Finally it's going to happen!!!!!

We've been trying to get JoLynn a affordable E-assist system for 3 years, just never could save enough money with all the other things going on and JoLynn retiring from work on Dec. 31st. (2019) so we are now living on our meger Social Security Retirement income so the idea of E-assist for her was fading into the "it ain't gona happen"! Well thanks to Kelvin at Angletech www.cycledifferent.com he found us a barely affordable but way better than we thought we could get E-assist system from EBO, it's a 350W unit and should work well since JoLynn is only 120 lbs. so she doesn't need a 500-750-1000W system just to mainly help "boost" her when tackling the "HILLS" and uphill grades of the local trails in Colorado Springs!

Here is the stats on the system:
EBO Commuter 2.0 Electric Bike Kit

This basic electric bike kit provides a great product at an affordable price.  It averages 20 miles without pedaling at a maximum speed of 20 mph (dependent on the rider and the topography).  Range will increase significantly to 30-50 miles with pedal assist modes.  This kit can be upgrade with the EBO KT LCD3 and integrated controller mounting bracket system.

Specifications:

Battery - 36V 12.8AH Lithium-ion Dolphin Battery (LG Cell) with Mounting Bracket and Charger
Electric Motor – 36V 350W (614W Peak Power) Brushless Geared Motor Disc or Pad Brake Type (Front or Rear Freewheel Type)
Open Sizes - 100mm, 120mm or 135mm
Rim and Spokes Sizes - 26", 28", 29" or 700C
Battery Colors - Black
Electric Motor Colors - Black
Controller – 36V 17A
Clamp Diameters - 22.2mm
Display – LED 890 (EBO/JULET Quick Connectors)  
E-Brake – Two motor disruptor brake levels (EBO/JULET Quick Connectors) Disruptor Sensors are available upon request.
Wiring - EBO/JULETQuick Connect Anti-Water Lines (Wire Harnesses Lengths: 1525mm front motor to controller or 610mm rear motor to controller, 1017mm components to controller)  Other wire harness lengths are available upon request.  
Controller Storage -  Black Plastic Controller Box
Pedal Assist System - 1:1PAS, 8 Magnet Sensor (3 Levels of Assist Modes with LED 890) 

Optional Throttle – Thumb or Twist (EBO/JULET Quick Connectors)
So now we wait for the system to arrive and get it installed, hopefully it won't be delayed due to the continuing Corona Virus up scaling here in Colorado!! :( LOL, I think I'm looking forward to the install more than JoLynn as she feels a bit guilty as we can't afford the E-assist for me. I feel she needs it NOW where I feel I can live without it for 5 more years, hopefully by then it will be even Cheaper and more affordable! :)

Adding the needed accessories to make it YOUR trike!

It started out very cold in the 20 F's. this morning so we waited to late morning to head over to the storage unit to add the accessories to the "new to me" TT Travler so we took a hour of so to make the trike "mine". We headed out on a test run to make sure the computer was set up right and the other accessories are working like they are suppose to! We headed down Shooks Run Trail heading south then back streets thru down town Colorado Springs, CO. over to pick up the Pikes Peak Greenway along Fountain Creek, heading north up and through Monument Valley Park, then picked up the Cascade St. Bike Lane back to the storage area. 10 miles RT, it was fun to get in the first ride, now hoping for warmer weather and this damned Corona Virus to work out and let us be able to take on a long weekender type ride soon! :)

My not so good attempt at a photo of JoLynn in back while riding! ;)

Was hoping to get a photo of Pikes Peak as we headed down a back street to the Pike Peak Greenway, dang trees!! :(

Bridge over Fountain Creek heading out of America The Beautiful Park to pick up the Pike Peak Greenway.

The new Cascade St. Bike Lane, we LOVE it!!

 

Finally, got the folding trike!

With the little bit of State Income Tax refund and selling my  TT Rover much quicker than I expected to! So rode the Rover up to Angletech to have it shipped to it's new home in NY. a long way from Colorado Springs! It was a good trike it worked very well for being a supposed "bottom line" recumbent trike. It did it's job as a tandem thru my wife's heart attack recovery and it was a fun ride for me as a single trike, especially after the upgrade (Efneo drive and 10 speed cassette/derailleur), but after moving from my Mom's house (we moved in for 2.5 years) to help her out with house payment, expenses from a long hospital stay to a very small 2nd. floor apt. and the Rover just can't fit thru and the Rover seat is a RPIA to take off to tilt sideways to get it thru the doorway, the Traveler seat comes off MUCH easier so I don't have to fold it as much as it can be folded! I've only got to ride it 3 miles but it's a fine ride and a good price for a extra clean used trike so I'm stoked!!  Meet "Trav"! :)

 Now I've got the "accessories" and a rear rack to add, will be taking off the rear fender and having 3 Schwalbe Big Ben Plus tires for some "passive suspension". :)

March madness!

March has been a very strange month with the corona virus shut downs and the weird weather patterns! Usually March is our Snowiest month of the year but this year we've had several days of gray, cold with more rain than snow. Yesterday the 18th. it was the one day break after the gray days we've been getting it was 65 F and sunny till the afternoon when the darkish clouds came in and the winds picked up but it gave us time to get in a 17 mile RT ride and stop at a park in Manitou Springs for our "social distancing brown bag lunch" since we are not sure they'd allow us to use the "drive in" windows at the local fast food places when riding the recumbent trikes?

We took a route the used both the Pikes Peak Greenway, Pine St. trail and the Midland/Creekside trail to the skate bowl park in Manitou Springs found a empty picnic table and had lunch, then headed back the same way, we were going to stay out a little longer and take the Shooks Run trail back but the winds and clouds were threating so we headed back to the storage unit to tuck the trikes in and do our short walk home, we did stop at a 7-11 and got a couple of bannans  which tasted great!

Picnic Spot at the skateboard park in Manitou Springs

Creekside Trail thru the park and into Manitou Springs down town area.

Midland Trail by 26th. Street

Pine St. I-25 Trail 

Riding during the Corona Virus we are trying to RIDE when the ICKY weather will let us!!

Monday March 16th. We managed to get in a ride on a day that started brisk but turned out nice after 3 solid days of "gray, COLD and drizzly weather here in So. Colorado! We rode a 19 mile RT of a mix of trails and bike lanes with a "brown bag picnic" at Nancy Lewis Park, as all the fast food places, etc. have been CLOSED by order of the Governor of Colorado! It's getting really crazy here in the USA but so far they haven't told us to "Stay in place" here in So. CO. like they have in NY. and CA. I will go stir crazy if I'm forced to be stuck in this little tiny apt. for 14 days but IF we get this virus I will abide by the needs of the many over the needs of the few or the ONE, (Spock from Star Trek!). ;)

Sadly I can see this day coming but I really hope this virus finally starts to slow down or they come up with a vaccine ASAP!! We will ride as much as we can before it happens but the weather is total crap shoot again here on Tues. It was WET, COLD and gray all day. I still haven't gotten our "tax refund" from federal due to the bozo people that did our taxes not sending in a vital document so it got delayed! I got it to the IRS finally and we MIGHT get it in 2 weeks or it could be 8 weeks, arrugh. I've put a Terra Trike Traveler "folding trike" (used of course!), on Layaway and put down a good down payment but still owe $800 so I NEED this refund to get here so I can pay it off, sell my current TT Rover trike and then we can quit paying for a "storage unit" and bring the trikes into the apartment and save us $82.00 a month!!!

Sorry no photo but I was enjoying being OUTSIDE so much I didn't bother with taking any photo's and my limited internet (through my phone, threaded into my lap top), it's VERY SLOW so I can't upload my video's to my You Tube Channel sorry!  Hope you all get out to ride before we all "can't" anymore. 

The great experiment!! New and different shoes for JoLynn's tirke!

Just a side note, we decided to try out a set of Schwalbe Big Ben Plus "Balloon Type" tire on JoLynn's trike. https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/road_tires/big_ben_plus

This type of tire is "suppose" to create a "passive suspension" where by making the bumps, dips, divot's in the road surface less harsh to the over all ride of a trike! Well I've heard a lot of good things about them so decided it was "time" to try them as JoLynn's trike just had a set of "wider" rims spoked up her front wheels as the "stock ones" on a older Trident Stowaway II trike as thinner and taller than a lot of modern tires on the current market! These come in a 20x2.15 width a lot wider than her current 20x1.50 Marathon Plus tires. The run "less" air pressure but create a larger contact path with the road surface and more cushioning factor than the thinner/higher psi pressure type tires. Sadly we can't put on on the rear as the "rear triangle" towards the front isn't very wide so we will be installing a slightly less wide, Big Apple 20x2.0 tire with a "tire liner" (the Big Apple has a lot lower flat protection rating than the Big Ben Plus 20x2.15!! IF this works out good we will have a set of the Big Ben Pluses installed on my new to me TT Traveler folding trike I hope to be to get out of layaway by the end of April!! We had to remove the stock front fenders and will need the larger set of fenders made by Trident Trike, hope to be putting them on order SOON! FYI..:)

We rode on March 7th. but I can't load the video we took due to my utlra-slow internet connection won't upload with any decent speed, rats. On the Wed's the 11th. we had a rare "spring like" winter day, 60F sunny with just a breeze a excellent day to be out on a trike ride!! We ended up doing a "loop" ride that was made up for trails and bike lanes, took a couple of photos at a city resivour site along the Pikes Peak Greenway! 16 miles RT and finally got the trikes back onto the storage unit and walked home. Since then it's been CRUD weather, foggy, gray with a constant "drip" of moisture so it's a really crappy and boring, ARRUGH!!

Our last two rides have been again, "in between snow storms" and although the weather was suppose to be mostly sunny, it's been mostly CLOUDY but at least warmish and mellow winds so we got out again on Sat. the 29th. of February and rode the Cottonwood Creek Trail which is a ride we seem to do a lot and really enjoy it now they've finished the "under Academy Blvd. extension trail! We started at the skateboard park parking lot on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail and for once we had some company! We got to meet Jim M. for the 1st. time and since he's fairly new to the area it was nice to experience this ride through new eyes! :)

We headed up to Cottonwood Recreational Park for our brown bag lunch but we decided to take Jim up to where the current concrete trail ends and it turns into a bit of rough single track dirt trail. The big surprise was that the concrete trail now continues north of that spot but we didn't have time to explore the new section today so we will save that for another ride! Headed back to the park and the only open in the winter "porta-potty", then found a picnic table to eat lunch. Headed back down the trail, which is a lot of nice "down hill" heading south! We pulled into the parking lot with 18 miles RT and a new friend! Jim folded up and packed his trike into his compact car, (gota love the folding trikes!), JoLynn and I headed back down the PPGW trail over to Polk St. then up the back street over to Wood Ave. and back to the storage unit, then we walked home. :)

LOL, well I managed to not get either JoLynn or Jim in the photo, some times it's hard to see the details when using a phone on a gray cloudy day! ;)