A12 survey report of the incomplete & shoddy works between Witham & Marks Tey) which I am trying to get sorted. Anyway despite this I am using the ebike to get to work every now & then, unfortunately not as often as I like.

But I am using it when I would normally get the bus to town when not feeling up to cycling, to carry heavier loads & to do larger amount of shopping & proving an asset to get to work on bank holidays & other seasonal holidays where there is no bus available & trains are a mess.

 

Even used her to do a lovely 20 mile cycle ride on Christmas day to explore areas I haven't been around Colchester.

So the ebike is proving more useful even if the original idea was to use it to cycle to work hasn't gone quite to plan, which I have not given up on doing. And here is my ebike in her glory now after all the changes & now I call her Dutchess. And it's thanks to all of you who helped that made this possible.

But I have plans to still cycle to work & with my disability getting worse, I am now planning ahead by looking at building my own ebike using a similar bike to my Electra Townie which is quite comfortable to ride. So be looking at getting an Electra Cruiser with an additional 11 gear Hub Gear to replace what's supplied on the bike.

And I have already acquired the gear hub in the sales recently so need to get the bike next. Then I will sell Dutchess to cover the costs of the ebike Conversion kit & installation of it as I feel it be unfair to ask for help again.

I'm undetermined where to get the conversion kit from atm but likely go with Cyclotricity as the mechanic I use fits them on other bikes with no issues & would be good to use him for the warranty side of things. Then I will have a bike more suited to my needs & try again to cycle to work. 

It hasn't been as straightforward as I hoped it could be but it's been a learning curve & very productive. And again I like to thank everyone for their support in this goal, it may not gone quite how I wanted it but we knew it was a chance it wouldn't work but it is getting there & learning from it.