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Post by don on Sept 26, 2024 8:22:11 GMT
This afternoon I was cutting melted insulation off the connectors for a 1500w ebike wheel motor. You can't tell some kids cheap kits some bloke in Glasgow gets off the likes of aliexpress and resells is a bad idea. Couldn't convince him a higher voltage battery was a bad idea even after showing him the melted wires but thankfully his mum said no. In brighter news I've got 30 years on the kid and my bike goes faster  I am amazed the amount of older people who use e-bikes. I see them wizzing along the pavement outside our house. More older people than kids in my experience. I think they are a nuisance personally but I’m a grumpy old man in a wheelchair |
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Post by gray1720 on Sept 26, 2024 8:33:04 GMT
Yesterday I noted an abandoned hire e-scooter parked on the verge on a 50mph section of the Oxford ring road. Makes you wonder what they thought they were doing to get it there.
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Post by spinno on Sept 26, 2024 8:36:15 GMT
Yesterday I noted an abandoned hire e-scooter parked on the verge on a 50mph section of the Oxford ring road. Makes you wonder what they thought they were doing to get it there. probably left their car and forgot about it... |
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Post by andy on Sept 26, 2024 9:21:48 GMT
This afternoon I was cutting melted insulation off the connectors for a 1500w ebike wheel motor. You can't tell some kids cheap kits some bloke in Glasgow gets off the likes of aliexpress and resells is a bad idea. Couldn't convince him a higher voltage battery was a bad idea even after showing him the melted wires but thankfully his mum said no. In brighter news I've got 30 years on the kid and my bike goes faster I am amazed the amount of older people who use e-bikes. I see them wizzing along the pavement outside our house. More older people than kids in my experience. I think they are a nuisance personally but I’m a grumpy old man in a wheelchair Retirees were the early adopters down at the bike trails. All the fun of riding a bike but with minimal effort and days to recover. |
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Post by gray1720 on Sept 26, 2024 9:39:45 GMT
Cost?
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Post by andy on Sept 26, 2024 10:02:30 GMT
To some extent possibly but there are plenty expensive regular bikes around. As much as I like e-bikes for nipping around town I'm not fussed for one for proper mountain biking. I'm not interested in riding up hills and they're a disadvantage on the way down. |
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Post by peterob on Sept 26, 2024 11:10:49 GMT
I am amazed the amount of older people who use e-bikes. I see them wizzing along the pavement outside our house. More older people than kids in my experience. I think they are a nuisance personally but I’m a grumpy old man in a wheelchair Indeed riding on the pavement is illegal but all too often done. As a cyclist and otherwise pedestrian I deplore it. The term e-bike tends to be used generically but there are electric mopeds and electric motorbikes which need the rider to have insurance and a driving licence to be used, on the road, and riders should also have a full helmet. Then there are pedelecs which require the rider to pedal and are limited to 25 kph and can be used on the road just like an unpowered bicycle. There may be a lower age limit of 14, I'm not sure. Pedelecs are very useful for people who may not have cycled for a long time, and especially helpful on hills. I do see people, mostly in town, using the full power setting to turn a large gear and so sail along at a fair pace with no apparent effort. They are asking for trouble really because the bikes are quite heavy and slower to stop and the riders, old in years as they may be, are not necessarily experienced enough to ride according to conditions. I took up cycling again (in 2019) with the help of a pedelec. It has enabled me to ride with a touring club for company and to keep up on hills (going up) but not necessarily on the flat. |
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Post by Chester PB on Sept 26, 2024 15:12:58 GMT
Another point about the possible heating-up problem: a high resistance due to a poor contact. A few tears ago, whilst our oil-fired heating system was out of use whilst awaiting a spare part, my wife plugged in an old 2 kilowatt convector heater we keep for such emergencies. Whilst the cable only warmed up very slightly (certainly not to a dangerous temperature), the 13 amp plug did. Investigation showed that one of the screw terminals inside the plug was loose so that the only a small area of cable was in contact and that was the source of the heating. The terminal was too hot to touch, but tightening up the screw that held the cable in place cured the problem. Of course, I had allowed it to cool down again before use.
When I read of house fires caused be 'electrical faults' I always remember our bad connection in a 13A plug. |
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Post by peterba on Sept 26, 2024 15:20:42 GMT
Another point about the possible heating-up problem: a high resistance due to a poor contact. A few tears ago, whilst our oil-fired heating system was out of use whilst awaiting a spare part, my wife plugged in an old 2 kilowatt convector heater we keep for such emergencies.
[bold highlight] Surely it wasn't THAT upsetting, Chester?  |
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Post by andy on Sept 26, 2024 15:27:41 GMT
I am amazed the amount of older people who use e-bikes. I see them wizzing along the pavement outside our house. More older people than kids in my experience. I think they are a nuisance personally but I’m a grumpy old man in a wheelchair Indeed riding on the pavement is illegal but all too often done. As a cyclist and otherwise pedestrian I deplore it. The term e-bike tends to be used generically but there are electric mopeds and electric motorbikes which need the rider to have insurance and a driving licence to be used, on the road, and riders should also have a full helmet. Then there are pedelecs which require the rider to pedal and are limited to 25 kph and can be used on the road just like an unpowered bicycle. There may be a lower age limit of 14, I'm not sure. Pedelecs are very useful for people who may not have cycled for a long time, and especially helpful on hills. I do see people, mostly in town, using the full power setting to turn a large gear and so sail along at a fair pace with no apparent effort. They are asking for trouble really because the bikes are quite heavy and slower to stop and the riders, old in years as they may be, are not necessarily experienced enough to ride according to conditions. I took up cycling again (in 2019) with the help of a pedelec. It has enabled me to ride with a touring club for company and to keep up on hills (going up) but not necessarily on the flat. I don't think cycling on the pavement is enforced unless it is done without consideration for others and becomes a public safety concern. Any legislation that acts as a barrier to active travel is outdated IMHO. |
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Post by willien on Sept 26, 2024 15:37:55 GMT
Indeed riding on the pavement is illegal but all too often done. As a cyclist and otherwise pedestrian I deplore it. The term e-bike tends to be used generically but there are electric mopeds and electric motorbikes which need the rider to have insurance and a driving licence to be used, on the road, and riders should also have a full helmet. Then there are pedelecs which require the rider to pedal and are limited to 25 kph and can be used on the road just like an unpowered bicycle. There may be a lower age limit of 14, I'm not sure. Pedelecs are very useful for people who may not have cycled for a long time, and especially helpful on hills. I do see people, mostly in town, using the full power setting to turn a large gear and so sail along at a fair pace with no apparent effort. They are asking for trouble really because the bikes are quite heavy and slower to stop and the riders, old in years as they may be, are not necessarily experienced enough to ride according to conditions. I took up cycling again (in 2019) with the help of a pedelec. It has enabled me to ride with a touring club for company and to keep up on hills (going up) but not necessarily on the flat. I don't think cycling on the pavement is enforced unless it is done without consideration for others and becomes a public safety concern. Any legislation that acts as a barrier to active travel is outdated IMHO. Me to, which is why the Bs should keep off the pavement in order not to discourage walking. As for those who use the Blackford Park paths as dirt bike race tracks... |
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Post by peterob on Sept 26, 2024 16:02:26 GMT
I don't think cycling on the pavement is enforced unless it is done without consideration for others and becomes a public safety concern. Any legislation that acts as a barrier to active travel is outdated IMHO. Sadly, when I see it, pavement riding is always done without consideration for others and without any consideration for safety. An unfortunate side-effect of pavement cycling is that a certain class of motorists who hate cyclists believe that all cyclists belong on the pavement and drive accordingly. That is a real barrier to active travel. We have a local rat run (described as a quiet family-friendly cycle route in the local active travel guidance) off which some houses have been built. A pavement has been provided, on one side of the road. Whereas once cyclists rode alongside a muddy verge, now there is a high concrete kerb for 3/4 mile of national speed limit. I've seen bikes ridden on this pavement and I have experienced increasingly aggressive close passing in daytime when riding home. I wouldn't dare ride this route now in the evening rush-hour with idiots in their final* mile habituated driving. The pavement is not physically suitable for cycling on, it is used by pedestrians, has lots and lots of drops and rises, is too narrow for mixed use, is covered in stones and gravel. They could perhaps have made it a shared use path in with a bit of thoughtful design but they would have had to provide a cycle path on the other side of the road too and further increased the land-take. *it is on the return-home-journey side of the road. |
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Post by aitch on Sept 26, 2024 17:28:31 GMT
Coincidentally, our kettle carked it yesterday. Just stopped working. Frustrating as it's not much over a year old and would have been under warranty... had we kept the paperwork! The last two were both Bosch, so we've gone Russell Hobbs this time, see if that lasts any longer. By coincidence, I had to retire my old (plastic) kettle a few days ago. Worked OK. but impossible to pour from - water would go all over the place. So I sloped down to Dyas (there's another sale on) for a kettle with a metal spout. Which is a Russell Hobbs! One of their 200W 'Quiet Boil' models. See how long this one lasts... |
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Post by zou on Sept 26, 2024 17:31:32 GMT
Coincidentally, our kettle carked it yesterday. Just stopped working. Frustrating as it's not much over a year old and would have been under warranty... had we kept the paperwork! The last two were both Bosch, so we've gone Russell Hobbs this time, see if that lasts any longer. By coincidence, I had to retire my old (plastic) kettle a few days ago. Worked OK. but impossible to pour from - water would go all over the place. So I sloped down to Dyas (there's another sale on) for a kettle with a metal spout. Which is a Russell Hobbs! One of their 200W 'Quiet Boil' models. See how long this one lasts... Given it'll take 3 years to boil anything, it should last just fine. |
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Post by steveandthedogs on Sept 26, 2024 18:18:50 GMT
Coincidentally, our kettle carked it yesterday. Just stopped working. Frustrating as it's not much over a year old and would have been under warranty... had we kept the paperwork! The last two were both Bosch, so we've gone Russell Hobbs this time, see if that lasts any longer. In other news I replaced the fronts on two double sockets yesterday. They were very elderly, and were not reliably clicking on and off any more. Looking at the backs, I reckon they were the original fittings, so could go back to 1946. No wonder they were worn! I think in 1946 they would been Wylex (?) type - the three terminals/hole thingies would be in a line, not a triangle. S |
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