This section of our blog focus's on all things bike tech related. When we say tech, we mean circuitry, ie. anything for a bike with circuitry, such as lights, electric bike kits, gps, computer systems, etc. Many of the products that we offer at our specialty shop, BikeTechShop.com are covered here.
This Bike Tech Blog section of our blog is driven by your photo submissions. We are big fans of collection photos of the products that we love in use. Please send us anything from your favorite light setup to the installation of an electric motor kit. Submit your bike tech related photos here and we'll let you know when we publish them.
It’s been dry for the last month in Flagstaff. But today we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. So it is finally appropriate to publish a few images of riding in the snow in Flagstaff. And I get to test out my new winter bike commuting gear, a pair of Garmont Winter Boots that I got for Christmas and some old ski goggles that I think will do well in the flying snow.
A view of the BionX controller on the Urbana Current (Bar Mitts Frozen from being parked outside)
The Slush
When my friends Ben and Jaimie were out last Thanksgiving, I was able to con them into going on a bike ride. Ben and Jaimie are not cycling nerds dying to go on a bike ride whenever possible. They do like cycling in Chicago and do some bike commuting. Jaimie even reviewed a Vaude Pannier for us recently over at CommuteByBike.com. But that said, they typically don’t consider cycling as something on the top of their recreational activities.
A visit with Ben and Jaimie more typically involves things like sitting around talking, drinking coffee, playing Settlers of Catan and other intellectually but not necessarily physically stimulating activities. As a cycling nerd, I’m always looking for a way to con my family and friends into going on bike rides without to seriously imposing on their style. With a bunch of electric bikes hanging around the shop for the JOYBAG project I had the perfect bait for suggesting we go for a bike ride.
A2B Metro and Urbana Current Electric Bikes on a Neighborhood Spin
I needed to mount a front bike light to the Urbana Current that I am currently testing for the JOYBAG project. The Bionx kit has a light built into the battery so I was all set there. The bracket for this front light was not designed to lock down on the narrow gauge handlebars. Surprisingly though, I was able to fit it around the headtube spacers which turns out to be a very convenient place to mount the light.
The light pictured here is an older model Cygolite which is a predecessor to the Expillion Series which we happen to have on sale over at BikeTechShop.com thru Dec. 13th!
I wasn’t really using this basket to carry laundry. But zip tying on the back of the A2B Metro’s bike rack was a convenient place to get it home to where it was needed. I think there is an interesting collision of junk, tetchiness and consumer products in this photo bending in tones of grey.
With the launch of BikeTechShop.com, we are becoming quite familiar with electric bike and electric assist kits. Another direction in electric that we’ve always been interested especially given our roots with BikeTrailerShop.comhas been electric powered bike trailers. The idea of having an electric push from a bike trailer has intrigued us from multiple perspectives.
We’re incredibly excited to be announcing the launch of our fourth specialty cycling accessory shop, BikeTechShop.com! BikeTechShop.com is a shop that will be dedicated to all things with circuitry that go on a bike. At the top of the list are bike lights, electric bikes and GPS systems. But a big part of what inspires us is how many cool things we will be able to get to know, use and bring to your our customers.
We launched the site today because of Daylight Savings Time going into effect. If you are commuting tomorrow, you’ll have an hour less of light on the way home. We want to keep you safe and cycling through the short days of the year and are featuring bike lights in the Grand Opening of Bike Tech Shop. To get things started right, we put all of our new bike lights on sale at 10% off thru Nov.22nd!
We’ve been enjoying all of the uproar over GM’s recent Reality Sucks ad campaign, directing college loosers to become winners by further signing their lives away to paying off a car loan.
Many cycling bloggers and even Giant bicycles have glommed onto this softball that GM lobbed over the plate and GM’s own Facebook Page for their college promotion has become a major hatefest against GM.
We’d like to join in and capitalize on the ridicule by promoting our end of year closeouts on our 2011 electric bikes that we still have in stock. We still have 4 fast and efficient electric bikes available to get you around town just as quickly as you might in a new (or even used GM car or truck) at a fraction of the operating and purchasing costs.
We are offering 20% off on the four following bikes:
Ohm Urban XU 700 – 18.5″ silver frame – was $3299 now only $2639
Hebb ElectroGlide 500 – 17″ silver frame – was $2199 now only $1759
A2B Velociti – white frame – was $2199 now only $1759
A2B Velociti – red frame – was $2199 now only $1759
Please Note: this offer is for in store purchases only on the 4 select models – while supplies last.
We’ve just kicked of an Extrawheel Trailer sale (thru Oct. 10th), so I’ll be posting up a few Extrawheel related posts that have been building up in the queue. During the sale period, the Extrawheel Voyager is $225 and the Extrawheel Advert is $269.
Our reader Paul sent in this photo of the classic style Extrawheel hooked up to his Bacchetta recumbent with a Bionx electric bike kit. The original style Extrawheel had a large fender wrapping over the wheel with nets for waterproof drysaks. A few years ago they switched to the new simpler and tougher setup which is basically a rack that fits around the wheels allowing for any size of pannier including Extrawheel’s enormous Expert or Dry panniers. Paul utilized his Extrawheel Classic similarly to the new style Extrawheel Voyager by mounting his panniers to it rather than using the cargo nets..
Here's my new recumbent bike with an engine Bacchetta BionX, battery and trailer Extrawheeel, ready to leave. The engine is very easy to start and place the feet on the pedals.
A happy customer, Jodi Griffith, ready to ride with her new Ohm XS 750 Electric Bike poised in front of our new bike rack. Jodi went for the Ohm XS 750 as it does well both on the road and for light trail and dirt road use. She plans on riding it to to trailheads that are within 10 miles or so and use it for many, many errands and quick lunch trips.
An update from Jodi on her experiances so far:
Enjoying the Ohm as much as possible—tho my job has turned especially manic for a while, so I haven’t used the bike for much recreational riding.
I did ride it from Fort Valley Road up to the Brookbank trailhead last weekend, locked it up and went for a hike. Sold my car the day before, so was happy this scheme with an ebike will help me get to trailheads and still have some energy left for hiking. The generative braking coming downhill from Brookbank was really cool—just like putting a car in low gear and letting the engine slow it down. That ride drew down the battery to slightly less than half, but it regained some charge on the downhill.
Thursday I rode the Ohm from the Museum of Northern Arizona to the Bashas Fort Valley shopping center to get lunch. Wow that was quick and convenient. The increased speed and weight tho gave me reason to pause and really check the road ahead, especially intersections, to make sure I won’t smack into trouble. On Saturday I rode from MNA again down to Jotini’s for lunch. The battery level is about at one third of a full charge now. I could easily go for another lunch ride before charging the battery for the first time. Pretty amazing.
