The guy at the shop will sell you on torque and range. What he won’t mention is that the battery powering all of it might vanish from the catalog in three years, turning your $3,000 ride into a very heavy regular bicycle. That gap between the pitch and what actually matters over years of ownership…
The real money, and the real conversations at Bonhams and in the paddock at Goodwood, happens around machines most riders have never thrown a leg over. Hand-welded frames from a workshop in Rimini. A Dutch superbike running a Wankel rotary. A turbocharged Swiss exotic with a frame builder’s signature in the backbone. These were low-volume…
The ride always falls apart twelve miles from the car. A spoke pings loose. A derailleur snaps on a shard of glass nobody saw coming. That’s where the gap shows up between riders who pack the obvious stuff and riders who pack the clever stuff, because a multi-tool and a spare tube cover maybe half…
Somewhere around mile forty, most riders stop having fun. The saddle turns to concrete, the wind feels personal, and the loop you’ve ridden two hundred times becomes a chore with pedals. A new bike rarely fixes it. What fixes it is a handful of small, slightly strange habits that experienced riders use and almost never…
The cordless everything in your garage will be landfill before long. Meanwhile the wall-mounted vise your grandfather bolted down in 1963 is still clamping just fine. Somewhere we traded steel and hardwood for plastic clamshells and battery packs that die the week the warranty does. Those old suburban garages got a lot right, and not…
The map lies to you. It shows a thin blue line between two dots and swears it’s four hours. What it leaves out is the turnout where the fog peels back off the water, the diner that still makes pie from scratch, the pass where you grip the wheel tighter and feel completely alive. These…
Ask around any coffee stop on a Sunday morning and you’ll hear the same story told a dozen ways. Somebody sold the bike in 1986 for a few hundred bucks to cover a mortgage payment or buy a minivan, and now the thing trades for the price of a decent used truck. These machines defined…
The extension cord snaking across the garage floor finally got me. Tripped over it in the dark, coffee everywhere, and right there on the concrete I decided the garage needed to grow up. Most of us treat it like a closet with a door. But it can be a workshop, a charging station, a wash…
I LOVE mountain biking. I hit the trails as often as possible and have never found a better way to explore the great outdoors. When I hit the trails, I like to be prepared. I always bring plenty of water, a spare tube, and a few snacks. But there are a few other things I…
Electric bikes are becoming more and more popular because they offer the best of both worlds: the convenience of a motorbike with the exercise benefits of a bicycle. As more people discover the benefits of e-bikes, the number of accessories available for them is increasing as well. From clothing to lights and even trailers, there…
Purchasing a bike for your children or grandchildren costs more than the price of the bike and the sales tax. I found out when I discovered that kids want all the latest, greatest and coolest accessories for their bikes. There are so many bike accessories for kid’s bikes today that I was initially shocked to…
Unless you spend some top buck on the high-end models with advanced features, most of the road bikes you’ll find in the market pack features only suitable for casual riding. On the bright side, this leaves you with a lot of room to customize them to your liking. And even better, there’s nearly an endless…
It’s interesting, but according to Wifey, when a man reaches a certain age, he seemingly starts to think himself, what she calls, “Something of a ….” Something of a Stud, Something of a Casanova, Something of a Budget Master, Something of a DIY man…. around the house that is. I understand I have reached a…
Yessir, yessir, three bags full!! That was the humorous answer I received just the other day when I went to an electric bikes’ shop for my Mama and asked, “Can you buy replacement electric bike batteries? If so, how much do they cost?” Now, if there is anything my late pappy warned me about, it’s…
I’m always looking for new ways to get around that don’t require a vehicle. An electric bike is one of those ways. You can put an e-bike on a bike rack, but you need one made for your bike. First Off, What Is an Electric Bike? An electric bike, or e-bike, is a bicycle that…
This is a question most people who own electric bikes ask themselves; is it possible to charge an electric bike with a solar panel? The most common types of solar panels are those we see on rooftops, and they are huge. So, carrying them with you to charge an electric bike seems impossible. Still, this…
People are waking up to an abused environment and its needs. Hybrid cars, electric cars, electric bikes, scooters, and the old standby of taking the bus (many of which are green) are giving people green choices in transportation. What about rain, though? Will your electric bike work if it gets wet? Of course it will….
All electric bikes have two things in common, the motor and battery. But, from there, things get different as far as how they propel your bike due to motor placement. An electric bike can have its motor in one of three places. How it is set up affects whether one can propel the bicycle or if…
Before cars and trucks went electric, bicycles went electric and gave them the idea. This means that bicycle manufacturers have had much longer to diversify their designs, so some of these bikes you can charge while pedaling. Some electric bikes charge while you pedal them, but very few. Those that add to the battery life…
Absolutely. All you need is the right conversion kit for your type of street bike, some tools, and a Saturday morning free of honey-do’s. A bike is a simple frame attached to two wheels with brakes, pedals, handlebars, and a chain. It moves forward strictly by leg power. What makes an ordinary bike an electric…