My name is bob. I am a disabled Professional Control Systems Engineer in the State of Florida. I am an avid home foundry advocate with experience in casting lead, aluminum, and brass over many years (decades, actually). Some unwanted experience with casting steel. Never bronze. I can solder, braze and weld various metals. I own and use a 10,000 watt e-bicycle that will reach speeds of 50 MPH. I am a technology junkie that uses the any of the latest techno-gadgetry at the drop of a hat.
Hi Bob! The folks here have been gracious with me and my inexperience. That e-bike sounds wicked, almost faster than my small motorcycle...
In Florida, that is not an E-bike, its a moped, or E-motorcycle , E-bikes are absolutely capped at 28 MPH in FL. though total respect, I have been seriously considering an E-cycle for the 10 mile daily commute , so your input, would be veru welcome V/r HT1 P.S. welcome
Agree, HT1. I may bend the rules a tad. ;-) The "ebike" that I bought is from Germany and it is from a company called Vector Ebike operated by a gentleman named Artur Ragulskyi (a Ukrainian). My ebike has a 3-way switch on it; #1 is Reverse, #2 limits you to 15 MPH and no more, and #3 is unlimited power but the speed is limited to 50 MPH. The power is necessary for ebiking in the mountains, specifically the Alps in Europe. We don't have any mountains here in Florida obviously, but that battery and motor power are still there to use in accelerating to its maximum speed. It only takes about 3,000 watts to maintain a speed of 50 MPH on a level road. Accelerating from a dead stop with a full 10,000 watts will make the ebike do a wheelie and you'll be sitting on the ground in less than a second. I have to limit the power to about 6,000 watts from a dead stop to keep the front wheel on the ground, which I do quite frequently. Only after hitting about 25 to 30 MPH can you crank up the power to full power to continue to accelerate to the full programmed speed. The range of the ebike is well over 100 miles; it has that much battery. The batteries are Lithium Polymer and have a very high energy density. I know this is off-topic for this group, but you did ask. Good luck with finding your ebike. The Vector ebike is just too much for a 10-mile commuter ebike. - bob
HT1, Point of clarification: Vector ebike's website in Germany and here in the US is vectorebike.com. Note that he calls his ebike an ebike even though it is the most powerful one out there, but he clarifies that terminology by calling it an off-road ebike. In actually talking to him, he knows we don't always do what a product is supposedly intended for and people use it on the road, as I do. He is merely covering his potential liability which is smart on his part. If you need a commuter ebike, please check out the forum endless sphere which is devoted to all forms of transportation that are electric. You'll find your ebike there. my user name on that site is also bobhurd3d, where you can see my ebike in all its glory in my barn. - bob
welcome to the nuthouse Bob! You should give bronze a try sometime. The stuff is mesmerizing to work with and welds like butter. Neat bike. I've got a guy that tools around my neighborhood on one of those. A couple of weeks ago I swear he went by my house doing 50! Next time I see him pulling that stupid shit, I'm going to launch a soccer ball out into the street. We have little kids on the block and that thing is dead silent. All I hear is tire noise. A-holes like that give the rest of you guys a bad rap. And to think I ended up in court for putzing along a sidewalk in Lake Mary on a go-ped scooter. Funny how times have changed.
Yes, I may try bronze one day based on your good experience. I just have to find some somewhere. Thanks for liking my ebike. I agree with you that because it is almost dead-silent and can go so fast that it is dangerous if children are at play. I am always looking out for children and other vehicles because neither realizes how fast this ebike is. I slow down for both but for different reasons. One is a danger for me. And the other is a danger for them. either way, I'm slowing down. Bummer about the court case for a go-ped scooter on a scooter. Where are you supposed to use it? In the street? I don't think so. The sidewalk is the obvious path (to me anyway. Point of interest: every time I see a cop in a vehicle, I stop and talk with them. So far, they all have been very nice and supportive of my ebike which is nice since I live in a rural area and run into the same sheriffs time after time. They're a bunch of good cops.
Exactly. I got nailed for operating a motor vehicle on a sidewalk. So I looked up the florida statute on what a motorized vehicle WAS... First it had to have a seat, headlight, horn and be subject to licensure. None of which a kids scooter was. The judge didnt think that was funny. What didnt help was the cop shouted from the peanut gallery, "I clocked him doing 20..." I didnt expect he would even show up. I offered to pay the fine and said you cant argue with stupid. In the end, they said it could be used only on private property. It is always about the money, later companies brought in those shitty rent a scooters and idiots rode and dumped them everywhere. The only reason I was even on thing was I had 2 little bitches (around age 12) break in my car and I was looking for them after school. Dont you know they gave the slip to 4 police cars and a helicopter the night before! They wear pulling door handles the previous night and ran sacking cars for credit cards, check books and my $250 pair of Maui jim sunglasses! I swear its key stone cops in florida somedays.
That's why I try to make friends with the local law enforcement folks. Of course, that is not always possible. For instance, earlier this year, I found a man's wallet laying on the road I live on and picked it up to see if his/her ID was in it. It was, and that was all that was in it. So I brought the wallet to the local law enforcement officer on my road who was diligently checking for speeders, as he is prone to do, and presented him with the wallet so it could be in good hands (I thought). He immediately asked me for my driver's license / ID. I said OK, but why. He said it was standard procedure and that I had to identify myself (despite doing the right thing). So I did that. He took all my information from his little in-car computer and had me tell him back what my address where I live was, so he could check it to make sure I was who I claimed to be. I guess "guilty until proven innocent" in the eyes of Florida Law Enforcement. - bob
Yeah, they like to check everyone for warrants these days. Kinda like getting stopped for no turn signal. That one is a joke.
