ELECTRIC BIKE DYNAMICS
I attended a meet up and Evening ride with the Electric Bike Club of San Diego, just the other evening. During a rest stop, required for aching derrieres rather than aching legs, the subject of battery voltage vs motor power came up.
I am an experienced sailor and engineer and first got interested in E- vehicles from Battery power applications on Sailboats.  The over-riding problem for all electric battery powered applications, E-bikes in particular, is the compromise between battery capacity and motor power. E bike batteries come in a range of 36-48 volts and 8-15 amp hour capacities. At Electric Bamboo Bike Co we design for the best efficiency of motor drive and performance. With a 350watt 36volt motor and battery capacity of 13.6 amphours, our lightweight bamboo frame and clean design give outstanding performance. Our FREEFALL Cross Trail weighs in at 41 pounds and will travel 50 miles at an average speed of 18MPH, and still show over 50% battery capacity.    

Freefall electronic display 

The current trend is towards 500watt and  even 750watt motors, requiring heavier 48 volt battery packs. This may be advantageous in certain application like competition short duration riding but the current drain on these battery packs is very high, causing overheating and rapid loss of recharging cycles.
I am always amused by the stories of e-bikes achieving 70MPH - it is possible of course, with high amp controllers and todays Lithium ion batteries, but only for a few minutes duration before recharging is needed
LIVE FAST - DIE YOUNG  [the battery mantra]

HAPPY JULY 4 TH EVERYONE 

Here in San Diego we have a July4th Big Bay Boom firework display and we have LOTS of tourists. Put them together and you have GRIDLOCK around the bay and beach areas. I watched the fireworks from a sailboat anchored out in the bay just about in the middle of the pic - and it was a shock and awe experience !
We felt every snap, crackle and BANG

It is in the summer months [ and they go all the way to November here in SoCal] that your car turns from an asset to a liability . There is nowhere to park in summer ! I took my Freefall Cross Trail Electric bike down to the bay, bypassed the traffic, the parking space hunters and the parking ticket officers out in force. I arrived on time and unstressed. I locked the bike to a stand and unlocked the batterypack and took it with me in my backpack. It weighs  5 lbs but its better than having it stolen - Yes even in this fair city, there are people with no concience about taking anything that is not nailed or bolted down .
This is one reason why we installed the anti theft GPS tracker on all our bamboo bikes -
for more details click here

We were riding our Electric Bamboo Bikes that we use everyday.They are so easy to ride and so practical that we hardly ever get the car out for daily trips around Point Loma, San Diego. We were running errands  along the shore line near Liberty Station on a beautiful SoCal day. We were only out about an hour, but everyone we passed stopped us to take a look at our bikes. Everyone was fascinated by their looks and one guy, who was just putting his kids in the car, couldn’t take his eyes off them, He struck up a conversation, asking about the bikes. So I asked ‘would you like to try riding one’ He was thrilled and really impressed by the smooth performance and ease of riding it. He was hooked, and we are now building his bike to his unique specifications. Don’t you want to make a statement too? 

Everyone loves the FREEFALL Cross Trail [left]
Bamboo Frame
Electric Mid Drive
 

Theres nothing [quite] new under the sun...

For everyone[including myself] who thought that we are so eco-minded and think outside the box, heres a bamboo Bike, or bicycle as the British like to say, that was being manufactured in 1898 - yes, over 100 years ago.

In Victorian England there were two things happening, the industrial revolution had spurred invention on a massive scale, and the Empire was bringing new materials back to England. Bamboo was a novelty then and like so many things, ahead of its time. The glowing endorsement by a magazine, 'The Cyclist',
"Most luxurious to ride, the bamboo carrying off the usual small metallic            vibrations in a most marked way"
is as true today as it was 120 years ago. The suppleness of the bamboo frame gives a truely smooth enjoyable ride over the worst surfaces.

Of course, we at the ELECTRIC BAMBOO BIKE CO do have a few new things that would have impressed the Victorian inventor. A 36 volt mid drive motor with lithium batterypack, and GPS Tracker alarm systems that will text your smart phone if someone tries to take your beloved Bamboo Bike. And talking of Smart phones, you can even recharge your phone from the onboard batterypack, perfect for those longer MP3 music infused, GPS routed rides when you just had to Tweet someone.

"Gad Sir , I believe the Master is feeling a little faint..." 

We live in San Diego, California, well, Point Loma to be precise. My wife and I like to bicycle around for exercise and to enjoy the scenery. The hills can be very steep and my wife strained a ligament in her knee riding up a really steep hill one weekend, she could really use an electric bike, and I like the idea of these new bamboo bikes, utilizing natural materials and low carbon footprint. 

So I thought mmmm… I’m an Engineer. I could build one, only better. So that’s how the Electric Bamboo Bike Company came about. Take a look. You ought to buy one for your wife. Details Here

Easy riding on Electric Bamboo Mountain bike around Point Loma, San Diego 

The Electric Bamboo Bike Company.

We have just got the latest photo proofs for the FREEFALL CROSS TRAIL BIKE Bamboo frame.
Sneak Preview
Awesome finish , fantastic performance from the 36volt mid drive motor -
Check it out !!

Hand Built Bamboo Frame
36 volt mid drive motor
13.6 AmpHour Lithium batterypack 

ALL CHARGED UP....AND READY TO GO!

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