Originally Posted by chicbicyclist
Ohhhh, nice chain guard. I want one!
It seems to be a ring with ground off teeth. The problem of such a guard is that it takes out the space for one ring.
Originally Posted by chicbicyclist
Electric assist is probably not for everyone, especially weight weenies, but it addresses many reasons people give out when asked "why don't you use your bicycle for errands/commuting/etc", like hills(San Francisco...San Diego...), sweating, headwinds and well, it's just damn easier!
Following your post, I kept my eyes open and, while spending a few days in Europe on business, I noticed quite a few bikes with the assist. Particularly interesting was an elderly lady on a fixie with the pedals turning in the air.
Overall sounds like a good idea, an actually practical utilization of the electrical power for transport. On another note, when a student, I had a moped with pedals that served as a mechanical assist. A loaded moped had real trouble climbing steeper hills and the pedal assist was then crucial.
Originally Posted by chicbicyclist
You can always spend more money on lighter battery technology. NiMh of the same energy capacity weighs about 15lbs but can cost about $300(lead acids cost about $100-120). I've seen systems that can go 40 miles using lighter niMh and Im planning on using them once my lead acids die out in about 10 months of regular use or so.
Given what I've spent on the bike over years, particularly trying out different things, the above price difference would have disappeared in the noise. No question, however, that such an individual expenditure is hard to swallow. Well, I wish you a good return on your assist investment.