And then two months later... the Electric EZ-3!!!
This was just supposed to be a little boost to Penny's delta trike, her EZ-3. Well, a little boost is the understatement of THIS month. This piece of wizardry comes from Electroportal in California, via their manager Sam Wonderly.(see details at http://www.electric-bikes.com/betterbikes/e-4.html).

Maybe this series of pictures explains it best..

This is the battery pack, packing two gel-sealed lead acid 12V batteries, and lashed to the seat supports by a clever 5 point system of Velcro straps. The bag/case contains a lockout keyed switch and a connector to attach to the battery trickle charger that also comes with the kit.




The 24V electric motor, complete with one drive gear and one ratched gear gets interposed about where the long-chain idler used to be. The long chain is split into a front chain going forward to the crankset, and a back chain going back to the rear cassette. It took me longer to figure out how to break and then rejoin a bike chain than it did to lash all of the other bits to the lower frame member of the EZ-3.

The motor is operated from a "thumb lever" that you goes on the right handle bar above the brake and the shifter. It has lights that indicate the level of charge the exists on the battery pack. In theory, the system should be able to propoel a 175 pound rider about 15 miles (25 or so kilometers) at a speed of about 20 miles per hour (about 30 kph), and that's if you don't pedal at all. With pedalling the range is obviously greater.

The whole rig is easy to install, pretty inconspicous on the bike, easy to recharge.... and goes like a bat out of you know what! I love seeing the look on people's faces the first time they hit the thumb lever... pure amazement every time.

This will make longer trips possible for Penny and me. She can now negotiate sharp hills with ease, railway crossings and major street crossing or anywhere else where time is of the essence are no concern. And we don't really have to worry about fatigue wrecking the end of a longer trip.

The other day we got caught about 4-5 kilometers from home and a windstorm came up... a real blast with about 50-60 kilometer winds and blinding dust to boot. I was having trouble fighting the cross-wind and staying on the highway. Penny was able to kick in the motor and was actully making better headway into the wind than I could. Had a tough time calling to her to ease up and let the old man catch up.

Just too much fun...

The Ultimate Recumbent Bike Carrier...

After much much thought and research we have found what we think is the best allround bike carrier for the EZ-3 and the Jett Creek.... it looks like this.


Obviously we needed a new vehicle too as our newest wheels were only 11 years old but we have been struggling with a way to keep the 'bents clean and safe while we travel and this sure fits both of those bills.


The length of the recumbents makes it hard to put them laterally behind a vehicle and the only way to put them "in-line" is essentially to have a separate trailer on a hitch. We don't really have any place to store a trailer and bikes exposed on a trailer are always at some level of risk of being stolen or damaged. The trick in this van is being able to get the 2nd and 3rd row of sets out of the way almost instantly. They fold into the floors! The Chrysler "Stow 'n Go" system works like this...

Both middle and back seats disappear into the floor and that leaves us a huge open area that is 50 - 66" wide and almost eight feet long... way more length than we need for the recumbents but also gives us tons of room for suitcases and Penny's Mary Kay Commando kit.



So now we can run into Red Deer or Calgary and bike on their excellent cycle trails, we can take the bikes to the Okanagan on a holiday, or we can leave the van as is and have a great way to travel with family and grandkids... got to love it!

Then there is the Do-Dah to end all Do-Dah's...

The Garmin Edge 305 is an amazing piece of GPS technology...about the size of a (small) cell-phone, operates from -20 to -60 degrees Celcius (which is about 35 degrees more than I do on the warm end for sure).

















And, it keeps track of about 32 separate factors (to wit: Cadence, Cadence - Average, Cadence - Lap, Calories, Distance, Distance - Lap, Distance - Last Lap, Distance - Paused, Elevation, GPS Accuracy, Grade, Heading, Heart Rate, Heart Rate - Average, Heart Rate - Lap, Heart Rate Zone, Laps, Speed, Speed - Average, Speed - Lap, Speed - Maximum, Speed Zone, Sunrise, Sunset, Time, Time - Average Lap, Time - Lap, Time -Last Lap, Time - Paused, Time of day, Total Ascent, Total Descent). It's enough to make a data-dweeb drool!

And then you get to upload all this treasure into your computer where you can analyse the pulp out of it at places like MotionBased.com.

Photos and videos to follow... this is almost as much fun as riding the 'bent!!!

Check out the units at www.garmin.com and the analysis software at www.motionbased.com or at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=127236&unitSystemPkValue=1&episodePk.pkValue=2663802