reedm
Member
Hello all.
Due to a bunch of medical problems, my analog biking speed was reduced by about 3-4 mph. T=7 will do that. I rode a Bike Coalition of Maine ride in Machias in early September. It was very windy. I had to pedal down the hills! First day was 35 miles. I did it and survived. Second day was 62 miles. I made it 25 miles to the first checkpoint, said this is not fun, and loaded my bike onto the car that my wife had brought by. Finished the day hiking. The one thing I noticed was that the ebike riders were all smiling, where-as most of the pedal bike riders were not. Since that ride was all on roads, class 3 bikes were allowed. I made up my mind to get an ebike. My road bike is a 2012 Specialized Roubaix. I had previously bough Specialized Crosstrail for MUPs and off road riding.
I decided what I needed was an electric Crosstrail. For a couple of years, I had been watching Specialized's line of ebikes, and not seeing anything I felt appropriate. I did not want a full up mountain bike. I am too old and fragile for that. I looked again in November and saw the Turbo Tero. It looked perfect for my needs. I was able to locate a size large at a nearby bike shop. Went over and took a test ride and was convinced. I had the bike shop, Sidecountry Sports, in Rockland put on a kickstand and a couple of water bottle holders. Put the bike on my 1UP-USA rack and drove home
I installed a Topeak 29er rack, a headlight and a taillight, my GPS mount, a mount for my cellphone, and my Selle SMP PLUS seat. Two things of interest regarding rack installation - the mounting holes down by the rear axle were 6mm not the 5mm as supplied with the rack. Had to drill out the rack mounting holes and make a trip to the hardware store for a couple of 6mmx25mm Allen head bolts and a couple of 6mm washers. The other point of interest is that the Tero really has no mounting location for the front of the rack. I had to get a rack lock seat collar assembly. The on I got was the 35.4mm size from Salsa. It has 2 5mm tapped holes to which the rack mounted perfectly.
Installing the new seat collar was a bit of a challenge, since the Tero comes with an internal cable actuated dropper post. I was able to loosen everything, including the dropper post actuator enough, slide them along the handle bar and create enough slack so that I could slide the existing Specialized seat collar off over the cable and slide the new Salsa clamp on over the cable. Everything went back together just fine.
So now, when we get some warm weather, I am ready to go riding.
In addition to the above, I just ordered a Garmin Varia RVR315, the rear radar without the light. I have lights that are much brighter than the Varia. I will attach an additional cell phone charger to it to increase the 8 hour battery life. The challenge will be attaching the Varia and one of my good lights to the back of the Topeak 29er rack.
Due to a bunch of medical problems, my analog biking speed was reduced by about 3-4 mph. T=7 will do that. I rode a Bike Coalition of Maine ride in Machias in early September. It was very windy. I had to pedal down the hills! First day was 35 miles. I did it and survived. Second day was 62 miles. I made it 25 miles to the first checkpoint, said this is not fun, and loaded my bike onto the car that my wife had brought by. Finished the day hiking. The one thing I noticed was that the ebike riders were all smiling, where-as most of the pedal bike riders were not. Since that ride was all on roads, class 3 bikes were allowed. I made up my mind to get an ebike. My road bike is a 2012 Specialized Roubaix. I had previously bough Specialized Crosstrail for MUPs and off road riding.
I decided what I needed was an electric Crosstrail. For a couple of years, I had been watching Specialized's line of ebikes, and not seeing anything I felt appropriate. I did not want a full up mountain bike. I am too old and fragile for that. I looked again in November and saw the Turbo Tero. It looked perfect for my needs. I was able to locate a size large at a nearby bike shop. Went over and took a test ride and was convinced. I had the bike shop, Sidecountry Sports, in Rockland put on a kickstand and a couple of water bottle holders. Put the bike on my 1UP-USA rack and drove home
I installed a Topeak 29er rack, a headlight and a taillight, my GPS mount, a mount for my cellphone, and my Selle SMP PLUS seat. Two things of interest regarding rack installation - the mounting holes down by the rear axle were 6mm not the 5mm as supplied with the rack. Had to drill out the rack mounting holes and make a trip to the hardware store for a couple of 6mmx25mm Allen head bolts and a couple of 6mm washers. The other point of interest is that the Tero really has no mounting location for the front of the rack. I had to get a rack lock seat collar assembly. The on I got was the 35.4mm size from Salsa. It has 2 5mm tapped holes to which the rack mounted perfectly.
Installing the new seat collar was a bit of a challenge, since the Tero comes with an internal cable actuated dropper post. I was able to loosen everything, including the dropper post actuator enough, slide them along the handle bar and create enough slack so that I could slide the existing Specialized seat collar off over the cable and slide the new Salsa clamp on over the cable. Everything went back together just fine.
So now, when we get some warm weather, I am ready to go riding.
In addition to the above, I just ordered a Garmin Varia RVR315, the rear radar without the light. I have lights that are much brighter than the Varia. I will attach an additional cell phone charger to it to increase the 8 hour battery life. The challenge will be attaching the Varia and one of my good lights to the back of the Topeak 29er rack.
. But it is a hardtail though.
