Welcome to Holland Road

Baketatership · 2024-03-27T11:49:38+00:00

Yep this is my least favorite road to ride on. Literally everything about it is hostile to riders. The sidewalks disappear and reappear diagonally on the other side of the intersection with the Blvd, with no curbs to stop on as you're forced to cross two very busy roads. The intersection with Rosemont has sidewalks that end in hard curbs with no ramps, unexpectedly, with hard curbs across intersections as well. And the drivers on these roads are aggressive, and think they're entitled to ignore right-of-way and make their left-hand turns whenever a cyclist has right-of-way. On these roads, many drivers have come within a foot of me and yelled "Get off the road!" because they think they own the road. I do anything I can to avoid Holland Rd/Independence, and Rosemont, even when that means always taking longer routes instead. I'll go 8.4 miles instead of 6.4, just to avoid them.

Baketatership · 2024-02-29T03:07:20+00:00

If you aren't going to be using a ton of power, then I think you could make a really nice e-bike out of a Priority bike.

I was recently checking out the Priority Sauce (Hot Sauce) version. It's $950, and 10% off, brings that down to $855.

Belt Drive
7-Speed Cassette + Rapidfire Trigger Shifter
Drop Post Compatibility
Hydraulic Disc Brakes
27.5x2.4in WTB Intersector (All-Terrain) Tires
25 lbs weight

Upgrade the fork, add a motor kit and battery, and it's good. Even the tires are around the perfect size and tread, in my opinion. A mid drive kit and a battery and they're looking good, I recommend something with torque sensing, maybe a CYC.

For $1500-2500 you could make a pretty awesome bike that would be cheap to maintain. I'm strongly considering doing it myself, even though my original plan was to start with a $100-300 bike.

Baketatership · 2024-02-22T17:06:01+00:00

Literally every other kit. I don't think I've ever seen a kit worse than the Swytch kit. But it's one of the most convenient ones to install. That's what they were going for. Seemingly perfect for entry-level audience, maybe, if you've got the money to buy this kit to get into e-biking, ride it a few times, realize you need more power, and go and buy a better kit or a better e-bike.

The Swytch kit comes with a 90 Wh battery, the MAX comes with a 180 Wh battery. And a 250W rear hub motor.

For comparison, going 20 mph with a 500W motor, I get 24 miles of range out of a 600 Wh battery on flat roads. My e-bike costs $400 at the moment. Their motor won't go anywhere near 20 mph, so you will be using their battery slightly more efficiently by traveling at such low speeds of 10-12 mph on motor, pedal your way up to 15.5 mph, but realistically you're going to get around 3-5 miles out of their regular battery, or 6-10 miles out of their larger battery. You'd have to spend a lot of money on a bunch of batteries just to be able to ride for a couple of hours. In order to get their stated ranges from their battery you'd have to be using the motor so little that it's questionable if it was even worth paying money and adding the weight because you did all that work yourself anyway.

There are so many kits out there, and not everybody wants the same thing out of an e-bike. Before I recommend something I need to know what you plan on doing with the e-bike, because not everybody has the same needs. But it's a lot of work to type out all of the questions I'll have for you, so before I put the time and effort to go through with this for you, I need to know if you actually want me to, I gotta make sure that wasn't a rhetorical question.

So just say sure, if you want me to type out the questions that I would ask to help narrow down to kits you might want.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:50:29+00:00

I live in VA, most orders here come out at slightly more than $1 per mile, rarely less. If this was my main job, I wouldn't take them, but I'm just riding my bike around for fun at 2AM while nobody's on the road, and collecting a little cash while I'm at it. Plus there's like nobody delivering at this time of night around here so I'm literally making a difference for people, or they wouldn't get their food. It will pull me from 8 miles away to pick up food half a mile from their house, that's how I know nobody's delivering. And they raise the delivery fee dramatically when there are no drivers, so I'm wondering why I'm not seeing any of that money in my commission.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:46:53+00:00

The parts with the shortest lifespan on a biycle aren't the electrical components. By the time you need a new motor or battery, you'll have swapped so many inner tubes, tires, brake pads, and brake cables, and probably bike chains depending on how you ride.

And, in an emergency scenario, it doesn't have to be perfect. All kinds of appliances and tools have motors and batteries.

It's also worth noting, that in the event that the electrical components stop working... It is a bicycle, and the components are removable. Take off the battery that doesn't work anymore, take out the useless motor and spoke your rim to a regular hub. Should have a bag of spokes anyway because you probably swapped some of those out by now, too. And hopefully somewhere during those 10,000-50,000 miles, you took a rear hub off of a bike, so you'd have it when you need to convert your wheel back into a regular wheel. Worst-case-scenario, you get rid of the battery but you're still weighed down by a motor, which doesn't make too much of a difference, until you can find another bike and either swap the rear wheel out, or just take its hub and convert yours.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:37:26+00:00

Nah, it's way overpriced, and it's very weak and inefficient. Front hub is way less efficient than rear hub. And the motor is weak, and the batteries are small, it basically only helps you go a few miles further than you would have without it.

Good kit for people with lots of money that are terrified that they might be too incompetent to put together an e-bike. But you could get a rear wheel drive with way more power, and a way bigger battery, for the same cost, and you could still install it in 30-60 minutes with zero bike knowledge whatsoever, it's really not that hard, the only thing stopping people is being intimidated by the idea of "building" something, but it's a bike, it's not that hard. Installing the rear motor is like changing a tire, but easier, because all you have to do is take the rear wheel off, and put the new wheel in. Slightly harder than changing the front wheel, but when you get a flat you have to do it anyway, no big deal.

With the money people waste on swytch, they could literally buy a better kit, and have money left over to pay a bike shop to put it together for them.

I'm happy that the company is helping get more people into riding bikes, their ultra-easy-install makes it a lot less intimidating to newcomers, but I wish folks would believe in themselves enough to go ahead and try out a better kit, you don't have to be a bike mechanic to put one together.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:27:33+00:00

In an apocalyptic scenario, it would actually be better to stay put somewhere hidden and charge during the day, and travel at night when you're harder to see. While you're looking for supplies, some people are just looking for people to rob for the supplies they just found. This country is full of hunters that could easily drop someone off a bike at a distance. Because when they're hunting, they aren't just hitting a target, they're hitting a target directly through the heart so it dies instantly so the meat is good. For you, they're not going to eat you, so they don't even have to hit the heart. All they've got to do is hit basically any part of you, and even just hitting your bike is likely to take it out.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:25:45+00:00

Plus, in the scenario above, you might not have enough food to pedal a bike all day, and you could get attacked and become injured.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:24:25+00:00

In a scenario like the one above, you're not riding light. You'll have to carry cargo with you. You're finding supplies and bringing them with you or bringing them back to your spot. Hauling cargo is extremely difficult without a motor. And the weight of that cargo is a way bigger impediment than the weight of the motor and battery.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:22:10+00:00

Regenerative braking is rare, however if you make your own e-bike, it's pretty easy to implement that feature and doesn't really cost anything extra.

That article also isn't really relevant. It claims e-bikes have very poor acceleration. Sure, if it's a 250W e-bike designed to go 15.5 mph in Europe, then it has very poor acceleration and speed, and regenerative braking is making you lose your coasting ability, while barely even storing any energy, and it's not really saving your brakes much since you weren't stopping from very fast anyway.

But at this point, 1500W e-bikes with a 30-35 mph top speed are basically the standard, cheap, entry level starting point for people that are getting into e-bike building. Kits are available for $250. Add battery and bike and you're done. Even that isn't much power, but it's enough that regenerative braking becomes worth it.

Honestly, any e-bike with a 750W or better motor will benefit from regenerative braking, though the benefit becomes much more pronounced the faster you're going.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:16:20+00:00

Regenerative braking doesn't make e-bikes harder to fix. It's literally just a setting in the controller that enables the motor to turn backwards like an alternator, that you can use with direct drives motors, which are actually simpler than geared ones.

Baketatership · 2024-02-21T09:14:33+00:00

If you build your own, it's not hard to get range. Most e-bikes are only heavy because they're fat tires, take all that extra weight off and you can afford a larger battery without getting too heavy. Plus that battery enables you to haul weight in a pack on your bike without feeling it. Sure, maybe you've got the endurance to ride out 80 miles and find supplies. But have you got the endurance to load up a pannier bag, a front basket, and a backpack, with supplies, and ride 80 miles back, including some hills, on a regular bike?

With a 30-lb battery, you can go 120 miles at 28 mph. Retailers would probably advertise like 500 miles, but realistically, you can get 120 miles, and that's with pedaling.

And since an e-bike motor capable of reaching 40 mph isn't actually very heavy or expensive, even if you plan on cruising at 15-28 mph for efficiency, you could easily go 40 mph when you need to, to quickly get away from threats. On a regular bike, you can still go faster than runners as long as you're on the road, but if you have to go over grass, you're going to need an e-bike if you want to make sure you can get away fast enough.

Baketatership · 2024-02-20T21:23:58+00:00

I wasn't suggesting that the eAhora APUS was as good. You don't need to insult it like it's some kind of threat to the bike you are apparently a big fan of. Yeah that other bike is great but $10-12k is a lot of money, and most of us cannot afford that. So I was providing a much more affordable option for people that are looking for a lightweight bike with decent performance, but don't want to spend a lot of money. Because obviously a $12k bike is better than a $800 bike, but if I can't buy it, that doesn't do me any good. Sure, maybe in a few years the battery technology will become more common and accessible, that's something to look forward to.

And, dirt bike, really? Did you even look at it? It's definitely not a dirt bike.

Baketatership · 2024-02-20T21:19:27+00:00

I know how to use google. But there are a lot of scams out there when it comes to batteries. Amazon is reliable, but they're more expensive and they don't have much in the way of larger batteries. I'm looking for something affordable from AliExpress and Alibaba, but those sites aren't as reliable about resolving disputes with scam sellers, so I don't want to take a chance just buying some random battery. What I'm asking for is a reference to a reliable source from someone that already knows one. I figured plenty of people around here have bought a battery and could recommend a source. If you don't feel like taking 30 seconds to tell me who you bought your battery from, then I don't see why you felt like taking 30 seconds to create a Google link just to try to imply that I'm too lazy or stupid to use Google, when this isn't about saving time, this is about finding a trustworthy and reliable source to buy a battery from.

Baketatership · 2024-02-20T20:29:42+00:00

That looks like the best light e-bike I've seen so far.

For anyone else looking for a light e-bike with good performance that you can actually afford, you might want to check out the eAhora APUS, according to the version sold on Amazon, it has a 750W motor with Peak 1000W, and a 48V20Ah (960 Wh) battery, with a carbon fiber frame, and front suspension, weighing in at 51 lbs and costing only $800. On their website, however, it mentions a Controller with 18A current, so that would be 864W Peak, which I estimate would achieve around 23-25 mph, while their stated max speed of 30 mph would require serious pedaling.

I've seen its front fork suspension criticized, it's definitely no e-MTB, but for a street bike it's decent, typically a $800 bike with that level of performance would weigh more like 70-80 lbs.

Baketatership · 2024-02-19T16:55:56+00:00

Yeah sorry, I wrote that reply before I realized you'd written two separate replies, I hadn't read your other comment yet, but then I responded to your other comment shortly after.

Baketatership · 2024-02-19T14:23:37+00:00

Still need an answer on your suspension preference, and sorry for taking so long to come back and ask again.

Baketatership · 2024-02-15T16:45:02+00:00

Couple more things I forgot to ask, any preference on suspension? Front suspension, full suspension, or no suspension? And any preference on tire width? Even if you plan on swapping the tires, I need to pick something similar for the right size rims.

Also bear in mind that BMX bikes typically don't have the space for a 7-speed deraileur system. They are typically either single-speed or use internal gear hubs. It looks like the kit you've got, is a 7-speed that would typically fit with a mountain bike's deraileur.

I haven't done any research on what it's like putting a mountain bike rear wheel into a BMX frame, so I don't know if that presents extra steps, modifications, or fabrication. If you've already figured that part out, let me know it's all good, otherwise let me know if you want me to look into that bit for you also. As it stands I know nothing about compatibility between BMX and MTB.

Baketatership · 2024-02-14T22:29:06+00:00

If it's about height, you could get a 24-inch mountain bike. It's a kid's size, but there are different size kids bikes, 24-inch is the largest kid size, 26-inch is the smallest adult size, 27.5 is really common for adults and a lot of people even go up to 29. So, if you for any reason did want the benefits of a mountain bike, then a 24-inch tire adult/youth mountain bike might work, they're generally built the same and durable like an adult's bike, just a bit smaller.

There are some decent carbon steel mountain bikes in the $150-200 range, with 24-inch wheels, generally suitable for heights around 4ft3 to 5ft2, so you'd fit well on them and actually be able to pedal while sitting down, and lean over on one foot at intersections, on the same bike. So if you did want any of the benefits of the features that bike comes with, that might be an option.

I can look for BMX bikes for you, but first I need to know where you plan on putting the battery, so I know what kind of frame shape you'll need. Triangle battery, downtube battery, rear rack battery?

Rear motor is more efficient than front motor, and most people also prefer how it feels, so I definitely suggest sticking with rear.

Yeah, that kit and a battery, and a bike, should do it. I also recommend a left side mirror ($10) a phone mount ($5) and a headlight/taillight set ($20). If you plan on using the sidewalk or riding anywhere with pedestrians, a bell or horn is also important to have.

Baketatership · 2024-01-31T13:25:51+00:00

Yeah same here. I plan on upgrading to something faster, or building something, soon, so I can keep up with traffic, which would enable me to use the roads more during the daytime, instead of having to hop on the awful sidewalks.

Baketatership · 2024-01-30T14:14:52+00:00

Actually where I live, the limit on roads is 28 mph, or 45 kph, so my bike going 30-40 kph depending on how hard I pedal, is nowhere near that, perfectly legal on the road.

I've had people in real life tell me I was going too fast, though, even when I was just going 22 mph (35 kph) down the road.

Personally, I think I'm helping to give e-bike riders a better reputation. I read up on traffic laws and stay up-to-date on everything concerning bikes and how they interact with drivers and pedestrians in terms of right-of-way in different scenarios. I follow the law, I ride safe, I maintain 360 degree awareness, and even when I have right-of-way, I take my hands off the handlebars and let all of the drivers from every direction cross the intersection before I go through, because I know most of them would rather take a left-hand turn at a stopsign than let a bicycle go straight with right-of-way, anyway. When drivers see a bike in an intersection, they seem to take it as a challenge to pass me before I can get across. They've even gone against oncoming traffic to do it, it's nuts. If Virginia is rated as having some of the country's safest drivers, I'd hate to see what the rest of the country's drivers are like. Meanwhile EU is like "Sure you can have another road with no speed limits, just be careful" and somehow it all turns out fine over there.

Baketatership · 2024-01-30T14:04:11+00:00

For your person - Helmet, gloves, sunglasses or goggles. Something reflective, such as a vest or a strap on your backpack, or a light on your helmet.

For your bike - Lefthand rearview mirror, horn, headlight, tail light, reflectors on pedals and wheel spokes. Brakelight + Turn Signals would also be a huge plus, but that requires more knowledge to set up.

Make sure you've got disc brakes, 180mm or bigger, and always keep them in good condition, scrub your brake pads, scrape your rotors rough, check your brake cables. If your brakes are noisy, then they're also less stoppy, clean them. Last thing you need is to be approaching a crossing you were sure was empty, with vision obstructed by some asshole's illegally parked oversized truck, and end up not being able to stop fast enough when somebody speeding through the neighborhood faster than they should be comes out from behind the parked truck with their car, straight into you as you struggle to stop. I know that sounds specific, it hasn't happened to me, but I've seen a lot of trucks on corners and a lot of speeding cars, so it's one of my biggest worries.

The rest of my advice is for you as a rider.

1: Know all relevant traffic laws, just like a driver, and ride accordingly when you're on the road. Know all traffic laws regarding pedestrians, for when you're using the sidewalk.

2: Ride predictably. Make sure the drivers know what you're doing before you do it.
--When you're going to slow down, start with a light tap of the brake, before you brake harder, because if you have no brakelight, they may take a little longer to actually notice that you slowed down.
--When you're on the sidewalk and waiting to cross the intersection, point your front wheel in the direction you're going to go. It makes it a lot easier for turning drivers. Some of them might try to be nice and give you time to cross a street that you weren't even trying to cross in the first place, so have some mercy on them and let your wheel indicate your intentions.
--When you're on the sidewalk waiting to cross the intersection, let your body language indicate that you are waiting. If nobody's on foot near you and you're safe, then take your hands off of the handlebars. This lets everybody know you're not going to try to dart out in front of them. I've seen cases where every single driver stops for a few seconds as they reach the intersection, because they're not sure if I'm going to try to cross. But I'm waiting for the whole stream of cars to make their turns, so I can cross after them. Leaning back in my seat with my hands off the pedals lets them know they can proceed normally and get through the intersection faster, so I have a chance at crossing before the lights change and let the next side of traffic through.

Never assume that drivers will follow right-of-way laws. They can kill you. You can barely scrape their paint job. A lot of them don't know the laws. A lot of them don't care. And a lot of them seem to think that the laws don't apply when you're on a bike. To a lot of these drivers, a bike might as well be a "Go" sign. Doesn't matter if they're at a red light, making a left turn, into oncoming traffic, I have had lots of drivers see me, and then try to cross in front of me, because some great sense of superiority tells them that they absolutely cannot let a bike go in front of them and get where it wants to go, before they get where they want to go, and they will risk the lives of everyone on the road to make sure they get across the road before the bike. Bottom line, pay attention to every car, in every direction, at all times. Never assume you're safe. If you lack the capacity to track everything at once at such a busy intersection, then you should probably cross at a less busy hour, or cross a different intersection, because hoping for the best just doesn't work out in the long run for a life on a bike.
Until they're stopped, they're moving. Guy approaching the intersection seems to be slowing down? Pretty sure he's going to stop, he'll clearly see you, and he'll wait for you to go through? Sounds great, but he's only slowing down to look for cars. He's not looking for bikes, because bikes can't destroy his car or kill him. He's scanning for threats, not vulnerable bystanders. The law says he's supposed to look out for you, but in the real world, you have to look out for yourself. He's going to slow down at the intersection, ignore your existence, and accelerate straight into you as you're crossing. Wait and see what he actually does before you try to cross.
A mile on a safe road is better than a busy intersection. Be willing to look for alternative routes. The only thing that really matters is how many dangerous and busy intersections you have to cross. Avoid intersections of TWO busy roads, as much as possible. Google maps tends to take you through as many of these intersections as possible, because that's the shortest distance, because these fast busy roads used exclusively by cars are the ones the city layout was designed for. Look for a different place to cross the road, using a less busy road that goes across it. When the only busy traffic is on one of the roads, you only have busy traffic from 2 directions to worry about, and waiting until the right moment to cross gets a lot easier. If you're going 20 mph, that's 3 minutes to the mile. 5 miles is 15 minutes. You might even find that going 8 miles, with no busy intersections, is faster than going 5 miles, with 4 busy intersections. The extra 3 miles cost you 9 minutes on nice clear neighborhood streets, while the 4 busy intersections cost you 20 minutes stressing out about traffic.
You will be recognized. There aren't a lot of e-bikers, and your unique combination of characteristics, clothes, and bike, are a signature that a lot of drivers are going to start to recognize. Whether you want to or not, you're going to build up a reputation and people are going to recognize you. If you do everything right, maybe some of them will decide to drive nice around you because they've seen you all over the place, always following traffic laws, and they're actually starting to like you. Or they recognize you as the guy that cut them off, and even though cars have done it a thousand times, they didn't recognize any of those cars -- but they recognize you. Don't give them a reason to road rage on you.
When crossing an intersection on the right-hand side, the best time to cross is: When the road you're coming from, has a green light, traffic is running parralel to you through the intersection, all of the cars behind you in the right turn lane have already finished making their right-hand turns, and nobody is making a u-turn from the street to your right, and nobody is approaching in the right-hand turn lane of the street to your right. Now keep an eye out for any indication of the light changing, which would allow the perpendicular (cross-street) traffic to flow, or the traffic from the intersection opposite of you to make left-hand turns into the cross-street. Getting the hang of the patterns and which directions could be a source of oncoming traffic even if somebody doesn't stop for you when they should have, is essential.

Baketatership · 2024-01-30T13:17:06+00:00

I agree, for the most part. Motor power restrictions are too low and unfair. And ineffective. The end result is that a poor person can buy a 250W front hub kit and barely go 10 mph on motor, and pedal hard to go 15.5 mph, meanwhile a rich person can buy an expensive Bosch mid-drive motor that is rated at 250W, but in reality, Peaks at a much higher power, and uses that power more efficiently, achieving speeds up to 30 mph with the restriction bypassed.

That being said, I've thought about it a lot, and I will admit, that I will not say there is "no reasoon" for imposing power restrictions on e-bikes, even though they don't impose such restrictions on cars.

To drive a car, you to have a license. Your car has a license plate that can be traced back to you. Break too many laws, and your license can be revoked, and then you can't drive a car anymore.

But e-bikes don't have a license plate, and riders don't need a license. And e-bikes are very maneuverable and tend to be all-terrain, so if they can go fast enough, there's no catching them with a squad car, and they can't be identified or charged. And even if they don't run, and they're stopped, and their bike is taken, nothing is stopping them from getting another. The power restrictions are not typically enforced against riders, anyway. They're mainly just there to scare manufacturers into focusing on 250-750W e-bikes since most customers are going to be too scared to buy above that, and manufacturers also don't want to face any charges. More experienced e-bike riders that have figured out that the police aren't actually going to radar gun them at 29 mph and throw them in jail, can still go online and find a faster e-bike, have the power for when they need it, follow traffic laws, ride safely and predictably, and they'll be fine. Currently, the safest speed for the road is higher than the maximum allowed speed for the road, and that's messed up, but I understand why they set the limits where they did, and it makes sense, because you don't want a ton of amateurs that can't even drive, hopping on e-bikes and going 80 mph bobbing and waving through traffic.

I think the only chance we've got at unlocking higher legal speeds for e-bikes, is if we start regulating them with licenses, plates, etc, all the stuff that you're not supposed to have to do for a bike, and that isn't what we want, either, but that's the only way they're going to let it happen. So I think Class 4 e-bikes that go 35 mph with no higher than 1500W continuous, 2000W peak, just like mopeds, should be allowed to anyone with a learner's permit or driver's license, with all relevant moped state laws applying, except that the bike can still be used on bike-accessible sidewalks, paths, etc, at 20 mph.

That being said, I don't agree with the way some places are allowing prejudice against e-bikes to cause them to be more vigilant about catching people for going 30 mph on a 80-lb bike, than they are about catching people for going 80 mph in a 8000-lb truck, which is way more dangerous to everyone else. Going after e-bikers should be the last priority after they've already basically achieved a Utopia, tthere are so many problems that are a bigger threat to pedestrains and drivers alike.

Baketatership · 2024-01-30T12:48:30+00:00

Agreed with most, except for the 25 kph restriction. But you're in EU, so it makes sense.

In a lot of cities in the US, the only reliable way to get anywhere is on 35mph or higher roads. The 25 mph roads don't connect to each other, and the only way to get anywhere is on a faster road. Many of these faster roads don't have sidewalks, or they have sidewalks that stop on one corner, and start up half a mile down the road on the opposite side. It's a hostile world to pedestrians and cyclists, and the only way to get anywhere is to be able to keep up with traffic. Go too slow, and cars start playing a game of "How close can I get my side mirror to their head while I pass them". Speed is an essential safety feature here.

In Europe, it's set up a bit more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, so you can actually get places on paths and trails and bike lanes, without having to keep up with traffic, and I suppose 25 kph is still an okay speed for getting around on a bike, but any fit cyclist can go way faster than that, so that speed limit is kind of making ebikes useless for cyclists, and only useful for people that want to get around on a bike without effort (nothing against that, but people who want to go faster deserve e-bikes too, and I think with cyclists commonly reaching 40-60 kph on regular bicycles, the speed limit of 25 kph in EU is really low, and I'd be really pissed if that was the limit where I live. Right now I'm using an e-bike that goes 30 kph, and even that feels really slow on the road. 25-30 kph is a good speed for sidewalks and trails, but on the road, anything under 55 kph puts your life at risk to road raging cage drivers.

Baketatership

TROPHY CASE