Summer is Over

Rover II w WindWrap Faring and Seat Pad ready for Fall
Bike handlebar extensions used for accessory mounts

Summer is over, and its been a great one up here in Rainy River. A few hot days, but generally decent. I rarely took off my winter seat foam pad and with the long days I was able to get out early in the morning, so summer heat was never a problem. Turned on the a/c in the house only once. A bit of rain but generally sunny and dry. Perfect triking weather.

On my ride out today my Bell odometer turned hit the 9999.9 km mark and started flashing telling me time to reset it. I only use it as a back up and check on my Luna 750C  computer for the Bafang BBSO2. Beyond some initial learning curves it has been pretty much trouble free. I have repaired the charging port on the battery by replacing the barrel connector with an XT60 plug. No big deal. Pretty sure I am the one that screwed it up by not following directions... guilty!

Otherwise it runs perfectly. Quiet, powerful, simple, and economical. I will do some seasonal maintenance on it shortly checking the lube in the drive gears... will post details when I do it.

I still do not know the maximum battery range and still experiment with different configuration settings. It has way more power than I will ever use and have set the max current draw down to 15 amps. That would be 750 watts and I never use that level of power. Likewise the thumb throttle gets very little use. I have the max speed set at 32 kph (20 mph) which really is faster than I ever want to cruise with Rover II on the trails I travel. On decent to smooth pavement I run 20-25 kph on gravel I putter along at perhaps 12-15 kph. The great thing is the effort required of my legs changes little, up hill or down, smooth or rough, dogs or no dogs. Just up the Assist Level or drop a gear or two.

Today's ride was a decent test of range. I started out with 50.3v probably 75% charge as my standard charge is only to 80% to maximize battery life. Wind was strong and gusting out of the west at times well over 20 kph. Without e-assist for me it would have been a somewhat unpleasant ride. At times on hills and into the wind sometimes I was drawing up to 600watts on Level 5 assist and probably averaging between 120 to 160watts on Level 3 assist for the most part. Normally on this course I would run on Level 2 drawing 25-75watts. I was running in gears 5,6,& 7 for most of the distance

I finished the 43.43 km with an overall average speed of 16.1 kph and a battery level of 45.3v which my gauge says is 40%. The low battery cutoff is set at 41v. I have yet to run out of power before the end of the ride.

I use MapMyRide when I want stats on my route, but not on a regular basis. Here was today's result.

Temp 50F, Wind w 13 mph w stronger gusts

TIME
START	12:21 p.m.
ACTIVE	2:41:55
TOTAL	2:41:55

ELEVATION
GAIN	114 m
START	329 m
MAX	349 m Temp

	SPEED
AVG	16.1 k

Battery Start 50.3v =75%

Battery Finish 45.3v + 40%

I had to replace my left ProMax brake handle. Rough usage I guess, as I often turn my trike on its side to work on it and noted the lever was twisted a bit and broke at the pin. Since I have the brake shut-off switch glued onto the left brake, I had to cut the epoxy away from the Hall sensor and the magnet. Again a small chore but necessary. A pair of new handles (L & R) was less than $20 from Terra Trike and at the same time I ordered a new set of brake cables, and kingpin bushings. I will need them sometime and when I service the trike before heading south for the winter, I will check them out for wear, and change if necessary.

Earlier this summer, one of my Big Apple tires was pretty worn having run since last fall. I stuck my original tires back on to use them up and ordered a set of Big Ben FS 2.12x20 for the front and put on the Big Apple 2.12 x 24 I'd removed from the rear last winter in favour of a grip tire. I really like the improved ride I get from the Big Bens and the Big Apple. I'm only running them at about 35 psi which significantly improves ride and handling. The increased rolling resistance isn't a problem now with the e-assist.

So there we have it for now. Was looking to test those hills out in Osoyoos, B.C. this winter but decided to do the coming winter in the Redneck Riviera, P.C.B., Fl, one more time. Not much for hills there. Maybe a few sand humps down Route 30 towards Santa Rosa Beach.

Keep pedalin' and grinnin'