Building an eTouring bike.

[B Bassett]

Thanks. It all depends on how far I'm going and how long I will be gone I guess. I bike is set up so that I don't have to move gear around on the bike just add another level. With just the bar-bags I can stay warm and dry on the bike year-round. Add the front panniers and I have a hammock, air mattress, tarp, and can maintain the bike (tools and spare parts) and charge all electronics (with 120V) for over-nighters. Add the rear panniers and I have a full kitchen, bathroom and secondary sleep system if I can't hang the hammock. Pulling the trailer primarily adds the solar panel, second battery, tent poles, additional food, and water with around another 40 lbs. of potential gear and toys. I wanted a bike that could easily do single-track even loaded. I'll never understand touring on only hard surfaces. I also didn't want to tour in any kind of a minimalist fashion and even light gear takes up space. A TrailStar Cuben Fiber tarp is light but takes up a relatively large space. The limited real estate you have on a bike can fill up fast even with a trailer. Balance is part of riding a loaded bike whether touring or hauling cargo for FedEx and goes with the territory. It's always a concern with 2 panniers or 4 and goes double with the trailer. Max capacity of the trailer is 90 lbs. and I usually ride with a least another 90 spread around the bike. Drag? I think wind resistance is worse on a loaded bike over drag of any kind. When I am fully loaded it's not hard to keep the bike moving, the inertia is fairly easy to keep up. It's getting the mass up and moving that takes the power... along with climbing. But you can almost forget about these issues with a strong ebike motor. Stress on the frame, bearings, wheels, etc... maintenance is an issue when you ride a lot but the Panamerican is a proven workhorse and I don't cut corners on any components. I don't hit 40 mph with a loaded bike (usually) but I did today wearing both bar-bags. Thanks for the comment., Stay safe.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I'm far more concerned with humans walking wearing earbuds than I am riding in traffic. At least there is some degree of necessary attention on the part of a human piloting a vehicle. I guess I don't feel "endangered" enough to warrant a horn... or two.

Unfortunately many 4 or more wheeled vehicle operators here in Tennessee don't know the difference between a 6 inches or less and 3 feet.

 

[bakaneko]

breh, nice setup. i wanted to do a cross country tour but it is kinda late for that now and not quite ready yet. was gonna do starting in Fall NYC and ending up in Winter Cali so avoiding the summer heat and monsoons. personally, i road bike a lot more than ebike so I understand being efficient and aero and resistances. But, when I had a 500W rear hub with a 500wH battery on a mountain bike, I did a lot of long distance single day road trips; the longest was 150 miles from early morning to night. I also had an attachable solar panel (100W) before on the 500W ebike that was fun and generated a lot of interest and talk. a few things...

- not sure what your battery size and amp rating is but you can parallel chargers together to get a fast charge; most standard electrical outlets can produce 1800W. that means you can stop by a gas station grab a drink/snack hook up all the chargers and then get a lot of range in 15-20 minutes. or, a restaurant for an hour to get even more. i did that on that 150 mile ride and the attendant did not mind or know or care.

- if you get a beefy trailer you can put a 250W solar panel on there and really be independent. panels and ppt controllers are cheap and many ppt controllers convert the voltage to your charging voltage for you also. this is a thing see "solar trip", a group of ebike solar guys that do long multi month solar only ebike trips. here is my solar ebike it actually did a lot especially if you are going normal biking speeds 10-15 mph.

- when i do my trip, i am not going to use my fat tire ebike; this bike is more for fun and heavy as s**t. i would do a nice size quality folding bike with a geared hub (efficiency in wheel size and frontal area) with a solar trailer (250W and 500W expandable). Probably do 12-17 mph average as I am in shape from my road bike.

Good luck on your trip.

 

[B Bassett]

Unfortunately many 4 or more wheeled vehicle operators here in Tennessee don't know the difference between a 6 inches or less and 3 feet.

And you think tooting a horn is going to change that?

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

And you think tooting a horn is going to change that?

It actually has several times.

 

[B Bassett]

It actually has several times.

Then I guess you're safe huh?

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Then I guess you're safe huh?

I don't think they purposely got that close to me but rather just didn't realize they were that close. A horn that could be heard alerted them that they were too close and to move over to allow more room rather than coming even closer.

It has also caused enough hesitation to those who were about to pull out in front of me. All too often 4 or more wheeled motor vehicle think we're a pedal only bicycle and don't realize many of us are doing the speed limit; thinking we aren't moving that fast they pull out in front of us. When I've seen they were about to pull out in front of me I'll alert them by sounding my horn just like a car or motorcycle would do. The loud horn has caused them to stop forward movement hesitate just long enough to realize I am going faster that they thought I was.

 

[B Bassett]

I don't think they purposely got that close to me.....

...vehicle(s) think we're a pedal only bicycle and don't realize many of us are doing the speed limit...

I think you are being good-naturedly naive.

I guess the difference I see is people that ride ebikes... low-speed electric bicycles (LSEB) and those that ride Class-3 (and above) mini-motorcycles have different mindsets... let alone those that are using infernal combustion motors and play in traffic. There are horns in every single car and truck sold worldwide and there were over 6 million car accidents just in America alone last year. If a horn (or 2, 3, even 4) makes you feel safer on your bike then toot away.

This one would probably make you feel like you were sitting on your couch. - https://www.amazon.com/One76-150DB-Trucks-Trumpet-Compressor/dp/B07TMF7BW7

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I think you are being good-naturedly naive.

I guess the difference I see is people that ride ebikes... low-speed electric bicycles (LSEB) and those that ride Class-3 (and above) mini-motorcycles have different mindsets... let alone those that are using infernal combustion motors and play in traffic. There are horns in every single car and truck sold worldwide and there were over 6 million car accidents just in America alone last year. If a horn (or 2, 3, even 4) makes you feel safer on your bike then toot away.

This one would probably make you feel like you were sitting on your couch. - https://www.amazon.com/One76-150DB-Trucks-Trumpet-Compressor/dp/B07TMF7BW7

I prefer a bicycle air horn that can be refilled with a portable bicycle pump. This loud horn is only used for alerting closed compartment vehicles. I also place both horns to where they can't be confused which is which (one on the left handlebar the other on the left handlebar).

True cars and such have horns and yet accidents still happen. I don't know of anything which is 100% accident proof. Just like injuries still happen to riders wearing helmets. Yet there's definite proof that helmets and alerting systems do reduce the number accidents and injuries that would occur without them.

I've been on a cycling forum for many years. When I first got on there I told of the duel horn alerting system, the video road rage defense system, a lite weight communication lighting system that could be seen in daylight and a sequential ratio shifting system with varying cadence to control a desired heart rate zone.

Many of my teachings were immediately shot down by traditional cyclist. If it wasn't taught by the late Sheldon Brown it wasn't worth considering was the mentality. After some time many now see the logic in the methods and philosophies I teach. Now I wasn't always a 100% right but when the traditionalists pointed out flaws, I then found soulations and improvements to correct the flaws or at least greatly reduce them. The great thing about tradition is it gives you a base to learn from then one can question is there a better way to improve any of it.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I like what you are doing,,, if I could I would...

A few years ago I did a cross country trip for a year,,, 2 X's across Canada and 37 U.S. states with a little motorcycle,,, pickup truck and trailer as the support uint... just under 87.000 miles on the bike,,, 38.000 miles on the truck...

It was easy to get around with nill for weight on the motorcycle,,, my gear was safe and dry through 2 hurricanes and 4 tornadoes,,, very warm in trailer when November / December snow storm rolled in, in Eastern Canada,,, pretty cold at Cape Canaveral in January February,,, Texas too Arizona before I founded warm temperatures...

I did alot of Mountains in Arizona,,, California,,, Colorado,,, and Utah... ride up to snow line and spend the day... -5c too -20c on pikes peak...

They let me pass the checks point at mile marker 17 before they're closed the road,,, i almost need too load my motorcycle into a fellows truck too getting it off the 14.000 ft mountains top,,, the little bike was busting 2 too 3 foot snow drifts on the way down... Ha

Any-who,,, my next run will be with a super smaller pickup truck with topper,,, 2 power bikes ,,, ill catch the U.S. states I missed and coast to coast across Canada and the Baja Panhandle...

Ive done all of Mexico,,, Territories,,, Alaska many times on other trips... Our Americas is ones great Islands too tour...

Don't forget to do Newfoundland,,, late summer too miss out on the heavy fog...

I call it """support unit tour riding""",,, pack light for the support unit,,, minimal stuff for the bikes...

Warm and dry in the winter months,,, rain storms are a breeze along with Acapulco hot...

Just another way too travel frugal,,, very safe with things locked up when I would go hiking on foot or by bike with the tent sleep system...

4 ft of snow at the top of the Grand Canyon,,, Arizona hot at the bottom...

I hiked 7 mountains that year...

Very comforting knowing that I had a hard shell too return to,,, New York and capital state Washington was incredible

The Appalachian Mountains and Blue Ridge are well worth the trip to...

Thanks again for sharing B Basset... you deffinaly have your system figured out



Don

My state Tennessee has many well maintained hiking, biking and horse trails. Most won't allow combustion engines but will allow electrics.