Big Jim’s attempt to become Slim Jim

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

What is the battery capacity on you bike? I picked one with the largest capacity as we have a lot of hills. It will easily do 40 miles around the Dark Peak with over 4000 feet of vlimbs but battery management is critical. I use the least I can get away with on the outward leg so I can use more later if I am tired.

Body weight is also a factor, I am probably less than half of the point where you started your campaign. 

It’s not so much battery capacity as motor power that gets you up hills, we found this out after trying several mobility scooters, where we live are steep hills and the small “shopping” type mostly come with 175/250 watt motors and cannot even attempt smallish hills, I finally settled on a 1000 watt twin motored scooter which now whips me (and a grandchild + beach clobber) up our 1:4 hill with ease at top speed, even though it has big “off road” tyres I haven’t yet dared venture onto the beach, just the launch way.

[big jim]

I noticed ealier the motor seemed to be pulsing a bit coming in and off load around 10mph then I realised that rear tyre seemed a little flat, I normally run at about 45-50psi, it was down to about 28 which appears to put extra load on the motor, also regards range I think another factor on the Keswick ride was I was carrying the pannier bag with 2 chargers, bottles of water and various other cycling essentials when both put extra weight over the rear wheel and motor no doubt causing extra load 

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

3 hours ago, big jim said:

then I realised that rear tyre seemed a little flat, I normally run at about 45-50psi, it was down to about 28 which appears to put extra load on the motor

 

Low tyre pressure will reduce range of an ebike. I can feel the difference in effort required on an ordinary bike as the pressure goes down. My ebike for road use runs on about 50 psi. For an eMTB I use tubeless tyres running at 20psi for better grip and more comfort over rough ground. Carrying extra weight will also affect range, especially if you do the maximum speed or a lot of hills.

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

6 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

It’s not so much battery capacity as motor power that gets you up hills, we found this out after trying several mobility scooters, where we live are steep hills and the small “shopping” type mostly come with 175/250 watt motors and cannot even attempt smallish hills, I finally settled on a 1000 watt twin motored scooter which now whips me (and a grandchild + beach clobber) up our 1:4 hill with ease at top speed, even though it has big “off road” tyres I haven’t yet dared venture onto the beach, just the launch way.

To comply with UK law an ebike for road use has a maximum motor power of 250 watts and cutout at 25kph. Above these figures it becomes a motor cycle requiring registration, insurance and a driving licence.

There are more rules covering the use of twist and go throttles which can move the bike without pedalling, I think the maximum is 6kph, approx 4mph which is the same as an unregistered mobility scooter.

 

My ebike for the road has a 500Wh battery. Some models have a 300Wh or 400Wh rating. It will do the Dark peak circuit from Glossop over the Snake to Ladybower and down to Bamford then back via Hope, Edale, Mam Nick, Chinley and Hayfield. That's about 36 miles and 4500 feet of climbs on the route I use.

For an eMTB I use a 625Wh battery. My last ride on that was 35 miles, almost 30 miles of off-road trails and cross country tracks, with 5000 feet of climbing and I still had 30% battery left when I got home.

[big jim]

@TheSignalEngineer 

 

Dominic’s bike has a thumb throttle that my mum had fitted when she bought it, I think it cuts out at the speed you quoted above but I know she needed it to get away easily from a stand before she became too ill to ride it and it was parked up 

 

my battery is a 317wh but I don’t think they do a bigger plug and play option unfortunately but I notice there is a new E-bike in carerra range that is a ‘hybrid’ that offers a 60 mile range, I’m wondering if that has regenerative charging of some sort, not properly looked at it but I may upgrade if they are doing the cycle to work scheme again when this bike is paid for in 9 months time! 
 

I certainly didn’t think when I bought this bike that I’d be going anywhere near the 40 mile range it supposedly has on leisure runs for fun, i thought I’d only really use it for commuting to and from the station a couple of miles a day but now I’m looking for 30-40 mile trips to do with somewhere I can charge up while having a break, I’m so glad I didn’t go for the cheaper 20 mile range bike Halfords had! 

 

regarding the tyre pressure I have found 50 psi is certainly the best for having to use the least effort but the ride is eye rattling once you get off any smooth tarmac surfaces, that’s why I gave up on the tow path when riding to chester and took the roads instead, I may try dropping them to 40 and see if that’s a happy compromise of ease and comfort

 

the tyres I have on the Halfords spec page say puncture proof, I assume however they still have an inner tube like a normal bike, what are the tubeless tyres like for mixed surface riding? 

Edited August 15, 2021 by big jim

[boxbrownie]

9 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

To comply with UK law an ebike for road use has a maximum motor power of 250 watts and cutout at 25kph. Above these figures it becomes a motor cycle requiring registration, insurance and a driving licence.

There are more rules covering the use of twist and go throttles which can move the bike without pedalling, I think the maximum is 6kph, approx 4mph which is the same as an unregistered mobility scooter.

 

My ebike for the road has a 500Wh battery. Some models have a 300Wh or 400Wh rating. It will do the Dark peak circuit from Glossop over the Snake to Ladybower and down to Bamford then back via Hope, Edale, Mam Nick, Chinley and Hayfield. That's about 36 miles and 4500 feet of climbs on the route I use.

For an eMTB I use a 625Wh battery. My last ride on that was 35 miles, almost 30 miles of off-road trails and cross country tracks, with 5000 feet of climbing and I still had 30% battery left when I got home.

Indeed, of course an e-bike is a hell’u’va lighter than a mobility scooter thus not needing such powerful motors (my scooter is 181 kgs with twin 100ah batteries)……what worries me is the seemingly unrestricted sale of illegal electric scooters, some capable of silly speeds.

I thought about getting an e-bike for short trips to town but my condition makes it impossible for me to balance.

[big jim]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

what worries me is the seemingly unrestricted sale of illegal electric scooters, some capable of silly speeds.

 

hence why Gethin now has a metal rod in his arm, it was a kid one of those that knocked him off his bike the other week

[TheSignalEngineer]

 

13 hours ago, big jim said:

she needed it to get away easily from a stand

Starting away on an ebike is certainly different than with an ordinary bike. I tend to use eco or tour except when starting away from the lights at the front of a traffic queue. Then I step up in necessary. It certainly gives drivers a bit of a shock when they are revving behind you impatient to get away and you shoot off in turbo doing 15mph after about 20 yards. When I first took mine out for a ride round the town I overtook a boy racer type in the queue for the first set of lights. It took three miles, five sets of lights, two mini roundabouts and four pelican crossings before he caught up with me leaving the other end of town.

 

13 hours ago, big jim said:

my battery is a 317wh but I don’t think they do a bigger plug and play option unfortunately but I notice there is a new E-bike in carerra range that is a ‘hybrid’ that offers a 60 mile range,

The Suntour battery on the Vengeance is rated at 8.8Ah. Suntour also do a 12Ah battery but I don't know if it is the same fitting.

The one I use on the road and gravel is 13.4Ah. If I was riding on the Cheshire Plain I could probably get at least 80 miles out of that but in the Dark Peak the limit is about 40 miles due to the climbs and I am a regular on them. I have known people who struggle to do more than about 20 miles round here but a lot is down to technique. I took a hire bike round a trail centre before I bought an eMTB and the mechanic there was amazed at how much distance and climbing I had done and still had over 40% battery left. 

My eMTB has a 16.7Ah battery and I can do 35 miles with 4500 feet of climbing mostly off road on one of my routes and still have 30% in hand without really thinking about battery management.

 

14 hours ago, big jim said:

I notice there is a new E-bike in carerra range that is a ‘hybrid’ that offers a 60 mile range, I’m wondering if that has regenerative charging of some sort,

Hybrid when describing a bike is usually the type of use it is intended for. Most hybrids are suitable for roads and trails, but not for the rougher cross country and obscure bridleway rides.

I don't know if anyone has marketed an ebike with regen charging yet. To do that would put the weight up, need a more complicated control system and some way of disengaging the generating side when you are pedalling. Covering it with solar panels would probably be more effective.

 

13 hours ago, big jim said:

regarding the tyre pressure I have found 50 psi is certainly the best for having to use the least effort but the ride is eye rattling once you get off any smooth tarmac surfaces, that’s why I gave up on the tow path when riding to chester and took the roads instead, I may try dropping them to 40 and see if that’s a happy compromise of ease and comfort

Lower pressures are certainly more forgiving on your rear end on the rough stuff even on a full suspension MTB. I use about 20psi on 2.5" tyres for tubeless or a bit higher on tubes. I have ridden a Fatbike with 4" tubeless tyres quite successfully on wet sand at 10psi but have heard of people going even lower.

I'm not sure how the rear wheel Suntour motor affects the overall balance of the bike. I remember when doing long distance touring we always tried to distribut the weight by using front wheel panniers as it made the bike more controllable and easier to pedal than with all of the weight on the back. I ride with the Bosch system which has the motor mounted in the bottom bracket position which distributes the weight more evenly between the wheels.

 

13 hours ago, big jim said:

the tyres I have on the Halfords spec page say puncture proof, I assume however they still have an inner tube like a normal bike, what are the tubeless tyres like for mixed surface riding?

Puncture resistant tyres usually have a layer of Kevlar or a plastic strip in the build-up.

Tubeless are done with a liquid sealant which can be a bit of a faff to get right. You need to blow the tyre onto the rim very quickly. I use an 8 litre compressor with the output pressure set to near the maximum for the tyre or rim. Press the trigger and that will instantly inflate the tyre to the correct pressure. A quick spin round to distribute the sealant then I let off the pressure to the normal running value.On the road many people still use inner tubes because they are more successful when using pressures of 100psi found on narrow tyres. Anne uses tubeless for her gravel bike on the road and smoother trails but that runs best at about 50psi.

 

 

[big jim]

That’s very interesting, thanks, I think a bigger battery may be the best option at some point

 

im generally on eco most of the time, same as you though, turbo to pull away quickly from the lights and traffic, I can generally do my house to the station quicker on the bike than in the car now (obeying all traffic lights too!)

 

Someone recommended a sprung/suspension seat post earlier too, might look at one of those to smooth things out a bit?

 

 

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

Back on batteries, I see that the Crossfire range has an 11.6Ah battery which would give 30% improvement on your battery.

 

4 minutes ago, big jim said:

Someone recommended a sprung/suspension seat post earlier too, might look at one of those to smooth things out a bit?

 

The thing to remember is that suspension is absorbing energy which must be coming from somewhere, and that is the pedals or motor especially when you are climbing. 

There are suspension posts but I haven't tried them personally. Dropper posts on mountain bikes do provide a certain amount of softening but that is not their primary purpose, they are expensive and a pain in the ____ to maintain in 100% working order.

 

My first line of attack would be to look at saddles.

There are wide ones with big springs, which may be OK on a Shopper, but not that good for long distances. The reason racing bikes have narrow saddles is they are more efficient when pedalling and you can move around a bit on them to change the pressure points. 

I don't know what the Vengeance has but I think the spec says memory foam. Whether that is the same as what is referred to as a Gel saddle I don't know. They have a layer betwwn the plastic base and the cover that is similar to the stuff used for surgical implants and will shape to your riding position.

[big jim]

 I’m happy with the saddle itself, ot doesn’t feel l like memory foam, it is hard and you don’t sink into it as it were, it is a bit hard at times but only really noticeable when the tyres are at 50psi 

 

ive also not had a play about with is the rebound on the front forks, they are set about 1/3 stiffness at the moment and they feel fine too so don’t want to start playing about with them really

 

 

[jcredfer]

Re. the sprung Saddle Post, I'm not sure my comment will be 100% helpful, but may bring a smile.

 

The roads around S-Wilts are appalling, detaching surfaces, 3" plus holes and deep water eroded channels at the sides.  {Not the only county, I might observe.}  My bike is an Urban species, lacking the sprung suspension of my Wife/daughter' machines.  The surface is bad enough to shake the handlebars from even a strong grip, if approached at any significant speed {at my age, limited to significant downward slopes}.  Accordingly, I thought that a sprung saddle post might relieve some of the hammering my crotch was getting on, far too regular occasions, so went to our local shop to see what they had.  The gents in there are really good and full of bike know-how, so instantly responded that they might not be able to be of much assistance, as one might already be on the bike.  He leaned on the saddle and it did, indeed, compress under his weight.

 

I can only wonder what damage the Wilts, road condition standards might have had, with an unsprung post!! ...   something I have no wish to discover, but I do have a wish to compel every Wilts councillor to ride, unsprung, bikes for a minimum of 1,000 miles of their roads!!    

 

 

[big jim]

Went for a ride out earlier along the solway coast, started at Kirkbride and went round the coast through Bowness on solway and back in a loop to kirkbride 

 

after leaving kirkbride the old railway line form aspatria to Annan cross the marsh and road heading toward the solway viaduct 

 

looking back toward the Cumbrian mountains 

 

 

we then went round the coast toward anthorn where there is a radio mast structure on the old airfield 

 

then round the top of the coast we got to the old solway viaduct pier

 

which we road down

 

it started getting thinner and thinner and the brambles got thicker!

 

but it was worth the pain for the view at the end 

 

and the other side near Annan 

 

we then came back through bowness on solway, the Hadrian wall path 

 

back through port Carlisle where there was really nothing left of the railway to photograph, but when we came back through Glasson we rode over the line to port Carlisle via this bridge, a bit further back toward Carlisle was the junction to silloth 

 

And back to kirkbride where we went alongside the bridge at track level we originally went over at the start of the ride, this part was the old line from drumburgh to silloth 

 

I think we were stood next to the old station but it was down a private road so I couldn’t get any photos 

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by big jim

[jcredfer]

What an interesting ride and great pictures.  What a wonderful way to look after your health {with the possible exception of the thorns in Pic No. 8.....  

 

I'm really impressed with your ambitions in picture No. 11.....    any clues about preference of order yet?  

 

 

[big jim]

Maryport will be my limit! 
 

a better battery may get me to ravenglass though 
 

 

[big jim]

Got myself a sprung seat post, paid a few quid more than an Amazon one for a brand I’d heard of, went for an SA Suntour which is the same make as the bike forks and brakes 

I wish I knew about this 650 mile ago, it’s made the ride so much smoother, got it set fairly stiff but still with plenty of movement over bumps, very impressed with it so far but I may have to move the saddle back a touch on the rails

 

also covered a spooky 666.6 miles with the bike earlier!

 

weigh in day tomorow but I’m on my hols so I’m fully expecting to gain a few lb as I’ve been a bit lax with my point counting and have been eating 3 decent meals a day (but still small portions), I do feel a bit bloated for some reason hence why I feel a gain is on the books! 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by big jim

[jcredfer]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

Got myself a sprung seat post, paid a few quid more than an Amazon one for a brand I’d heard of, went for an SA Suntour which is the same make as the bike forks and brakes 

I wish I knew about this 650 mile ago, it’s made the ride so much smoother, got it set fairly stiff but still with plenty of movement over bumps, very impressed with it so far but I may have to move the saddle back a touch on the rails

 

also covered a spooky 666.6 miles with the bike earlier!

 

weigh in day tomorow but I’m on my hols so I’m fully expecting to gain a few lb as I’ve been a bit lax with my point counting and have been eating 3 decent meals a day (but still small portions), I do feel a bit bloated for some reason hence why I feel a gain is on the books! 

 

 

 

 

My daughter was born on 31 Oct...  and still gets regular check-ups on the back of the neck...     ...   

 

I like the look of the Sprung Seat Post, it looks like it might have quite a lot more range than mine, thanks for the head up.

 

 

[big jim]

I can thoroughly recommend it, I’ve not played about with the damping adjustment yet as it seems ok, that one was about £60 from Amazon warehouse but they are normally around the £65-£70 range (if you want quick delivery) I’m sure Halfords do them too

 

the concrete hardstanding in the prom in silloth normally jars your teeth and rattles your eyes but the post seems to adsorb the ripples and joins in the concrete pretty well, it is a totally different ride, I’ve had to put it a bit higher than the standard post as the clamp for the pannier rack needs to fit below the mechanism and once i sit on the saddle it drops slightly under my weight

 

 as I say I think I need to move it back a touch as I’ve noticed a twinge in my, for want if a better word, ‘Butt cheeks’ that I’ve not felt before but if I shuffle forward on the saddle a touch it goes so I think my ‘rump’ is sitting further onto the wider part of the saddle than it was but not in a comfortable way, I’ll have a play about with the position tomorrow as I forgot to take the Allen key out with me to do it today on my tour 

[big jim]

Weigh in day, did better than I thought, was expecting a weight gain but in fact had a 2lb loss so now 17.11, 3 more lb loss and that will be 5 Stone lost in total 

[Pete the Elaner]

It sounds like you are doing well. I found that keeping things up was easier than starting out.

I hope you're now at a point where you feel better for having gone out cycling/running rather than just being exhausted?

[big jim]

Not felt exhausted at all this week, enjoyed the exercise I’ve done too, not done any running for 10 days though, I really need to get back into it 

 

Ive have however covered 33 miles walking since 1st august for a challenge on Strava, done 33 miles on the bike this week too

 

went for a ride to get my moving goal in for the day, went to the old airfield and did a bit of airsoft shooting with Dom and had a look at the old airbase buildings 

 

 

 

 

Still lots of hangers standing and in use too, I’ll get pics of them if anyone is interested 

 

https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/silloth/

[big jim]

You can see from this picture of my apple health progress how much work effects exercise

 

I did a job yesterday (20th) which I had to drive to and from rather than cycle and it was a full 12 hours so I couldn’t get any exercise before or afterwards (or indeed during) the only walking I recorded was to and from the loco at kingmoor yard 

 

 the red circle is my movement (calories burned), green is exercise minutes and blue is standing time (1 minute in every hour), I didn’t managed to close at of those rings at all (the 21st is still on going so I’m hoping to close all those by the end of the day) 

 

however today I had to go charity shop clothes shopping in Carlisle as nothing I own fits me any more, ive lost 8-10 inches off my waist and have gone from 4xl to XL (or 2XL depending on the brand) 

 

heading home tonight so hopefully get a bit of cycling in tomorrow, work on Monday morning which is also a cycle in job, back to normality next week 

[bodmin16]

Those pictures are amazing, like me I bet you notice a difference how you feel, not only does I recover from exercise quicker but my balance has improved, I can stand on one leg now!  Have you tried to pick something up that is about the same weight as your loss?  Or even load a suitcase up with 20 odd kilos which is normally accepted on long haul flights, then carry it upstairs a few times - you used to carry that around with you all the time!

[big jim]

The bike weighs 20kg which is 10kg less than I’ve lost so far and I have to lift that onto the roof rack, hard to imagine I’ve lost that much and 1/2 again 

[jcredfer]

56 minutes ago, big jim said:

The bike weighs 20kg which is 10kg less than I’ve lost so far and I have to lift that onto the roof rack, hard to imagine I’ve lost that much and 1/2 again 

 

Running those comments on, it is seldom realised by many folk, that overweight doesn't mean lack of muscle - quite the opposite, if you have to move around, carrying all those extra Lbs/Kg.  Those working at jobs which involve any moving around, are far stronger than those who are sat and are not active.

 

Back to the weight loss, many congratulations, very well deserved.