It don't take a weatherman

As they used to say in the sixties, it don't take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.

E-bikes are the way it is going to go. There are going to be tougher and tougher regulations on gasoline engines. Even those small enough for a bike or a lawn mower one day won't be able to meet the air quality standards. I have a weed eater now with a rechargeable battery and there are complete lawn mowers with them. Since they have that technology it's just a matter of time till they can make a decent car and then motorcycle with it. When that happens the government will regulate the gasoline engine onto the scrap heap. Obama already said that about the coal generating plants. Gasoline cars are in the regulator's sights now.

Enjoy your gasoline bikes as as long as you can, but know you are working with a technology on the way out. Trust me I have not embraced the new technology at all, but I can see the writing on the wall. We will still be able to tinker, it will just be with new stuff. The ebikes are not regulated most places because it's where the governments wants us to play. More gasoline bikes will be regulated out of existence in more places as time goes on. They can call it a air quality hazard, or an injury liability hazard or a hundred other things, but they are going to pretty much kill off carbon based fuel personal vehicles in the next twenty years I think.

So what do you think

I agree with everything said. I also think that the field is wide open for innovators. I wish I was one.

I too would like to see batteries get better, lighter, and cheaper. The lithium poly batteries if they ever go into full production could do some of that. You can do a 40 ah now. I have no idea what the weight is but it looks to be a reasonable size.

They are talking about using the cells from a toyota hybred to make battery packs for bikes. I think that to be efficient Batteries designed for some other use will have to be converted to bike batteries. As long as the battery is just for bikes, the market will be too small. Maybe they will sell a few of the high tech batteries out the back door of some car plant to guys who can make all purpose battery packs so that we can convert them. To get the price down I think it has to be a pack made for some mass produced item, which we can just convert to our use.

There might be a business in the conversion of battery packs from the car people. I know the lith batteries are way too expensive now. Tool packs are not the answer even though some guys are using them. They just cost way too much.

I have a 30 watt and a 100 watt soldering iron. I would invest in a 60 watt if there were small packs available cheap enough to build my own. The problem is that a small quantity of the smaller batteries, cost more per amp than big ones already on the market. And they are way too expensive.

What I personally need is a 12v 2ah batter for about $5 bucks. One that is light weight and as hardy as a sla. With sla you don't electronic balance circuits or any special chargers. If it weren't for the weight sla would be perfect for me. I don't need a battery I can charge for ten years, I don't expect to live that long.

The guys selling those batteries talk about the price being cheaper long term but I don't think long term. I think what if I pay five hundred for this and die the next day. Boy will my wife be peeved.

very good steve....

I really do like the E bikes... they are eccentric enough to fit my personality. Yes I think we are on the verge of the battery boom. I guess we are all just impatient for it to happen. To actually reach it's full potential that is.

Batteries have been around a long time. I have three bikes and three sets of sla batteries. I plan to ride them and make tests and comparisons so that when the new technology gets here I have some idea how to go.

If I am still in the bike playground that is. One never knows for whom the bike bell tolls lol. And like Ernie said ask not, it could be you. Also why i never read the obits.

I did some experimenting with the pusher and the hub bikes yesterday. I switched the hub motor to full sized mountain bike. Doing so increased the speed of the bike. But only because I was able to start pedaling sooner when the speed bled off. My point, as if I really had one, is that with about the same amount of effort you can tune an ebike up to do an acceptable job as a commuter bike. Mine is just 250watts one twice that would be very effective. Those wallymart chain drive should work great if you change that battery design.

As we have all said, it's in the batteries now.

Blue Collar said:

To come down on one variety of engine for an application is to come down on them all.
Just think about how many things in this country use a two stroke engine. Everything from a chainsaw to an offshore fishing boat. Now imagine the red tape the government has to go through to "regulate" this when all of the opposers and lobbyists come into play. The Government can't just go changing any law without a vote, and it is the People that the Government works for.

Enjoy your motorized bicycles.
I'll be riding mine well into the next decade...
'B

Click to expand...

Ah but you forget what government is in power (the party of Al Gore). Look for carbon fuel standards that slowly drive them out of the market. Also they can change the emission standards to outlaw any engine without naming it. I would love to see the gasoline engine stay right where it is. I just don't see it putting along unchanged. I have been wrong before.

by the way they have banned two stroke motors on lakes all over this country I',m pretty sure. All that without any law that I know of. I'm sure there was one but it probably got passed in the dead of night. Truth is that the majority of the people could care less about what engine the car has so the government can do anything they want and people go along like people have always done.

I have often been wrong and i hope I am this time. It isn't about putting along into the next decade, it's can you buy a replacement for that engine in ten years. Since nothing is made here, they can just change the import law by slipping something into the clean air act. The media is in the tank for this new global warming thing so don't look for any media coverage of the protests.