Upgrades

Things done recently:

A- Replaced the front hub motor
B- Added right and left side mirrors
C- Added a front faring

Things to come:
A- Charge the tires to be more "slick" style.
B- Figure out a way to raise this rear rack

Battery reconfigued

I abandoned the water bottle concept for the battery holder and decided that a detachable bag on the back and a single charger would be better for what I do.  I went from a 12ah to a 30ah battery, so I am able to charge it once and bike over 80km with out needing to charge it. 

It may seem like overkill for my use but I never have to wonder if the battery will die on me.  After 80km I still had more than 50% available.

Fat Bike rider in Canada

It wasn't more than a week ago, I had shoveled 4 feet of snow out of my drive way twice, in two days. The snow was to much to be biking in as under that snow was a thick layer of ice that could cause any rider to wipe out.  That was a week ago.

This week, it's been so mild, I am seeing grass and the streets are dry.  All the hidden ice is under snow still but the snow banks are reduced and there is plenty of dry road to bike on.  My favorite part was on the weekend, it was +7c and my wife announced she wanted to sun bathe in this heat!  She must be Canadian...

So here comes spring and summer.  Let the every day biking start!

Can't breath

Sometimes the days are -25 and I can't breath.  I picked up this mask, I thought it would be amazing.  Covers my nose but allows me to breath with all the mesh holes.

After trying it out, 5min into biking I couldn't breath!  I was gasping for air and I felt almost like fainting.  My conclusion is, my head was just to darn big for this XL mask.  Now to find someone with a smaller head to give it to.

Now I am just using two buffs.  One for my neck/lower part of my face and the other to cover the top of my head.  It works much better and way easier to adjust.

I also do have another mask that I have used, where I have a snorkel mouth piece attached to the front of the mask, allowing me to breath but that's for -30!

Feb 2017 bike

I've changed a lot of things in the last little while. First, I changed the entire front motor.  I got hit slightly, I didn't get hurt, heck I didn't even fall off the bike but after trying to take off again, my motor gave up, found a nice dent in the motor which now, is cooked!

So I purchased a kit from goldenmotor.ca, front motor already on the rim.  Lot more expensive but it saved me a lot of hassle and I got the motor with in 2 days of ordering it, which means I got back on the bike a whole lot faster than I thought.

At the same time, I pulled off the wind guards, they did nothing!  In fact, I would say they caused more wind to build up behind the guards.  I also added a second mirror, one on the right and one on the left.  Right side is just a nice to have and pushed up my mudguard way up.

So this is the bike as of today.  I hope to stop pouring money into this soon.  As I really like this configuration and now I just need to keep myself going.

Studded

The ice has been bad this year and I decided to finally install my studded tires.  I have to admit that I put them on, facing the wrong direction the first time... Felt like an idiot.  Anyways, they are on the right way.  Dillinger 4s and damn, I am gripping onto ice as if I was on dry pavement.  
This doesn't help with slushy snow.

The hum off the tires, is a very gripping sound when on pavement.  Almost like it's sticking rubber and peeling.

I keep these around 15psi instead of my normal 30psi, giving it a bit of a bloat at the bottom.

Lights!

I can't tell you how many USB rechargeable front lights I have gone through in the last 2 years.  Either they

•  Fell off and I didn't notice;
• I misplaced it;
• Batteries won't charge;
• Bulb burned out;
• Broke the USB port, etc..

But this one is 1000 lumin and I decided to try something a little different.  I took handle bar extensions and reversed it and placed it in the middle.  Now my light is over my front bag, easy to see/control and isn't in the way.  Why didn't I think of this sooner!

So I decided I would try some wind guards, to help me deflect some of the wind off my hands and not to tempt me to go to pogies.  I have a pair of pogies and I really can't stand them, I can't see my handle bards, grips, gears or breaks.  

I picked these up online for about $10, which is much cheaper than $75 from a motor bike store.  I like the idea but it really makes the bicycle look more like a motor bike, than I want it to.

XT60 Connectors

 One thing I have learned from e-biking all year round, is that not all connectors are made equally and many people want to have their own type of connectors.  When ever I get a replacement part, one of things I do is cut off the proprietary connector and replace it with XT60 connectors.  Makes life easier and these little suckers also stop shorts from being generated.

I was a fan of Anderson connectors but they aren't that easy to find.  Most hobby shops carry these and ordering them online is even cheaper.

The cable shown on the left is, a male XT60 connector with shrink tube around it, with a extra layer of black gorilla tape for extra weather protection.  Winter is murder if you don't take these per cautions.