Electricrider
New Member
Greetings everyone!
My wife and I are disabled and unable to pedal more than a block or two so we got Phoenix Cruiser kits 48V 12 Amp setup.
We can't drive so our bikes are our only method of transport and getting out of the house. I can walk but the pain limits me to a block or two and an inner ear disorder affects my balance and vision. Pedaling unbalances me and my bouncing vision prevents me from getting a license.
My wife has Trigeminal Neuralgia otherwise known as the suicide disease because it is the most intense pain known to medical science and 50% of sufferers kill themselves to escape the pain in the first year. My wife has had TN for 6 years now. Blurred vision from the condition and the medications prevent her from getting a license as well and anything that raises her blood pressure increases the pain 10 fold and makes her bedridden for weeks at a time so pedaling is out for her as well.
I tried the hoveround and mobility scooters but got sick of everyone staring and pointing and mocking me. I am only 45 and I look "normal" until I try to walk and get scorns and insults thrown at me when I use a scooter at wally world.
I was ****ed if I was going to stay locked up inside or be stuck in a slow motorized chair so I decided to motorize my bike. I started with a Wilderness Energy kit but the support was horrible and the NiMh battery had a defective charger that actually blew up my battery! I heard it sizzling like bacon while charging and grabbed it and tossed out the window where it sat in my yard popping off like chinese firecrackers for an hour while I hosed it down. They promised to replace the battery and charger but in the end gave up and sent me a tiny lead battery and charger and told me to live with it.
I did for a few years then I switched to a "go-hub" kit. Basically the same as the previous kit but a bit more torque. I finally got my wife to try my bike out (she was afraid of the speed for years) and she loved it so I got her a kit too.
We rode these kits year round for 6 years until I got too weak to change the tires (I have studded snow tires for winter riding) and took the bikes to the local bike shop where unbeknown to me the dealer took the motors apart to "see what made them tick" when we tried riding the bikes burst into flame when we turned on the power. A close inspection of the other bike showed hair thin wires sticking out from the motor axle it was then we knew what the bike shop owner had done.
We have only our Social Security Disability to live on. This man did over $3000 in damage and made us housebound for 2 years while we saved for a new set of motors.
Just a couple of months ago we got our Phoenix Cruisers and we love them. We get at least 25 mph on them and our range is still unknown. These motors have unbelievable torque. The Phoenix comes in 3 flavors: The "Racer" that does 40+mph but has the least torque the "brute" that does 20mph but has enough torque to ride straight up a wall and the "cruiser" which is a middle of the road kit 30mph with enough torqu to handle most hills easily.
We also have a nashbar kiddie Karriage we use to ride our little dog Daisy around town. She loves all the attention and she loves the speed! The faster the better! We also use the carrier for hauling grocieries.
We were shut ins; unable to leave our home barely able to arrange a pity ride to the grocery store once a month. I can't describe to you the freedom these electric kits have given us after years of "begging" for rides we are finally free to come and go as we please and we get cheers instead of sneers from the locals.
It's amazing how we went from being gawked at in our hoveround like a freakshow to being cheered as we fly by because we're now "cool" for having electric bikes.
The only down side to these kits is the weight and the lack of a fuel gauge to know when you need to turn back.
The upside to the electric kits is silence and no fumes so we don't stink like we've been mowing the lawn all day allowing us to ride to a restaurant and not offend anyone with gas fumes.
I would like to mention that I read in your faq that electric bikes are the best hope for getting away from oil and being "green".
That just isn't true unless you charge your bikes from a solar panel anyways.
If you charge at home an electric vehicle, be it a bike or a car, you charge off the main grid and almost all the electricity produced in America is created by burning coal. So every time you see an electric vehicle just imagine it with a huge stack pumping coal smoke in the air and you get a true image of how "green" electric vehicles truly are at this time.
My wife and I are disabled and unable to pedal more than a block or two so we got Phoenix Cruiser kits 48V 12 Amp setup.
We can't drive so our bikes are our only method of transport and getting out of the house. I can walk but the pain limits me to a block or two and an inner ear disorder affects my balance and vision. Pedaling unbalances me and my bouncing vision prevents me from getting a license.
My wife has Trigeminal Neuralgia otherwise known as the suicide disease because it is the most intense pain known to medical science and 50% of sufferers kill themselves to escape the pain in the first year. My wife has had TN for 6 years now. Blurred vision from the condition and the medications prevent her from getting a license as well and anything that raises her blood pressure increases the pain 10 fold and makes her bedridden for weeks at a time so pedaling is out for her as well.
I tried the hoveround and mobility scooters but got sick of everyone staring and pointing and mocking me. I am only 45 and I look "normal" until I try to walk and get scorns and insults thrown at me when I use a scooter at wally world.
I was ****ed if I was going to stay locked up inside or be stuck in a slow motorized chair so I decided to motorize my bike. I started with a Wilderness Energy kit but the support was horrible and the NiMh battery had a defective charger that actually blew up my battery! I heard it sizzling like bacon while charging and grabbed it and tossed out the window where it sat in my yard popping off like chinese firecrackers for an hour while I hosed it down. They promised to replace the battery and charger but in the end gave up and sent me a tiny lead battery and charger and told me to live with it.
I did for a few years then I switched to a "go-hub" kit. Basically the same as the previous kit but a bit more torque. I finally got my wife to try my bike out (she was afraid of the speed for years) and she loved it so I got her a kit too.
We rode these kits year round for 6 years until I got too weak to change the tires (I have studded snow tires for winter riding) and took the bikes to the local bike shop where unbeknown to me the dealer took the motors apart to "see what made them tick" when we tried riding the bikes burst into flame when we turned on the power. A close inspection of the other bike showed hair thin wires sticking out from the motor axle it was then we knew what the bike shop owner had done.
We have only our Social Security Disability to live on. This man did over $3000 in damage and made us housebound for 2 years while we saved for a new set of motors.
Just a couple of months ago we got our Phoenix Cruisers and we love them. We get at least 25 mph on them and our range is still unknown. These motors have unbelievable torque. The Phoenix comes in 3 flavors: The "Racer" that does 40+mph but has the least torque the "brute" that does 20mph but has enough torque to ride straight up a wall and the "cruiser" which is a middle of the road kit 30mph with enough torqu to handle most hills easily.
We also have a nashbar kiddie Karriage we use to ride our little dog Daisy around town. She loves all the attention and she loves the speed! The faster the better! We also use the carrier for hauling grocieries.
We were shut ins; unable to leave our home barely able to arrange a pity ride to the grocery store once a month. I can't describe to you the freedom these electric kits have given us after years of "begging" for rides we are finally free to come and go as we please and we get cheers instead of sneers from the locals.
It's amazing how we went from being gawked at in our hoveround like a freakshow to being cheered as we fly by because we're now "cool" for having electric bikes.
The only down side to these kits is the weight and the lack of a fuel gauge to know when you need to turn back.
The upside to the electric kits is silence and no fumes so we don't stink like we've been mowing the lawn all day allowing us to ride to a restaurant and not offend anyone with gas fumes.
I would like to mention that I read in your faq that electric bikes are the best hope for getting away from oil and being "green".
That just isn't true unless you charge your bikes from a solar panel anyways.
If you charge at home an electric vehicle, be it a bike or a car, you charge off the main grid and almost all the electricity produced in America is created by burning coal. So every time you see an electric vehicle just imagine it with a huge stack pumping coal smoke in the air and you get a true image of how "green" electric vehicles truly are at this time.
