A few days ago, I rode my bike to the store to pick up some ice and other items for Ezra's birthday party. It was a relatively quick trip and I got there and back without incident.
The important thing was that I rode my electric bike there, which was the first time that I'd ridden an electric bike in literally months. It was a long process that cost way too much time and money.
Everything started last September. I'd had my ebike for about a year and realized 2 things:
1. I really like riding an ebike. It made getting around town way better and it was nice getting to my meetings and not being all sweaty.
2. I really did not like the ebike I had. I'd purchased a folding ebike so that it wouldn't take up as much space in the garage. I also didn't want to break the bank of an ebike before knowing how much I was going to use it. However, riding this bike was not a ton of fun. The quality could have been a lot better and it just wasn't as much of a fun ride as my other bike. Also, while being folding did help with space, it didn't help enough to really make a huge difference in the inconvenience of having that many bikes in the garage.
So, here was the plan:
- Sell the old ebike
- Buy a bike conversion kit to turn my current bike into a ebike
Part one was easy. I sold the old ebike in September and then started research on which conversion kit to buy not too much later.
Here's where the problems started.
I picked an ebike conversion kit wit WAY too long of a delivery time. I finally decided on a brand in December. The delivery date said March, which wasn't going to be a problem since I wasn't going to be riding much during the winter anyway. What I couldn't have counted on was the backlog that meant that my bike didn't actually get delivered until April.
My conversion kit was actually just a front wheel hub with a motor in it. The reason I picked this kit was because of the ease of installation. I had to connect a few wires, strap them down, swap the front tire on my current bike, and I'd be good to go! After I finally got my kit, I spent some time installing things and had everything up and running. Unfortunately, I did the installation on a Monday and realized that I was running a little late for soccer practice. So, I put the bike away and drove the practice.
The big mistake was that instead of keeping the battery with the bike, I took out the battery and accidentally left it on the hatch of our car as I got the soccer stuff ready. I forgot to take the battery off the car and drove to practice. At some point, the battery fell off the car but I didn't realize it until the next evening, AFTER the street sweepers ran through the neighborhood.
Since the kit was from a specific company, the battery was a proprietary technology and a random battery wouldn't fit. I'd have to buy a replacement directly from the company and they weren't going to be delivering until September at the earliest. So, instead, I spent the next few months trying to purchase the parts I needed online to see if I could still use the motor. After a few returns for bad parts, blowing out more than one front fork because of the torque provided, and eventually having to buy a garage sale bike, I got everything up and running and can now run to the store.
All said and done, I'm back to having 2 bikes. The one I originally wanted converted needs its front fork fixed (the front tire won't stay attached, which is a problem...) so it's hanging out in the shed for now. The Frankenstein ebike I have now is a little big but it gets the job done. I've also learned a TON about how to repair ebikes, so I guess there's that. It was a frustrating process that took up way too much time and money but we're here and I'm happy. There may be some sort of lesson in the midst of all this but frankly, I don't think I want to learn it quite yet. For now, I'm just going to enjoy riding. =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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