2 Wheels Maybe

[ Intrusive Narrator Sidebar 1 : Before you get too excited, this is another post about a bike you can buy in Canada but not in the US, snagit!] Cheap , Cargo , and Klunker - when you think of those words, I hope you think of 2Wheels Maybe . In my quest to make that happen, I scour the entire world North America to find cheap cargo bikes and klunkers. If you're going to ride a green machine, well, it might as well be odd and fun. So, I'm very excited to tell you that I found another cheap-ish klunker! Woohoo! I found it by bravely searching the wilds of youtube. It's the Columbia Rambler. Ironically, the Rambler is an updated version of a bike called the Columbia Klunker, but the Rambler is more of a klunker than the Klunker was. And it comes in three sizes. The Columbia Klunker was a multi-speed bike that was more of a comfort hybrid bike in a klunker-ish frame.  The new Columbia Rambler 24" (at Walmart Canada) But the Rambler, like most tra...

Normally, I like to write about odd and unexpected vehicles, but today I'm writing about a rare and unexpected occurrence - a reader not only used the comment feature but also asked a couple of questions. This is exciting stuff! The Pigeon Projects (Where I Talk too Much) My e-Vespa Years ago, I converted a vintage Vespa scooter to run on batteries. I replaced the original running gear with a rear hub motor and replaced the fuel system with a 48 volt battery pack. And it was mostly a success. But I made one minor miscalculation - I ended up with a scooter that would run only 28 miles per hour. And Lubbock is pretty much a 40 mph town. Even on residential streets, West Texans have little use for dorks inconsiderate enough to run less than 35. The Vespa has been ridden very little, but no one has run it over! I learned then that the biggest drawback to using a hub motor is that the only practical way to add speed is to add more voltage.  But I had already spent a l...

(Getting it out of my system) The Scrambler Jones It happens more often than I want to admit. I go through a season of jonesing for a motorcycle to ride. It doesn't make financial sense, it doesn't make logical sense, and I know that if I had one, I would not ride it much. But I dearly miss the feeling of riding a motorcycle along a windy road on a beautiful day. The latest jones has been slightly different - it's still retro and it's still electric, but this time it's dirtier - I'm jonesing for a scrambler. When I look at what's commercially available, there's not much other than one very desirable bike - the Fly Free Smart Desert. Yes, I straight up want one. The Fly Free Smart Desert But they finished the pre-sale and haven't started the post-sale (and I could not afford either, snagit!) Subtract the surfboard, the ocean, the cool helmet and jacket and goggles - that could be me! What else is out there? I've ...

It was a great week for biking. The 60% commute goal - I made it this week! I might've made 80%, but there was this flat tire on the back of the e-bike Friday morning. So, I threw the poorboy BMX in the car and tackled a lunch-hour getaway. I learned this week that Lubbock has another skatepark (and BMX track) and it's about a mile from work. This week's microadventure -  my first-ever shot at riding a skatepark. A view of the skatepark from the BMX track (I really need to work on photo quality.) The good news - I survived the trip! The bad news - I was not amazing, or even competent, but there were no broken bones or serious sprains. The other bad news - the bike didn't completely survive. I blew out a freewheel sprocket. (My heart and lungs were quite relieved when that happened - I definitely need to keep exercising!) (In case you're looking for it) (Green border added to balance the local dirt) Panorama from the BMX track Wit...

So there I was researching a new post about two new electric cargo bikes on the market when I ran across something truly shocking - a youtube video of a pro rider putting a Mongoose Envoy Cargo Bike to the test on a mountain bike trail. What the heck? Really? A Mongoose cargo bike? Wowser!!! So, I clicked the link and dumbfoundedly watched a thing I never expected to see going up and down and over and such with happy music playing in the background. I went straight to Mongoose.com and found nothing. So I went to the google and found Canadian Costco. And I started scheming about getting my Canadian buddy who's a bit of smuggler... (Just disregard that line.)  Yep, $500 Canadian from Costco So, I figured it'd be a while before they hit the real world and watched the video again: A British MTB/Trials rider wheelying a Mongoose cargo bike on youtube?!! Then I went back to the google and found evidence of at least one that is already in the real worl...

Upcycling, we love upcycling around here, especially when you take something old, unloved, and (possibly) polluting and turn it into something useful, appreciated, and green. With that in mind, today's post features two very tasty Honda cycles being reborn as modern electrics. The first is new to these pages, but the guy doing the conversion is not new around here. Micah Toll is the driving force behind EbikeSchool , a writer for Electrek.co, and part of the team responsible for the Vruzend (battery building) Kit -  the kit I used to build the battery for the e-Klunker. Yep, Micah shows up a lot around here. He recently posted a video about a new project he's undertaking - a vintage Honda conversion. The 1st installment This is a video to get your juices flowing. Okay, to be clear, this is one of those videos that has me Jonesing to get back to work on one of my old projects. He has other videos about commuting on a GenZe scooter and about acquiring a CSC City Slic...