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

Meet my lil Foldie...

As I have already done a blog about my Roadrunner & how it evolved from an idea to reality (Project: Roadrunner, the evolution of a personal bike). I thought I should introduce my other bikes, so here is 'lil Foldie' & her story...

Back in November 2014 I had posted a photo of me cycling to Active Essex on twitter as they had requested followers to do so with Essex County Council to promote cycling & I do like posting pics to help promote cycling.

So I was surprised to get this tweet as I didn't realise it was actually a competition & no clue on the prize...

So obviously I was gobsmacked to read that & it turned out the prize was a new bike of my choice. So I decided to go for a folding bike as I haven't got one & could be useful when travelling across the country by train, bus & underground. So went for a Bickerton as it was within their prize budget.

 

Unfortunately  Active Essex decided to buy the bike from Halfords & things didn't go well. It took weeks to get Halfords to get the bike in after it was ordered & told it'll be a few days & it wasn't until January 2015 before I was told it was ready to collect from Active Essex which they wanted a photo of me collecting it. So I popped over on my lunch break to get a photo taken as I collect it & that's when I first saw the bike & knew something wasn't right.

Unfortunately Active Essex team weren't experienced in buying cycles & didn't notice the bike was damaged & missing the rack, wheel reflectors & bell, something Halfords meant to make sure was there & I spent months trying to get Halfords to get the missing parts & thus soured the experience of winning the wonderful prize which I wasn't able to use until it was complete.

 

So after months I finally got the missing parts & fitted it all myself as I will never let Halfords touch it or any other bike of mine ever, only to find the rack was damaged but usable & looked like it was the rack to this bike in the first place. So I put my panniers on the rack & found a problem, rack was too low & panniers were catching on the gears as well as my heels & this was the smaller pair of panniers I've got.

 

Thankfully I knew how to sort this as I have got a Axiom Streamliner Disc rack on other bikes which would do the job so started making the first of a few changes to make the bike better for me & easier to use my panniers on this bike by raising the panniers from the ground & further back from the pedals like this rack had done for Roadrunner when I had fitted one.

But even after sorting out the bike, it still didn't cycle right with the new build being a mess thanks to Halfords & after trying it out for a run to Brightlingsea in February & getting it on & off the bus proved it's worth it was put away in the corner. I did pull it out now & then to try get the bike to work right but in the end it didn't get used for another year as didn't need to & had other working bikes which were working OK.

So mid 2016 I needed to get to Hampshire & lil Foldie was now needed, so it was pulled out from its corner, dusted down & I got on with trying to get the bike to work correctly. And despite the bike still refusing to go into 7th gear, the bike was ready to travel with me on the train & underground.

And lil Foldie did OK, still didn't feel right but better than before & starting to wonder if I just can't get on with it coz it's been messed up by Halfords... Also found wheeling the bike across platforms & using the escalators on the underground with full panniers to be really difficult with seat post down as it is used to hold bike upright. So I had a look around to find a way around this & I discovered folding centre stand which I bought & fitted & also a new leather saddle for lil Foldie too.

 

It however did take a few months to find the right centre stand that folds & an affordable Brooks type leather saddle but it was worth the search, eventually I got the chance to take lil Foldie out for another trip to Hampshire via train & the underground at the beginning of 2017 with the new stand & saddle.

And this time it was a joy to ride lil Foldie, the centre stand & saddle was definitely something this lil bike needed & it was a joy to ride for the first time in 2yrs with the additions & gears that now finally work properly. The mess Halfords had done was slowly being eradicated & since then I have now added new brake levers onto the bike with built in bell so to declutter the handlebars & make easier to fold without the bell getting in the way.

So for now lil Foldie is how I like the bike atm, there are a few tweaks I still like to do but that's more coz of my preferences than issues with the bike. So next on the list it to get twist grip gear selector replaced with a rapidfire gear selector as I hate twist grip shifters & at the same time get some better grips which will be required when shifter is replaced.

So what started as a nightmare bike that was built badly by Halfords, lil Foldie has now grown into a lovely folding bike with the additions & fixing what was done by Halfords & no doubt will improve with more tweaks & improvements. And I have wondered why Bickerton haven't put racks & stands on their bikes like I have as it has made the bike even better.

Not always riding...

At the beginning of the month my 18 month old Brooks Cambium saddle failed, the saddle hadn't moved in the seat post & was all tight when I went to remove it & it had not been changed in position in 18 months as it was perfectly set up. Thus it is clear to me it had failed after 18 months of use & as it has a 10yr guarantee I thought I better get it replaced under the old sales of goods Act & Distance Selling regulations as they were in operation when I bought the saddle.

Now I aint gonna go into a rant or point fingers & do name calling, I am just going to show the correspondences as screenshots between me & the shop & explain the actions taken.

I contacted Brooks & they requested I go through the shop I bought it from so I did.

And thus started the emails between me & the shop...

Here the shop agrees to replace the saddle...

So after I had emailed & was getting saddle ready, I decided I would return the saddle for a full refund as they weren't going to honour any future warranty. This way I could buy direct from Brooks & said so in a letter that went in box when I returned the saddle.

So after a week from posting the saddle at my expense, I get this email & was not what I was expected.

This annoyed me & responded.

The response wasn't any better than the one before...

Now I am being messed about, no refund, no replacement saddle & suggesting returning the broken saddle after I just paid to send it to them to try do it all over again after Brooks told me to do it through the shop I bought it from. As for the excuse of old pay system, it was PayPal & is a system they still use. So I made it clear I was not happy & I wanted the replacement saddle or refund, no other option.

Then I get accused of abusing the staff as I wasn't accepting their excuses or offer & after a few more emails, left it with me having nothing...

So this is where it was left with the shop, I had tweeted my disgust in Brooks warranty not worth a thing after being messed around & wasted my money & time on this & not ever going to buy them again after this & a previous disappointment of a leather saddle I bought. But Brooks got hold of me in response & we chatted via email & today I got my replacement saddle directly from Brooks. We are still discussing why it happened & see if it is an issue of the seat post or the saddle, once they get to look at the saddle from the shop. I have replaced the seat post as a precaution & Brooks has photos of the old seat post to see if it is that being the issue.

So thank-you Brooks in sorting out something that really was not needed to be dealt like this in this way for a simple warranty. Roadrunner is now back on the road & I'm gonna be taking her out tomorrow.

And as for the shop, if you're wondering who this shop was. Well before I name them I aint saying don't use them yourselves & just leave it to you to decide if you want to or not & no doubt many of you have used them for years without issues tho not sure if any of them have used the warranty of their goods with the shop. But after my experience I will never use Always Riding again!