Friday Carbon-Neutral Commute: No Electric Car Required

It is a cold and damp morning here in Lubbock. I got up. Looked at the weather, had a talk with myself, and chose the e-bike.

This morning's coffee

The five-mile ride to work was cold and damp. I arrived at work with a smile on my face and feeling more energized. Yes, the bike creates a few more hassles, but the experience, the exercise, and the lack of climate destruction are more than worth it for this less-than-trim blogger.

May we all find places to choose better and truly enjoy the ride!

What's that smoke?

CNN Coverage

It looks like it's starting again - another war based on our insatiable desire for oil. Oil prices have immediately started rising as have international tensions.

From the same article

What if we reduced our need for foreign oil by switching to renewable wind and solar (powering electric vehicles and appliances) and focused our energies on caring for people in need? What if we focused on the Golden Rule rather than the black gold? What if we chose to focus on people?

PlugInAmerica.org

May we seek logical, helpful, healthy solutions and find ways to keep from killing each other.

Okay, I admit it. (The Personal Carbon Reduction fight at 50)

As the Mesquite Hugger, I don't have the fight in me I once had. My beliefs haven't changed, but my desire to fight has been rather flighty. As an environmentalist, as a Christian, and as a human being, I still want a better, safer, healthier world for all, but my arms are sure having a harder time holding up a protest sign.

Yes, I'm still on a quest for personal carbon reduction. Reducing the world's dependence on petroleum and coal will not solve all of our ills, but it's a big step in making a more livable world where we can all live and breathe, and maybe even hate each other less.

Getting older has a few perks - my wife bought me a powerful new PCR tool.

(Thank you, my love!)

I turned 50 this week. And true to form, I've been introspectorating my role in this life a little too much. These days I devote a lot more time to keeping the bills paid and caring for the people around me. (To be fair, they've been working at taking care of me more too.) (I've also had the attention span of a gnat with a bad caffeine habit.)

For the fall season, I am pushing to be healthier and stronger. Less gas, more pedaling. Less solitaire, more Steinbeck. Fewer carbs, more Seeger, Guthrie, and Ochs. Less computer, more compassion. Less batter, more Bible. (You get the picture.)

All this is to say I'm not dead yet and I'm working out to get back in shape for the fight.

May we pedal, compost, reduce, re-use, heal, and fight our way to better place.

And may you know peace.

I rode the bike today...

(Shots from several commutes over the last few weeks)

It was a beautiful morning! Very little traffic. A cool (but light) breeze. The bike was working well. My knees were working well. I rode a few miles on Sunday. I rode to work on Monday. I hope to ride tomorrow.

My wife and I saw an OmniMax movie last night - part of the BBC Blue Planet series. And it had astounding footage of all kinds of creatures. And it offered up some optimism for the future; however, like all modern nature documentaries, the ever-present villain was man-made environmental destruction.

They're too small to see here, but there's a cow bird,

a snowy egret, and a green heron in this one.

And that makes the bike rides even better. Every time a person chooses to travel by bike (in place of a single-occupant car) we all breathe a little better. I know it's very simplistic, but my greatest hope in all of this is to have thousands of people making incrementally better choices about petroleum and plastics and pollution. I know that would have a massively greater impact than just this one dork joyfully riding a bike as often as possible.

The view over the handlebars this morning

 

May you joyfully make a positive impact!

Even More 2017 Ebikes (Kits) on Holiday Sale - Copenhagen Wheel and E-BikeKit

[Alternative Title: Free Pants from Superpedestrian!]

 

Two more e-bike companies have offered up holiday deals, so I figured I'd share them with you:

 

Copenhagen Wheel

 

Wheel start with the Copenhagen We'll. The deal is this - buy a Copenhagen Wheel at full price and they'll attach that wheel to a kilt, pair of skinny jeans, or a pair of trousers. That's a $500 savings. (No, they're not actual articles of clothing intended to cover your privates - they are bikes named after articles of clothing intended to cover your privates.) The trick to getting your free bike is in the first line of the following image:

 

Everyone needs a button that says Buy the Trousers.

 

My Christmas wish - for Superpedestrian to offer this bike as the Whitey Tightey!

 

E-BikeKit

E-BikeKit's fun whiteboard video - "Slap this puppy on!"

 

Luckily for them (and you, Dear Reader), it's gonna be much harder to poke fun (throw shade?) at E-BikeKit. If you're not familiar with them, they are a well-respected vendor of (you guessed it) e-bike kits, and are known for great support through the whole process. They are not known for being cheap, but they are known for delivering a very dependable product. And, they have everything on sale for 25% off. Again, check the image below for the trick to getting your savings.

 

That's it for today. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may we create a healthier world (and even more to be thankful for.)

Saturday Morning, Pedaling, Good Heartache, a great talk, and a skinny dog in a cargo bike

It's been a good week!

Bronchitis, a less than-impressive back, lots of rain, and mediocre e-bike building skills made this summer a less-than stellar time for mesquite hugger bike commuting. But things have been looking up this fall. This week I hit my standard weekly goal for bike commuting - 60% of my commute was done on a standard bicycle. (And that makes life better when you're me.)

I've also been pro-actively seeking a better outlook. [Feel free to skip down to the next paragraph - not much to see here.] I don't seek out news until after 9am. I've spent more time with a pen or a book in my hand and less with a phone in my hand. Did I mention that I spent more time on a bike? I've been making lists and marking things off the lists. And (most important) I've deliberately spent time with the people I love. Plus, I've scratched the dogs a lot.

It may sound simplistic, but simplistic works better and better for me.

Yesterday, in my quest to mentally ingest good stuff, I watched a Ted Talk that inspired me and turned the corners of my mouth up. It also broke my heart a bit. It'll shock you, but it was about the healthy changes that come about when people choose to pedal.

The Amazing Ways Bicycles Change You

If you want to learn about the Amazing Ways Bicycles Change You, watch the whole thing - I highly recommend it! If you want to see my good heartache, skip forward to 15:55 and watch to the end.

Around 1994 I was blessed to adopt a 9-month-old greyhound named Patience, and for the next 25 years greyhounds napping on the couch would be a permanent permanent and joyful fixture in our home.

So there I was watching the TedTalk when the speaker went to video and showed himself cruising along on his bakfeits cargo bike while his beloved greyhound napped happily on her own mobile couch. Yep, sometimes heartaches are good. Anthony, may you and Lucy (who looks a lot like our Condo who passed away last year) pedal a lot of happy, healthy miles!

And may you, dear reader, find some healthy choices that make life better for all and make life especially better for our four-footed family members.

Bonus greyhound posts:

Sashadoption

A Tiny House Even Closer to Home

Procrastinating a Starter

This morning, I rode the old Huffy cruiser to a coffee house where I am writing this post to procrastinate what I dread - putting a new starter in my wife's car.

What fun!

I need to go spend $150 on a starter, jack the thing up in the air, lie on my back on the ground, and change the part. Then I need to put the thing back on the ground, make sure the problem is fixed, and take the old starter back for a refund on the core. It really shouldn't be that bad. 

But I have a bad attitude. I've come to hate working on things that run on gasoline. And I'm not a big fan of doing so while lying on the ground.

I'd so much rather be working on a bicycle or the electric Pigeon. Shoot, I'd much rather be riding a bike (or an electric Pigeon).

May we reach a day where we're not paying for gasoline things to make our world a dirtier, less healthy, less friendly place.

For now, it's time to pedal to the parts store, and get to work, snagit! (At least I'll get to ride the bike there.)

Fossil Free Friday: $500 Simple DIY Electric Bike Formula (Intro)

Here at Mesquite Hugger, the goal is pretty simple - to encourage people to make more earth-friendly choices without going bankrupt. When it comes to low-carbon transportation, almost nothing beats the efficiency and affordability of an electric bike, but not everyone has the money in their budget to run out and buy a $1000-$4000 e-bike.

 

Inexpensive electric bikes get a lot of web traffic around here. Anything under $1000 starts a feeding frenzy. The least expensive complete bikes I've found that I am comfortable recommending are the two bottom-of-the-line Sondors bikes -  the Original and the Thin. They both go for $499 + $150-ish shipping. And they are pretty basic:

• single speed (can be upgraded for $100)
• 350 watt powertrain (rear, geared hub motor)
• no suspension (can be upgraded for $100)
• no pedal assist (PAS) or LCD screen (can be upgraded together for $100)
• medium sized 36 volt battery (can be upgraded for $100)

It's pretty easy to end up with $1000 in a Sondors bike.

By the way, if you are less than 5'6" tall, the Sondors bikes are too tall for you (and there is no step-through version available so far.)

So, what's a cheap budget-minded e-bike customer to do?

Build your own e-bike!

 

The challenge - to build a very capable e-bike with more features than a bottom-of-the-line Sondors for $500 or less.

We'll use the Sondors Thin as our measuring stick.

 

Before you get intimidated by the thought of building your own, answer one question - do you (or someone you are close to) have the skills necessary to change a rear bicycle tube? If the answer is yes, then YOU CAN DO IT!!!

So, let's lay out the parameters we'll need (and want) to build a solid e-bike in the projected price range. We'll start with a simple and inexpensive bike. It will need to have:

• a steel frame
• 26" wheels/tires
• multi-gear capability - preferably seven-speed
• cable-operated brakes
• it needs to be comfortable (for you)

Now, let's lay out the electric components/abilities you will need to match or exceed what the Sondors Thin offers:

• 500 watt, 26" rear hub motor (more powerful than the Sondors)
• pedal assist (not included on the base Sondors)
• an LCD panel (not included on the base Sondors)
• a throttle (matches the Sondors)
• brake levers with a motor cut-out switch (matches the Sondors)
• a 36 volt, 8.8 amp-hour battery (matches the Sondors)
• a 36 volt, 2 amp charger (matches the Sondors)
• a bag, box, or basket to house the electrical components (It'll be hard to match the Sondors on this one, but it can be done with a little creativity.)

So there's the plan. In the next two posts, we'll cover more detail and see if we can create an electric bike worth having for less than $500.

 

Please stay tuned!

 

May you be encouraged to make more earth-friendly choices without going bankrupt, and may you have a great time doing it!

Fossil Free Friday: Electric Honda Cubs [Updated for the DIY Crowd]

[Updates can be found in light blue at the bottom of the page.]

 

Here at Mesquite Hugger, our favorite electric vehicles are the ones that used to run on gasoline. Scooters, cars, trucks, boats...they're all welcome here. If the budget is low and the creativity is high, well, that just makes them better. So, today, let's talk about conversions of the most-produced gas burner of all time - the Honda Cub. Yep, the humble little Honda that has trod roads all over the planet is none too sexy, but it has been an amazing success and a durable workhorse.

The Honda Super Cub -  the most produced motor vehicle in history!

The Off-Road Version CT90
 

Groovy, baby! (Be sure to check out the rare cafe racer version at the top of the ad.)

And lately, it's also been a very cool platform for a number of electric conversions. Even Honda has gotten into it and has been been showing off an electric version they will apparently produce:

AutoEvolution: Honda E-Cub Concept

The electric Honda E-Cub is cool and sleek and all kinds of good stuff from the company that  brought the Cub to us in the first place. And, to keep me from burning any gasoline, I'd definitely ride it (and I'm sure I'd enjoy the ride), but it sure doesn't call to me on a deeper level. (Maybe that's a good thing.)

But there are some conversions out there that do light a little fire. Recently, a conversion from Shanghai Customs has been making the eco-news rounds. It's very minimalist flat-tracker cool. Check it out:

DesignBoom: Shanghai Customs

So clean and simple - that big rear hub is the electric motor.

The gauge cluster is now a smart phone.

The old petrol tank is now the battery pack

When I first saw the Shanghai bike, I thought it was the Australian Deus Electric Cub showbike that was making the rounds a few years ago. When the Deus first appeared I did a lot of drooling and dreaming. Sure, I'd want a substantially puffier seat, but, man, that thing is cool!

Look, Ma - no rear shocks!

DesignBoom: Deus Electric

Okay, I hear a few of you grumbling about living in the real world and all that good stuff, so here are a few more Cub and CT conversions from EVAlbum.com. They both give a better view of what us down-to-earth types might build if we found ourselves with a Cub, a hacksaw, and a dream. (I think these are pretty cool too!)

EVAlbum 2005 Honda Super Cub 50

 

 

EVAlbum 2002 Honda CT110 eMail
 

In case you are now feeling inspired, finding a hub motor for your build shouldn't be too hard...

Roughly the same as the Shanghai motor

...and somewhere near you there is a sad little Honda Cub or CT sitting in the weeds just waiting for an ambitious tinkerer like you to jump in:

Find it here

 

[Updated area 8-28-2017]

 

I should've done a little more research. For those of you who (like me) really, really want to build your own E-Cub, Inside EVs posted an article about the E-Cub last week explaining that Shanghai Customs will be starting a Kickstarter campaign to sell you an E-Cub electrification kit which contains a motor, a controller, wiring, a battery pack, and a custom-made swingarm. If you've never tried your own conversion project, trust me, this would be an awesome way to start your project! More details in the link below the IEVs logo:

 

Inside EVs: E-Cub - Some Assembly Required

May you get your motor running, and may it be fueled by wind and sunlight and electrons!

PS. Here're a few more things to inspire your electro-conversion dreams:

A few more electrics from Shanghai Customs

Another take on the Cub from the EmpiDog blog

Electric Euro Cycles We Can't Have #3: OtoCycle

Today's post takes us to Barcelona, Spain (and a lot of other places). [This one is for Flattracker 23.]

 

Otocycles Site (Be sure to click the logo when you get there.)

 

OtoCycles is a Spanish e-bike company that produces four models of hand-built e-bikes. They all look like some type of vintage motorcycle - a boardtrack racer, a bobber, a café racer, and a minibike. Prices start around 3000 Euros (about $3500), but that doesn't matter over here because they (so far) have no North American dealers.

Love the OtoK and (especially) the RaceR, not so much on the CrosS and the OtoR

 

Specs for the RaceR (Very similar to the other three)

 

One thing with OtoCycle that will appeal to nuestros norteAmericanos is the available option to purchase bigger motors and bigger battery packs. I weigh about 250 and I really feel sorry for any 250-watt bike that gets suckered into hauling my cuerpo gordo around.

 

The big appeal of the Otocycles for me lies in the past. One of my favorite vintage cycle brands is the made-in-Spain Bultaco. They also have one of the coolest logos ever:

 

Thumbs up - let's ride!

 

Many moons ago I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend riding a Bultaco Alpina all over the area around Cloudcroft, New Mexico. While the controls were all backwards for me, the rides were nothing but thumbs up! Since then I have wanted a Bultaco, and my first choice would be the Tralla.

Does anyone see a resemblance?

 

The Oto RaceR looks a whole lot like the Tralla of my dreams - but it does not run on gasoline - a true thumbs up!

 

So, check them out, drool a bit, and know that they are not available on this side of the Atlantic.

 

But wait - you know I would not leave you hanging. Here are some similar bikes that are available over here. They're (mostly) out of the Mesquite Hugger price range, but they're sure fun to look at!

 

Stuff you can have here in the States:

 

Vintage Electric Bikes

Hand-built, fast, beautiful, expensive (4 models - made in California)

 

Ariel E-Bikes

 4 models (one cargo bike!) neat options, very reasonably priced

Ariel was formerly a prestigious British motorcycle builder.

 

Italjet North America

Three models hand-built in Italy, not cheap -  great attention to detail

Italjet evolved from a prestigious Italian motorcycle and scooter builder.

Juicer Bikes

Three models (plus custom build options) hand-built in SoCal, very expensive!

 

And for those of you who want a nice cruiser bike down closer to the Mesquite Hugger budget...

 

The Juiced OceanCurrent $1299 shipped!

 

May you find eco-friendly wheels that fit your budget, your body, y tu moda!

 

PS. For those of you who want an electric Bultaco that doesn't look like a vintage Bultaco...

 

Bultaco Moto-Brinco

Electric Euro Scooters We Can't Have #2: Motorman

[Yesterday's post was about the electric Schwalbe - a vintage scooter retrofit to be electric.]

The Motorman was a slow burn when I first saw it - it was just too simple, too European, and too expensive. It took me a while to figure out how beautiful that simple part is.

And it's hard to figure out what it is. It sure doesn't look like a scooter. It's not a moped or electric bicycle - it has no pedals. Really, when you get down to it, it's the distillation to the simplest of motorcycles (but most people won't see, hear, or smell the motor.)

The Motorman is the design of Ronald Meijs, a Dutch designer who set out to build a basic and beautiful eco-friendly urban transportation. He took styling inspiration from the American board track racers of 100 years ago.

The Wired Article from 2015

(Lots of Mesquite Hugger motivation in the first paragraph.)

(Just ignore the last paragraph's coming to America theme.)

Frame, hub motor, wheels, brakes, and a seat. What could be simpler? No pedals. No chain. No gears. No clutch. Easy to clean, Easy to maintain. Easy to charge. Even easy to haul - it's only 99 pounds.

Just plug and charge

Don't let the numbers bother you - you can't buy it over here anyway.

Do I want a Motorman - oh yeah! But not in Euro-spec. I would want it to be a simple motorcycle capable of somewhere around 45 mph, which should be pretty attainable. But then I'd probably want to mess it up by adding things like suspension and a cushy seat.

How about you? Do you find appeal in this stripped down machine? May you find a scoot that avoids that Wired article's first paragraph!

PS. If you want a cool electric moped-ish machine that you can buy here, be sure to check out Monday Motorbikes - straight out of San Francisco!