As I was preparing to leave the mainland, J was getting ready to start college. I offered to get him a car, but he seemed daunted at the prospect of taking care of a car, dealing with university parking, getting insurance, and the like. He opted, instead, for an e-bike. I thought it was a good choice. He let me ride it a bit, and I liked it, so I bought one to bring with me to the island still in its factory container.
We got power and wiring, but I’d still been too busy to assemble it. I finally put it together a couple of days ago, and yesterday I decided to give it the Big Test. It claims to have a 40 mile range, but that’s on level ground and we live on the side of a volcano. In three miles from the highway to the house, the road gains 1,200 feet of elevation. That’s close to an 8% grade overall but, of course, parts are much steeper. By comparison, the maximum grade on an interstate highway in the US is supposed to be 6%. So it’s pretty steep.
I was worried about range, but what actually did me in was that the bike overheated halfway up the hill, and the electric assist cut out. The bike isn’t geared nearly low enough that I could pedal it any significant distance up the steeper parts. This isn’t a road that climbs the mountain in switchbacks; it pretty much follows a gulch and goes straight up.
I did a few cycles of waiting for the bike to cool off while I walked it up the hill to a point that was flat enough to be able to pedal it (the assist won’t kick in until you’re actually moving and pedaling) but eventually HA and Luna the Big Dog™ (by prior arrangement — there’s no cell phone service) came and picked me up in Timmy the Titan.
My dreams of zipping down to the post office and back on my little e-bike aren’t to be.
—2p