Video Review: Sebnotsep
We met up with Seb, the man behind the popular bike review channel Sebnotserp. Seb loved the Electrom and we got him on the bike to see how much power he could produce with the GCD.
Electrom Aerosock
The Electrom is a great vehicle for short and long trips. However, we had to compromise on aerodynamics in order to optimize for ease of use. This is no big deal around town, but for longer tips we wanted a bit more efficiency. so, we created the Aerosock. A simple two-part cloth cover that cleans up the aerodynamic profile of the Electrom.
Electrom on the Sammamish River Trail
I had the pleasure of riding the Sammamish River Trail in Seattle recently. It was a beautiful piece of high-speed appropriate trail.
At the beginning of the video is a short bit showing me climbing into the Aerosock cloth side covers that I’ve made for longer trips.
New Tailbox
We’ve just finished installing and testing the Electrom tailbox. Construction is molded carbon fibre and aluminum with LED running, brake and signal lights. Also new is an Electronic hatch-release that requires the ignition key for security. The tailbox hatch is rain-proof as well so your stuff stays dry.
We’ve also updated the swingarm covers and fender. The new units are carbon composite construction as well. We think the whole package looks quite sharp.
Cause if you liked it then you should have put a roof on it
We’ve been trying a temporary rain canopy that is designed for upright bicycle. The goal was to use this product to determine if a built-in rain canopy would work on the Electrom.
For a number of years we have felt that a canopy would produce too much surface area and make the bike vulnerable to cross-winds, but we recently did some experiments with extra surface area in high winds that led us to believe that it was worthwhile to experiment further, so the Bup-Up was ordered from Europe.
The Bub-up is designed for upright bicycles but was easily adapted to the Electrom. After several days of riding it in heavy rain and high winds we have reached several conclusions:
- a rain canopy and windshield would be a very nice addition to the Electrom and the cross-wind issue is not as bad as we had feared–but there is a noticeable difference.
- The canopy will have to be very light so as not to have a negative effect on the handling of the bike.
- whatever we come up with cannot interfere with the ease of mounting and dismounting the Electrom. One of the nicest things about it is how uncomplicated it is to use, and we wish to keep it that way.
The consensus is that we will proceed with a prototype canopy. Stay tuned.
We should also state that while the Bub-Up is a well-made product, it is not suitable for the higher speeds of the Electrom, but it would be a great addition to a slower bicycle.
New Tailbox Design
We’ve been working on a new tailbox design. The Design Intent is to make a tailbox that is a bit shorter than the existing model, but also has some height for bulkier items. We’re going to try something a bit different–these new talboxes will have carbon fiber exterior surfaces with bonded aluminum inner surfaces. The hope is that this will allow for a simpler mold and layup, thus reducing manufacturing costs.
The modern way to produce a mold would be to design in CAD software and then have the plug carved by a CNC router. But this process is quite expensive and hard to justify for a small run. So, we opted to do it the old fashion way by carving the plug by hand.
The process involves building a framework out of wood, then laying foam on top. once the basic shape has been carved, autobody filler is used to finalize the shape and produce a hard surface.
Ideally one would use polyurethane foam, because it is not affected by the solvents in autobody filler, but polyurethane foam is hard to source, so we use the more common insolation styrofoam and a layer of epoxy to protect it from the solvents.
The grey images show the plugs, which are the positive-shapes that will be used to make the negative-shape of the molds. The vertical surfaces are the flange areas that will be the outside edges of the molds.
Electric Bike Gang
I had the opportunity to drop by Grin Technology for a visit with a couple of Electroms. As luck would have, it we bumped into Justin Lemire-Elmore, Grin CEO and chief visionary, and Alon, the inventor of the very exciting new Freegen disk-brake-activated regenerative braking hub. We all went for a ride to grab a bagel.
Two new Electroms shipped
We shipped two new Electroms to their owners this spring. A crisp white model went to Vancouver, and a lime green bike was sent to California. We’ve been getting good feedback from the new owners.
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