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Tuesday 7 July 2015

Bike maintenance

I had dead batteries in the motor thermometer. It's actually an aquarium thermometer, with the sensor blu-tacked to the torque arm. This means that if the motor starts to get hotter than I'd like, at least I know that I have a problem and I can let it cool down for a while.

I also checked the rear brake (still plenty of wear), remover the rear reflector (I don't think it's actually useful, because I carry a small rear light as part of my emergency kit).

I've changed the pannier bag; the one I was using before, has clips that are difficult to get onto the rack, yet I've found a couple of times that they're able to bounce out. So I'm trying out a different pannier.

The throttle cable was showing signs of wear; I thnk I might have nipped it in something. It still works, so I've wrapped the slightly damaged part in duct tape, so that should stop it getting worse.

I also made up a new cable for connecting three 14.8 volt batteries in series; that gives me 50 volts when the batteries are fresh. The old cable was beginning to look a bit grotty. The motor is rated for 36 volts, so over-volting it like this gives me a bit more oomph, and even when the batteries are down to 42 volts, I'm still getting a good push.

2 comments:

  1. The law states that you MUST have a rear reflector fitted at night (and presumably, if on a public road, but it doesn't mention that):
    https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/overview-59-to-71

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  2. I'll put the rear reflector back when the days get short. As things stand now, I'm off the road by 6:30

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