Ride Your Bike More : The Cycle 9 Blog

iPhone ebike control

2010-01-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

MIT has come up with an interesting take on e-bikes, the Copenhagen wheel. http://ping.fm/gPqzr

Benefits:
- It's a self-contained electric wheel that replaces your regular bike wheel
- ipod/iphone control of the motor
- no externally rechargeable battery (= lightweight)
- has regen braking, giving a bit of a boost upon taking off from a stop

Drawbacks:
- Has no externally rechargeable battery, so only helps a bit upon acceleration. Forget help on hills.
- probably expensive (though price unknown)
- will add weight to the bike

The iPhone/iPod control is neat. I had an idea of an iPod/iPhone control for any regular ebike about a year ago (via Bluetooth). Like a CycleAnalyst (http://ping.fm/KTXEx) on steroids. Just think about it... the iPod/iPhone have accelerometers in them. You could measure acceleration, power input vs output, efficiency, and a whole lot more. The iPhone also has a GPS. This would be the ultimate e-bike cycle computer. I'd like to implement this, but it will be a somewhat expensive project. Crowd funding, anyone? If you like this idea, drop me a line.

Now, back to the Copenhagen wheel... aside from the nifty iPod interface, I'm not clear on what the point is. MIT seems to have a great PR/Marketing machine for "inventions" like this, but would I use one? While I can't say for sure until I get my hands on one, the preliminaries don't sound like something of use to me.

I use my electric assist mainly for the hills, and to maintain a higher overall speed while commuting. I have no problem with acceleration after stops on my own leg power. So this wheel wouldn't seem to gain much of anything for the way I ride.

I'm curious what you think. See you in the comments or on Twitter/Facebook/etc.

2010-01-03T14:39:00.001-08:00

iPod controlled ebike wheel... regen only .. what do you think? http://tinyurl.com/y9z8t3m

2009-12-18T05:20:00.001-08:00

Special on FreeRad kits TODAY. http://ping.fm/wcoxf

2009-12-08T11:39:00.001-08:00

12 Days of Christmas Starts Dec 9-Daily specials offered http://ping.fm/pB0Ko

2009-11-03T06:04:00.001-08:00

Tuesday tweet. 50% off beautiful bicycle art batiks today only! http://www.cycle9.com/c9store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=30&zenid=5679af89014fd6baa8acd9108ae9bdf0 Code TWEETME

2009-11-03T05:45:00.001-08:00

Tuesday tweet. 50% off beautiful bicycle art batiks today only! http://www.cycle9.com/c9store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=30&zenid=5679af89014fd6baa8acd9108ae9bdf0

2009-10-21T05:19:00.001-07:00

It was a beautiful morning today out on the bike taking my daughter to catch the k-garten bus!

Biking Stimulates the Soul

2009-10-20T18:38:00.001-07:00

Today I had to go into the doctor's office for a diagnostic visit. No food, no drink, and all that. The appointment was mid-morning, located on the other side of town from my home. The car was really, really tempting - it is a cold and cloudy day in Chapel Hill. Last night I stayed up way too late doing some research. And I've caught some kind of cold from my kids. Overall, this combination doesn't exactly lead to an optimistic outlook on life. I don't know about you, but with me, when I don't get enough sleep, everything seems more dramatic, and this morning I was feeling dramatic about things. The alarm rang, and I just lay there wishing I could go back to sleep. But, nope, the world called, and I had to drag my rear end out of bed, get showered, and get on my way.

All through getting ready, I debated about whether to take the car. The problem with taking the car is that I have no parking permit at work. One of those would cost me over $1,000 per year (seriously!). So I would have had to drive across town to the doctor and back, then park in a remote, expensive hourly parking lot far from my office.

I intentionally decided not to buy the parking permit, to force myself to ride the bike more. It is just too easy to get in the car some mornings if everything is so convenient. On mornings like today, I sometimes wonder about that decision.

But anyway, I decided the hassles of driving would have equaled the hassles of hopping on the bike when it was all added up, so I took the bike - my electric assist "Big Dummy" (who comes up with those names?).

The first 5 minutes or so on the bike I continued to be in a bit of a sour mood, and feeling a bit chilly. But then the blood started flowing. Pedaling was therapy. As I pedaled on I forgot about my woes, and started enjoying the sights and smells of the morning. It helped a lot to have my eZee electric assist this morning - that made all the difference, because I was able to fly across town in time to make my appointment. And I wasn't in the mood for major exertion today. I did pedal, I always do, because I like to. But just the light pedaling was enough to warm up my body and my mood.

I got to the doctors office, and am sitting here writing this in the waiting room. I'm in a far better mood now, and very glad I biked. I wouldn't have been so cheery if I'd driven. Driving almost never lifts my mood. It makes me wonder about the whole concept of convenience. Does comfort and convenience equal happiness? I think there's a fine line. Certainly some comfort and convenience is good. But for me personally, if I have too much comfort and convenience in my life, it just ends up leading to a sort of numbness. Maybe that's what Roger Waters was writing about in the song "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. I thrive on challenges - at least small ones - and I think many people do.

This reminds me of a Cycle 9 customer named Rick. He's a really fun guy. He's a professor and doctor whose hobbies are sailing, flying and building airplanes, and now, electric bikes. Rick got interested in e-bikes back when Cycle 9 was operating out of a small rented warehouse space with dirt floors. We built him up a customized e-bike with a hub motor that can do some incredible speeds (I'm not going to mention them here, because I don't want to get Rick in trouble with the local authorities). He really needs those speeds for his situation. He lives in a place with no good bike route to work. Around his neighborhood the biking is good. And around his university the biking is reasonable. But there's a section in between where the only connector road is an almost 1-mile stretch of very busy highway, with a 45mph speed limit (meaning cars travel 55mph). Some bike advocates would say - well, just ride like a vehicle and occupy that lane. I'd say to them that one would be crazy to do that. Rick does it this way. At the one traffic light before this stretch of bad road, he waits for all the traffic to go through. Then he guns the throttle and flies down the road as fast as he can, to get past "the gauntlet" before the light cycles and lets the next group of cars through. It works, most of the time (I saw him alive and well last week!).

Rick clearly likes challenges. It might be the easier thing for him to drive everyday given the location of his home and work. But he chooses to bike. So do many other folks I know, an ever increasing number. I'm glad that I'm not the only one these days out there riding. And I'm glad for days like this that riding the bike puts me in a much better mood.

And by the way, the doctor's test was fine.

Interbike wrap-up

2009-10-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

The last week of September I had the pleasure to attend the yearly industry show for bike people. It's held, in all places, in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm not sure why an industry that sells products that can be used for sustainable living has its trade show in the most unsustainable city in the US. But then again, a lot of the bike industry is not actually about sustainability. Las Vegas is one of those cities that exemplifies America's extremes in so many ways. Founded at the site of a spring, on the dry dusty road from all parts East to California, it became a true Oasis in the desert and outpost for weary travelers looking for liquor, women, and an overall good time. It grew from there into a sprawling city, dependent on ever diminishing water supplies from the Colorado river and the underground water stores of the southern half of Nevada, in a location with so little rainfall that cactus hardly grow there. Of course, tourists can spend a pleasant vacation on the lavish Strip, enjoying shows, nightlife, shopping, etc., all without hardly even leaving the overly air conditioned confines of the massive and convoluted casinos and hotels. It is actually difficult to find your way outside at times (and for me it was refreshing to finally break out into the heat and light of the street). They never have any idea of how precarious the city is, perched on the edge of the environment like that.

The first couple days of the show are the "outdoor demo". They bus you out to Bootleg Canyon, which is a mountain biking destination, where the bike vendors bring bikes for you to try out. I tried some mountain bikes from one of our suppliers, Marin Bikes. We carry primarily their city line, but they're well known for mountain bikes.

I checked out a bike and rode it around the trail with about a hundred other bikers. The trail had some challenging whoop-de-whoops that I've gotten too wimpy to ride. (I find that as I get older and have more responsibilities, my level of comfort with physical risk has gone down somewhat. ) But the ride was fun and it was good to try out a few different bikes that I probably would never own (full carbon mountain bike anyone?), and try samples of energy bites, bars, and drinks. The energy bites are good, but I wonder about classifying them as food? One particular free drink sample was neon orange colored and had a list of ingredients about 40 long, including amino acids, vitamins, various protein supplements, energy boosters, and not sure what else. Talk about highly engineered! It tasted ok, but I couldn't bring myself to drink too much of it - call me old fashioned, but I like to be able to identify what I put in my body.

In addition to the mountain bikes, I also rode some new Xtracycle Radishes (completely loaded down with watermelons for the true cargo biking experience), a smattering of electric-assist bikes from iZip and some newer companies, touring bikes by Masi (one of our new lines), some commuting bikes by Civia, an electric-assisted Day 6 bicycle, and (my favorite) a prototype Auto-shift from Nuvinci. Nuvinci makes an internal rear shifting hub that uses roller balls and spline plates instead of gears, giving you a continuous range of shifting. This is the hub Morgan used on the Firefly big dummy. Their new auto-shift prototype uses a pedal sensor that detects how much torque you are applying and changes the "gears" for you (using an electronic interface) to try to keep your pedal cadence the same - just like automatic transmission in a car! It worked better than I expected and you never had to think about shifting, which was great. I'm not an early adopter of new things, tending to be somewhat skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised by this bike and liked it much more than I thought I would. Currently, the product is available on a limited basis, as it's still a beta product, but I think there is some potential there for the future.

I also was quite impressed with the Civia Hyland commuter bike. This bike is designed with commuters in mind, with full coverage fenders, comfortable riding, internal gearing, hidden cable routing, rack, etc. The bike rode really well and I was quite impressed with it's nimbleness and how easy it was to climb up the hills. It's price tag is quite high, but for serious commuters, I think worth it. The line is also coming out with some scaled back versions this spring, which we may decide to pick up.

After the dusty outdoor demo, the show moves inside to the conference center. My hotel was about a mile from the conference center, but I brought a Downtube folding bike to get around. Most of the streets in Las Vegas are wide boulevards and many of them have a reasonably wide outside lane and even a bike lane, which makes getting around by bike quite reasonable if you are comfortable with traffic. The first day of the outdoor demo, the show-related bike lock up was not open, so I wandered around the outside of the building until I found employee entrance, with about 15 bike racks set up to the side of the parking garage. The racks were jam packed with assorted bikes, but mostly BMX bikes and Huffys. Apparently, biking is quite a popular mode of transportation among the working class of Las Vegas. I saw a number of people riding around wearing the white and black uniforms of food service workers.

The indoor show is just aisles and aisles of vendor booths, large and small, some fancy and some simple. There are a lot of booths that I could bypass, catering to high end road and mountain bikes, components, etc - recreation and racing oriented bikes. But there is a growing number of vendors looking for the commuter, utilitarian, electric, and city bikes. All of the major bike vendors have their city bike lines, and this year we are seeing a lot more classic and european styling in these designs.

Our own Marin bikes have introduced a very nicely styled and inexpensive city bike in their Bridgeway line. Starting at under $500, these bikes are your basic commuters, now with good looks!

There is also growing interest in actual European designed bikes, and I saw some interesting offerings in that area. We are considering picking up some dutch bikes by Batavus. This is one of the oldest bike companies in the world and has been offering solid, low maintenance, stylish bikes that c

an be ridden in dresses and suits or jeans and t-shirts all without worry. No fancy biking clothes or equipment needed. Just get on and ride, and do it in style. They are introducing some very inexpensive BUB bikes that can be stylized to your own taste, but still have the solid and stylish design of a dutch made bike. These looked pretty interesting, with 2 frame types.

I also saw some very classic bikes offered by Pashley of England. The Sonnet Bliss was on display at the booth and simply looked fabulous with clean lines, white with red accents. These bikes are still hand made in England and sell for just over $1,000 - hard to believe.

Outside of the european world, the fixed gear bikes continue to gain ground. Our new line of bikes by Masi, has a number of fixed gear options and styling from low key to flashy. Look for these in the store soon.

One of the fun things I did while at the show was attend the Urban Bike Fashion Show, sponsored by Momentum Magazine and Giant bikes. Momentum Magazine is a pretty cool new publication out of Vancouver, BC, that is dedicated to people who use their bikes - definately worth checking out. The fashion show had a circular runway laid out, and the riders would ride around, stopping the bikes 3 times to get off and showcase their outfits and the bikes. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty fun and there were lots of interesting bikes (and they served free beer, so how can you go wrong!). I'm sure there were interesting clothes as well, but I didn't look at those as closely! The Nutcase helmets we carry were prominently showcased in the show, given their unique and interesting designs. The bikes ranged from classic to modern and even included a Madsen bike and an electric-assist bike. It was nice to see biking at a level beyond just the performance/recreation market and also beyond just the utilitarian market. Biking as a real lifestyle choice.

The fashion show was about the last thing I did before heading back to North Carolina. It was a fun time and I saw some interesting bikes and things. Look for some of these things to be showing up in the shop soon.

-Elise

Helmet laws are not the answer

2009-09-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

It is campaign season again, and there are a number of candidates running for the Board of Aldermen in our sleepy little town of Carrboro, NC (right next to Chapel Hill, NC).

Just a few days ago, Sierra Club held a candidates forum. One question they asked the candidates was how they might improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. While we found all of the responses to be lacking (perhaps in part due to the reporting in the newspaper), one particularly stood out. Randee Haven-O'Donnel is claimed to have said we should pass an adult helmet law, mandating that we all wear helmets.

NO WE SHOULD NOT PASS A MANDATORY HELMET LAW! I rarely if ever yell in this blog, but this one warrants a big yell.

Many places have tried mandatory helmet laws, and it has been a miserable failure wherever and whenever tried. Australia is the biggest case in point. Seven years after the mandatory helmet law was passed, the cycling population dropped by 22%. At the same time, the total number of bicycle injuries increased.

Some may be scratching their heads. How could that be? Why didn't this law instantly make people safer?

Because one-size-fits all laws like this usually have unintended consequences. One consequence is discouraging people from riding at all. And study after study has shown that cyclists have safety in numbers. The numbers go down because of helmet laws, and safety goes down. There may also be a factor of risk compensation - people riding faster and more aggressively when wearing a helmet. But the reasons really do not matter. Because the facts are the facts - and those facts aren't unique to Australia.

The same experiment was born out in New Zealand, which also passed a mandatory helmet law, and also saw a reduction in cycling by 51%, and saw only a 51% drop in fatal accidents. In other words, less people are biking, and less accidents are occurring, by the same amount. The helmet law is making people no safer, while it is preventing many people from biking.

We're not anti-helmet, we're anti-helmet law. In fact, all the owners and employees of Cycle 9 regularly wear their helmets. We help many of our customers get fitted out with a helmet.

But helmet laws just don't work. And worse, they promote a nanny-state mentality that every risk we might take must be proscribed by legal decree. We believe bikes are about freedom, not laws. Maybe that's why less people cycle when helmet laws are passed - the association of riding a bike with a sense of freedom becomes diminished.

Biking should be a free activity. An adult should be able to choose how she regards his or her own risks and rewards from either wearing or not wearing a helmet. This would be true even if helmet laws did work. But it is especially true since mandatory helmet laws don't work.

I hope that Ms Haven-O'Donnel and the other Aldermen/women don't go down that route. It may benefit certain helmet manufacturers, but it won't benefit anyone else.

Cory and his Surly 1X1

2009-08-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief profile of a recent, happy customer who took delivery of a custom-assembled bike by Cycle 9. One reason for profiling Cory is to get the word out that Cycle 9 is not just an "electric bike" store. Some people have come to see us that way. It really hit home recently, when one of our friends went out and purchased a new commuting bike, without even having a look at what we had to offer in our store. Seeing that we have a full inventory of non-electric commuting bikes by Marin, Breezer, Surly, and Downtube, I was a bit offended. But since I talk about electric bikes and electric conversion kits so often, it is understandable that some people think Cycle 9 = electric. We are actually about getting people to ride their bikes more, whether electrified or not. Bikes are the ultimate local transportation solution, and we're here to help people realize that.

Cory with his brand new Surly 1X1, with Nuvinci continuous variable hub (not an electric bike).

Cory wanted a better way to commute that was virtually maintenance-free, like a singlespeed would be. However, his commute involves traversing hills with over 20% grades, often carrying a loaded backpack. He didn't feel that this would be practical on an every day basis with a singlespeed bike. With Cory's input, we came up with a great solution for him. We started with Surly's great singlespeed platform, the 1x1. We added to it an internally geared, continuously variable hub by Nuvinci, with a custom wheel built by Cycle 9. On top of that there are nice touches like the Surly Mr Whirly crankset and Soma Noah's arc handlebars, and Cory has a bike that is rock solid, will require very minimal maintenance, and gives him an extensive gear range for hill climbing. This is a bike that will still be running in 20 years. It was not inexpensive, but it will far outlast many of the less expensive bikes, being a much better bargain in the long run.

This is the kind of solution we're here to help people with.

To Maine on the train

2009-08-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Jim Kunstler is famous, or perhaps infamous is a better word, in the "peak oil" community for his prophecies of gloom and doom to be set upon the USA due to our profligacy and oil dependency.

Kuntstler is a controversial figure, in part because he constantly predicts doom to beset us, and in part because of his rather loudmouth style that includes lots of swear words to make his point. While some of what Kunstler says may hit some underlying truths about whether our lifestyles are sustainable (or not), his message is weakened by a few problems. First, the constant prophecies of doom don't come true. And second, he is a hypocrite.

In his most recent blog post, titled "The First Die-Off" he talks about driving his car back from a vacation on Cape Cod, and being stuck in traffic. He claims there is "no train service" and uses that as his excuse for having driven the car.

Please.

I just came back from a trip to Maine on the train, with 3 small kids in tow. We stayed on the beach in a town not all that far north of Cape Cod (south of Portland, Maine). The train was comfortable, relatively convenient, and relatively cost effective. We rented a bike once we were there, and used it for most of our errands.

Kid on the beach in Maine

It annoys me to no end to have someone like Kunstler constantly harping on "the end of the world as we know it," and then in the very same essay, to be so blatantly participating in the very activities he laments as leading us to The End.

In fact, from the comments section by user "signalfire" after his blog post:

Isn't the problem that EVERYone thinks THEY are the ones who are 'special'?? THEY deserve a holiday at the beach. THEY deserve cheap energy. THEY deserve big houses. THEY deserve their Escalades, Hummers and Jet Skiis..

This hits the nail on the head. Why does Kunstler preach that we're going to have a massive die-off on the one hand, and yet so blithely participate in the very same activities, such as driving to and from the beach? People pay attention to him. If he had taken the bus, or ridden his bike, or taken the train, then his diatribes might not have seemed quite so silly.

I noticed something in the small town of Biddeford Pool that we stayed in. It was an excellent place for getting around by bike or foot - except that there was so much tourist-related automobile traffic, that it wasn't that great. One of my friends there, who likes to bike, remarked that it would be great if there were less traffic. The very same person was the one out driving the car nearly every day to run this errand or that, such as to pick up morning newspapers.

Biddeford Pool, ME

The main difference between my friend and Kunstler is that one might expect Kunstler to know better, given that talking about Peak Oil is the main focus of his life. His efforts to educate people on the topic are greatly diluted by such obvious hypocrisy.

I don't claim to be perfect - I consume some oil, too. But I make efforts to minimize it, and set an example as to how life can be enjoyed with a minimum of oil. Aside from taking the train as frequently as possible for trips - which I've come to really enjoy - I like to show that bikes can be used for tasks that people often think of as requiring a car. The most recent example is the move of several heavy server systems from my Lab from an old location in an out of date server room to a much more modern facility. The computers are 8-core Apple Xserves, each weighing about 40 lbs. I readily carried two of them together, totaling about 80 lbs, on my bike, and the errand was far quicker than it would have been by car, because parking on campus is a nightmare. With the bike, I rode right up to the door at both the starting point and the destination. Later, when we have to move 40 of them, I'll enlist the Yuba Mundo, a bike that can carry up to 400lbs or so of cargo. By moving 8 of them at a time, with each trip taking only 5 minutes, we can have the moving part done in under an hour.

Moving 2 Apple Xserve servers on the electrified Surly Big Dummy bicycle

So I challenge James Kunstler: if you're serious about all this gloom and doom, then go out and set an example of how to avoid it. Show us the alternative. Don't just whine about how bad it is going to get. Help provide an alternative.

That's what I'm doing in my "spare time" - helping customers of Cycle 9 find oil-free alternatives for every day errands and tasks. Really, I don't have any spare time - with small kids at home and a more than full time faculty job, my life is often seen by others as "insane". People ask me how I do it. How I do it is by being inspired to help people. The thing that keeps me going is seeing the joy of people whom we help discover there is a better way than dependency on the oil companies. A way that is healthy and brings regular joy in the way that being stuck in a car in traffic does not. The latest example is Cory, who is profiled in the next blog post.

Kunstler, it is your turn to help people find a better way, rather than just being seen as a whiner.

electric bikes don't give no exercise!

2009-08-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday evening I dusted off my poor road bike, a Lemond Buenos Aires, to take her out for a ride. I hadn't been on her for 6 months or so. The tires were flat, and the chain needed a serious lube. I got her going, and went out in the popular Dairyland area North of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC, for a pleasant ride in the rolling hills (some would say these hills are more than rolling).

Starting out, I thought that I was going to suck wind on this ride, since it was my first ride in so many months on the road bike (which does not have electric assist!). In fact, aside from my electric assist Big Dummy, the only other bike I've been on in the past six months is my 29er mountain bike - exactly 3 times. My life is way too busy right now for regular recreational rides on the road bike or the mountain bike. The only bike I have time to ride is the one I get to and from work on and do errands on - which has an electric motor that some folks tell me they consider "cheating".

I have a cycle computer, and being somewhat of a geek, I like to keep track of my stats when I'm on my bikes. But, for my road bike ride, I didn't want to look at my average speed during the ride, because I figured it would be so slow. Instead I just kept the distance displayed. I noticed many times that my instantaneous speed was hovering around 20 mph, and a few times that it dropped down to 14-15 mph on a big hill, but I thought I was doing ok. Well, except for the time that a pack of hard-core racer types - all guys - whizzed past me going 23-25 mph. I held them off on a hill, but once we got to the flat stretch, they were gone.

Anyway, after my 21.4 mile loop with 1,043 ft of climbing (plus 7 miles to/from home), I stopped and checked the average speed: 18.91 mph - very close to 19 mph. This is not Olympic level riding - but neither is it slouch riding. Even back when I was training on the road bike regularly, I rarely would average much over 19 mph when riding by myself (and often 22-23 mph or so in a group for this hilly area).

There goes another nail in the coffin of the myth that "electric bikes don't give you exercise" or "electric bikes are cheating". I couldn't have pulled off that kind of speed if I hadn't been riding almost every single day on my electric cargo bike. Some days on my electric bike I don't pedal very hard, if I'm feeling tired. Other days I pedal a lot to get the exercise. But I do pedal, every day - because I feel goofy riding the bike without pedaling.

It reminds me of a customer whom we're going to profile soon on video. She bought an electric eZee hub motor kit from us last year. She put it on her commuting bike, and logged over 2,000 miles on it in the past year. In the process, she lost 90 pounds! She recently brought her bike in to have us take the motor off, and to put that on a cargo bike with an Xtracycle for her. She is in such good shape now, she no longer needs the electric assist for her regular commute on the regular bike. I don't think her 90 lbs lost and all those car trips saved are "cheating" - exactly the opposite.

Fear

2009-08-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Fear pervades our culture. That's because fear sells. And marketers figured this out long ago, so we all get a healthy dose of fear, every day. We've become a society that fears far too much, and usually the wrong things.

That's because fear sells news. It sells all sorts of products to keep you "safe". And it makes people crazy.

Fear is one of the basest of human emotions. It drives all sorts of negative behaviors - from violence to anger to greed. Why is someone greedy? Often because they fear going "without" so they hoard.

Fear is often misplaced. We fear the "unknown" more than the "known". For example, many people fear biking because of the "unknown" factor of car drivers on the road who might hit us. Yet the number one killer, heart disease, does not raise the same specter of fear. Why not? Every time a cyclist gets killed in my area (about once or twice a year), that news gets rapidly spread all around amongst the cycling community. What if the same propagation of news happened every time someone had a heart attack, or cancer? There would certainly be far, far more news reports of it than the cyclist deaths. And so it becomes familiar. And because it is familiar, it is not feared. Yet many fear the very thing (biking) that would drastically help reduce the chance of heart attack. People fear a minor killer that would avoid a major killer. Fear is not rational.

But there is a more insidious difference. Why do we fear biking? For one thing, bike helmet campaigns. (I wear a bike helmet, so please don't consider me anti-helmet). There are many people who benefit from promoting helmets through fear. If you are afraid of getting hit by a car and splitting your head open, you're much more likely to buy a helmet than if you're not afraid. And so marketing campaigns for helmets are often fear based - it sells more helmets. This is true not only of helmet sellers, but a small group of people who believe their will should be imposed on everyone because they are sure that helmets would save lives (contrary to the facts).

The thing all this fear does is very insidious. So many people that come into our shop have fear as the number one reason for not biking. Yet it is that very fear that makes biking less safe. It has been very strongly proved that the more people are out biking, the safer it is for everyone (helmeted or not). If many people are afraid of biking, there will be (and are) less cyclists on the road, so it is more dangerous for all of us who do cycle. Fear is self-fullfilling. Even though helmets may be good for the individual, their fear-based promotion is not good for society. That's because so many people end up just driving their cars rather than biking, which leads to all manner of ills like hear disease, cancer, pollution, oil dependency, etc.

Perhaps an even more egregious case is another product that I see advertised in all the bike magazines, an identification device to wear in case something happens while biking and one needs to be taken to the hospital. Every one of those ads has a story about some cyclist who got hit by a car and wound up in the hospital, with the ID helping "save their lives." Talk about promoting fear of cycling. The last time I read one of those ads, my active imagination took over, and I had repeated visions of waking up in a hospital after being hit (and no, I've not had similar visions of waking up in the hospital after a heart attack, though the latter is more likely). This does nobody any good whatsoever, except for the seller of the device. I'm sure they will sell more IDs through the fear they generate. But they will also convince people that biking is unsafe. In general, it might be a good idea of having an ID for any activity where one isn't carrying another form of ID. But targeting it specifically at cycling in this fear-based way will only turn people away from cycling, which, again, makes cycling less safe for everyone.

It reminds me of something that happened last year. I was in a bike race where a fellow died, after loosing control on a steep and fast descent (he was going at least 50 mph down the hill, and the accident didn't involve a car). Everyone in the race was shocked. I was quite amazed to see his daughter state after the fact that he died doing the thing that he loved, and she sounded very sad but not overwrought. After having lost a family member to cancer, which was a slow and painful process for everyone, it makes me wonder - is that really a better way to go (hooked up to a machine and slowly degenerating), than doing something one loves to do?

It is not that cycling is without any dangers. It is that everything else we do in life is dangerous - living itself is dangerous. Fear often misplaces that perspective. And fear causes anxiety, a form of stress that is not at all healthy. We all are going to die, and only a few of us will be lucky enough to have that death be peacefully in our sleep when we are in our late 90's. I can't find statistics for it, but it is probably only 1 in 10 or less that will survive that long and in good health.

It is not only in cycling that fear has run amok. There are many other examples:

1. Peak oil. Peak oil is a real and important phenomenon, where once we pass the production peak in world oil, it will become more expensive and more scarce. Since our economy is quite dependent on cheap oil, this will be a major hiccup for us. I don't debate the basis for peak oil, nor do I debate that we are likely past the world's oil production peak (Summer 2008). But for many people who inhabit places like the Oil Drum and other peak oil sites, one may notice that a sense of fear (i.e. "gloom and doom") pervades. There are many folks who follow the views of James Kunstler that society will degenerate and fall apart. Every blog post by Kunstler indicates that the degeneration is just about to begin.
These are fear based responses. People like Kunstler gain a great amount of traction, because fear sells. And there is actually a chance that peak oil could lead to a worldwide collapse of human societies, if a lot of things go wrong. But, these folks underestimate the human penchant for muddling through. While they may point to past societies that have collapsed -- the most famous case being Easter Island -- there are many more societies that have survived drastic calamity and not collapsed. For example, Europe suffered the Black Death, killing more than 1/2 of the population. Yet with 1/2 of the people gone, society did not collapse. Nor did it collapse after the Irish potato famine. Nor did Germany collapse after its hyperinflation in the 20's, the rise to power by Hitler, and its defeat in World War II. Economies have often collapsed without a societal collapse.
Economic collapse - a quite common occurrence throughout history -- happens when societies and governments overspend and overreach. It is just like a household that overspends and has to declare bankruptcy. It is not fun or pleasant. But it is not the end of life, either. Collapsed economies lead to some years of hardship and pain for many, they are also opportunities - for new businesses, and for forging closer ties with ones community. And so the world keeps turning. Economic collapse has happened many times, and in only a very few of those has society itself collapsed.
My point is that the fear revolving around peak oil is useless, and worse, often incapacitating. If one pictures total collapse of society, then what is the point in doing anything to prepare? One cannot prepare for utter collapse of society. There would be nowhere to hide (unless you have access to a mighty nice spaceship). But it is possible to prepare for lesser forms of hardship, such as oil price spikes due to a US dollar devaluation. Bikes are one way to prepare, and there are many others. Those include moving closer to town, growing a garden, raising chickens, etc. Preparation shouldn't be about fear, it should be calm and rational preparation for the unexpected disruption of things we rely on for daily survival (food, shelter, transportation). This preparation will be useful regardless of the cause of disruption - whether due to hurricane, earthquake, economic collapse, or one of many other things that could happen.

2. Fat. Seriously, people fear fat. Somehow, marketers have convinced folks that everything they eat must not have fat, or they will collapse right away due to a heart attack. But the funny thing is that the link between fat and heart attack is still not that clear. What's more, there are many fats that are absolutely essential to body function. In fact, the Omega-3 and monounsaturated fats look like they prevent heart disease. And there's even accumulating evidence that butter is good for you. The only true "bad" fats that consistently are linked to heart disease are - get this - trans fats that were sold as an "alternative" to butter because they were supposedly "healthier". Talk about fear leading us up a blind alley.

3. Child abduction/etc (parental fears). When I was a kid, I started walking to school 4 blocks each way, every day, when I was in 2nd grade. Parents would never do that now. It would be considered crazy to let a child walk on their own. Yet fears of things like abduction are far overblown, it is an extremely rare occurrence. What is not so rare are cases of childhood obesity (an epidemic), childhood ADD, and many other ailments associated with kids being kept indoors and not getting enough exercise. Yes, an abduction of a child is horrific. But isn't a child developing arteriosclerosis by age 10 similarly horrific, especially if it is 100 times more common? A lifetime of health problems and medical costs for all of us? And fear of going outside? That seems plenty horrific.

I could go on and on - the examples of fear being used to sell are all around us, and as a result, so many people I know live in fear. I have been trapped in it myself at times. When I learned of Peak Oil, I became trapped in a cycle of fear about it for quite a while. But when I'm in that mode, I can't live life happily. A while ago, I began practicing a martial art. The initial reason was fear - wanting to be better prepared in self defense. But I soon realized that fear was not the best reason to do it. What I figured out was that I enjoyed the exercise, focus, release of aggression, and that those benefits far outweigh the whole fear thing. And doing it for those reasons, I find myself more relaxed about it, which leads to faster progress.

Fear of the future prevents enjoyment of the present. And then, what's the point of living?

I have recently started a campaign: "say no to fear". Except in rare instances, fear is a waste of human energy.

For more reading on the subject, check out the book "The Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner, or "False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear" by Marc Siegel. Also, there's a great podcast on Fear by Gil Fronsdal courtesy of Audio Dharma.

Paperhand puppet show bike shuttle report

2009-07-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, we got a call from Tami Schwerin of the Abundance Foundation, about a local event they were hosting. Would we be willing to shuttle local celebrities using our cargo bikes, built for hauling people? We're always happy to participate in these events, so the answer was SURE - What's the event?

Turns out this was a great local confluence of people working to make a change in our community. The event was the World Premier of a documentary film about the Paperhand Puppet Intervention. This is not the puppet show you remember from Sesame Street. The Paperhand people are a bunch of social advocates who make giant puppets that are controlled by several people with long poles, and it is amazing how lifelike they can seem. At one of their shows that I attended, my then 3-year old daughter thought one of them WAS real (and kind of scary as it was 20 feet high) and wouldn't go within 100 yards of it, even when it was propped in the corner and unmoving. The mission of Paperhand is to advocate for social change and inspire people through art. Every year (among other events), the group puts on a show at the Forest Theater, a very cool outdoor amphitheater in Chapel Hill, NC made with stone steps and towers. (I actually first found out about the group because I wanted to see some kind of show at the Forest Theater.) The show is set around a theme and includes giant puppets, masks, stilt walkers, great music and TONS of community. Every show I've been to has been packed with people.

Delivering a Happy Customer

In 2007, the Southern Documentary Fund sponsored Fork in the Road Films to p
roduce "A Puppet Intervention", a documentary about the group. The film follows them through the production of show "A Shoe for Your Foot" which was about simplicity and finding the beauty in everyday. July 11 was the world premier of the film and was to be attended by many supporters of Paperhand. The premier was located outdoors at the Piedmont Biofuels complex in Pittsboro, NC.

After getting a bit of a late start on the evening and rushing off, we arrived to find Abundance Foundation founders Tami and Lyle in a happy mood, sipping beer, and preparing for the guests. A large sheet hung on the side of the barn w
here the movie would be shown, a tent was set up for popcorn, beer, local homemade italian ice and other delicacies, and a Hollywood style Green Carpet was laid out on the grass, complete with side ropes to hold back the paparazzi. When guests arrived, they would be shuttled to the Green Carpet using our bikes, a bio-diesal car, or a lawn cart, and then an announcer would welcome them as they walked down the carpet and joined the event.

Soon, guests started arriving, and this was no ordinary event. People were decked out in their finest: full length gowns, ties and suits, and wild and crazy wigs and costumes. We went to work offering people celebrity shuttles.
At first, there was some reluctance to take us up. Ride on a bike? People had never heard of it. Some thought it would be too hard for us or it was just too strange for them. One or two really wanted to ride in the convertible. But soon, the walk from the parking lot got longer and we got better at convincing people to try it. (When have you ever had this opportunity before?).

Many people were very happy to have a ride and try something new. This was a fun group after all. Morgan even gave both Tami and Lyle ride in the bucket bike (the Madsen) and delivered them safely. In the end there were many smiles and laughs as people figured out it was actually comfortable AND FUN to ride on the back of a bike.

After about an hour of shuttling guests, most people had arrived and it was time for the movie. We had neglected to bring chairs to sit on, so we just rolled the
bikes over and sat on them - perfect solution. The filmaker, Mark Barroso, took the mic and started to make a few remarks just as it started raining. Fortunately the rain was light, and everyone sat through a 10 minute shower in their fancy clothes and lawn chairs - says something about the dedication of the group. The rain stopped and the film was on. About an hour long, the movie followed the 2007 paperhand show from the idea stage through the final production. I thought it was really well done and it left me with a great feeling about this group and what they do for our community. I was really happy to be part of this and to meet some more of the great people who make up our little corner of the world.

Paperhand leaders Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger

If you want to see the film, it will be shown again at the Carrboro Century Center on July 31st.

Read more about the Paperhand Puppet Intervention or the Abundance Foundation.

-Elise

The state of things

2009-07-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted to the Cycle 9 blog. The hiatus was in part due to a lot of grant writing that I had to do for my day job. There's this thing called the "stimulus" that congress passed, and they are trying to stimulate scientific research. And so government agencies like the National Institutes of Health are accepting grant proposals to spend the stimulus money. Well, since I work at a major research university (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), I was obliged to write some grant proposals. With all the grant writing, the blog was left a bit lonely.

But in the background, a lot has been going on at Cycle 9, in terms of bike stuff. Let's see what I can dig up from the recesses of my memory:

We got a few of the Marin hardtail mountain bikes in stock. Some folks had asked for a more aggressive looking bike for their everyday riding, and the Marin bikes fit the bill. They make a great platform for an everyday commuter bike, or for an electric conversion. We're not about to switch over to carrying a whole shopful of full suspension mountain bikes. I love mountain biking, but that's not what the store is about. We're here to promote transportation and utility biking. And we have the mountain bikes for people who prefer the look and feel of that to a more road oriented bike.
We have lots of kids bikes in stock from Marin. They make a nice lineup. We also have the "running bikes". These are bikes without pedals, that the kids use by "running" along while seated on the bike - kind of like Flinstones. My daughter learned how to bike this way, and it was a lot faster that learning how to deal with pedals. Once she was balancing on the running bike, then moving over to a regular pedal bike without training wheels was easy.
We're getting some of the new "electric mountain drive" assist kits in from Ecospeed. It is a chain-drive electric assist, that has the advantage of using the bike's existing gear set. So they are claimed to be better for steep hill climbing, and to have better efficiency than hub motors. We'll be testing one out extensively, and we'll also have a demo in the shop.
Speaking of demo bikes, we are also a Stokemonkey dealer (the only one on the East Coast!), and now have a Surly Big Dummy utility bike (great for kid and grocery hauling), with the Stokemonkey installed. The Stokemonkey is like the Ecospeed, but it is designed specifically for cargo bikes like the Xtracycle, Big Dummy, and Yuba Mundo. It is a very high efficiency, quiet motor setup that has power for big loads and very steep hills. Come try it out!
If you want to charge your electric bike battery faster, we now have a new line of chargers in for the long-life LiFePO4 (lithium ion) battery type. One of them is a dual-voltage dual-amperage charger that puts out 9 amps in "fast charge" mode, fast enough to recharge a 10 amp-hour pack in just over an hour. But since charging batteries fast too often may shorten their life, this charger also has a 4 amp slower-charging mode, that will take 2-3 hours for a full charge. Not only that, it has dual voltage, so it can charge either a 36 volt or a 48 volt pack, at either current rate! We have a few 20A/48V chargers for large electric vehicle batteries. And we have some 6 amp dual-voltage chargers (36 and 48V). In this first run, we only have a few of each kind. Once they're gone, they're gone for a while.
We now have the small Day 6 frames in stock, available for a test ride. The Day 6 is an extremely comfortable ride like a recumbent bike, but it is more upright. Several folks have come in to try the Day 6 before or after testing a Townie at another bike shop in town, and a lot of them prefer the comfort of the Day 6. The new small frames are designed for people 5'3" and under.

I'm sure there is a lot more to talk about, but let's save that for another post. I want to talk about the economy for a few moments.

Lots of people seem to think we've got green shoots. It would probably be best for our shop to just pretend that is the case and act as if everything is going to be hunky dory tomorrow. But sorry folks, it isn't. I'm a bit of an economics junkie. I do a lot of reading. And there's an elephant in the room. That elephant is:

DEBT

If I could have used a larger font for that word, I would have. The reason why is I want to emphasize the scale of the problem. Our country is in hawk. Under water. We've sold off our children's future to the pawnbrokers.

This has all happened before... during the 20's. See, back then a similar thing happened. There got to be a very few rich industrialists at the top of the pyramid, and a lot of other folks who were quite poor. The disparity between rich and poor got more and more extreme. But most people didn't know it - because there was a debt bubble. So, while people were getting poorer, they kept feeling richer - because they got more and more in debt. That was the roaring 20's, until it came to a screeching halt in the crash of '29. But ironically, in 1930 there were newspaper reports very much like our "green shoots" reports now. Everything was going to go back to normal. Things would start roaring again. And what happened next? It was three more years until the economy would bottom out in 1933. The middle class was eviscerated. So were the poor folks. A few rich folks were just fine, but everyone else was not. There was a debt hangover that had to be cured.

Well, our debt as a country is bigger now than it was at the height of the great depression, when FDR was doing all-out government spending to try to dig this country out of the mess. Obama is trying to spend our way out of it - but the problem is, the spending is all in the form of ever more debt (not that the alternative of outright printing is any better). But our country can't handle more debt. Our creditors like the Chinese are getting sick of lending us money - because they don't see how we'll pay it back. And they're the only ones lending these days.

To bring it back to bikes, here's the thing: we import well over $500 billion per year in foreign oil. What do we trade this for? Debt, debt, and more debt. Not anything real - the US doesn't produce all that much anymore, except debt, and dollars (which represent debt).

I frequently have conversations with folks about oil. People seem to think there is a "glut" of oil, and that oil prices should come back down. Well, aside from the fact that the "glut" consists of only 20-30 days worth of US oil consumption, there is a much bigger fact being ignored: the price we pay at the pump is a direct correlation to the strength or weakness of the dollar. If the dollar gets stronger, that means oil and gas get cheaper for us. If the dollar gets weaker, that means oil and gas are more expensive for us. The dollar got a lot stronger last winter, which is a major reason why gas prices dropped. Now the dollar is weakening again. While it could do anything over the next 6-12 months (go up or down), the long-term prognosis is absolutely clear: there are too many dollars in the system, and our creditors are getting tired of taking those dollars in return for real, tangible things like oil and manufactured goods. This will not be dollar positive. What that means is that, even if we ignore the major geological constraints on oil supplies (i.e. peak oil), that it is very likely to get much more expensive for us at the pump in the future. We can "drill baby, drill" all we want, and it will be a drop in the bucket compared to what we import.

So, folks, be prepared for increasing costs in the future. Unless our government and the Federal Reserve bank manage to pull off a miracle of getting an economic recovery while holding the dollar's value, we will be paying more and more at the pump.

And cap-n-trade isn't going to help, either. I'm anti pollution and anti-CO2 being released, but this cap and trade thing has me mad. It is just another scheme for some very rich folks to get even richer trading in carbon credits. It would have been far better to just be honest about it and charge a direct carbon tax. And then to use that tax to build things like bike paths, rail lines, and etc. But, no, we'll just let some rich folks get richer, and we will all pay more money at the pump.

So, anyway, why would you want to buy a bike in this economy? Because bikes are one of the very cheapest ways to get around for short and medium-distance trips. Far cheaper than a car. For anyone who is struggling financially and asking "can I afford a bike" - if you can't afford a bike (at least a used one), then you definitely cannot afford a car. Each month of owning a car costs as much as buying a typical low-end transportation bike. Think about gas, insurance, repairs, and parking. Just the other day, someone I know had to pay over $300 to fix the electric window opener on her car. She had a sudden insight - all it takes is a few such repairs, and an electric bike would be paid for.

It's funny that occasionally when I'm riding along on the road, some guy in a big pickup will honk or something, trying to tell me to get off the road. I'm sure that most of these folks consider themselves US patriots. But how can they be patriots when they are dependent on foreign oil? When they are contributing to our large US debt, that will weaken our currency?

There was an interesting discussion on the RootsRadicals about the effect that having a US flag on the bike has with folks who might otherwise treat cyclists with disdain.

In that vein, we're going to do a t-shirt. Here's a mock-up/draft version:

This t-shirt points out that it is patriotic to ride your bike and free our country from foreign oil. Maybe it will help some drivers who "don't get it" to start figuring it out. We hope to have this shirt ready in August. Drop us a line if you want one. They'll be printed right here in North Carolina using organic cotton and chemical free dyes.

Happy 4th, I hope everyone had a great celebration of our country's independence - and I hope we have many more to come.

The Electric Madsen

2009-05-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Family life around our house has entered a new era with our newly electrified Madsen cargo bike! With 3 kids under 6 we've been searching for the solution to transport them, and the Madsen with it's bench seats and social atmosphere is the new favorite. Only problem, house to town is a good 5-7 miles with hills up and down, and some days the old legs just aren't up for that (see previous post ).

But the solution to this problem came with the installation of an eZee electric motor kit. The motor wheel replaces the 26" front wheel, and controller and battery conveniently mount in the frame between the downtube and the bucket. A little creative engineering with some velcro straps and zipties and the lithium battery was mounted. The battery weight is suspended from the upper frame tube and the straps wrap around the lower tube to keep it from swinging. The little piece that keeps the super long Madsen chain aligned also doubles to keep the chain and battery separated. The eZee battery itself is in a nice plastic case with a switch, so is protected from the elements somewhat. Removal of the battery for charging involves undoing the straps, but once I got this system down, that became pretty trivial. I like the way the battery is low on the bike and not too obtrusive or taking up any of my bucket space. The wiring is also all conveniently kept together.

Mounting the motor wheel in the front fork was not too difficult until we got to setting up the disc brake. The eZee kit is disc brake compatible and comes with a rotor, however, the brake that is supplied with the Madsen was not compatible with the wider hub. No problem, a new brake (Avid BB7) was ordered up and installed. The 180mm rotor that came with the eZee kit paired with the new brake and only a few additional spacer washers were needed. Once the brake issues were worked out, it was just a matter of making sure the bolts were properly tightened. A tire change wasn't even necessary because the kit comes with the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire already installed (and puncture resistance is a good thing on these motor wheels!)

The eZee kit operates with a handlebar mounted throttle. This replaces the right grip, and since the Madsen has trigger shifters there were no compatibility issues there. An LED battery gage also goes on the handlebar to keep track of battery useage.

Once the kit was on the bike, we

flipped the switch on the battery and that baby came to life! The ride home was a breeze as those hills melted away under steady pedaling and electric assistance.

Last weekend, we tried out the new electric Madsen with not one, but TWO trips into town with everyone. First on Saturday morning, everyone loaded up for a trip to the Farmers Market, where we loaded up on greens, strawberries, and yummy treats from our awesome local growers. Then after a break at home for naptime and lunch, it was back downtown again for a kids festival put on by the local La Leche group. Music, hula hooping, and fire truck tours later, we took shelter at the shop from a sudden afternoon downpour, and then picked up tacos at the mobile taco truck on the way home. Kiddos were all tired and one even lay down for a nap on the way home! Overall a great day, no cars involved, and it wouldn't have been very possible without electric asisst. I think the new Madsen is going to be seeing some light in the weeks to come.

-Elise

Morgan on HomePower Hour discussing Lithium batteries

2009-05-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Morgan was recently interviewed on the Home Power Hour, explaining a bit about how the batteries work and are kept happy by the Battery Management System. Listen in here.

Expanded weekday hours

2009-04-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

We're moving into a summer schedule at the store now and have expanded our weekday hours. We'll now be open:

Tues 10-6

Wed 10-7

Thur 10-7

Fri 10-7

Sat 9-6

Sun 12-5

Mon closed

Also, you will be seeing a new face around the store. Please welcome Erica to our team of helpful staff!

Solar at Shakori Hills: does it make sense?

2009-04-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of making it out to the Shakori Hill Festival today to let the kids participate in various events such as the Paperhand Puppet Intervention, and to listen to a bit of good music.

The organizers had a booth there, asking for contributions towards a solar electic system that would power the event in the future. The card indicates that 10,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity are used to put on the event. I applaud their goal to get off the grid. But the sea of cars I saw in the parking lot left me wondering: how much energy was used in just getting people to/from the event, in comparison to the 10,000 kWh goal?

Here's my attempt to figure it out. When we were there on Sunday, there were perhaps 700-900 cars around. We can estimate from that a total of about 5,000 cars were driven to/from the event during the course of the four days (that's an average of 1,125 cars/day, or 2,250 people per day if it averaged 2 people per car, probably a low estimate). The location is 17 miles from Carrboro, 40 mi from Raleigh, 35 mi from Durham, and 10 mi from Pittsboro. So we'll average all of those at 25 mi (each way), for an average round trip of 50 miles. The fleet average for the US automobiles as of 2003 was 25 miles per gallon, so on average, 2 gallons of gasoline were burned per car trip to/from the festival. If our estimate of 5,000 car trips is accurate (maybe an underestimate?), that's 10,000 gallons of gasoline burned up (526 barrels of oil).

Now, hold onto your seats. Each gallon of gasoline contains about 37 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy. So, we have 10,000 * 37 = 370,000 kWh of energy burnt up to get people to/from the festival in their cars/SUV's/trucks/motor homes.

That is, 37 times more energy were used to transport people to/from Shakori Hills, than would be saved if the festival organizers reach their goal of going all solar.

Here's another way to look at it. An efficient generator will extract about 7 kWh of energy out of a gallon of gas (no, they are not very efficient, they only recover a small part of the 37 kWh contained in a gallon). So, to generate the 10,000 kWh of energy that the festival needs to run, that is about 1,429 gallons of gas, if they were to use local generators. Compare that 1,429 to our estimate of 10,000 gallons burned up getting people to and from. I.e., even using inefficient gas generators, generating all that power to run the festival would only take 1/7th the power that is consumed to get all those people to/from the event. 1/7th. That is sobering. (and note: even if everyone drove a super efficient hybrid like the Prius out there, and averaged 50mpg, it would still consume more than 3x more energy to transport people there).

And this is why all the peak oil people are so concerned about our future. They realize how much energy we are just burning up driving around in our gasoline burning cars. But most people don't think about that. Even very "green" people just don't realize how much energy is contained in each and every gallon of gas put into their cars. And, while I applaud the goal of Biodiesel, I had a look at the Piedmont biofuels website to see how much they produce. They produce "thousands of gallons per day" - so, basically, if every person going to the festival used biodiesel instead of fossil fuel, there would be none left in this area for any other purpose (such as powering tractors that help grow our food).

I don't want to come off as overly critical of these efforts. Every small bit helps. But if people think these are solutions to fossil fuel dependency, they are clearly not. They are drops-in-the-bucket.

Anyway, I think if the Shakori Hills organizers can get the solar panels, it will save energy and have a positive effect - not only by the direct power saved, but by the example set. At the same time, they could have a vastly greater effect on energy usage for the festival (and also local pollution/noise/danger created by the cars) by implementing a bus system to/from the event. Or getting people to go out there on their electric bikes :)

Why some days just need an electric bike

2009-04-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Some may accuse me of being heavy handed in promotion of electric-assist for bikes. To me, this is not a marketing schtick. It is an education schtick. Ever since I got my first electric motor kit for my bike in '94, I've shown it around, and many people - especially avid cyclists and bike shops - have been dismissive. I think this stems from an attitude that bikes are a recreational tool rather than a transportation tool. After hearing that attitude for all these years, perhaps I've grown a bit defensive about it over time. But, really what I want to accomplish is education - letting people know that electric bikes exist, and can help many people with the goal of biking more often (i.e. from none at all to at least once or twice a week would be a big step!).

So, to do that, I like to tell little stories about my experiences, and here is the latest. We recently became a Madsen Bicycles dealer, and got some of them in stock. One of the things that is exciting about this bike is the ability to haul up to four kids at a time, all sitting nicely seat-belted on benches in the rear bucket.

This is a Good Thing for those of us with families that exceed the carrying capacity of the Xtracycle, Yuba Mundo, or Big Dummy (all of which carry only two kids, max).

So, I have been using the Madsen for short trips hauling kids around the local area, and it is great. But our area is hilly enough, that hauling 120 pounds of kids up the hills is a slow endeavor. The first hill starts right at my driveway, with a 50 ft climb. And there are many more hills riding around Carrboro and Chapel Hill (this is the Piedmont, after all). So we have been planning on putting an eZee electric hub kit on the bike, but presently they are out of stock at our store, so the bike is currently un-assisted.

Anyway, on the Saturday of Easter Weekend, I was taking the kids for an Easter Egg Hunt activity put on by a local organization. I really wanted to bike over there with them, rather than use the car, because it was a beautiful, sunny, 70-degree day. By the time we got the stuff together, we only had 45 minutes to get there. If I knew exactly where I was going, and if it was on the closer side of town, that would have been enough time to ride. But I didn't know that area of town well, and I recall that part being quite hilly. Well, anyway, we loaded up into the bike and started up the first hill out our driveway, and I quickly realized that I just didn't have the energy to haul these kids over all those hills for about 20 miles round trip, while being in a hurry to get there on time (and possibly getting lost in a hilly area of town). So we turned around, back down the hill we went, and we got in the car and drove instead.

Now, if we had already had the electric assist installed on this bike, I would not have hesitated to go by bike. The hills would have been much less of an issue, and I also would have felt less time pressure, since I would have saved 10-20 minutes of riding time.

So here is a case where if I had electric assist, I would have gotten well over an hour of moderate exercise pedaling the assisted bike to and from the activity, whereas instead I got none (and didn't have time for another bike ride that weekend). And, I burned up well over 37 kWh (kilowatt hours) of energy by driving the car over, when the e-bike would have burnt up much less than 1 kWh.

Someone who lives in a flat place (e.g. Davis, California or much of Texas) reading this might not be able to relate. One thing I've noticed with my Big Dummy cargo bike is that when it is fully loaded, pedaling it on the flat lands is only a tiny bit more energy than pedaling it unloaded. But once it gets to a hill, all that extra load weight becomes very noticeable. So, anyway, if I lived in a flat place, pedaling the Madsen with the kids 10 miles each way wouldn't have been such a big deal. But with these hills, it is a big deal - enough so that it makes me much less likely to use the bike, and instead, just take the car. I'm looking forward to having that assist on there! (Aside: These bikes are now available for rent for trying out).

Bike ride to Triad Electric Vehicles Association meeting

2009-04-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today I just got back from a nice bike trip with my daughter, to the Triad Electric Vehicles Association meeting, in Burlington, NC. I was invited to their monthly meeting to give a presentation about Lithium batteries and battery management systems, since some of the members are starting to contemplate moving away from lead acid batteries. In fact, two of the members have recently commissioned us to build custom packs for their EV's.

We rode over there on my electrified Surly Big Dummy, with an eZee electric kit on front. We had 3 different LiFePo4 battery packs (48V x 10 amp hour (Ah), 2 x 36V x 10 amp hour, totaling about 1200 watt hours, which equals a 100 watt lightb

ulb running for 12 hours). I didn't really expect to use that much battery power on the 33-mile each way ride, but I brought them for show and tell (and glad I did). I also brought some BMS boards (designed by the folks on Endless Sphere), PSI cells, and more. We also had all our overnight gear. So the bike was well loaded with us and all our stuff. I estimate that the gross vehicle weight was close to 400 lbs with us included.

While a round-trip 65 mile bike ride may not sound like a big deal to some folks who ride their road bikes 60+ miles in a day, this was a ride with precious cargo on the back, and a fully loaded bike, on some sections of busy road. I planned the route using Bikely.com, which allows mapping out a route using Google maps. I tried to choose a lower-traffic route most of the way, but some high-traffic stretches were unavoidable (why don't they put shoulders on the roads in this part of the USA????)

We started out mid Friday afternoon, hoping to make it there before the main rush hour traffic hit. As soon as we got on the road, there were some serious headwinds. The national weather service reports winds averaging 15mph, with gusts up to 43 mph - coming straight from the direction we were going. I was sooooo glad to have electric assist. That would have been a miserable ride without. At one point, I was going full throttle (using about 1,200 watts) and pedaling full tilt, on flat ground into the wind, and only going about 15 miles per hour. Without electric, that would have been about 6 miles per hour. There were also some nice hills, too (totaling about 1,200 feet of up and down). Without electric, and with that headwind, the trip would have easily taken at least 4 hours. Despite the winds, we made it there in 1hr 45 min, at an average speed of just under 18 mph. But we burned up way more energy than I planned - about 24 watt hours per mil

e. (i.e., four miles riding would equal a 100 watt light bulb running for an hour). I had planned on 20 watt hours per mile. Glad I had those extra batteries!

Jack, one of TEVA's leaders, graciously hosted us for the evening and let us crash at his place. We had a nice dinner and after-dinner discussion about quantum mechanics, consciousness, God, and evolution (I am making slow progress on a book about these subjects). We also had the obligatory discussion of the current financial "crisis". Anyway, to bed very late, and up somewhat early next morning to head out for the meeting.

So I'm not someone to get shy in front of groups of people, since I give scientific lectures fairly regularly (just gave one last Thursday to an audience of 40-50 people). But this group was a bit intimidating, because there was only one other woman present, and it was about 20 guys, who were obviously quite tech savvy. Well, after some introductions and whatnot, we got down to business and I started describing the ins and outs of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries for electric vehicles. I talked about keeping cells healthy, the benefits and drawbacks of these batteries, and discussed some basic design elements for battery management systems (BMSs), the electronic systems that keep cells healthy. There was some good discussion and questions. Afterwards, we went out to the parking lot to check out the various EV's there.

Here's an interesting observation that one of my hosts made: I was one of only 2-3 people who actually used an electric vehicle to get there, and mine was a bicycle.

This was a very interesting observation, so I'm going to sidetrack for a second on that. Why didn't more people drive their EV's over there? I can only guess: I think the biggest reason is that of the various people I talked to, many people had lead-acid battery packs that weren't performing too well anymore, or didn't have sufficient range, or... etc. One guy mentioned a story about being out in his EV one day and getting stranded when the batteries ran out, and having to walk 3 miles. So here's the interesting thing. If a bike battery runs out, you can still pedal the bike. Even my nearly 400 pound cargo bike, if I had to, I could pedal it that whole distance. But I think the bigger take-home message is this - the main impediment to people using their EV's more often is the batteries. For a bike, the battery is relatively small, and hence (though not cheap), not nearly as expensive as for a car or truck-sized vehicle. So nowadays, many people use lithium or at least nickel batteries on bikes, whereas most electric cars of the hobbyist variety are still lead acid. One older gentleman even prodded me a bit because he said he had access to very cheap lead acids, so he didn't see why it was worth buying lithium batteries. I understand that point of view, that in an ideal world lead acids can run for a very long time, so why pay (lots) extra for LiFePo4? But, being in the e-bike repair business, I have seen so many "dead" e-bikes simply because the batteries died, and people hate having to replace them every few years. And it gets worse when you put them in a series string to produce higher voltage. Aside from the longer life and lighter weight of lithium, there is the lower hassle factor. If you get a working system with a good BMS (very important), it should give many years of service without issues. I used lead acids for many years before I switched. But now that I've "seen the light," it is hard to fathom ever switching back to the heavy, bulky (though cheap up front) lead acids.

But anyway, some people tried out my Big Dummy and had lots of fun. Then a bunch of the members headed off to the Earth Day fair in Greensboro, and we got headed back to Chapel Hill/Carrboro.

This time, the wind was at our backs, and still pretty strong. Sweeeeet! There were a bunch of times we were cruising along with just pedaling, no electric power at > 20 miles per hour, a good clip for a 400 lb cargo bike. We made the return trip in just under 1:30 hrs, averaging almost 19 miles per hour, and using about 16 watt hours per mile. After a nice stop at a friends' house along the way, we got back home. And after just having biked 68 miles on a fully loaded cargo bike in 1.5 days, I wasn't totally wiped out (I definitely got some exercise, but not to the point of being wiped).

Total stats for the trip:

-Average 18.4 miles per hour

- 67.85 miles

- 3:40 minutes riding time

- 19.9 watt hours per mile

- total energy used by bike, 1,350 watt hours (for perspective, a typical gasoline powered car would use this much energy to go about 4-7 miles). I probably burnt another 400-600 watt hours from leg power.

I was nicely surprised by how well most drivers treated us. There was only one situation that made me nervous, a stupid dude in an ancient camper truck passed us at the same time there was oncoming traffic, and only gave 6" to spare. I don't know what his deal was, but maybe his engine couldn't handle slowing down on the somewhat steep uphill we were on, without stalling. Anyway, here's a plug for rear-view mirrors: I knew the guy was cutting it close, and I was prepared to bail out onto the grass if he got any closer, long before he was upon us. I don't know how any cyclist can stand riding without a rear-view mirror. I use mine constantly.

But anyway, most drivers gave us wide berth, and we had a really nice ride through the countryside of the piedmont.

3 cheers for human-electric hybrid vehicles!

Red light guy

2009-04-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Most days that I ride my bike there are good things that happen. But some days, there are things that just make me a bit awestruck about the human condition (and not necessarily in a good way).

Take today for example. I'm riding along on my electrified Big Dummy in the nice sleepy town of Carrboro, NC. I'm doing a reasonable clip down a two-lane road (no bike lane), around 20 mph, because I'm late for a meeting. I'm coming up to an intersection, and this big dude comes flying out on his bike, without stopping at his stop sign (my direction had no stop sign), and proceeds to turn right then take the lane in front of me. Ok, slight bonehead move, but no problem, I cruise around him to avoid slamming into him. A few blocks later, I stop at a red light. Here comes "the dude" again, this time cruising right through the red light I am waiting at.

It always makes me a bit angry when I wait at a light and some other cyclist cruises through. My reason for this is that I think it is important for cyclists to give a good impression to drivers, because if we act like regular vehicles, we are more likely to get the respect that other vehicles on the road get. The number one complaint I hear from non-cyclist drivers is that cyclists never obey the rules and do stupid things. In many drivers' minds, that is an excuse for doing obnoxious things back to cyclists. I'm not saying that it is right, I'm just making an observation. And in a war of obnoxiousness, the cars are going to win - they are a lot bigger and more deadly. So, I try to counter that, by showing that cyclists can actually manage to follow the rules and act like a regular vehicle on most occasions. I find that I get far more courteous treatment from the drivers around me, when I do that.

So, back to the story. It is not long before my light turns green and I catch back up to "dude." In the past, I've on occasion made some comment as I went past people about their red light running. However, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. So these days, I'm trying to not be "holier than though," so I just keep my mouth shut. I figure that yelling at people or lecturing them is not going to be conducive to them seeing my point of view. (So instead, I write on the blog, where there's actually opportunity to discuss my point of view without it being a yelling match). Anyway, I cruised past the guy, by moving into the main traffic lane (he was in the bike lane), and I thought, that was that. Hopefully he'll figure it out someday.

Now, get this. After I go past, he yells a lecture at me: "let other cyclists know when you're passing!". Ok, dude, come on. Do you expect every single car passing you to yell? It's not like I went past him inside his bike lane with 2" to spare. No, I was at least 3 feet out from him by going into the main traffic lane (there were no cars, I checked before entering the lane). I think he was just angry because a woman on a big cargo bike was passing him for the second time. But anyway, that was enough to set me over the edge. I yell back "don't run red lights!".

I figured we are fair and square. He lectures me, I lecture him. Enough, right? No. I get to the next red, where I stop, then turn right. As I get going, he pulls up to the red and again says loudly: "It is common courtesy to let other cyclists know when you're passing." Hey dude, I get your point, did you get mine? I yell back "It is common courtesy to not run red lights!"

This interaction has me baffled. Where does this dude get off lecturing me about how I pass him (in a perfectly legal way, like any other traffic would pass him, giving him plenty of room)? This is a guy who ran a stop sign to turn right in front of me (and I would have hit him if I hadn't moved out into the lane), and he passed me while I was waiting at a red, then he feel justified in lecturing? Sure, it would be courteous to say something to cyclists as I pass, and I often do if I have to pass closely. But if I'm 3-4 feet away in the main traffic lane, I feel no such compunction. But the bigger point is this: here is a guy who violated the law twice, and endangered my own physical health once, and he has the gall to tell me this?

(Shake head). Sometimes I pity our race. It is no wonder we keep getting ourselves into problems like financial meltdown/peak oil/war/whatever. So many people do not have one ounce of introspection. And that's really all I would hope for. Again, I am not perfect - but at least when I do something, I think about what I did, and what effect it might have on others. And I try to use that to better guide future actions. Why isn't that one simple skill taught in our families or our schools?

Expaned Saturday store hours

2009-03-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

With the warmer weather and longer daylight, we are expanding our Saturday hours at our retail store. We will now be open from 9AM to 6PM every Saturday.

Other hours will remain the same. We do stay open on Thursdays until 7pm and are open Sundays from 12-5 for those who work and live in surrounding areas. See you soon.

Tues 11-6

Wed 11-6

Thurs 11-7

Fri 11-6

Sat 9-6

Sun 12-5

Mon closed

601 W. Main St, Carrboro

Exercise and electric bikes

2009-03-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

We got a funny call this morning. A woman had read the article about us in the University Gazette. She happens to work in public health. Somehow, she queued in on my statement that "electric bikes are more efficient than the human pedaler," and she was prepared to scold us, since her research indicates there are huge energy costs that go into treating the epidemic of obesity in this country.

For whatever reason, she thought that electric bikes mean that a person doesn't ever have to pedal - that it is essentially just a scooter with pedals. Now, I will preface this by saying there are some electric bikes on the market that are essentially like that - I saw many on a recent trip to China. They were essentially scooters that had pedals grafted on so they could be called a bike (for legal reasons).

But that's not what we are about. Our vision for electric bikes is that it is first and foremost still a bicycle. It should feel and handle like a bike. It should be easy to pedal like a bike. It should encourage the rider to get exercise, by pedaling.

It reminds me of customers who make the statement "if I had an electric bike, I wouldn't get any exercise." My response to that is that I get 1 hour of exercise every day on my electric bike, because I pedal the whole time. I could get away without pedaling, but I feel silly riding along without pedaling. And I like to get the nice dose of moderate, aerobic exercise every day. On the other hand, I live far enough away, that I simply wouldn't bike every day without electric. Last time I tried the non-electric approach, the most I could bring myself to bike was 2-3 times per week. I'm in way better shape now, by riding an electric bike every day.

So, back to the phone call. Fortunately we were able to explain to the woman that our goals were the same as hers: we want people to be more healthy, and we totally agree that there is an epidemic caused by lack of exercise in the US. We just happen to think that electric bicycles can help some people overcome the lack of exercise, by encouraging them to ride more often. We have customers who have lost substantial weight after starting to ride an electric bike.

I hope we can clear up the confusion that somehow having electric assist prevents getting exercise. It does not, it encourages exercise, because it makes it more likely you will ride your bike for that trip to the store or to work, rather than getting in the car (which is no exercise at all).

"Pedaling a hard truth"

2009-03-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a nice article about Morgan's vision for Cycle 9 was published in UNC's Faculty/Staff newsletter. It discussed some of the motivations behind why we got Cycle 9 going. The one thing that was perhaps a bit inaccurate was its focus on climate change as a reason that I founded Cycle 9. While I think that anthropogenic climate change is likely real and likely a problem that we as a society will have to face, it was a much more immediate issue that caused me to co-found Cycle9: Peak Oil. Peak oil theory says that at some point the world will have used up half of all its oil, and at that time, the remaining half will be harder to access and more expensive. There is now a consensus that the world is already past peak (estimates vary, some say 2005, some 2008, but it is clear we've been on a bumpy plateau).

What does this mean?

- That soon (6 months to 3 years), the accelerating reduction in oil supplies will catch up with the reduction in oil demand.

- When that happens, prices are likely to skyrocket

- Countries are likely to start competing seriously over oil. Imagine the US competing with China for scarcer oil. Not a good scenario for us.

- The problem is actually made worse by the current economy, because many projects for oil development are being shelved as uneconomical when oil is < $50 per barrel. That means the decline will be even faster in the next few years.

The real problem I see is that the current, low gas prices have lulled people into a false sense of security. I have run into so many people that seem to think these prices are here to stay, "until the economy recovers." This shows some fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of our oil supply, and the reasons why oil is presently "sort of" cheap. Note that if oil were truly cheap, we'd be back at $10 oil - but we aren't there, we're at $50 - a value that just 6 years ago would have been seen as quite high. But I digress - it only takes a small oversupply of a product to cause prices to fall. And so what if we are 1-2 million barrels per day over supplied? If production is declining at only 3% per year (most estimates are closer to 6% once we fall off the plateau), that little bit of oversupply will be eaten up in less than a year. The only way the oversupply can continue is if the economy continues to crash at a rate that is comparable to the reduction in oil supply. That would be an unprecedented rate of decline for any modern economy.

The other thing many people don't seem to realize about oil prices is that oil on the international market is priced in dollars. For the past 6 months, we've benefited because the dollar has strengthened, due to lots of folks buying treasury bills as a safe investment. But just in the past week or so, there are signs that things are headed the other way. Among other things, larger than predicted federal budget deficits, along with the Federal Reserve's recent announcement that it is monetizing unprecedented levels of debt (> 1$Trillion worth) are things that will be very likely to weaken the dollar. As the dollar weakens, oil prices will rise. And there are grumblings internationally about getting away from the dollar altogether. If that happens, the dollar cost of oil is likely to be much higher.

Fortunately, there seem to be some folks who realize this - we are still selling bikes and electric motor kits to folks who realize that we have to change our ways of everyday transportation. But, I'm afraid there are many people who don't realize that there is this tsunami headed our way, and that the longer that gas prices stay low, the worse it will be when it hits. I know many people are optimists, who think some techno-fix will solve the problem. But, given that we are already past the peak in world oil, the promised techno-fixes aren't deployed in time. Some people have talked about the potential for electric cars to solve the problem. Electric cars are great, and there are quite a few people doing their own conversions now. But even if 10,000's of people do that, it is a miniscule drop in the bucket.

I don't want to sound like a pessimist - I'm not. I'm a realist, who realizes that some difficult times are headed our way, but I think we can change and adapt. However, that will require people changing their thinking. And it has become clear to me that, while some people are already changing their thinking, most are not. Most are "waiting for something to happen." That concerns me, because imagine waiting and waiting, then suddenly one day you can't buy gas for any price, because it is rationed for essential uses like farming or trucking? If things get to that point, it is too late to easily do something proactive about it (like moving closer to work, getting a bike, etc)

People often don't like hard truths like that. It must be some inbuilt defense mechanism, to avoid the obvious when it is staring us in the face. It was similar with the financial crash. Two years ago, after doing a lot of reading about our economy and the housing bubble, I realized we were headed for a big economic crash. I warned a lot of people I know about it, trying to convince them to get their retirement savings out of stocks and into something safer. But most people ignored the warnings. I have had several people come back to me and say "I wish I had listened to you." I don't feel gleeful at all about that, it is very sad that friends and relatives have lost retirement savings in this debacle.

But the thing is, if (or I should say, when) oil supplies start to seriously crash, the damage could be much worse to the unprepared.

And that's why I co-founded Cycle 9. To show people that there are alternatives, that exist right now, that can drastically reduce oil consumption for day-to-day trips. We don't have to wait for the Holy Grail to arrive. But we do have to change our way of thinking to realize that the solutions were at hand all along.

Cars are expensive

2009-03-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Last fall, we had a visitor at our house, who had driven there. She had a little accident backing up in our driveway, resulting in a crunched fender on her car and a crunched door on our car.

The total cost of repair? $2,400

Sometimes people ask me how much my bike costs. When I tell them (some number > $1k), they often seem aghast that I would spend that much on a bike. How can bikes be that expensive?

Some people don't seem to realize that bikes are inexpensive compared to cars. This accident is case in point. The cost of that one little fender bender is more than my whole bike, motor kit and all. Our insurance has a $500 deductible. So our out of pocket cost, if we cause the accident, is that much. That is less than $2,400, but it still isn't cheap. Plus those insurance bills keep coming, every 6 months. And if someone has an accident? Rates go up.

It is interesting to observe the psychology behind this. I think that because people get used to just regularly paying that insurance bill, paying for gas, paying for tune ups, paying for tires, paying for oil, and so on, that the familiarity leads to people ignoring the true costs. The true costs of a good, reliable bike are not tiny, but they are only a fraction of the true costs of a good, reliable car.

GRAND OPENING March 7th

2009-02-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we've been in our new store for over 2 months, but now that spring is just around the corner, we're having a Grand Opening Party on Saturday March 7, 10am-5pm! As part of the party, we'll be doing a benefit for The ReCYCLEry, a very cool local non-profit that teaches people how to work on their bikes and runs a bicycle sharing program around town. You can check out their work at http://recyclery.info/ . A portion of all sales and proceeds from a bike raffle will go to the ReCYCLEry.

So, why should you come? First off - FOOD! We'll have Free coffee and bagels in the morning to get you going. The coffee will be supplied by Johnny's, a Carrboro favorite. In the afternoon, we'll whip out the Xtracycle Blender for some Bike-Blended Smoothies! Pedal your way from frozen berries and ice to a smooth and delicious treat - it's amazingly easy. Come an' get 'em while their HOT (or COLD as the case may be).

We'll be raffling off a Full Suspension Mountain Bike. Complete with disc brakes, this will take the trails or the streets in style. Tickets are only $2 or 3 for $5 and all proceeds will go to the ReCYCLEry. You don't need to be present to win, but you DO need to buy a ticket! (anytime between now and Saturday the 7th at 5PM)

All our accessories will be on SALE - 7% goes back in your pocket and 7% does good in the community through the ReCYCLEry. All tubes will be ONLY $2 - we have 12" through 700c sizes, all shapes and configurations. Stock up for the summer at this awesome price!

We'll also have some new bikes to check out in the electric and cargo realms. Come see and ride our new offerings! We'll be getting electric bikes by EcoBike, tried and tested in the hills of San Francisco. http://www.ecobike-usa.com/index.asp . We'll also have a few step-through models of our Cycle 9 electric bikes available. If carrying stuff is on your mind this spring, come check out the new Radish from Xtracycle. This longtail bike is compatible with all Xtracycle accessories but not as pricey as the Big Dummy. http://store.xtracycle.com/_e/Xtracycle_Complete_Bikes/product/BK-RAD-01/_Xtracycle_Radish.htm . And brand new is the Madsen cargo bike. This longtail can carry up to 4 small kids on the rear bench seats, or load it up with anything you can throw at it. The small rear wheel (20") and extra wide kickstand make it easy to load and handle. Come in for a test ride! http://www.madsencycles.com/

See you Saturday!
Saturday MARCH 7th
10am - 5pm
601 W. Main Street, Carrboro
919-636-5909

The slow ride: geeking out on energy

2009-02-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

When I'm biking, I often have a chance to ponder things. One thing I like to ponder is the amount of energy used to transport humans and things around. My electric bike is a great way to explore that geeky subject.

Today I did an experiment. I was riding my Big Dummy with a typical load, for a gross vehicle weight of around 300 lbs. I only used the electric assist to "take the edge off" the hills. I didn't use it to increase my speed (except on hills), or to accelerate from stops. I was able to get my energy consumption for the round trip down to 6.3 watt hours per mile. In other words, my round trip consumed 90 watt-hours. Of course, I invested more of my own energy in the ride, because the ride was longer than usual, about 13 minutes extra. But I didn't feel substantially more worn out or tired, because of using the electric on the hills.

For perspective, if I kept energy use at this level, with my single 10-lb LiFePO4 battery (48V/10Ah = 480 watt hours), I could ride 76 miles! I typically use more like 16 watt hours/mile, which would reduce the range to 30 miles.

The only real difference in the ride is the speed. Normally I average around 18 mph for the ~15-18 mile ride (depending on route). Today I averaged 13 mph. Wow, that seems slow! On my road bike, I would have averaged more like 17 mph on this route. Why such a difference?

I did a little mapping of my route using bikely, an online bike route mapping tool. It can show an elevation profile of the ride. I was amazed to find out that during my round trip of 17 miles, I do a total of 1000 feet of climbing (gross, not net)! That's more than when I lived in a Canyon in the mountains of Utah. The difference is that here, it is not nearly as obvious, because that 1,000 feet comes as a series of small ups and downs (some of them quite steep). So by the end of the ride into the office, I've only gained a net of 50 feet, even though I pedaled up 550 feet of hills (and 450 more feet of climb for the ride home, with a net loss of 50 feet).

No wonder I was so slow on the cargo bike. I'm hauling at least 60-70 pounds extra compared to the road bike, with the Xtracycle, all my gear, the heavy gearhub, the battery, etc. Carrying 60-70 pounds up 1,000 feet is not a trivial energy investment. This was very instructive - I suggest that readers try it for their own routes, they might be surprised.

Now when people ask me whether I will "wean myself" from my electric assist, I will answer them: "let's see you pedal a loaded cargo bike up a 17-mile, 1,000 foot climb every day without electric assist." In reality, I would simply not do this ride every day (or more than 1-2 times per week) without electric. I would just be too wiped out to have the energy for everything else that needs energy in my life (like Cycle 9, and my full-time day job as a professor, or kids).

All of this generated some additional thoughts. When I show people the batteries for electric kits, they often ask me, "does it really make up for its own weight?" The answer is emphatically yes for shorter rides like this. On a normal day, I will do my 17 mile 1,000 foot climb with a 300+ pound bike at an average of 17 mph (riding faster than most folks could do on a road bike for this route). This definitely pays its own way. But, I wonder, how much climbing could I do, before I would I reach the "break even" point, where further climbing would just be me dragging the battery + motor up the hill. Here's a rough estimate:

The 48V/10Ah battery weighs 10 lbs, or 4.5 kg. It holds 480 watt hours, which is about 1.72 million Joules. We'll use Joules to figure out how much energy it takes to lift a 300 pound bike up a hill. Neglecting friction for the moment, the energy used in climbing is given by m g h, where m=mass of bike, g=gravitational acceleration, and h is height. So for my bike on this climb we have U (potential energy in metric units) = 136 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 * 304 m = 405 kJ of energy needed to lift the bike up those hills. If we figure the hub motor is only 80% efficient, then we used 506 kJ of energy, about 1/3 of the battery capacity. I'll address friction losses later.

Now we can estimate for just hauling the battery and motor up the hills: the motor is another 8 lbs, or 3.6 kg. With controller and wiring added in, we'll call it an even 20 lbs, or 9 kg. So, U = 9 kg * 9.9 m/s^2 * 304 m = 26,812 Joules, or accounting for 80% efficiency, 33.5 kJ. In other words, the energy used by the motor system to lift itself up the hills consumes only 2% of the energy it holds in the battery. We can approximate how far the system could lift itself before I would start having to lift it. Here, U = 1.72MJ * 0.8 (80% efficiency) = 1.37MJ = 9 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 * h. We want to solve for h, so: h = 1.37 MJ/(88.2 kg m/s^2) = 15 kM - yes, 15,568 meters. This system most definitely pays for itself - even if I'm climbing mount Everest. How high can it carry the whole bike and I, if I were too lazy to pedal? h = 1.37 MJ/(1332 kg m/s^2) = 1,208 M, or about 3,374 feet. Not bad - that's a pretty big mountain.

So there we have it - the electric system pays for itself in spades where climbing is involved.

But what about friction?

So far, I'm having trouble finding good numbers for friction on a bike. I know this: The frictional losses due to wind resistance go up with the square of the velocity (v^2). That's why when I increase my average speed from today's 13 mph to my regular 17 mph - only a 4 mph difference, or about 25% - my energy usage goes up so much. I am burning up much more energy on friction - but I am also contributing less total leg power, because I have less total time spent pedaling.

Here's a rough estimate: we know that all the potential energy gained in the 1,000 ft of climbing is burned up as friction on the way down the hills (I don't use the brakes much since the hills are short). Typically on the downhills I am traveling closer to 20mph average. So, we can get a very rough estimate of total friction, by starting with U = 405 MJ = downhill frictional losses for the downhill parts, and figuring out how much I loose on the uphills. If my speed on the uphills is 1/2 that on the downhills (average of 10 mph), then the total wind resistance losses are 1/4 of that on the downhills. Plus, I'm sure there are some additional losses for bearings in the bike and static interaction of tire to road, which we'll add in as a fudge factor of 100 kJ. So we have U = (405 kJ (downhill total) + 405 kJ * 0.25 (uphill wind) + 100 kJ (fudge)) / 0.8 (80% efficient) = 757 kJ = 210 watt hours. Yay - that is about what I actually end up using, except on days that I travel really fast, or have particularly heavy loads. So that means my estimate of frictional losses on the uphill parts, of about 205 kJ total, is in the ballpark. That's about 57 watt hours, or 8 wh/mile burnt on friction when at low speeds (total input combining motor + legs - efficiency losses of both).

That's way geeky. But, hey, it is nice to know where the energy goes, and more importantly, that my electric bike system really does carry its own weight (and then some). It all boils down to this:

1. If I want to save energy, I go slowly. It makes a very big difference.

2. At 10 mph, I'm burning around 6-8 wh/mile on friction (electric + pedaling), and at 20 mph it is around 25-30 wh/mile (electric + pedaling). At 30 mph, this rises to 60-70 wh/mile.

3. The electric system will carry itself, and me along with it, up some very big hills, as long as I don't burn up its energy on friction by going fast

4. It is fun to ride a loaded cargo bike on a 17-mile, 1,000 ft hilly commute, often passing roadies and watching in my rear view mirror as they pedal really hard to try to keep up (and knowing that I'm being super energy efficient in the process)!

Work and pleasure

2009-02-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

Today I got to combine work and pleasure: I rode 38 miles round trip on my electrified Big Dummy (the Firefly) to Duke University. I gave a seminar on Bioinformatics, and then rode home. It was a cold day out (at least for these parts), with my ride home dipping well below freezing. I brought along a thermos with hot tea, and stopped several times to top off my tea cup (mounted in my handlebar beverage holder). On the way home, I even stopped at my favorite place to ~~waste~~ spend money, A Southern Season, to buy some more tea and sundries.

Why is such a trip even of note? For a couple reasons. First, today we spoke to one of our bicycle suppliers on the phone. He was asking us about electric assist, and saying that he didn’t really “grok” (understand) the whole electric bike thing.

Today’s trip is a perfect example of why an e-bike works. I have ridden many miles on road bikes; I could have ridden the ~40 miles on my (non-electric) road bike on a recreational ride in better weather - easily. HOWEVER, I wouldn’t have done that in a down coat, with insulated boots, with a thermos of tea, with a handlebar stereo, with a large U-lock, with a full change of dress clothes (to give the talk), with my computer, with a full array of bike lights for after dark, and other miscellany. If I had ridden my road bike with that assortment of gear, I would have arrived very tired out (and also about 1 hour later).

With the e-bike, I got two hours of exercise (I was pedaling moderately the whole time), but I did the trip in luxury (especially since the Big Dummy allows me to carry so much stuff). I never got cold, since I had plenty of spare warm gear, and big heavy duty boots, down parka, etc. I was drinking hot tea for the whole ride there and back. I had good tunes. In the narrow, fast moving parts of the road, I used the electric assist to keep my speed faster to not impede traffic. I hauled my load of stuff up some steep hills without problem. I arrived for the seminar feeling good from the ride, but not worn out. I left after the talk with plenty of energy, and had a (mostly) pleasant ride home, through some back neighborhoods up some very steep hills (to avoid the more traffic filled routes).

Simply put, I wouldn’t have done this trip without the electrified longtail bike. I would have ended up driving a car. Comparing the energy usage of that:

Car: 25 miles per gallon. That’s about 1,320 watt-hours (KwH) per mile. If I still had a Prius, that might have been as good as 45 mpg (doesn’t do as well in cold weather), or 733 watt hours per mile. In other words, each mile traveled in a Prius would have consumed the equivalent of 7-hours running a 100 watt lightbulb. For the whole trip, that would would amount to 27 kWh - the equivalent of leaving a 100 watt lightbulb on in my house for 278 hours or 11 days straight (that’s with the more efficient Prius!)

Bike: 18 watt hours per mile (about 1,833 miles per gallon). The whole ride consumed 684 watt hours of electricity. That’s equal to less than one mile in the Prius, and about 1/2 mile in the big car! I could charge my battery with the equivalent of 7 hours of 100-watt lightbulb usage, easily doable with the solar panel on my roof.

Why highlight the stark difference? Simple: I never used to think about how much energy I was using when I got into the car to drive. And I suspect most people don’t. Gas has been so cheap for so long, there is no motivation to think about it. But, when put in the above context, it is all the more clear how much energy it takes to move that hulk of steel around. It doesn’t matter whether the car is electric or hybrid or whatever. It is heavy, and it travels fast. Both of those factors mean that it is intrinsically inefficient, and consumes a lot of energy. For those folks concerned about CO2 emissions, the above numbers say a lot.

But here’s the sad part. I studied the maps carefully before going, to find a route where I wasn’t going to be fighting traffic. And the best route I could find was far less than ideal. There was a 5-mile stretch of former country road, that is now used by commuter traffic. It was busy. It was narrow. It had no shoulder. And it was the least of all evils connecting the towns of Chapel Hill and Durham. Sure, I know about things like “ride big” and “take the lane”. I did those things. But as I watched in my rearview mirror for approaching traffic, it was a constant concern; would the car slow for me? Would I have to get out of the way? Statistics show that for slower-paced roads, concerns about being hit from the rear are overblown. That doesn’t change the basic human instinct to want to know what is going on behind, and not liking having a zillion cars whiz by. It is the number one reason more people don’t bike.

It just seems absolutely crazy that two neighboring college towns, Chapel Hill and Durham, don’t have a reasonable bike route connecting them. I blame this firmly on the old boy network in North Carolina’s DOT. Maybe I shouldn’t say this on a public blog, but those guys need to get their heads out of their rear ends and realize that we are in the 21st century, not the 1950’s. Maybe in the 1950’s we needed more roads to be built; now we don’t. Now, we need more bike paths, sidewalks, railways, and other means for people to get around without burning ridiculous amounts of energy. And doing this would benefit the drivers too - it is never fun for a cyclist to be passed by a bunch of cars on a narrow busy road. But it is no fun for the drivers, either. Building out infrastructure to appropriately accommodate both would make everyone’s lives better.

Would I do the trip to Durham/Duke again? Yes. It was great. Much better than sitting in a car or bus. I got exercise, and an adventure, all wrapped within some important work-related business. I would probably plan my ride for a bit less busy time, if possible. But, regardless of whether I would do it, most people just won’t face such a ride, without the kind of experience I have commuting by bike. And some people think I’m crazy, anyway. To get more people on their bikes, and less people using up tremendous amounts of energy to move metal boxes around, we need to invest in bike facilities, now.

Why isn’t that part of the economic stimulus?
(note: there are token amounts in the stimulus for bike paths, but they pale in comparison to road funds).

2008 wrap up

2008-12-31T17:39:00.001-08:00

We want to thank all our customers and friends for support over the last year of our venture here to spread bicycle love, and in the process, rethink transportation. We wouldn't be here without everyone's support, we truly appreciate it.

It has been an amazing, and challenging year. On the broader scale, 2008 will go down in the history books as a year of substantial change, most of it for the negative. The financial world has been in turmoil, dragging the economy with it. But some changes have not been bad. The crazy ups and downs of gas prices have a lot of people thinking more deeply about America's dependence on foreign oil. While various sides of the political spectrum are not necessarily in agreement about how to solve the problem, the important thing is that there is increasing consensus that something needs to be done.

Cycle 9 was founded in 2007 after we decided that we didn't just want to complain about oil dependency, but to do something about it. It always feels better trying to fix a problem than just to complain about it (even if that involves mortgaging ones house to the hilt to get a business going). Bikes won't solve every problem. Cars are useful conveyances for many purposes. But the more we use bikes and watch our energy usage in getting around, the more it becomes clear that moving a 3,000 pound hunk of steel around to transport a single human is a huge waste of energy. Many kilowatt hours of energy, for even a short trip. And bikes can be one piece of the puzzle, along with more walking, more public transit, high speed trains, and etc. At some point in our future, when oil is more scarce, I bet most of us will prefer to have that oil go towards producing our food and other necessities.

So, if we can have one wish for 2009, it is that the incoming administration realizes the importance of developing better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists in our towns and cities. By far, the biggest complaint we hear about cycling is about its "danger." While statistics show that it is probably not nearly as dangerous as many people think, statistics don't change most people's minds. Regardless of the highly controversial subject of whether bike lanes are good or bad safety-wise, it is a simple fact that bike lanes/paths promote more people biking. I was recently in Madison, Wisconsin, which has developed a network of rail-trails around the city. In warmer months, those are very well used, I saw other riders out at all times of the day.

But, here in the Southeastern USA, we have the double whammy of fast drivers and narrow roads. For many people, even if they want to bike, they just don't feel comfortable doing it on these kinds of roads. And so they get in the car. Sadly, our state's department of transportation has often been actively anti-cyclist in their road planning. Talk about lack of foresight.

When Obama announced plans for new infrastructure, he mentioned roads and bridges. I really hope he does some more thinking about this before implementing it. Certainly, some roads and some bridges do need work - those that represent the central transportation corridors should be brought to modernity. But beyond that, it is a matter of priorities. I hope we place more priority on making our cities easier to navigate by non-car means, rather than just spending willy-nilly on automobile infrastructure.

Two thousand and nine will be a challenging year. But often it is the challenges that cause people to become engaged, rise up, and work towards solutions. We sincerely hope that in trying to meet the challenges, the solutions that get implemented aren't just "more of the same." We've tried that for the past 30 years. Let's try something new - livable, walkable, bikeable cities and towns. Places where children can play in their neighborhoods again, walk to school safely, breath clean air, and not become obese by being driven everywhere. If we as a country put our minds to something, we can usually do it. I hope we will put our minds to this as our new year's resolution.

BMC motor face-off

2008-12-31T07:14:00.000-08:00

Recently, we went to one of the steepest hills around to test the new BMC 600 watt, internally geared brushless hub motors. There are two versions, a "torque" (the V2-T) and a "speed" (the V2-S). We wanted to see how they did for steep hill climbing on an Xtracycle equipped bike, and did some head-to-head rides with them. Note that Morgan is the heavier rider by about 40 lbs, so we did multiple tests by swapping bikes back and forth to get to the heart of the question, "which motor is best for climbing?"

SALE and Holiday Closure

2008-12-26T06:53:00.000-08:00

Please join us for a SALE at our retail store, Friday Dec 26 and Saturday Dec 27. All accessories on sale 15% off. Bikes also on sale $30 - $100 off. Selected other items on sale as well. We will be open regular business hours - Friday 11-6 and Saturday 10-5

We will then be closed for winter break and inventory activities Sunday Dec 28 - Thursday Jan 1. We will reopen Friday Jan 2.

Thanks to all our customers for a great year!

From the Cycle 9 team (Elise, Morgan, Kristen and Chris)

Change

2008-12-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this a few months ago, and am finally posting it. It still seems relevant today).

Change is scary. No doubt.

The world is headed towards major change, or so many people think. I regularly read several websites that talk about these changes, such as The Oil Drum, and iTulip. The mood on those sites has grown dark. The sites come from very different perspectives - iTulip from the macro-economic-political view, and The Oil Drum from a resource (mainly oil) point of view. Yet they seem to converge on the same conclusion: we are now past the peak of our wealth/opulence/lifestyles, for some time to come (or, according to the pessimists, forever). The recent major failures in monetary systems are taken as signs of systemic problems that indicate we as a society and species have been living beyond our means, both financially and resource-wise.

It gets worse. Visions of chaos, riots, political upheaval, and war are often brought out. At minimum, the specter of drastically declining lifestyles is brought up, or worse, of wealth destroyed.

It's easy to get lost in depressive visions of possible outcomes and futures.

But, for those of us doing that, it is important to step back and have some perspective.

What else is new? That cliché applies to all of the change we seeing around us. Our period in history was nearly unprecedented in its lack of major war, high degree of globalism, and so much wealth distributed so widely*. There is no time in history that 30 years of adult work would generate enough wealth to support someone through a work-free retirement, except recent history.

So if the pessimists are right, wealth-wise we are simply returning to "normal". I'm no happier than anyone else about loosing the ability to access the wealth for a nice retirement - but the skeptic in me long ago said that day would never come anyway.

Loss of wealth is scary. Just as is loss of health, loss of a loved one, or any major change. War and political upheaval are scary too.

But I do not have much control over those things. I do have some control over my own life, and how I interact with the changes.

For years, I've felt change was coming, in my gut. At times it was sickening. So I've done things to prepare, like learning to live with less. One view is: hey, if we're going to loose our wealth tomorrow, why not enjoy it to the maximum today, and party it up?

My own view is rather than partying until the end and then crashing suddenly into unplanned misfortune, I'd prefer to gently ease myself into the change. My purchase of an Xtracycle was one of the many steps taken in that direction. I am learning to live without using a car very often, even though I still own one. I keep extending the range of use of my bike, helped by newer battery technologies and electric assist. And also helped by my enjoyment of riding the bike.

That's the thing of it. I am enjoying not using the car, except for an occasional longer trip. The bike is really fun. But wait, wasn't I saying above that change is scary? Now I am saying that I'm having fun with it. How can this contradiction be explained?

As I've mentioned before, biking is more connected with my environment, it is slower, more relaxing, more enjoyable. This is a clear case where, for me, the wealth represented by an automobile does not bring happiness, but quite the opposite.

Today in USA Today (10/20/08), there was an article, "Lower Gas Prices come as a relief". With the lower gas prices recently, it states: "... motorists are no longer facing the kind of gas prices that had forced them to eat out less, avoid travel, and bike to work." As if biking to work was a real hardship! Ouch.

This goes to point out that the pain of change all depends on how one responds to that change. If, say, gas prices go to $10 in the future, that change will have only a moderate effect on me (mostly in food prices), because I don't depend on gas for my day-to-day activities any longer. I enjoy biking, and I have at least some insulation from future drastic change. My remaining car trips are mostly discretionary, and can be cut if necessary.

The same is true of things like eating locally produced food. If one develops relationships with local farms, e.g. through a CSA membership, then if gas prices go through the roof, or if other upheavals occur, one will be more insulated to change than those dependent on groceries shipped cross country. In my own experience, doing this has many other rewards, such as getting to know the people that produce my food, visiting the farmer's market regularly, and knowing that my food is grown without supporting a big agribusiness. If, in the future, I have to ride my electric-Xtracycle 30 miles to the farm to pick up my food, I can see it as a pleasant outing rather than ordeal (especially if less fast moving SUV's are on the road).

Change does not have to be painful. There may be regions of the globe where change results in very negative occurrences, such as dictatorship, war, famine, etc. Other places change could simply result in downshifting of standards of living**. Regardless, one can either choose to be happy and enjoy what they have, or to be sad and glum about what was lost and how things used to be. I think that the first step in being happy with change is being prepared for it, mentally if not physically. And then focusing on what one has, rather than what one doesn't have.

I am very happy to have my health (helped by regular bicycling), have food (transported by bicycle to my home), have shelter, have transportation (by bicycle), and have the opportunity to work on things that are interesting to me.

This results in a mostly positive outlook for whatever may come. That is not a positive outlook about the external circumstances, but about my own ability to deal with whatever those circumstances are.

Biking is a change that doesn't have to be a hardship, despite what the mainstream media may say about it. We have a lot of customers who write to us, telling us what great enjoyment they get out of riding their bikes. We have people who couldn't ride a regular bike due to a disability, but now can with an electric assist, and really enjoy it. One such customer recently had a little glitch with her bike, and while we had it in our shop, she called every day to find out how the repair was going -- she missed her bike!

It is my hope that as the change becomes more apparent, more people will discover ways to cope with the change that don't involve desperate lashing out into war or riots or whatever, in hopes of maintaining what used to be. I hope more people will find biking as a way to lessen environmental impacts, oil dependency, and health problems that are associated with automobile use.

This is the core mission of Cycle 9 - these are our values.

* Not widely enough, but moreso than any period in history.

**Scientific studies have confirmed the following relationship between wealth and happiness:
1. Being very poor, such that one can't afford food and clothing, makes people unhappy

2. Being very rich, such that one can afford any material luxury, also makes people somewhat unhappy (not as unhappy as #1, though)

3. Being of moderate means - enough to afford food, shelter, and clothing, but not a lot of extra - makes people the happiest.

Store is now open!

2008-12-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Our new store is open, at 601D W Main st. in Carrboro, NC.

Carrboro is the sister city to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The two have "grown up" and melded together. But they still retain somewhat distinct personalities. One thing we really like about Carrboro is its bicycle infrastructure. There are lots of bike paths here, that encourage people to get out an ride more.

Here's a map to the store:


View Larger Map

Brick and Mortar Store? not quite yet...

2008-12-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

Due to delays beyond our control from the power company and contractors, we haven't been able to open our doors to the public quite yet. We're clearing the hurdles one step at a time and still aiming for this weekend to be really open. We do have staff at our location during our regular business hours to answer your questions, but don't have all of our goods available for you to see and touch just yet. Stay posted everyone!

New Store open Tuesday, Dec 9

2008-12-06T08:15:00.001-08:00

We're getting closer on the new retail store, but we're still finishing some renovations on the building, waiting for the power company to turn the power on, and will be moving in this weekend. So, we anticipate being able to open the doors on Tuesday, December 9. We'll still be getting organized, but you can see and ride our bikes and check out what we've got on special for your holiday shopping. See you then!

New Retail Store

2008-11-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

After a long wait, it looks like our new retail store will be open the weekend of Dec 6-7 or at latest early the following week. It will be a bit of a work in progress for the next couple weeks, but we hope to at least have the doors open on the 6th, so come on down and check us out!

We're located at 601 W. Main Street in Carrboro. For those of you who know Carrboro, this building has been known for a long time as the "Basnight" building, for the hardware store that operated here for > 50 years. We hope that soon it will be known as the "Cycle9" building. We'll have a selection of hub motors, cargo bikes, Breezer and Marin bikes, Xtracycle kits and accessories for you to browse and try out. New store hours are as follows:

Monday closed

Tuesday 11-6

Wednesday 11-6

Thursday 11-7

Friday 11-6

Saturday 10-5

Sunday 12-5

Phone number/email will remain the same.

The Firefly: the Nuvinci/eZee Surly Big Dummy build

2008-11-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

This project took months - mostly because I've been so busy. But finally, she is here, the "Firefly" Big Dummy:

Here are the details:
Surly Big Dummy 20" frameset. Front eZee hub motor. Rear Nuvinci continuous variable gearhub. Single speed Surly Mr Whirly crankset. Dimension cruiser bars (a bit more angled out than the Nitto bars, which I like). Xtracycle longtail kit. Blue down low glow. Monkeylight front wheel spoke light. Powergrips toe straps on bear cage pedals. Rear stoker bar (using a standard stem). Planet bike fenders. WTB speed-she seat. Hayes mechanical discs 7". SweetSkinz NightWing tires. (note, you can buy all of this stuff from us, just give a call - or watch for our new web store, coming very soon).

Here are the impressions:
I might seem biased, because we sell this stuff. On the other hand, we also sell Xtracycles, and the Yuba Mundo, along with various other bikes. So I really have no motivation to be biased towards one option over the other.

That said, the Big Dummy is a smoooth machine. It rocks. I must admit, when I first heard people raving about it, my natural contrarian tendencies had me thinking it was just a bunch of hype. Well, it is not all hype. It is real.

I rode an Xtracycle/Stumpjumper combo for years, and for several months now, have been riding a Yuba Mundo. Both were great bikes. They did the job, and they did it admirably. But it is like comparing a Toyota tercel to a Lexus. Or maybe I should think of a better analogy than cars (since we're trying to encourage people to bike more!). In any case, the handling is better than either the Xtracycle or the Yuba. The loaded stability is similar to the Yuba, but better than the Xtracycle. But more than anything, it just feels like it glides over stuff.

Part of that may be due to the Nuvinci hub. Shifting is a smooth, continuous motion. There are no specific "gears". This is particularly fun when combined with the eZee electric hub. On other bikes, I found that when accelerating from a stop, I'd have to shift through a rapid succession of gears to keep up with the motor. With the Nuvinci, as I accelerate, I can just slowly twist the adjuster knob to keep my cadence matched to bike speed. It is a really incredible experience.

I was riding along a local street the other day, with my daughter on the back. I saw a woman hitchiking, it looked like she was in a big hurry to get somewhere. I stopped and asked whether she needed a ride. At first, she was incredulous, but, she quickly realized that it would be faster than walking/running, so she hopped on. She was totally wowed by the whole experience. Maybe a future longtail convert? I hope so! Or at least, maybe she'll tell some friends about it. And the cool thing is, with her, my daughter, all our stuff, and me, the bike still handled well.

Anyway, I no longer think it is hype when I see people write that the Big Dummy is the pinnacle of bikes. Certainly, there are other bikes that are better at some things - racing bikes that are much faster, cross bikes that are more nimble, and etc. But if I were to own only one bike, this would be it.

The gear range on the Nuvinci is better than I expected. I used a 32T front/ 16T rear, the maximal ratio "allowed" by Nuvinci guidelines (though I've heard it can probably be exceeded, with a loss of efficiency in the hub). This 2:1 ratio is enough to get the bike up a pretty steep hill with a moderate load, though if I kick in power from the hub motor, then it is no problem at all. But, to my surprise, at the other end, I can pedal it up to about 25 mph in "overdrive". This was a pleasant surprise, as I had expected only ~20mph from the ratios.

As I've written elsewhere, the eZee hub motor is a great pairing for a cargo bike (as is the BMC). They are relatively lightweight, but produce good torque for hill climbing, without requiring a humongous battery pack. The operation on the front of the Firefly is pretty seamless. I thought I'd notice the weight, but on this setup, it is barely noticeable.

The bike moves through corners gracefully for a longtail. The SweetSkinz cruiser-width tires (2.1") seem to roll pretty well, I'd say at least as well as the Conti Town & Country, and close to the Scwhalbe Marathon.

Ok, enough raving about it. Some more pictures, then a few notes about the Nuvinci install at the bottom.

Front view, showing light, drink holder, go-pro camera mount for my more paranoid moments.

Rear view, showing the handlebar set up.

Shot of the cool NuVinci shifter pod, and my crane bell (not a hint of plastic on this bell, the sound is puuure):

Ok, some notes about the build. The biggest issue is that the Big Dummy has vertical dropouts, but the NuVinci is mostly designed for horizontal dropouts. However, they've now included a little torque arm and a no-turn washer that work with vertical dropouts. But it still requires a chain tensioner to work (and besides, I want to run a dual front chainring at some point). I'd read various rumors of incompatibility between chain tensioners and the "shifter pod" for the Nuvinci, pictured here:

This pod converts the cable tension into a rotational force, to rotate a shaft that changes gear ratio. It was clearly not designed with the thought that one might need to run it with a chain tensioner. I contacted Fallbrook (makers of Nuvinci) about this, and despite rumors that they are coming out with a compatible chain tensioner, the rep I spoke to did not know of that, and pretty much told me to Google search. Well, I gave up on that after finding little clear information, and just decided to order a Paul Melvin chain tensioner, and to "make" it work.

After getting the hub installed, and running the two cables (yes, it requires running two cable housings and cables for the gear changer to work), I quickly discovered the problem. That little plastic pod has to lock down onto a little disc underneath it, or it will just fall off. But the chain tensioner is in the way of it doing so. One solution I saw to this is just zip tying the thing on. Not my favorite solution. So I approached it a different way :) I got out the diagonal cutters, and started snipping away plastic on the pod, until there was clearance for the tensioner. Here is a picture of the cutaway:

It was a fair bit of cutting that had to be done, but fortunately, I was able to do it without obviously ruining the structural integrity of the pod. I hope that in a future version of the hub, they redesign the pod to avoid this. But all in all, it would be a quick and easy procedure to repeat.

However, not long after I did this, I ran across the Kore Chain Reactor, which uses a chainstay mount. That might actually work without any hacking at the shifter pod.

The wheel build on the Nuvinci was very much like building up an electric hub motor. It has to be done in a 2-cross or 1-cross spoke pattern, since a higher cross pattern results in too much spoke flex at the nipples. We used 2 cross, on a Sun Mammoth rim, and DH13 spokes, to produce an incredibly beefy wheel. (We can build these on request, just contact us).

I was able to locate the motor controller in a mostly out-of-sight location, underneath the chainstay tube (is there a better name for this on the Big Dummy?). I like that it hides most of the wiring, but it is also somewhat vulnerable there if I decide to do some curb hopping. The jury is out on this.

Not much else to say.... it built up well, and rides well.

Store update

2008-11-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

The new store at 601 W Main St, Carrboro, is coming along well. A lot of the rough work is finished, but there are many details left to complete. We may have been a bit too ambitious for a Dec 1st opening, since that is less than a week away. But we're aiming hard to be open the following weekend, by Dec 6th. In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog or contact page for updates. Sometime in December we'll have a grand (re)opening sale.

The right electric motor

2008-11-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today I finished my Surly Big Dummy build up. I'll post about that in more detail soon (with pictures). Before that, I'd been riding a Yuba Mundo recently, with one of the new BMC V2 motors. That V2 motor has a top speed of about 28mph at 36V, and higher still at 48V. It is very fast. But, the Yuba is geared such that its fastest gear only allows pedaling at about 17 mph. This means that if I had the throttle going pedal to the metal, my pedaling was useless - the bike was going too fast, and it was like a motorcycle. I was starting to get used to not pedaling if I wanted to go fast.

The Big Dummy is built with an eZee hub motor in front, and a Nuvinci continuous variable transmission in the rear for pedaling (by the way, we sell these built into wheels - someday we'll list them on our website). The eZee has a top speed around 21mph at 36 volts, and the way I have the Nuvinci set up, I can pedal the bike up to around 24-25 mph.

I noticed a difference right away. I realized how much I really missed pedaling the bike on the Yuba. It is funny - when I visited China a while back, lots of people had electric bikes, but almost nobody pedaled one. But, I (re)discovered that I like pedaling.

This made me decide - I don't want an electric bike that can go 35 mph, except on the rare occasion when I have to get somewhere in a hurry. I enjoy the more leisure pace of biking. A 20 mph hub motor provides a great balance of assistance, without dominating over the rider's pedaling effort. It is about the right amount of power to provide a balanced human-hybrid electric drive that gives exercise while getting me there in style. I might on occasion hop on the faster electric bikes to zip around (and to zoom by the little motor scooters that can't keep up - seriously, the V2-S BMC is FAST), but for the most part I'm going to enjoy bicycling pace, which is slower, more relaxing, and provides more exercise.

Used Xtracycle bikes - save big on a sports utility bike

2008-11-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

In addition to a used Big Dummy, we have two Xtracycle equipped bikes for sale.

First up is a bike that was sold to a customer, used less than 10 times, then returned by the customer because she wasn't able to use it. This is a Marin San Rafael Euro (now called the EZ Step), wedded to an Xtracycle Freeradical kit. Brand new, this setup retails for about $1,100. We are offering this used for $790 - over $300 off the normal price, for a very lightly used bike. The frame is 17", designed for someone who is in the low to mid 5' range, height wise. Please drop us a line if you are interested. Here are some pictures:

Second up is Morgan's own used Xtracycle. She is building up a new Big Dummy for herself, with a slick continuously variable transmission by Nuvinci. So, sadly, her trusty Xtracycle rig has to go. This is a classic - based on a pink 1992 Stumpjumper frame made with Tange Prestige tubing and matching Specialized rigid fork. The bike has Deore XT components, a really nice Bontrager road triple crankset, platform pedals, and of course, the Xtracycle. Morgan is asking $525 for this, so it is like getting a used Xtracycle kit for $350 and bike for $175. Or something like that. Did I mention that it has the very comfortable Nitto Albatross bars? Or the SweetSkinz nightwing tires?

This bike setup is ideal for a tall(ish) person, 5'11-6'3 or thereabouts. Drop us a line if you'd like to see the bike, or inquire about having it shipped.

Now is a great time to get one of these - last summer, these were sold out nationwide for three months.

Gas will get expensive again....

Used Big Dummy - save gas, haul kids, groceries, more

2008-11-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

We have a couple of nice used sports utility/cargo/family bikes to clear out, to make way for some new stuff when our new store opens in a few weeks.

If you don't like the price, please make us an offer... we will consider it. For folks outside central NC, we can ship the bikes, but we will have to partially disassemble them for shipping. So we want to make sure that they'll be put back together properly at the receiving end. Our preference is to ship to your favorite bike shop to have them do the assembly, but that is negotiable.

First up is a very lightly used

Surly Big Dummy

. It is an 18" frame, good for medium-tall folks. This is the nicest longtail bike available on the market. This bike was lovingly built by one of our employees, then he ended up deciding to move out of the state. We bought the bike back from him and are now offering it for sale.

Combining Surly’s impressive frame-building with Xtracycle’s unique cargo-carrying system, this bike will do everything your car used to do -

without the gasoline

. You can safely tote up to 200 lbs. of cargo and passengers on the Xtracycle’s top deck and in the specially-designed panniers. Here’s an excerpt from the Surly website:

"What does a Big Dummy do? Using Xtracycle plug-in components, it hauls your groceries, tools, human and animal friends, surfboard, work duds, briefcase, vacuum cleaner, firewood, moonshine, camping gear, banjo, mulch, and anything else you can imagine, while providing the functionality, durability, and sweet ride characteristics that Surly bikes are known for. Use the Big Dummy for commuting to work, running errands, taking the kids to school, farm/yard work, touring, or just riding around cuz it’s fun.
"What are some advantages of the Big Dummy vs. other cargo carrying systems? 1) It’s shorter than a bike + trailer system, so it can be easier to maneuver through traffic. 2) Compared to messenger bag or backpack, it won’t put strain on your back and shoulders. 3) Two wheels, vs. three or four on a bike + trailer system, keep rolling resistance, rotating mass, and overall weight to a minimum. 4) A longer-than-average wheelbase makes it predictable and comfortable for the long haul. 5) It offers more cargo capacity than a bike + rack system, while keeping most of the weight low and centered between the wheels for increased stability. 6) It’s modular and versatile. You only have to carry the accessories that are needed for your task. 7) It rides like a bike, on- and off-road. No trailer-induced death sway, no weird front-end shimmy."

We’re selling this bike gently used. The frame and fork are in great condition, with no scratches or dents, and the bike’s been given a complete tune-up. Aside from a couple scratches on the Xtracycle deck and dirt on the fenders, the bike looks nearly new.
Here’s what we’ve got built up:
Surly Big Dummy frame and fork, TIG-welded Surly 4130 CroMoly steel, military green

Frame measures 18” center of BB to top of top tube

Suspension-corrected rigid fork has both disc and canti brake mounts

Four bottle cage mounts; braze-on guides with continuous cable housing

Medium-width steel cruiser handlebar with red Oury grips

SRAM X.7 grip-twist shifters, Avid Juicy 3 hydraulic brake levers

TruVativ Team stem

Cane Creek Solos 1 1/8” threadless headset, blue

WTB Dual Duty XC 26” front wheel, black w/ black spokes

Schwalbe Marathon tires, 26 x 1.75

Avid Juicy 3 disc brakes w/ 160 mm rotors

Planet Bike hardcore wide ATB fenders, yellow

TruVativ Blaze ISIS Drive triple crankset and sealed-cartridge BB

GT platform pedals

SRAM X.5 top-pull front derailleur

Guizzo suspension seatpost

Brooks B-17 saddle, black

SRAM X.7 rear derailleur

SRAM PC991 chains

9-speed rear cassette

Hebie spring-loaded kickstand

Xtracycle longtail accessory kit, including side rails (V-Racks), panniers (FreeLoaders), and custom-painted red removable top platform (Snapdeck).
The Big Dummy is compatible with all Xtracycle accessories and add-on components, including Footsies (foot platforms for your passengers!) and the Adventure Rack (put in place of the V-Rack on one or both sides, it allows you to use two regular bicycle panniers per side). If you need any other accessories (lights, bags, bottle cages, etc.), just ask.
The frame alone retails at over $1000; our complete build was around $2200. This one-of-a-kind vehicle is yours for $1940.
If you’re ready to come see it in person, we’ll be set up at Johnny’s Sporting Goods, 901 W. Main Street in Carrboro, on Saturdays in November from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. You can also call or email to set up a weekday appointment at our Carrboro office.

The Yuba Mundo BMC Forsen two wheel drive electric bike!

2008-10-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things about owning a bike shop, especially an electric one, is getting to try out fun and crazy new things.

We recently received a batch of new BMC motors, dubbed variously "600W" or "version 2" (V2). They are purported to be for higher speed use.

We decided to set up the BMC motor on the Yuba Mundo as a rear wheel drive, and the Mundo already has a Forsen 1000W/36V motor on the front. Why not? An all wheel drive bicycle with about 1800 watts of power. Somehow that seems appropriate for the Yuba, which can carry over 400lbs of cargo.

Pictures are below. Brief details:
- Yuba Mundo, a longtail cargo bike that is rock solid for carrying kids, gear, groceries, whatever
- Two LiFEPO4 10Ah batteries capable of about 40-50A output
- Front Forsen 36V 1000W hub motor. It is a high speed (up to 40 mph on the stand), low(ish) torque motor
- Rear BMC V2 600W hub motor. It is also a high speed (up to 30 mph on the stand), medium torque motor
- Right twist throttle pointing away from the Shimano twist shifter
- Left thumb throttle
- Lots of fun

The Yuba's gear range is not super wide, so by pedaling alone, the top speed is around 17 mph. However, this bike will easily accelerate to 27 mph with no pedaling, using the two motors. It sucks down some batteries, however - at 25 mph, it draws about 22 Amps, which equates to about 1000W continuous. With both motors, this bike will accelerate up hill, fast.

One more note before the pictures - everything here is only temporary, so there was no attempt made to make it aesthetically pleasing. On the bike configurations we ride every day, and the configurations for our customers, we work harder on the aesthetics.

I'll just close with the thought that the Yuba makes a great bike for an electric setup like this - because it can haul so much weight, mounting a bunch of batteries on there is of no concern. The longer wheelbase makes it very stable even with a big load. And, the baloon tires with steel frame take up shocks in the road pretty well.

Morgan

New retail showroom coming!

2008-10-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Cycle 9 is coming to Carrboro! We've signed on the dotted line, paid lots of money, and gambled that Carrboro is the right place to be for a store like ours.

Starting about December 1st, our new location will be on 601 West Main Street, where the hardware store used to be. We'll be taking half of that building for Cycle 9. This is right next to the tall red brick condominium, up the street from the Gym and print shop. Not too far from our friends at Johnny's, either.

We'll post a picture here soon.

We have lots of other news and writing to post here, which is coming soon.

Please stay tuned for a Grand Opening announcement.

Batteries are the crux!

2008-10-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has had experience with electric vehicles will come to find out that the energy storage device (usually battery) is the crux of the vehicle. On an electric bicycle, the battery has the biggest effect on the weight and performance of the vehicle.

Here are some battery types commonly used on electric bikes:

-

Sealed lead acid (SLA)

- these have been around for a long time. They are reliable, but they are very heavy, and they can only handle about 200 charge/discharge cycles for typical electric vehicle (EV) use. A typical 36-volt SLA pack weighs in at almost 40 pounds. And to make them last, it is necessary to treat them very well, by always (always!) charging them immediately after use, and never (never!) running them down too low. We try to encourage customers to look at other solutions than SLA, because they will end up having to be replaced every 1-3 years, and so in the long run, they cost more. But for someone just starting out with an electric bike, they are a good option, just to see how the ebike works out, since they represent a low investment threshold (typically $100 or so for a 36 volt lead acid pack).

-

Nickel cadmium (Nicad)

- these have also been around for quite a while. These are substantially lighter (a little more than 60%) than lead acids, and are well suited for electric bike use. They handle high discharge rates reasonably well, they can be discharged all the way without damage (in fact, it is good for them on occasion), they handle low temperatures, they don't need complicated battery management circuitry, and they often last up to 800 charge/discharge cycles. They cost 2-3x more than lead acid, but they last 3-4x longer, meaning that over the long haul, they are a better value. Their main downside is that they contain Cadmium, a toxic metal, so they must be recycled properly after they finally die.

-

Nickel metal hydride (NiMH)

- these are also a nice chemistry, which are a bit lighter than Nicad for comparable energy storage. They also handle high currents reasonably well, and do not need fancy electronic battery management circuitry. However, NiMH does not like to be fully discharged - if done so repeatedly, they will not live as long. In our experience for ebike use, the Nicads seem to last longer. Also, NiMH is quite expensive right now.

-

Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)

- there are actually several types of lithium ion battery. The three most common chemistries are lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganese, and lithium iron phosphate. Any one of these can be labelled "lithium ion," but they have very different properties. Lithium cobalt oxide is very lightweight (high power density), but has a big problem - it likes to catch on fire if short circuited or abused. So few if any people use these for electric vehicles.

Lithium manganese (Li-Mn)

is much safer, but weighs a bit more. It lasts about 500 charge/discharge cycles. This is a very common battery chemistry for electric bikes, and is quite reliable and safe in practice. It provides a nice balance of cost/weight/safety. Several of our kits, such as the eZee hub motor kit and our new Cycle9/Txed/8fun kit (watch our blog for details) include a Li-Mn battery.

- Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) - these are the latest/greatest (and much hyped) electric vehicle battery solution. In theory, these cells will last upwards of 2,000 charge/discharge cycles. They are extremely stable/safe, and somewhat tolerant of abuse. They can handle high discharge rates, though that depends on who makes them. They are about the same weight as Lithium Manganese, i.e. about 10 lbs for a 36V/10Ah pack (common electric bike size).

We are excited about LiFePO4 technology, but we have become a bit more cautious about it. We've found that these batteries vary widely in their quality and their ability to output currents sufficient for electric bicycle use,

depending on who makes them

. We've had long-term (1 year) experience with packs from several suppliers, with greatly varying results. This picture shows what we've had to do to fix packs for customers, supplied by one Chinese supplier:

This situation was no fun for us (we spent a lot of time replacing cells and reprogramming the battery management system, BMS) - and it was no fun for the customer who had to wait while we did that.

There are a few reputable Chinese LiFEPO4 suppliers, and we are continuing to examine options for a Chinese-supplied LiFEPO4 pack, because they are less expensive. We have 3 packs

~~on the way~~

here from one supplier who claims to have rigorous quality assurance procedures in place. If that testing goes well, we will begin selling them as a "beta test" situation, at a reduced price (

). Those are cylinder-cell based, 10Ah 36V LiFEPO4, with an external balancing charger, and 6 month warranty provided by the same company that provides the BMC hub motors. The good thing about these is that warranty/support is US based. The other good thing is that the packs are long and narrow (3.25"x3.25"x13.5"), making them a good candidate for attaching to a bike downtube or seat tube by your favorite attachment mechanism (duct tape works, though is not pretty). One downside is that they have very thin discharge wires. I am promised by the supplier that these hold up over time in the field, but I am thinking I may replace them with larger gauge wiring at some point.

My own opinion on those is that they should work reasonably well for bike setups with discharge rates below 20A. While they are rated up to 30A, past experience tells me it is never good to push the limits on such a rating, or cell failures are a likely result. One solution to this problem for higher-current needs is to double up on capacity, i.e. get a higher capacity battery (20Ah instead of 10Ah), which can handle higher discharges. Another is to put two batteries in parallel, so each one is providing approximately half the current. I use that solution on my bike, with two 10Ah (36V) LiFEPO4 packs in parallel to provide up to 35A for my current-hungry controller. Before, I was using just a single 10Ah pack and it was clearly unhappy with 35A - I ended up replacing a failed cell. But now that I have them in parallel, things have stabilized.

So, all that said, the most field-proven LiFEPO4 batteries that can handle high currents and really do live up to the hype in most cases are Taiwanese-made cells (and US made cells, if you can get them).

However, the USA and Taiwanese-made LiFEPO4 packs (like A123 systems) tend to induce a bit of sticker shock. But, for those who can overcome that shock, they are worth it in the long haul.

One Taiwanese supplier of LiFEPO4 is Phisiang. We've carried some of their packs in the past, like the one pictured here:

These are nice packs, and have been very reliable. However, they have two issues:

- They are low capacity only, 7Ah for the 36V version. That's a pretty small pack. Also, the discharge rate is limited to around 20A. For such an expensive battery, it is unfortunate that the packs can't handle higher currents. PHET makes larger packs, but they are unwieldy and not cost effective

- The responsiveness of the company to warranty issues (we've only had one) is not the best. Problems get resolved, but slowly and with big shipping expenses overseas.

We can still get these batteries for customers who request them, but we aren't stocking these anymore.

We looked around for a suitable replacement that has a similar quality, but higher capacity and better support. The result of that is we are now a LifeBatt distributor. This is a premium LiFEPO4 battery that is guaranteed for 3 years, and can handle the high currents required for electric bike use.

This battery features cells that can handle up to around 100 amps (10C rates), with a sophisticated onboard battery management system (BMS) for cell balancing and monitoring. There is a serial port on the battery for diagnostics, and a low-voltage-cutoff circuit can (should) be added for electric vehicles where there is not a low voltage cutoff in the controller.

More pricing and information will be available soon, but we've pictured below the 36V 10Ah pack, which is $750 plus shipping, from Taiwan.

We'd love to stop there and be done with it - the LifeBatt packs look to be really nice over the long haul. However, there are still two things to consider. First, the shape and size of the packs is not optimal for many electric vehicle configurations. Second, one of the owners of the LifeBatt company has had conflicts on public forums with various members of the electric bike community. We won't take sides in that, but we will say that we understand that there are some people who don't want to buy a LifeBatt for that reason.

So we are now on our way to another option. We will be building up custom packs for customers on request, using the same high quality Taiwanese made cells that go into the LifeBatt. We cannot claim that these are for electric bike use, because there are various patent battles over who owns the rights to LiFEPO4, and who can use them on e-bikes (silly IMHO, but that's for another blog post). But we can say that we would have difficulty preventing a customer from putting one of these on his or her bike (especially if that customer doesn't tell us about it). And we can also say that we are planning a configuration that is more amenable to strapping these packs to various kinds of metallic tubing that comes in, say, 3/4"-2" shapes/sizes. And our price will be competitive with other packs made from similar high quality cells. Interested? We are about to begin the first batch, and it will be limited to about 4 packs total, two of which are already spoken for. Please contact us if you want to know more.

Now, finally - in the meantime, we also continue to stock other options, such as Nicads that provide a viable and lower cost alternative to LiFEPO4. We have one Nicad pack that is triangular, and fits right into a triangular bag in the main triangle of the bike frame. That's a pretty nice configuration, for a much lower expense.

We will be announcing our new web-store soon, and all our battery options will be listed there. Or, you can

browse our current store, here.

Morgan

BMC Hub motors cont'd

2008-10-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

We've had a great time testing the BMC V1 (alternatively called "Puma" and/or "400W"). It is a nice little motor that has great torque for its size, it is quiet, and so far, very reliable. We have one of these left, a wheel with a 2-cross black spoke pattern, pictured below. This is the last one we'll have for sale at our beta-test price of $550 (includes controller, thumb throttle, motor/wheel). After we get feedback from our testers, we'll be re-offering these at their market price, which will be higher.

If you want to be our final beta tester, you can use the paypal button below, or contact us. Note that with a beta test, you need to realize that you will be getting a reduced price, in return for your patience in case there are unanticipated problems (e.g. if spokes break, wheel comes out of true, etc). We will work with you to fix any problems if they occur. We also ask that after you use it for 1-2 months, you give us feedback.

News from the front in the war on bike purism

2008-10-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on this week, with moving our store to a smaller, temporary space while we sort out our permanent retail showroom. Nonetheless, the wheels of my mind are always turning, and here are a few resulting random thoughts:

-----
On the financial situation in the US. This is the big, big news. I can feel it in the air - everyone senses change is coming. Yes it is. The current blow-up in the big banks was not at all surprising to me. I've been reading this great site, itulip.com, for several years now. Eric Jantzen, its founder takes the long view based on history about our present situation, which he predicted quite accurately a few years ago. It is a large and complex problem that boils down to one simple thing: the USA has way too much debt. It is not just government, it is all of us. We are in hawk up to our ears as a nation. And our creditors are nations like China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Our continued spending spree is dependent upon them continuing to provide us an ever expanding credit line. Let's compare this to personal finances. One can get ever bigger credit lines and get further in further in debt - to a point. But when the creditors decide that the debts are too big to pay, they stop lending new money. What would (will) happen if (when) these countries decide to stop funding our profligate spending as a country? To sum up: ouch. A big change in the way most of us live, at least until we figure out how to get our manufacturing businesses re-started and re-build an economy based on true value, not just Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE, a term coined by Mr. Jantzen).

What does this have to do with bikes? Two things. First, a big portion of our debt as a nation are the > $500 billion per year we spend importing oil. What do we provide in return for those 4.8 billion barrels of oil we import per year? Create paper (or electronic) money. Money that can be printed, or at least created out of thin air as new treasury issues (i.e. debt). We are racking up the mother of all debts - debts that will be very hard to repay with anything of concrete value, unless we sell off all our assets to foreigners. The best way to reduce this debt, here and now, is for all of us to use less oil. Based on my own personal experience, electric bikes are the best available option, here and now, not some pie in the sky electric car that may or may not exist in the future at a price that may or may not be affordable to most of us.

But second, we as a business feel a responsibility to our community. We think that at least some of our products need to be produced locally. It is a long road from where we are now to that future, because in the past years, it's been pretty darn hard to compete with the Chinese and other countries on labor costs. But that is changing, slowly. Shipping costs are rising, while the dollar is sinking (see the stuff about our debt above, for an explanation of why). This means that as currencies like the Chinese Yuan rise against the dollar, imported products will get a lot more expensive. This is likely to re-balance the equation back towards making it favorable to produce at least some products at home. We are already starting in small ways - we build our own BMC wheels up in house, and we are designing a new DC/DC converter to power bike lights, stereos, coolers, etc directly from the main bike battery. That, too, will be produced locally. Those are small but important steps, providing local employment, and a tiny bit of insulation against drastic changes in world trade as various currencies re-balance.

-------

The eZee 26" kits are back in stock. These are still one of our favorite kits for upgrading a bike to electric - light weight and reliable. Also, easy to install.

-------

We've had a lot of inquiries about the BMC hub motors. We hand-build each wheel, so we'll be working hard to keep up with the interest.

Our next batch will be the new BMC V2 motors, which are capable of higher power and speed. Nominally rated at 600W, the new V2 motors have heavier wiring and internals to allow more extreme usage. They are capable of peak power of up to 1200W or so. We'll post more here as we get these in our hands and on our bikes for testing. We also have a V3 wheel (1000W) for testing. That wheel is supposed to be very, very fast.

-------

Well, the title of this entry mentions bike purism. I recently saw an article about the explosion of electric bicycles now available in the market. Some of the commenters wrote in with a negative attitude about electric bikes. The objections raised are the same ones I've been hearing since my first e-bike in 1994: why do you need power when you have perfectly good legs? Are you a wimp? When will you "graduate to a real bike?"

I do not think everyone needs an electric bike. There are plenty of people who are young, fit, or live close enough to work/shopping/etc that they are perfectly happy biking by leg power alone. That's great - I own 4 non-electrified bikes, and I use them often, and love them. But I also use and love my electric bike, for a variety of reasons that include: it is fun, it is great when I'm tired, it helps me carry heavy loads on my bike, it is more energy efficient than pedaling (because the food that I eat is transported mostly by oil-powered vehicles), it is great for hot weather, it helps keep me in shape, and it encourages me to ride the bike every single day and for all my errands.

So, my question is, why do the "purists" have to dump trash on the rest of us who find an electric bike practical and useful in our own lives? Excepting when I go on a rant like this one about their anti-ebike views, I don't trash on their choice of bikes. I've never once said "fixies are stupid" (referring to the trendy fixed gear bikes). What is it that compels such folks to have such an anti-ebike stance? I think it stems from the attitude that bikes are all about racing and recreation, and not for real transportation.

I've had multiple customers call up to tell us the same thing. They go into their local bike shop, and ask about an electric assist motor, and the bike shop folks look at them like they are aliens. They walk out, search on the web, and find us.

Seriously, there are many good things about ebikes, and it surprises me that so many in the bike industry in the US are so unaware of these facts:
1. Electric bikes are the most efficient form of transportation on the planet. They get over 2,000 miles per gallon equivalent.

2. Electric bikes encourage more people to ride. They help people who are out of shape, or in shape, get back on the bicycle and get in the car less. This leads to less oil use, less pollution, and a lot more fit people, reducing healthcare costs for us all.

3. A little racing bike is a lot of fun, but it is not meant to carry the items that most people need to carry in their day to day lives. For example: today I used my electric cargo bike to transport my daughter 9 miles each way to and from daycare, I picked up Chinese take out food, I stopped at the hardware store and bought a set of items including a large 3' x 3' screen protector, and I had a change of clothes handy for an important business meeting. I rode over 30 miles, transporting these things with an electric assist, that consumed a total of about 500 watt-hours of power, which costs about $0.07 (seven cents). By comparison, a typical SUV would have consumed 1.5 gallons of gas ($6.00), equivalent to 55 kWh of energy. That is 110 times the amount of energy, and 85 times the cost. A Toyota Prius is better, but still not great: optimistically estimating 50mpg for in town use, it would be about $2.40 for gas (34 times as expensive as my bike, not counting the difference in maintenance and depreciation costs), but more importantly, the Prius would consume at least 22kWh of energy, or 44 times the energy that I used on my bike. Do the purists really prefer that I just keep burning oil?

4. Electric bikes are not very complicated, but for a shop to provide good support and repairs, they do have to understand electricity. I understand why typical bike shops are reluctant in this regard. In our shop, we have a group of people with degrees in Physics, Biology, Computer Science, and (most of) a math degree. With that kind of background, figuring out what's wrong in an electrical system is not rocket science (it's not like what I do in my day job, which is developing computer programs to analyze genomes). But the typical bike person is not versed in volts, amps, power, and etc. I hope someday the USA will get to the point where many bike shops are versed in these things, because that will help all of us. But that will take a lot of time. In the meantime, I just wish those folks who complain about e-bikes being "difficult to fix" would just come out and admit that the reason they are "hard to fix" is because the person making this statement doesn't have the proper training to fix them.

5. I'm not going to "graduate" to a real bike (seriously, I've been asked when I will "graduate")! I have non electric bikes, and I ride them fast and hard. But I ride my electric bike fast and hard too. It is a great bike. There is nothing to graduate to, except an even more advanced electric bike.

C'mon bike purists, let it lie. There are more important battles to fight that affect all of us who bike, like getting better bike facilities and friendliness in our cities.

------

And finally, something that all cyclists should cheer about (electric or not): The "Bicycle Commuter Act" passed as part of the Financial Bailout Package. This provides a tax credit for "Any qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement," of up to $240 per year ($20 per month that the bike is used for commuting). We're not tax experts, but it seems that a bicycle hub motor used in commuting should qualify... (ask your tax person to be sure!)

Cycle9 is Moving!

2008-09-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Business at the Cycle9 retail store has been good this summer, and as a result, we've decided to move into the Town of Carrboro. This move will allow local folks easier access to our store and entice new people to come check out what electric-assist and cargo bikes can do to change their lives. We are still finalizing the details of our new in-town location, soon to be announced. In the meantime, we had to vacate our current location, so as of October 1, we will be in temporary digs. The good news is we will be out and about with the bikes, available for test rides as always. The first weekend of October (4-5) come see us at the

Jordan Lake Arts and Music Festival

. We will be in attendance both Saturday and Sunday. Starting the following Saturday (October 11) we will be at the Farmer's (and other fun stuff) Market at Johnny's Sporting Goods in Carrboro (

901 W. Main St

). This event goes on from 9-2 every Saturday. Come on down for crepes, coffee, local food, and of course test rides and purchases. We'll attend this event until our new space becomes available (watch the website for updates).

In addition to our weekend events, we will be available for bike pick up/drop off or other business by appointment at our office location,

204 W. Main Street

in Carrboro. Please call (919-636-5909) or email (cycle9sports at gmail.com) and we'd be happy to meet you. Our phone number and email addresses will remain the same. Our online store will remain open, and in fact, we hope to use this time to update the ease and use of our online store. With any luck, we'll soon be moving into a great new space and ready to serve you all again.
Thanks! - The Cycle9 Team

Installation of the new BMC Puma 450 watt geared bicycle hub motor

2008-09-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

Your fearless Cycle 9 staff is constantly on the watch for new types of motors/bikes/gear. One item that caught our eyes recently was the BMC "Puma" hub motor. This mysterious beast has been seen occasionally out in the wilde(sic), but not too many people seem to know much about it.
We decided to check it out, since on paper it looks very nice:
- Brushless 450W nominal, 800W peak rated power
- Internally geared 4.8:1 drive system, that means increased torque in a smaller package
- Light weight compared to e.g. Crystalytes and Forsen motors
- It comes from a reputable motor manufacturing company. They make industrial motors for all kinds of applications.
- Included thumb throttle with basic battery status indicator
- 25A controller with low voltage battery protection, and waterproofed thoroughly (the electrical components are embedded in so-called potting material, which is impenetrable by water). Designed for 36 or 37 volt nominal battery systems.
- Good cost.
We ordered a few up, built the wheels, and Morgan installed one on an Xtracycle equipped bike. Here are some pictures of the installation:

Bare motor after wheel build:

Installing freewheel (this one is a six speed, but it can take up to eight):

Freewheel installed with the three washers: dropout positioning washer (a rudimentary torque arm), flat washer, and lock washer:

Installing rim tape to prevent spoke holes in tube. We like cloth rim tape.

Bike with Xtracycle upside down, ready for BMC hub motor:

Tightening down the axle bolts. Make sure to get them very tight, or spinouts can occur, which can tear the phase wires. Also, make sure washers are totally flat against the drop-out area. If not flat due to some protrusion, you'll either need to use a different/smaller washer, or use a tool (e.g. Dremel) to grind down the protrusion on the dropout

This shows the derailleur side, with a six speed freewheel (up to eight are usable with the BMC):

Controller, taped to the stay of the Xtracycle. It is good to mount the controller outside, against the frame, because the frame acts as a heat sink:

Plugging everything together. This shows the primary motor phase wires being plugged in. There is only one way this connection will fit together (the right way!):

Installing the thumb throttle. The BMC kit comes with a standard thumb throttle that includes a power light and basic battery charge indicator light. The install is pretty straightforward, though with certain types of shifters, there can be interference issues that need to be worked out. Picture shows tightening down the set screw with a 3mm hex key:

After putting a new wheel on, usually it is necessary to re-adjust the rim brakes for correct alignment and toe-in. If you ignore this step, the pads may squeal, or worse, rub on the tire and destroy it. This step does not apply to disc brakes (there's a different set of issues with those). The BMC does come ready for disc brakes, though we haven't yet tried that feature.

The installed BMC 450W Puma motor in the Xtracycle Freeradical:

The bike put back together. Note that it still has my original (large) Crystalyte controller as well. I took that off later after confirming that the BMC controller did indeed work:

I've now used this on my bike for several days, including daughter carrying, and other moderate loads. I have about 40 miles on it so far. I am powering it with some Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFEPO4) batteries at present.

Overall, I am impressed. It has good torque and good hill climbing. It is very efficient, and quiet. My watt-hours per mile are pretty low using this - around 13 wh/mi the first 20 miles, then around 16 for the last 20 (when I was carrying my daughter and in a hurry). It is very similar in overall "feel" to the eZee, though perhaps a bit more quiet. I'm not so excited about the thumb throttle, just because I prefer twist throttles. But installing a different throttle should be straightforward. Anyway, I didn't measure the weight before putting it on the bike, but it feels very similar to the eZee, which is around 10 lbs for motor + wheel (significantly lighter than Crystalyte motors). I will measure the weight of the next one we build up.

Top speed was actually a bit better than expected, depending on the voltage of the battery pack (i.e. whether it was just charged, or not). At 38V, the top speed was around 23 mph, and at 34V, it was more like 21mph. The power curve "feels" fairly flat (a good thing). For two days' riding over hilly terrain, on the Xtracycle, carrying my daughter (45 lbs) half the time, I averaged just shy of 18mph (including a fair number of stop lights and signs). That is a respectable number.

It does have a "soft-start" feature, meaning that when the throttle is activated, it takes 1/2 second to start going, and then ramps up a bit slowly at first. This was apparently implemented for safety reasons (and it also helps conserve battery). Some customers will like it, others will hate it. For those who don't like it, we've been informed that it is a simple modification to the controller to get rid of it, and let the motor just "take off".

The only issue I noted on the first day was that when the battery voltage got low (< 31 V), the motor seemed to "chug" or struggle. I think this was the low voltage cutout happening to protect the battery. It only happened at higher currents (> 13A). It was possible to avoid it by taking it easy on the throttle. That's probably a good idea anyway when the battery is getting low (especially NiMH or lead acid, which can be damaged if over-discharged).

For the technical crowd, peak Amps from the controller was ~21, and peak Watts was about 790. This is a nice mid-power range.

We are building these up with beefy 2.0 mm spokes, brass nipples, and Sun Rhyno Lite wheels. We like these wheels because they are pretty solid and cost effective.

Now, for those patient or interested enough to wade through all that, here's the scoop on availability. We will be selling some in limited quantities at an introductory price of $550, for wheel/motor, controller, and throttle. After we are happy that all is good with these, we'll raise the price. To get one at this price, you'll need to convince us that you can handle a "beta test," meaning that until we have more experience with reliability, there could be down time or other issues. We'll of course back up problems with warranty, but we can't guarantee that we'll be able to Fedex you the fix by the next morning. You'll also need to be technically inclined enough to do installation and basic troubleshooting (or, if you are a local customer around the Triangle, we can do that stuff).

Right now, we have 3 of the rear motors available, two being built into 26" wheels, and one into a 700C wheel. If you want to get your hands on one, please drop us a line. We're pretty excited about having another nice, lightweight geared hub motor to offer. And if it stands the test of my use, that's saying something... (I am pretty abusive on gear, and also picky).

Morgan

Yubas back in stock

2008-09-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

As we near the end of the summer season and enter the fall, we're getting some more things back in stock. We recently got a new shipment of Yuba Mundo cargo bikes, ready to ride! Also, for local customers, the Xtracycles are here!. And we have a few Big Dummy frames in stock and ready for us or you to build into the cargo bike of your dreams. Those are on sale right now. So now's the time to think about making the switch to grocery-getting on your bike.
For people looking for hub motors, we're getting more eZee and some Crystalyte kits in so keep an eye on our website or call our store for current supply information.
Happy Riding!
-Elise

Peak oil: it's only an idea

2008-09-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't yet followed up on my third post about peak oil, the concept that initially led us to open Cycle 9. In a nutshell, that concept is that after world oil production peaks, oil will become more scarce and thus much more costly, impacting the US and world economy in a myriad of ways. If one reads sites like the oil drum, it is easy to get the notion that these impacts will be very negative. Like to the point of collapsing civilization. Those ideas are amplified in books like James Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency".

For example, there has been recent discussion on The Oil Drum (TOD) about effects on the electric grid by Hurricane Gustav. With hundreds of thousands of people still without power after that hurricane, it is clear that the regional grid took a big hit. The TOD folks were postulating that as oil becomes more scarce, repairing things like the grid will become more and more challenging/costly. The conclusion of some posters was that in future disasters when the grid gets shut down, parts of it might never get repaired. And so we will begin the slow slide into anarchy/etc.

I was thinking about this and had (what seems like) a crucial revelation. Peak oil is all about a physical substance - oil. I agree with TOD folks that it is a crucial substance in our current economy. But it is only a substance. And there is something far more powerful than substances: ideas. Seem obvious? No need to read the rest of this post. But in case you want to read on, I will make the case that ideas are more important than physical realities like the amount of oil we have.

I'll back up a bit. A good way of explaining this is to mention the unfortunate events of Sep 11th as a parable. The event itself was a physical occurrence: planes crashing into the Twin Towers, the subsequent collapse of the towers, and the very unfortunate death of almost 3,000 people. That's a lot of people dying in a single event. But, if we compare that to traffic fatalities, more than that number of people die each month from an activity that is common - driving a car. So from a pure physical reality standpoint (the numbers dead), driving cars has more human impact every month of every year than Al Queda had hijacking planes once back in 2001.

If that strikes you as "besides the point", then you are already onto the point I'm about to make. The unique thing about Sep 11th was not the number of people dead, it was the unique ramifications of that event upon our psyche. It was the idea that we are vulnerable, that we have enemies, that we can be attacked on our soil, and that it can come out of nowhere on a bright sunny morning. That idea was a powerful one - enough to cause significant structural changes in how security is done in the USA - witness the resulting department of homeland security (who is probably reading this because I've used some flagged terms for their computer systems! DHS - please, read on and enjoy!).

Let's consider another example. What is a city? Wikipedia says: "A city is an urban area with a large population and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status". "Large population" is one of the key elements. Why is the large population there? Because of the buildings? Well, no. It is because of the idea. New Orleans, the city, is just an idea. It remained a city after Katrina, not because some buildings were left standing, but because people decided to go back and to live there. But, some people never came back - their idea of the city was destroyed by that hurricane. Now, even though it is still called New Orleans, physically it is quite different. Now let's imagine that Gustav had been much more damaging - re flooding New Orleans. Would people have given up on the idea of the city, or come back again to rebuild? I do not know the answer, but I do know that the future physical reality, i.e. whether buildings got rebuilt, is dependent on the idea of whether it is worth rebuilding. The idea of New Orleans shared by people is more important than the physical reality of the city.

To further illustrate that point - after a disaster, if one person returns to a city, it is still not a city. If a hundred people return, it is probably not a city. If a thousand people return, it might start acting like a city. Somewhere in there is a critical point where enough people show up to maintain the physical "infrastructure" that we associate with cities - merchants, gas stations, etc. Less people than that, and it really can't be considered a city by most people. What defines that critical number of people? There is no objective physical reality that defines it - just the idea of a "critical mass" that is enough so that it is self sustaining amongst its participants. The critical mass depends on many factors, the most important of which are people's thinking - their ideas about that place being a city. If enough people have that idea - then it becomes a city. If they don't, then it is not. The idea is the foundation - not the physical reality like the buildings.

I think that we, as a culture, focus way too much on physical reality, believing that it is preeminant and will determine our fate. That may be true to some extent for individuals - but I believe much less so for societies. Societies - states and countries - are nothing more and nothing less than ideas. Just like cities. The United States is an idea, not a landmass. Our borders have greatly changed since our country was created - but we still go by the same name. That's because we share (kind of) a common idea of what this country is - or we let politicians and celebrities define it for us. Either way, it is all just ideas, not something physically concrete.

I will be exploring this further in a book I am working on. But in the meantime, let's get back to the "Peak Oil" idea.

The thing that concerns peak oil folks is not the advent of the world peak in oil production itself. Well, actually most claim that is what worries them. But in reading all the blogs and stories about "what might happen" after peak oil - it is not actually about the oil itself, it is about our response to the scarcity of oil. Our response is the confluence of the physical reality of limited oil, with whatever ideas we hold as a society. Some, such as Kunstler, think this confluence will lead to increasing chaos and collapse in many parts of the USA and elsewhere. For example, from his book:

The prospect for disorder in the southeastern states is especially high, given the extremes of religiosity, hyper-individualism, and cultural disinhibition regarding violence.

He has an idea about the south, and what might happen, but is that idea the reality? Not even close. The logic is flawed that somehow because the south is more religious, or more "individual", that we would react to peak oil more violently is a very tenuous argument. Besides, I've actually encountered much less individualism here than when I lived in the Western US - and I sometimes lament the lack of individuality here.

It is certainly possible that the confluence of the physical event, peak oil, with our ideas may lead to disaster. Right now, there are unfortunately a whole lot of people who think we can just go on living the same way, driving Hummers and Suburbans at will. That we have a God-given right to power those cars. The advent of physical peak oil will be very hard on such folks. Will they resort to violence? anarchy? The problem is, it's very hard to predict. Social movements are all about ideas. Right now, it is still somewhat of a status symbol to own and drive a big car. But what if that changes? What if it is no longer seen as an appropriate thing for people to do? Just the mere idea that something is socially unacceptable can have huge ramifications on physical reality of the actions people take. Sure, there are always laggards who cling to old ways of doing things. And it is possible that some people, finding themselves unable to afford gas for their car (or unable to even get it if they could afford it) - might resort to violence and mayhem. And others might respond in kind with violence and mayhem. If that happens, then the doomsday scenarios of the "die off" peak oil crowd may play out. But there might also be people (a lot of them) who decide that responding to peak oil with violence and mayhem is not appropriate. That people responding that way will be chastised, put in jail, or worse.

The whole idea of predicting our responses - the confluence of reality with our ideas - is impossible. Because ideas can bend so readily. For example, I have the idea that bikes are a great way to replace a lot of car trips. That idea is spreading. If that idea became truly "popular", it would have a huge impact on the amount of oil we use. My bike gets the equivalent of 2000 MPG (more when I charge it by solar). Imagine if 1/2 of the population biked instead of drove every day? That would suddenly take a whole lot of wind out of the sails of some very rich middle eastern oil exporting countries. Just that one idea: ride a bike.

The peak oil crowd always targets the idea that there are no viable replacements for our current way of life. For example, electric cars will be difficult to deploy rapidly enough and with enough power/range to replace gasoline cars. So, if people have the idea that they have to have a car that can drive long distances, well, a peak oil future might be a grim one. On the other hand, if people have the idea that, hey, instead of rushing everywhere in a car, it might be fun to take an extended bike tour on an electric assist bike, or take a leisure train ride, then the "need" to have a car might diminish or vanish. If there is no need to have that car, well, then problem solved. "But," some people complain, "the US is not set up for biking or taking the train." To which I would respond: "You haven't been paying attention." I took the train several times this summer, and it was sold out every time. I bike to work every day from a location that is not in-town.

Many people do live an impractical distance from where they work. That is because, perhaps, they had the idea of some idyllic living situation in the country, or suburb. But that idea can change, too. If it suddenly becomes more cost effective and socially popular to live in the city (which I think is already happening), people will move back into cities. And probably sell their car in many cases.

The other ideas-related fallacy of peak oil is that all our major roads will deteriorate because they are unmaintainable. According to them, this will lead to all sorts of problems, because then power lines won't be maintained, water infrastructure will fail, goods won't be able to be shipped, etc.

While I once bought into that notion, now I think it's kind of silly. For example, in N.C., we have ~4,300 of miles of paved roads. Many of them used to be gravel, but in the rush to build "modern" roads, more and more got paved over. Let's say that it becomes super-expensive or difficult to maintain roads in the future. Will we just keep trying to maintain all those roads equally? Or will we decide: the main arterial roads are important for commerce and infrastructure, so let's focus on maintaining those, and let the minor roads revert back to gravel or dirt? It all depends on the ideas that we hold. But it seems to me that most people would place a priority on maintaining the major arterial roads that allow our food to be shipped. In fact, there are countries like this - Costa Rica has one main arterial road, a two-lane (not even four lane) highway. In some places it has been narrowed to one lane due to landslides and the like. But, that doesn't stop people - there is plenty of traffic that uses it for transporting goods and people cross-country. Most of the other roads are dirt, or potholed pavement. Does their society collapse due to lack of well-maintained superhighways? No.

Jared Diamond, in his book Collapse, examines why some societies have collapsed over time - starting with Easter Islanders. One can pin the Easter Isle collapse upon lack of resources/deforestation. But, the key thing thing missing in a purely resource-based analysis is: why did the island become deforested? It was because of an idea. The idea was that to please the gods, they had to build more stone statues. And so they kept doing more and more of that until the physical resources were so far gone that the society couldn't sustain itself. The "collapse" itself is an ideas-based phenomenon. That's probably why the subtitle of Diamond's book was "How societies choose to fail or succeed." At Easter island, it seems unlikely that everyone just suddenly died off from starvation. More likely, a lot of people got off the island as things got worse, taking boats to other islands where things were better. What really died there was the idea that it was a livable place to be - nothing more. That society chose to fail. Or, turning it around, the idea of their society was not sustained.

Are we bound to make that same mistake with peak oil? A lot of people seem to think so. They think we will keep building cars and highways and airplanes until we are so far gone that there is no return from the brink. We will have wasted all our energy doing those things, rather than doing things that help us survive - like assuring the production and distribution of food.

That's where I now diverge with the peak oil people. I think there is a high likelihood that in many places (not all), people's ideas will appropriately bend to new circumstances, and life will carry on (in modified form). That when oil becomes scarce, we will prioritize food production over water skiing. That we will prioritize medicine over hot rods. Simple concepts like those would buy us a lot of time to find other ways to power our societies.

One other concept that is important here - particularly in America, we are taught ideas such as the rule of law and fairness. That is one of the reasons we have such a stable business environment - because, unlike many countries, you don't have to pay off a bunch of henchmen to open a store. When people defy this expectation, they are generally chastised and/or punished (excepting our current president, who has done a lot to damage our ideals).

Will everyone just throw those ideals out the window when times get rough? That's not generally what happened during any other crisis in our country's history. There were strikes and some riots during the great depression, but the country did not fall into anarchy. Nor did it during the civil war, etc. While things have become considerably more "individualistic" in the past 20 years, I believe that is just a response to us having so many resources available to us, that we didn't learn the value (idea) of working together - because we didn't have to. But I do think we can learn to do that again, when it becomes necessary.

To be clear: I'm not saying that dealing with oil shortages would/will be easy. It won't. In places, food may be scarce (and people will quickly re-learn gardening). Even where it isn't, it will be hard for many people to change, to accept new circumstances. It will be difficult for some to accept that they can't just go start up the car on a whim and drive across town to the mall. But, maybe people's ideas of what is important could change, too. Maybe it will become more important to people to grow a garden, to visit the neighbors, to take a walk, to read a book. All things that require miniscule energy inputs. If our ideas are right, we don't have to despair if hard times come upon us.

So, I think that the key to surviving a "peak oil" event (as with any event) is having the right ideas about how to survive it. Those ideas don't necessarily involve doing more of the same thing we are doing now. It may involve more bikes and less cars. It may involve slowing down. It may involve growing more food in the garden. It may involve dealing with potholes on the road. It may even involve frequent power outages (so we'll have to get more candles).

It is clear that the physical reality of oil supply limitations is coming our way, sooner or later. If we have the idea that we can just keep doing more of the same, it may be very hard. But if we change our ideas about what is necessary and useful in life, it could be a non-event.

Red lights

2008-09-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was riding to work with my daughter on the back of my Xtracycle, I saw a young guy behind me working very hard to catch up. Now, I have an electric assist, and I ride a bike every day, so between legs and motor, I can move pretty fast when I want to.

Anyway, he finally caught up with me once I stopped at a red light, behind a car. Of course, he didn't bother to wait at the light - he had to pass me. So he rode around the car and through the red light, avoiding oncoming traffic.

Now I'm no "safety nanny". But this made me really mad. Not because I was worried about his safety - but because cyclists who run red lights make drivers mad. It gives all cyclists a bad rap. And as a result, it impacts my own safety on the road, because drivers are more likely to do obnoxious things because they are mad at cyclists.

So, just for fun, after the light turned red and we pulled out, I accelerated up the next hill and passed the guy. As I passed him, I said "Running that red light really made me want to pass you". Boy, did he seem infuriated. I could see him straining the limits of his strength to try to catch me. What was he going to do, try to get into a fist fight with a mom and her daughter? Anyway, we had no troubles staying a safe distance ahead. And when we turned off down a side street (where we usually do), as he went past he yelled something like "eat my...". Fortunately, it was too far away to hear.

Ever wonder why car drivers sometimes hate cyclists, and post negative comments whenever there is a cycling story? Just look at the above. Not only did the guy blatantly run a red light with cars waiting, but then he got angry when I said something (I didn't use any bad words, or yell at him) - and then he yelled stuff at us that was unfit for a child's ears.

When cyclists run red lights and stop signs, they are in general greatly increasing the risk to their own safety - all the accident statistics show that this is one of the most dangerous things to do on a bike. But what is worse, it makes drivers angry at all cyclists, because to many drivers, we are all the same (which, if those folks took a few minutes to think about it, would realize we are not).

Are there exceptions to this rule? Sure, occasionally. There are two cases where I will run a light/stopsign. The first is when I wait at a light (usually left turn) and it does not detect my bike, so I never get a green. If I wait for a whole cycle without getting a green light, I'll run the red. The other case is in a neighborhood I ride where there are a bunch of stop signs just as traffic calming devices (traffic very infrequent) - there is almost never a car waiting at one. If there is any car around, I stop. If there is not, I slow to a crawl, carefully look both ways, then proceed through. But it is not only me doing this - I see cars do this all the time in that neighborhood too...

In the end, the golden rule for cyclists is to respect other road users. If we use our brains to try to occasionally give a positive impression to drivers, it will improve the conditions for cycling for all of us.

Time versus energy

2008-08-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Recently there was a lively discussion over on the Rootsradicals mailing list about energy usage and electric bikes. There was debate about whether it takes more energy to run a bike by electric power or leg power. While the debate was all well and good, it sidesteps the bigger picture. Biking in any form, whether by leg power, electric power, or both, is a far more energy efficient endeavor than driving a car. Depending on how it is calculated, riding a bike is equal to getting anywhere from 200 miles per gallon up to over 1,000 MPG. Even the greenest of electric cars aren't going to approach those numbers anytime soon.

But there is a tradeoff using a bike: time versus energy. The reason bikes take so little energy is because they move slowly. They don't suffer big losses to friction (plus, they are lightweight). But riding a bike takes more time - at least to go long distances (for short intra-city trips, biking can actually be faster).

I started thinking about this tradeoff by monitoring the energy usage on my electric bike. I noticed that when I was in a hurry, I would consume almost twice as much power than when I was taking it easy and going more slowly. Now I've made it into kind of a game, to try to keep my energy usage down, I am also forcing myself to slow down and enjoy the ride more.

But this tradeoff is not just present in biking. It is present in nearly everything we do in "modern" society. Here are some examples:

1. The energy usage of various forms of transportation is directly proportional to speed, i.e.:
Planes > cars > trains > bikes.

2. Washing clothes and dishes - it is both faster and more energy intensive to use the washer/dryer than to do it by hand.

3. Food - it is more energy intensive to buy cheap but fast food, than to grow and cook one's own

US society is one of extremes. On the one end we have people who jetset around in a constant aggravated rush of business. On the other extreme there are the Amish, who exemplify slow and low energy lifestyles.

And then there are all the rest of us in the middle. The question is, how much should we trade down our energy use, at the cost of spending more time on our daily activities?

I think the key is reframing that question. I linked to this article before, but I'll link to it again because it is great - it is all about a mom who formerly led the go-go rushed life, and then due to high gas prices, was forced to slow down while becoming a bit less energy intense.

She discovered that there is increased joy in slowing down. Joy in walking the kids to school, or biking to the grocery store. Many people enjoy gardening, but think it takes "too much time".

Maybe many of us have been convinced that we need to keep moving faster and faster to "keep up with the Joneses". But maybe the higher cost of energy will force us all to slow down (except the super rich). And maybe, seeing our neighbors, friends, and co-workers slow down, we won't feel so guilty about it. About taking time for ourselves, for our families, for some hobbies. Some people have already done this. I have no statistics to back this up, but I believe there is a strong grassroots movement of people doing exactly this. People who are fed up with the go-go buy-buy pace of modern life, who have slowed down, dropped out, semi-retired. Those people did it by choice. Maybe the rest of us will be forced to follow, whether we like it or not, by high energy prices.

But I don't want to make it sound like slowing down is just drudgery. I look forward to my daily bike ride to and from work. It is a time of great enjoyment for me (except on the rare occasion I encounter an intentionally obnoxious driver). I get to look around, see the world, breath the air, hear the birds. I get exercise. I listen to music (not earphones - I have a small stereo on my handlebars). Nowadays, when I get in the car for trips around town, I actually get stressed out, whereas the bike is relaxing, just getting into the rythm of the pedals.

It is hard, though, straddling between wanting to conserve energy and wanting to keep up with all the self-imposed time pressures. Recently, after being aghast at our electric bills (definitely NOT from charging the bikes, that is only $0.03-$0.05 per charge), we realized that the dishwasher was consuming a lot of energy. So we started washing dishes by hand (with water heated by solar). This greatly reduces energy consumption. But it also takes more time. Sometimes it is actually enjoyable - just zoning out, focusing on the present moment, and even listening to music. But other times it is just stressful - because it seems like there are many other things that need to get done.

So how to find the balance? Until it is forced on us by high gas costs, I think the key is one step at a time, avoiding extremes. To me, it is all about doing the little things that are both doable and enjoyable. I'm not about to quit working just so I can farm all my own food. But at the same time, riding the bike every day, hanging the clothes out to dry, and little things like that take some time, but also save a lot of energy.

If everyone did it, there would be a huge impact on energy use and carbon dioxide production.

It is a starting point.

Morgan

My daughter on the way home from dance recital on the Xtracycle:

Hub Motor kit supply

2008-08-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

The eZee hub motor kits continue to be in high demand, so we're sold out again while we wait for resupply. We've got a few more coming by the end of August and then more on the next shipment, expected about a month later. Thanks everyone for your great patronage, and for those of you looking for eZee kits, we hope to supply you soon!
We now have one Bionx P250 in stock and expect a few more kits in the next 3 weeks. The manufacturer just opened a new facility which has higher capacity, so we hope to see less of a delay in getting Bionx kits in the future.
We also expect some more Crystalyte motors by the end of August, so if you are looking for those, stay tuned as well. The good news is that more people are electrifying their bikes, and we hope that means more people usnig their bikes more often!
If you would like, you can reserve any of our kits with a $100 deposit by

contacting

us.

What is the "New Blog"

2008-08-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

The astute websurfer may notice that there are now two blogs on the Cycle 9 navigation menu, "New Blog!" and "Blog".

We created the "New Blog" because we wanted some features the old one could not support, like multiple authors. This will allow the shop employees of Cycle 9 to make contributions also, and we know Greg wants to start writing.

So, new blog posts will go to the "New Blog!". We'll also keep the

original Cycle 9 blog

around for anyone who is looking for an older article.

Peak oil, part II

2008-08-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

This post has been much delayed because of all the work at the shop and for my day job. But it is perhaps more important than ever, given that gas prices have been dropping.

Gas prices dropping makes a lot of people think, phew, the crisis is over. Now things will go back to normal.

Hardly.

There are two issues here. As I mentioned before, we are not running out of oil. But what is happening, is that as more and more countries are competing for this resource, and as it becomes increasingly hard to make more of it, the perceived value of oil goes up.

Take this example. Let's say I have a commodity like dried corn, stored in some silos in my backyard. Let's say I have a lot of silos (and hence a lot of corn). It seems like I will never run out. I sell it to my neighbors for cheap, because it is easy to extract from the silos, and I don't think I'll run out anytime soon.

But then one day, I check on the corn, and realize it is half gone. This induces a sudden mental shift. Now I am moving from a mode of thinking abundance, to one of thinking scarcity. I need to make sure to ration the corn so I don't run out too soon. Plus more and more neighbors are knocking on my door looking for corn. What is my response, to sell as much and as cheaply as I can, only to run out soon? Of course not. The rational response is to start raising prices and rationing how much I sell, to maximize both the profit and the length of time I still have corn available to sell.

This analogy applies to oil. Half of the world's oil is still left (if not a bit more). But suddenly, it is not so easy to just turn the taps to make ever more of it. Producers are realizing that they will run out, someday. And there are ever more countries knocking at the door for that oil. The rational response to this from the producers' perspective is to raise prices and ration the oil. And so they are. Blaming oil prices on "speculators" just ignores this basic fact of human nature. If there is perceived scarcity of a desirable resource, people will pay more for it, and its producers can ask more for it.

Now, for the folks in the USA, this is a double whammy. That's because of what we offer in trade for that oil. We offer debt. To the tune of 800 billion USD per year. And we offer printed money. Money that can now be created out of thin air.

What is that competing with? Well, the Chinese offer goods, like computers, bikes, and all sorts of stuff, in trade for the oil they get.

The end result is this puts further downward pressure on the dollar, making oil go up in price relative to the dollar.

Now, we've had a brief respite in oil prices. Looking at the numbers, it appears that we've had a slight strengthening of dollar value. A source of mine in China hinted that this is due to the Chinese stabilizing the dollar value for the Olympics (by buying dollars). Perhaps.

In any case, it would be foolish to expect it to last, and think things will "just get back to normal" soon.

One more point about this. The concept that oil and energy will get more and more expensive has many scary ramifications. But it also has some positive ones. Here are two examples. The first is a little article in Newsweek about a mom who was recently

forced to rediscover walking and biking as an alternative to driving the car

everywhere. As a bonus, she discovered how pleasant it can be to spend more relaxed time walking or biking to a destination, rather than zooming around in a hurry all the time. This is a sentiment that those of us who have bike commuted for a long time know well. I get angst ridden these days if I have to drive around town. Riding the bike is so much more peaceful.

The second note about this is from an intriguing blog post by Todd from

Clever Cycles

, about his family's recent bike/camping trip of 190 some odd miles. Here is a great quote

from the article

We parked our bikes at the door of our cabin, which led to quite a lot of curious loitering by other visitors to the springs. But we learned quickly to stop telling people that we had biked there with child from Portland because it stopped conversations cold, as either a greener-than-thou affront or just too freaky. “Who drove the support vehicle?” A Dutch family we met there on the last day found out as we were leaving. They were incredulous. I admit that made me proud: Dutch people think we’re hardcore. At the same time, I wish more people understood that biking needn’t be some kind of enviro-martyr stunt, sport, fundraising strategy either personal or institutional, etc.

This speaks about a culture in which cars are prevalent and cheap to operate, so that people think biking is crazy. But if when gas costs $10/gallon or more, people might reconsider that view. The reality is that biking that distance on a normal touring bike is limited to a few hardy folks who have the time and/or physical fitness for such a venture. But doing it on an electric bike is becoming increasingly feasible for a broad swath of people as the technology improves, particularly higher-capacity batteries. Todd and his family did this trip using Xtracycle-style longtail bikes, with their own Stokemonkey electric assist. With the right setup, nearly anyone, of any physical ability could do this. And if people want to be able to do leisure activities like this in the future, gas costs may cause many more folks to take this option seriously.

The second quote from his blog is more sobering:

Our mood took a big hit at Austin Hot Springs, which is right alongside the road. We thought we’d lunch there and maybe take a dip where the hot vents mingle with the cold river water. We rolled up to the river’s edge, between trucks, and beheld a sickening spectacle: trash, trash everywhere. Brawndo cans and Doritos bags, used tampons and condoms, excrement-smeared toilet paper, giant bean cans, inflatable water toys, cassette tape fluttering, cigarette butts and beer bottles, some broken. Green trees sawed down and dragged halfway into fire rings. And there in the clear water, some yahoos had submerged a large roll of carpet and weighted it down with rocks so bathers could avoid coming in contact with the riverbed. It was a crying Indian moment. Anger and shame drove us back to the road.

This is sad indeed. But it also speaks of a culture that does not value the gifts we've been given. The US has been the beneficiary of the biggest boost in wealth and prosperity for a broad swath of the populace in history. Part of this boost has been the result of cheap oil. This has allowed people to do things like joyride in their cars up to a hotspring, litter and pollute it, and joyride back home. Somehow I have a feeling that if getting there were a bit more difficult (like requiring a 4 hour bike ride), this wouldn't have happened. The people who would get there would be people who really appreciate the beauty and value of the place, and are willing to work to get to it. Drunken teens would be unlikely to make the trek, especially with a carpet in tow to throw in there. It is sad that our culture now takes for granted the great prosperity we have been lucky to have. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you view it), this is changing. In the future, we as a society and country may be forced to start appreciating the gifts we have, since they're likely to not be so plentiful.

Now, in part I I promised to mention how Peak Oil led to a bike shop. That is coming, soon in Part III.

- Morgan

Why we are so far out

2008-08-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

The title may have made it sound like we were going to talk about our groovy 70’s inspired psychedelic lava lamps... but no.

Actually, the title refers to the more concrete issue of our location. We are kind of “far out,” in terms of being out of town.

Why did we do that? Well, when we opened the shop, we weren’t sure how ready this area was for a bicycle shop like ours. We figured that it might be a while before walk-in traffic really pays for itself, and that in the meantime we’d continue doing the web business. So we looked for a location that had a relatively low rent, but was still close enough to Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the NC Triangle that people who want to visit can visit us. We didn’t want to start out in the high-rent district, if we were going to have to pay the rent out of our own pockets. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened.

The good thing about being a small business is that we are flexible and can adapt quickly. We have had the store open for a few months now, and it is clear there is interest from the local community. It is also pretty clear that this kind of store is needed and wanted in this area. So we are looking strongly at a move that would bring the shop into town (probably Carrboro).

Besides, there are some other reasons we’d like to be in town:
- It is kind of ironic to have a transportation-focused bike shop, to which most people end up driving to get there!

- We like the idea of being part of a community, and community events. Being in town would make that a lot easier

- It can get a bit lonely out in the “middle of nowhere” as one customer put it

So, anyway, we’ll post more here as soon as we know more. We are looking for a suitable space with reasonable rent. If anyone has any great ideas on that,

please drop us a line

Surly Big Dummy: We interrupt this programming!

2008-07-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to bring an important announcement...

The

Surly Big Dummy

frames are here!

Well, okay, that’s a bit of hyperbole, we got too excited...

We shouldn’t say “frames” but “frame”. Demand on the Big Dummy has been so high that Surly is only allowing bike shops to get one per week. And only 18” frames are available right now.

But,

we do have one 18” Surly Big Dummy frame

on the way

(in the shop now), that is not yet spoken for

Update: we also have a 16” and 22” frame on the way.

What is a “Big Dummy?”

It is a longtail frame designed by the folks at

Surly

to be the be-all end-all of cargo carrying bikes. It is like an Xtracycle on steroids. It is designed to accept all the neat components designed for Xtracycle, including:

- Freeloaders (mega expandable panniers)
- Wideloaders (carry large loads like TV, computers, furniture, boxes, etc)
- Long loaders (carry a kayak, lumber, or ladder on your bike)
- Footsies (carry a passenger in comfort and style on your bike)
- Bike powered blender (make margaritas or smoothies with leg power)
- Bike rack (carry your road bike on your bike)

We can sell the bare frame, or we can do a complete build up of your dream longtail bike. Possible component sets range from Deore (about $800 plus Xtracycle accessories cost plus labor costs) up to XTR or SRAM X.9. If you have us do the complete build, we give a substantial discount.

We’ll post some pictures here as soon as the frame arrives.

Peak Oil Ponderings, Part I

2008-07-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Peak oil

is one of the main reasons Cycle 9 exists.

How could peak oil create a bike shop, one might wonder? And for that matter, what is peak oil?

Let’s start with what peak oil is not. Some media use hyperbole to make it sound like peak oil claims “we are running out of oil.” We are not running out of oil, there is still a lot of oil left.

What peak oil claims is that we will run out of

easy to get

oil, which implies we will run out of

cheap oil

.

Sounds like no big deal, we just pay a bit more and drive a bit less?

The problem comes from the structural dependency of our economy on

cheap oil

. Our food is transported mostly by truck, not by train. Our food is produced using large amounts of oil. Our cities are configured for automobile use, with far-flung suburbs and exurbs. Our cities are not structured for rail, biking, and walking (some of them used to be, but more recent extensions don’t take these into account). For example, in our “progressive” town of Carrboro, North Carolina, there are many places with no sidewalk whatsoever - just road. To walk means either walking in the roadway, or walking on the uneven lawn/gutter next to the road. The city is designed for cars, not for people. As are most american cities.

So, some people say, big deal, soon we’ll all drive electric cars. Well, that’s great, but there are hundreds of millions of cars right now that burn fossil fuel. Producing hundreds of millions of cars and getting them into people’s hands is no small task, especially as energy prices soar. Harder still is the question of where the energy in the electric grid will come from. The US car and truck fleet uses over 1 billion kilowatt hours per day (e.g. see

here

). That is the equivalent of 80 new 1 GW power plants, dumping power into an already strained grid (see stories about

power outages

and

this article

). This is a massive build-out of plants that usually take 10-15 years once regulatory hurdles are cleared. And if we’re talking nuclear, there will be major political hurdles. As for coal, too, because of greenhouse gas concerns. This is not making a political judgement, just saying that getting these kinds of projects approved will not be easy or quick, unless we are in an emergency situation, and then it is already very late in the game.

Lately we’ve heard a lot about the idea that oil is a “bubble” or that it is all due to “speculation”. While it is nice to blame the nameless/evil speculators, there is little evidence for that. On the contrary, there is one single chart that explains very simply why oil prices have gone so high:

This chart is all about oil

exports

from exporting countries. So, even though oil production has inched up a tiny bit over the last few years,

exports are down.

Why? Very simply, the big producing countries are using more and more of that oil themselves. In fact, Mexico, a major oil exporter to the US, is on track to reach

zero

exports to us as soon as 2010

. Many other countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia, are consuming an ever greater fraction of the oil they produce, meaning less is available for export.

This at a time that India and China are growing rapidly and importing more.

Less supply, more demand - a simple equation that, in the absence of government intervention, leads to higher prices. And, what if government intervenes?

I’ll address that in Part II next week.

The Soma Juice 29er, sweet!

2008-07-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, a lot of this blog seems to be about serious stuff, from environment to energy to happenings in our shop. But, as with everyone, we need to have a little fun from time to time. One of the things Morgan likes to do for fun is build up mountain bikes and ride them. Her last project was her classic Fat Chance Yo Eddy rebuild. But that was a year ago. So it was time for a new project...

We’ve been intrigued by the work of

Soma Fabrications

for a while now. They are a small, west coast outfit that makes very nice looking, affordable steel frames. We’ve always enjoyed steel frames for the smooth ride and the durability. They have everything from mountain frames to road frames and cross frames.

So, we got hold of a Soma Juice 29er large sized frame, to build it up and check it out. We are thinking of carrying more of these in the shop, but it is always good to have firsthand experience with a bike before selling it.

The build

This build is set up as a 1 x 9, so there is no front derailleur, only a rear one. While we like the singlespeed concept, Morgan's knees can't handle the punishment of standing up on the uphills, so some kind of gearing was necessary. The 1 x 9 seems like a nice tradeoff between the singlespeed simplicity, and still having enough gears to avoid total knee blowout for those of us over 40 (yeah, being over 40 will happen to you too someday, just you wait!).

The component set is a mix of Sram stuff, with Surly Mr. Whirly crankset, Thompson seatpost, WTB laser V saddle, Rock Shox Reba Race fork (very nice, lightweight fork), and the Soma Fabrications Noah's Arc handlebars. Wheels are WTB speedisc with Shimano hubs, machine built. Last year Morgan hand built the wheels for her Fat Chance, but she no longer has the time, so these will have to do for now. Oh, and last but not least, Hayes Stoker hydraulic disc brakes.

The finish of the frame is excellent, with one exception. Two of the cable routing braze ons for the disc brakes have the little holes filled by sloppy welding. That was kind of a bummer, the zip ties won't fit through. But, supposedly this problem has been fixed on the more recent Soma frames.

Things came together well, with only a few typical glitches with the first time build of a new frame. By 3 AM on July 4th, she was ready to roll.

Here are some pictures of the build:

The test ride

We are super lucky to have a 3 mile loop in our backyard that is a nice mix of technical east coast singletrack, a short stretch of pavement, and a stretch of two-lane dirt road. It is a great place for testing bikes.

The good

The bike handles very well. The large wheels on the 29er roll over almost anything with ease. The Schwalbe Racing Ralphs seem like great tires for dry conditions around here, but the tread is a bit sparse for wet conditions. Anyway, the bike is very comfortable, and fits my long torso well. It corners well, though not quite as quickly as my Fat Chance Yo Eddy. It climbs like a dream though, even on the steepest climb, the front wheel never left the ground. This thing tracks almost like it is on rails. And of course the Hayes brakes stop this thing in no time.

I am not missing the rear suspension. Maybe for really long rides I'll miss it, but the hardtail just feels more efficient on the climbs and even the flats. Plus, it seems to steer better. And, since the Juice is steel, there is some give in the frame. Overall, this is a really nice ride. And it looks really cool too.

The so-so

Well, it isn't quite as supple as my Fat Chance build, but that's an unfair comparison. The Fat was a USA hand built $900 frame in 1992 dollars, the Soma is an overseas built $400 frame in 2008 dollars. The Fat just feels a bit more supple, like a german car, whereas the Soma might compare more to a Honda or Toyota. Nice, but not quite as precise as the German version.

Some of the ride difference may also have to do with the wheels. On my Fat, I hand built the wheels using DT revolution spokes, which being double butted, have a thin section with a lot of flex, that makes them forgiving. My Fat Chance wheels also have nicer hubs, and I always like the velocity rims. The speeddisc wheels on my Soma are just machine built with straight gauge spokes. No comparison on those.

But this is not to complain, the Juice frame fits me better, and I think for overall riding I will enjoy the 29er platform better. I really like

One other thing is that the front end is really high - the combination of 29" tires plus suspension plus head tube adds up to a tall bike. I initially installed the stem with positive rise (6 degrees), but it was too high up, it almost felt like a cruiser bike. Once I turned it upside down to get -6 degrees, it was much better. But, for those who like a tall front end, you wouldn't need a big spacer stack or riser bars on this bike.

Conclusion

I will post more after spending more time on it. But my first impressions are very good. I like the bike a lot already - it both looks and rides really well for a reasonably priced hardtail 29er build. For anyone in the Triangle area who wants a Soma Fabrications bike, just drop us a line, we'd be happy to spec it out for you.

We have lots of bikes, and electric kits too

2008-06-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our train trip, and found that Greg had the store in good order. Most of all, we have a lot of new products on the floor. We’ll be expanding the website a bit to go into more detail, but here is a brief rundown:

• Bicycle cargo trailers from Bob and Burley, to carry groceries, camping gear, hardware, whatever... we have both kinds of trailers in stock as of today, and if there is demand, we will be getting more.

• Lots and lots of bicycles from

Marin Bikes

in california. We are especially focusing on their commuting and city bikes. The

Muir Woods

is a great, inexpensive steel framed urban assuault vehicle (pictured below, $455 MSRP, with our in store price lower). The Novato is a slightly more expensive aluminum version of the same ($570 MSRP). And the Belvidere and Corte Madera are very nice 700C wheel commuter bikes, purpose built with fenders, racks, and all the fittings, at very affordable prices, $635 MSRP for the Corte Madera, and $530 MSRP for the Belvidere (our in store prices are often a bit lower for items in stock). Last but not least are the more style and comfort oriented bikes, including the Euro-stye step through frames on the San Rafael (pictured below) and the Stintson.

• We have the comfort/semi-recumbent bikes from

Day 6

in stock. We carry both the Dream and the Journey models. We’ll post a picture soon!

• We have started carrying frames from

Soma Fabrications

. We can build a complete bike for you, or just sell you the frame. These are high quality, very nice steel frames using Tange Prestige chromoly, the best in the business. They make a

nice 29er (Juice)

, a hardtail mountain bike, a cyclocross frame, a track bike, and a road bike model. Morgan is building up a Juicy 29er that will be available for demo rides (when she doesn’t have it out on the trail). We are also happy to build a custom electric ride that combines the frame, parts, and electric kit of your choosing.

• We now, finally, have some of the eZee kits in stock again. Hurray for that. Get your order in early, these premium electric bike kits are going fast. The price is still $1250, and you can buy one in the shop, or order online through our web store.

• We have an order of Crystalyte gear and NiCad batteries arriving very soon.

• We have a bunch of accessories in stock, and we are way overstocked on tubes and lights, so that stuff is on sale. Drop by, make us an offer we can’t refuse, and we won’t!

• Sadly, the cargo bikes and accessories are out of stock for now. The Xtracycles are all sold out through at least mid August. We have one Yuba Mundo left in stock, but we have a customer who says he’s going to buy that one. Those won’t be back in stock until August at soonest, either. The Big Dummy is very backordered, and though we’ll do our best, the soonest we can hope for is August.

• In better news, our Cycle 9 Dolores bicycles are on their way, and should be arriving in a few weeks. Hurray for that, it has been a long wait! The waiting list is growing, and there are only a few of these that aren’t already spoken for. So get your order in early.

• The BionX electric wheel kits will start arriving in the second week of July. However, most of those are spoken for, we already have a waiting list. Please

drop us a line or give us a call

if you want one, we’ll do what we can to get you one as soon as possible.

• Last, but not least, we have some other great things brewing. Keep your eyes open here, and we’ll announce them as soon as we can.

Taking the train

2008-06-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Montana near Glacier National Park, riding on one of the more fuel-efficient modes of transportation: the train. While gliding along and looking at the spectacular scenery, I couldn't help but run some numbers through my head about the efficiency of this mode of transit.

This train is carrying 340 +/- 20 people from Chicago to Seattle, Portland, and points between. So due to my compulsive quantitative bent, I had to figure out how many miles per gallon per person this represents.

My estimate of the fuel usage is about 2,000 gallons, plus or minus 1,000. I got that estimate because I found out the Diesel tanks in the engine are 2,500 gallons, and they topped them off once for the trip (but they certainly weren't empty). Since the train travels a total of about 2,000 miles on its journey, this represents approximately 1 gallon per mile (or mile per gallon for those who like it like that!). After I calculated that number, I talked to one of the personnel, and he said that sounded about right for fuel efficiency.

Ok, so let's say we're in the ballpark. In fact, let's imagine that the fuel usage is

twice

what I estimated, just to be safe. If the train uses 2 gallons per mile, the math is easy. That means it gets 170 miles per gallon per passenger.

Let's figure out how else we could get that kind of mileage. A bicycle would do it, but then, pedaling from Chicago to Washington state takes a while - a lot longer than the train. But the cool thing is, I have my bike with me (a folding bike that I can just carry onto the train free of charge). So I can be fuel efficient for the whole trip.

What about a Prius, the gold standard for green transportation? There are only two ways a Prius could match that mileage. One: drive really slow, like 40 miles per hour, so that the Prius gets 50-60 mpg, and carry 3 passengers and their gear. Well, you could do that, but it would take a lot longer than the train, and be a whole lot less comfortable. The other way is to carry more passengers and drive faster. Driving the prius 70 mph, a loaded prius with bikes on the roof gets at best 35 mpg (I owned one and did cross country trips with it). So, it would require carrying 5 passengers and their gear. Nope, no folding bikes are going to fit in that prius.

Well, for an airplane, fuel efficiency is right out the door. I've seen various estimates, but 30 MPG per passenger would be generous.

Why don't more people use the train in the USA? Well, a couple reasons. The first is that people don't know about it. I told several people that my family and I were doing a train trip who had no idea that there was a train to take a trip in. I guess Amtrak doesn't advertise much.

The second is the train is perceived as slow. Well, it is slower than an airplane. But it is a whole lot more comfortable, you get to see a lot of great scenery, and enjoy the travel. But the real issue is that the US has not invested in high-speed rail like many other countries. If we had a 200mph bullet train like Europe and Japan, it would be possible to go from coast to coast within 12 hours. I've seen people on the internet claim that the US is too spread out for useful train service, except population dense centers. I don't buy that. There are many large cities spread out throughout the US. If connected by high speed rail, these corridors would be used. If we just had three major east-west routes (North, middle, south) and 4-5 North-South routes, it would cover a large portion of the US, with busses acting as the local links to these stops.

While I still use airplane travel for many business trips, if practical train service were available to get me to the destination, I would use that. I like the comfort, the scenery, the ability to relax, and the fuel efficiency of the train. I just wish the US would get its act together and start building a real, large-scale rail system that shows we can once again be leaders in transportation and innovation.

Hub motors, ebikes, and Xtracycles

2008-06-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

We are very low on stock of the electric bike products - apparently there was some pent up demand around this area.

However, we have a number of things on the way within the next few weeks, and most should be arriving by mid to late June, with some stragglers showing up in July. This includes Crystalyte kits, eZee kits, NiCad batteries, more LiFEPO4 batteries, and some custom Cycle 9 kits for electrifying your bike.

Unfortunately, the stock situation isn’t looking so good on the Xtracycle front. In the past week, we’ve sold all the stock we had of Xtracycle kits, including our demo! Not to fear, if you want to try an Xtracycle-equipped bike, we will have one of our personal bikes available in the store for test rides. However, the kits themselves aren’t expected to arrive until August at the earliest. The same is true for the Yuba Mundo (we have only 2 left, and they are sold out from the distributor until August), and the Big Dummy. Longtail bikes must be the rage. We do have waiting lists for all these items (except Yuba, since it is not sold out yet), so just drop us a line if you want to get on the list.

Recent articles about Cycle 9 electric bicycles in the news

2008-05-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

Cycle 9 was written up in the Durham/Chapel Hill/Raleigh Herald Sun today. It was a nice article about our reason for being.

We want to thank everyone who read the article and came out to visit us. We apologize for being so low on stock of the electric bicycles. Whenever we get them in, they keep flying out the door. But, we do expect more electric motor kits in the next few weeks, so we can get some people up and running.

Also, there was a recent press release about Cycle 9 on PRLog. We thank them for helping get the word out.

If any reader notices another article about us that we haven't mentioned on this blog, the first person to email us about it will receive a $25 gift certificate.

New blog pages focused on sustainable transportation in High Point

2008-05-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

We love to hear about local folks who promote alternative transportation, particularly if it involves bicycles. We recently had a visitor in our Chapel Hill shop from High Point, NC, who is one of the most enthusiastic bicycle proponents we've met in a while. He has been working to organize a group of riders in High Point who use bikes as every day alternatives to cars. He's started a blog,

Revolution Cycling

, that is doing a great job of raising awareness of bicycles as alternatives to cars. We hope that he and people like him can really help promote bicycles as one alternative to the US oil addiction.

This same fellow was really enthusiastic about RANS bicycles, which use the "Crank Forward" design. The idea behind crank forward is to have a more relaxed riding position that is closer to the ground, so that when you stop, both feet can be placed firmly on the ground. While bikes like the Electra Townie have advertised this feature heavily, there have been a number of companies who were doing this long before, including RANS, and more recently Day6.

We think this is an interesting concept. While we don't personally own any crankforward bikes ourselves, we certainly see the potential benefits for those riders looking for a more relaxed and comfortable arrangement.

So, we've decided to test the waters by bringing in some of the Day 6 bicycles first, to see how that goes. These are designed for the utmost in comfort at a very reasonable price, and are particularly focused on the female riders and over 50 crowd. If designs like this encourage more people to ride a bike in their daily lives, we're all for it. So, as of next week, we'll have two of the Day 6 bikes in the shop for test rides, the 7 speed internally geared Journey, and the 21 speed Dream. There are also a few different seat options, one with a backrest and one that looks like a normal bicycle seat, but has some very thick padding. If you've been looking for a more comfortable and safe way to ride a bicycle, stop by sometime and check one out.

If this market goes well for us, we may explore additional options like the RANS bikes.

Surly Big Dummy

2008-05-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

In other news: The

Big Dummy

is a new frame from Surly that is designed from the ground up as a

sports utility bike.

While the Xtracycle is a conversion for an existing bike, the Big Dummy is fine tuned and purpose built. It accepts all the cool Xtracycle gear, like the V-racks, freeloaders, leg-powered blender, and more. Everyone I know who owns one thinks it is the best bike they have ever owned, and some of these folks own a bunch of bikes. Sadly, the Big Dummy rapidly sold out everywhere after the first container arrived in the US. That was before Cycle 9 was off the ground, so we missed out on it that time. But, Surly is working to get more of them here. We hear rumors of August. If the last time was any indicator, they could sell out rapidly.

This time, Cycle 9

will

be working hard to get some of the Surly Big Dummy frames into the store when the next shipment arrives. Our goal is to have at least one demo model for people to test ride before they buy.

So, if you want one, drop us a line, we can put you on the waiting list, and the top names on that list will be the first ones called when the frames arrive. We are also happy to spec out a custom package of components to go with the frame (Shimano or Sram), and as a fellow enthusiast, we'll treat you well.

The Big Dummy is not inexpensive, it retails for about $900 for frame only. So a built out Big Dummy will retail for anywhere from ~$1450-$1900 depending on the quality of components used. The Yuba is a great lower cost alternative (at <$900 for the complete bike), but will not be nearly as custom tailored to the individual rider.

The Xtracycle is my inspiration

2008-05-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

The title sounds like it's out of a Disney movie, and my apologies for that.

But today I was reminded again of why the Xtracycle was so inspiring and revolutionary when I first got it.

My daily load hauling machine: An Xtracycle carrying 8'X10' carpet, office chair, and other miscellaneous items, for a 7 mile ride. It handled fine.

I went by a friend's house to drop off something I borrowed from her. She is (sadly) moving out of town. When I got there, she had put together a big bag of food that they don't want to move across the country. No problem, it fit right into the expandable Freeloader bags on my Xtracyle. Then, I called home before heading there, and found out that we needed a few groceries, and that we had a pickup of our food share from the

Carrboro Farmer's Market

. Two stops later, I had a well loaded bike with the equivalent of four large grocery bags stuffed full of food and other items like laundry detergent, books, and clothes. I rode merrily on my way home.

In the past before my Xtracycle (now a distant memory) it would have gone something like this:

Go by friend's house. She offers me food and items. I accept a few items and stuff them in the remaining space in backpack or pannier, but I can't take the big jug of laundry soap and big box of detergent, nor the books, nor several of the other large items. Then I call home, find out that I need to pick up groceries and stuff at Farmer's Market. So, I ride home (7 miles), drop that stuff off, and then because it is late already, I get in the car and drive back to pick it up (there is no way that a big bag of groceries and the whole farm share would fit in my backpack or pannier, or even a big basket). Then, all that money and CO2 saved goes right out the tailpipe. That is how my bike life used to be before the Xtracycle. It was frustrating at times, to say the least.

And the thing is, the Xtracycle, though it looks a bit odd, has little impact on the feel of the bike. It still rides like a normal bike, and in fact, it is more stable than a normal bike. Sure, it is 7 pounds heavier - but it is a 7 pounds that has saved me from extra trips many times. It has freed me of paying for an expensive University parking permit (the cost of which could buy a new bike every year). This thing is incredible.

Sometimes, when I show it to people here in the Southeast, they kind of say "cool" and then quickly move on. They don't know what to make of it. There are no "celebrities" they've seen on TV riding one. Their friends don't (yet) ride one. So they just see it as an oddity from the "Left Coast" and dismiss it. Sometimes it makes me sad, I want to tell them in a loud voice: "this thing could change your life, it changed mine!" But pushy proselytizing never works.

But, if it weren't for the Xtracycle, Cycle 9 would likely not exist. It was this one single product that made me realize how much more a bike could be a part of everyday life. I really long for the day when more people are riding bikes like this, realizing they don't have to be financially chained to their car. Do I hate cars? No. They are great in certain circumstances. But I love not being dependent on one every day. Not being dependent on foreign oil, on gas stations, on insurance people, on auto mechanics (I do all of my own bike maintenance, it is not very hard). It is freeing. So, my personal goal is to share that sense of freedom with more people. And that is one of the important reasons why we created this little venture.

Bikes by Breezer and Marin

2008-05-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to mention another exciting development we've had lately. We had the great fortune of signing on to be a dealership for two great lines of bicycles. Some people don't need an electric assist or cargo bike, they just need a reliable, great ride designed from the ground up for riding every day. Things like integral

fenders and racks

, integral

lighting systems

, swept back handlebars for reduced wrist strain, a more upright riding position to see and be seen, wide slick tires that roll fast on the pavement but can handle the gravel or grass too. These are the kind of bikes that we used to morph our old mountain bikes into with a lot of effort and not always satisfactory results. But now, these companies are doing it for us, designing the bikes from the ground up, purpose built as transportation bicycles.

The first line we'll mention (because we signed up with them first) is

Breezer

. This California-based company was founded by Joe Breeze, who is one of the legends involved in getting the sport of mountain biking off the ground. They now focus exclusively on bicycles as beautiful but practical commuting vehicles. Bikes like the

Breezer Uptown

pictured here:

We're excited about these bikes, they are well built and top rated for commuting. We have a bunch of these on the way, and they should be here before our grand opening.The second line of bikes we will be carrying are from

Marin

. Marin is another California-based company that was involved in the mountain bike business from the early days, building high quality cycles. One of our parents had their first Marin in 1987, and it was a great bike. Marin still makes mountain bikes, but they also produce a really nice line of commuter and comfort oriented bikes, and we've got a shipment of these on the way, starting at very reasonable prices. But the bike we're most excited about is the humble

Muir Woods

. This is a steel bike, that reminds us of the good old days when bikes were simple, reliable, and very durable. For those who've only ridden an aluminum bike, steel has a special quality to it - it is more forgiving. But, this is also a great platform for adding an electric assist due to steel's resilience. We have a range of bikes from Marin on their way, and if we don't have the bike in stock that you are looking for, we are happy to order one for you (same is true for Breezers).

Grand Opening Celebration

2008-05-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

We're going to have a modest little grand opening celebration at the store on Saturday, May 31, 2008, from 11AM-5PM (or whenever people are sick of us).

We'll have some music playing on the stereo, some free refreshments and snacks, and most importantly,

a sale (one day, in store purchases only).

Xtracycle Freeradical kits complete .... $370 (only 2 in stock, and they're in limited supply countrywide!)

Tubes...$2 (limit 5/customer)

Planet Bike Superflash Blinky tail lights ... $17 (regularly $22)

KARMA PRO BLACK-LI ON LITHIUM ION PLUS CHARGER...$109 (regularly $149)

Nite Ize Spoke lights (they sound a bit dorky, but cars will definitely see you!)... $7 (Regularly $10)

Come visit us, and experience how fun it is to ride a bike with an electric kit. See how

easy it is to load and ride a cargo bike or take a passenger for a ride. Watch a folding bike demonstration

that reveals how you can combine a folding bike with public transportation or even travel by plane with no

additional charge for bringing a bike.

Why do we exist?

2008-05-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the title makes it sound like we're going to get all existential here about the meaning of life and all. But we'll save that for the book Morgan is working on. In the meantime, we've got a much simpler blog post in store for you....

We've got the store open at Cycle 9. Given all the long hours we've put in, its a good time to reflect on why we're doing this. Basically, we were frustrated with the focus of the bicycle industry on racing and recreational products. It's not that we don't like recreational riding (we do, especially mountain biking!), its just that the products ideal for everyday commuting are not the same as the ones promoted by the industry for recreational riding. Recreational bikes are often purpose built - road bikes to be very light weight, and mountain bikes to have suspension, knobby tires, etc - none of which is good for commuting every day of the year, rain or shine. Most recreational road cyclists wouldn't be caught dead with a chain guard or fenders on their bikes - those would just add ounces and slow the bike down by a fraction of a mile per hour. And racks? Forget it. That's pounds. Why would someone add 1/2 pound to their bike, when they just paid $5k or more to shave a few ounces off their bike (and while they are at it, the hair off their legs, too!)?

Our focus is different. We promote racks to haul gear, fenders to keep the rider dry, and chain guards to keep clothes clean. Sure, they add pounds to the bike. But they also add practicality, so that you can ride to the grocery store - or ride when it is raining, or ride with your fancy work duds.

And we also promote electric assist bicycles for people who think it would encourage them to ride more often. The electric assist is not for everyone. Some people are happy waking up every day with the energy to pedal their bike up the hills, rain or shine, healthy or sick, whatever. But most of us real mortals have days we don't feel like pedaling. Or we are carrying a big load of groceries on our

Xtracycle

, and don't feel like dragging it up a long hill in the 95 degree weather. Or we don't want to get to work drenched in sweat. Electric bikes are great for those reasons and more. Our electric bikes encourage us to ride more often, instead of taking the car. And, since riding an electric bike is very energy efficient (they get the equivalent of over 500 miles per gallon), it is inexpensive and environmentally friendly.

As we look forward, we're considering what other products we might want to introduce here that fit with our core mission. We

welcome feedback

on this topic. We're definitely interested in the recumbent bicycle scene, and also think trikes would be great for load hauling. Then there are the Bakfiets, which is the Dutch way to carry tons of stuff. We're also enamored of simple, long lasting steel frames made by the likes of Soma and Surly, so we might be setting up a test ride or two in those. And, we love alternative handlebars - go into most bike shops, and you'd think the only types of bars made are either flat (mountain bikes) or drop bars (road bikes). But there is a world of other handlebar configurations out there, many of which are better suited for commuting. My (Morgan's) personal favorite are the Nitto Albatross bars. But there are many other great ones.

Last but not least, we need to give a huge thanks to the two Gregs, our first official employees. Greg T is a young cycling enthusiast who has poured his energy into getting the shop open. And Greg F has brought a treasure trove of cycling industry knowledge to bear, which has been highly valuable. Most importantly, both clicked with our core mission from the start - both of them love cycling in all forms, but like us, want to see more of the practical everyday cycling gear promoted and sold to the general public. We don't need to promote cycling for more Lance wannabes - we need to promote more people to get out of their cars and ride their bikes, walk, ride public transit, or whatever it takes to make our cities more peaceful, quiet, and clean, while reducing our dependency on foreign oil.

So, please come visit our shop - or

send us email

with your wishes for the type of cycling shop you'd like to see. We want to hear from you!

Yuba Mundo is here!

2008-05-03T03:29:00.000-07:00

The Yuba Mundo Cargo/Sports Utility Bicycle Has Arrived!

This is a serious load carrying bike. Originally designed as part of the WorldBike project, this has now hit the USA, and we at Cycle 9 have been fortunate enough to get our hands on a few for testing and for customers.

We'll have more hints, comments, and observations as we further experiment with the bike.

Available now in our

online store

, or in our Chapel Hill store.

Extended battery warranty policy

2008-04-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

The lithium manganese batteries used in our high-end electric bikes are one of the most expensive parts on the bike. They represent great technological achievement, giving the light weight, high power feel of our bikes. With proper care, such as keeping them charged, they should last for many years. But because they are expensive, we realize that customers wonder what will happen if or when they need to be replaced.

So, we are going to do something that nobody else in the electric bicycle business does, with a unique warranty policy on the lithium-manganese batteries that come with our bikes. Our original 6 month warranty will remain in effect, where if there is any battery failure in that period due to manufacturing defect, we will replace the battery.

But, on top of that, we will offer an additional pro-rated, 2 year warranty on the lithium batteries*

. That means the batteries will be covered by an unprecedented 2.5 year warranty. So, for example, in the unlikely event that your battery fails after 1.5 years of use, replacement would go as follows. The first 6 months would count as the free replacement period. The subsequent 1 year of use would count as 1/2 of the two year pro-rated warranty period. We would replace your battery at 1/2 the original retail price (as of 5/1/08, $399 is the full retail price). And, at that time, if you want to upgrade to a different type of battery, such as the long-lasting Li-Fe-Po4, we will apply that credit towards purchase of this type of battery.

*The warranty covers manufacturer's defects, and excludes neglect and abuse of the battery, such as: opening or modification of the bike or battery, discharging the battery further after its low-voltage self protection circuit has been activated, failing to keep the battery charged, intentional short-circuit of the battery, using the bike for offroad and/or stunt riding, using the bike for racing, etc. This warranty is only for Cycle 9 brand electric bikes that will be arriving late May/early June. Other hub motor kits and bikes may have different warranty periods depending on the manufacturer.

Store opening!

2008-04-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

We heard all the customer feedback, and realized that we could have the most positive impact in the local community (Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Burlington, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, etc) by having a physical storefront where customers can drop by to meet us and see the bikes. We have leased a building, located on Highway 54 just west of Carrboro, and are in the process of setting it up. It's where Furniture Follies used to be (he was so successful, he moved to a bigger space - we only hope that we will be so successful!). We aren't open quite yet, but we expect an opening by mid-May. We'll announce a grand-opening sale and the exact location here, so keep your eyes on this space.

Items we'll have in stock in the store include:
- Hub motor kits from Crystalyte, Forsen, eZee, etc. We are in discussions to also get the Stokemonkey once that is back in production.
- Folding bikes from Downtube and Anyrider
- Cargo/sports utility bikes from Yuba and Xtracycle. We are also considering getting a Big Dummy or two if there is customer demand
- Cycle 9 electric bicycles, custom manufactured to our specifications to be light weight, high power, integrated electric bikes
- Accessories, including: Cycle Analyst, Down Low Glow, Bicycle Cup Holders, Bicycle Stereo, Safety Gear, Batteries, controllers, spare motors, riding gear, bike bags, etc.

Other products we are exploring include various trike configurations, Bakfiets style bikes, recumbents, etc. If there is a particular bicycle-related product that you think we should carry, just

drop us a line

, we'll gladly take your feedback into consideration.

News from China

2008-04-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

So I'm in China. Bicycles are everywhere here, still a lot of people use them for transportation. Last night I saw a guy riding his bike with 3 mattresses on his back! It was an amazing balancing act, and a testament to the determinedness of the people.

But car use is on the rise. Here there are many car ads, and cars are seen as a wealth and status symbol - a sign of the good life.

Every society seems to go through an evolution with cars - in the first phase with cars being a luxury item only for the rich, in the second phase cars being something the middle class aspires to have to show wealth and status, in the third phase, society reaching saturation where the number of cars is so large that it puts strains on the system, causing health problems, air pollution, and traffic congestion. There also appears to be a fourth stage, where countries realize the detrimental aspects of cars, and work to reduce their usage, replacing them with age old solutions like bikes, public transport, and walking. My perception is that China is still in stage 2 - the broad middle class acquiring cars as part of the rapid growth of wealth here. But already traffic problems are great - and so are pollution problems. In Bejing, it is gridlock during rush hour - and that with only 1 in 3 people owning cars. Also, there is an almost constant a haze over the city, which during my stay, only broke after some heavy rain.

When I was in the city of Shenzhen, I inquired with several locals about bicycle rental. I love to see new cities by bicycle, because I can see more on bike than on foot, yet it is still much more intimate than in a car. It is also good exercise, to offset the extra eating I tend to do when visiting new places. However, when I inquired with one of the young students, she said, "Why would you want to bike? Shenzhen is a modern city!" The implication was that in a "modern city" nobody would bike. She seemed dumfounded that anyone would prefer to ride a bike, especially a "rich westerner". She viewed bikes as a contrivance only for the poor.

Ultimately, countries like China will continue the evolution to more and more cars, until the problems start becoming so apparent that there is a push to go back to other modes of transportation for the masses. If oil prices continue to rise, this may happen sooner rather than later.

Downtubes for travel

2008-04-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

We used the Downtube bikes for a recent cycling trip around Italy. The bikes performed great for this 200+ mile tour, which included paved roads, gravel roads, and cobblestone streets! We packed them in standard-sized suitcases (so we didn't pay any extra to take them with us).

And the coolest thing? They pack into a standard size suitcase, so there is no "bike surcharge" of $70 or more charged by the airline. See pix below.

The 20" FS (full suspension) model is pictured here.

More pictures are on our

Flickr page

Thanks to everyone who came out today

2008-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who braved the rain today to try out the electric and sports utility bicycles.

Johnny's

is a fun place to spend a bit of time, sipping some coffee, chatting with the owner Ben, and enjoying a Guglhupf pastry.

We have one of our bikes located at Johnny's for the next few weeks. This is a standard mountain bike, with the

eZee kit

and an

Xtracycle Freeradical

installed. Feel free to stop by to try it out! Also, if you enjoy music and enjoy bicycling, make sure to ask the owner Ben about his

I-ride bicycle stereo

. These are neat little stereos for your bike, to which you can attach your iPod or other favorite mp3 player. We have them

in stock, in our online store.

(If you're a local customer, the Paypal store may try to have you pay shipping, but we'll refund it).

We'll also be doing more electric and sports utility/cargo bicycle demos, including

Earth Action Day on April 26

.

Keep your eyes on this space for other demo dates and times.

Electric bike demo rides at Johnny's Sporting goods

2008-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday, Johnny's Sporting Goods in Carrboro has something going on. This coming weekend 4/5/08, they'll have a taco cart and garden sale.

If the weather is good, we're going to bring the bikes out for people to test ride. We'll have electric bicycles, folding bicycles, and a sports utility bicycle or two. We'll also bring along a few of the small items like flash flags, cup holders for your bike, I-ride stereos, and other doodads to enhance your biking experience!

We plan to be there from 10AM-1PM. Johnny's is at 901 W Main St in Carrboro, and the store is in the back.

Where art thou hub motors?

2008-03-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Demand on the electric bikes and kits has been beyond our expectations, so our stock has gotten very low. There's nothing like being in the business of selling electric bikes.... and having not much left to sell! We have a group of the

eZee kits

on backorder, due to arrive now in early May, but we've already pre-sold most of them. If you want to get your claim on one of these, we suggest you order now. As a bonus for pre-ordering, we'll give you the old price, rather than the new upgraded kit price (a difference of $30-40). We also have more Crystalyte gear on the way, and a new addition will be the top-notch BionX hub motor kits.

These are the only kits we will be selling that have regenerative braking, and as a bonus, these are made in North America (Canada, to be precise)! They also have an advanced monitor and display system that is much nicer than any other kit on the market.

We also have an order in for some of the FalconEV kits, including the Forsen, Dragonfly, and Bull. And, last but not least, we have our shipment of Cycle 9 electric bikes in production, to arrive in May also.

So, within a few months, we hope to be stocked back up, unless the popularity of this stuff continues to skyrocket and we sell out again...

"Growing" batteries with a virus!

2008-03-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

Can a virus make a better battery for electric bikes and electric cars?

That's what MIT researcher

Angela Belcher

is working on.

She is developing means to engineer new materials by "programming" bacteriophage viruses. She programs them genetically, and this causes them to produce proteins in particular configurations to optimize the properties of the anodes and cathodes in the batteries. She is using that programming to increase energy density, and to make thin, flexible battery cells that might be used as materials in clothing, for example.

I saw her talk today at the annual

Institute for Biomedical Engineering meeting

, and she not only described new battery technologies, but a host of other applications for her work, including higher-density solar arrays.

She first described using the phages to synthesize lithium-cobalt batteries. While that is technically exciting, for electric vehicle use, the cobalt chemistries have had safety concerns in the past, so may not see much use in electric vehicles. But, she is also looking at integrating new chemistries based on Lithium-Iron Phosphates and similar. And she happens to be friends with one of the inventors of the Li-Fe-PO4 chemistry.

Sometimes it can get a little depressing that all the electric bike related products seem to be made in asia, and very few in North America. But, at least we have some great researchers like Angela, innovating and developing new technologies like this that may help address the significant energy challenges that our country faces.

Article in the local student newspaper about Cycle 9

2008-03-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

Today,

we were featured

The Daily Tarheel

, the student run newspaper for UNC Chapel Hill.

Riding an electric bike is like riding a regular bicycle, except with bionic legs. At least that's what Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton thinks."It was a fun little thing to ride," Chilton said with a laugh. "It was interesting because it worked that the more you pedaled, the more that the electrical assist would come into play."

Hurray, we now have an online store!

2008-03-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

Cycle 9 now has an online store, please have a look and let us know what you think.

Unfortunately, we are already sold out on the eZee hub motors. That's a nice setup, so we'll be sure to get more, hopefully they will arrive early April.

In other news, we now are carrying the Downtube folding bikes, for local sales. These are the bikes we took with us on a recent bike tour of Tuscany, Italy, and they're great bikes. However, we're only selling those locally, due to an agreement with Downtube.

We also have the Anyrider line of folding bikes on the way. These are a great, basic, low cost folding bike for someone on the go.

Yuba Mundo

2008-02-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

There's a cool new utility bike on its way to us, the Yuba Mundo.

Assuming that initial testing goes well, we'll be carrying this in two configurations, the singlespeed version for around $749, and the 6-speed version for around $799.

This cargo bike can carry up to

440 pounds of payload

!

That's 2-3 adults.
or 900 bananas
or 10 kayaks (whitewater variety)
or 25 lightweight racing bikes
or a baby cow
or way more tofu than you care to eat in a lifetime, unless you really like it a lot.

Also, we already have some Xtracycle Freeradical units in stock, which is a way to convert your own bike into a sports utility bike.

Either of these bikes can be paired with an electric assist kit like the Crystalyte or the eZee to give you the ultimate sports utility bike experience (we'd love to carry the

Stokemonkey

, but those aren't available at the moment).

Email us, or keep an eye out for our shopping cart, coming soon.