2 Wheels Maybe

So the kid was turning twelve in the early part of July and we had been wanting him to have an ebike so he can keep up on our family e-bike rides. Before e-bikes were so popular, you could buy this at department stores! The Mongoose CX450 was a pretty cool bike - 15mph, 18 mile range, full suspension, front disc brake - sweet! After looking around for a bit (during a time when almost no bikes were available for purchase) we decided it was time to build one. A few years back I bought a Mongoose CX450 that had been stripped of its electric drivetrain. So I pulled it out of storage and got to work. Not our bike, but identical (I didn't take a before pic)     My first attempt at getting it together was to add a brushed motor like the original setup for the bike but I struggled to come up with a suitable bracket to hold the motor. Being a man with a welder and welding skills would have made it possible, but that's not me these days. So I came up with a Plan B - a brushless hu...

[Imaginary Fossil Free Friday bonus points for anyone who visits all six clickable links.] Do you ever feel like you're looking in the wrong direction? Maybe you're walking along looking at a bug in the grass while not noticing the alligator walking down the street ? I do that sort of thing a lot. Every day I find my nose pointed in the wrong direction to see what everyone else is gawking at. Snagit Kia! I want the little blue beast! Kia put out a new electric car ad this week. And it made me happy until the plot turned and I realized I had been looking at the bug in the grass while they had the (really cool) alligator parked in the  garage. See the video here I saw the little blue car and immediately started having Logan's Run fantasies - I've had a lot more of those since visiting the fountains in Fort Worth . But I saw the wedge front end and was thrilled to see a modern incarnation of my beloved Citicar . And I saw the digital readouts i...

It's a good thing I'm not independently wealthy; otherwise, this announcement might have started a whole new obsession or at least cost my family a whole lot of time and money! (No worries, Honey, I keep chanting my "No new projects!" mantra.) Yes, I know I'm an eco-dork. I fully realized it a few years back when I started wanting an electric car - a very specific electric car - the Vanguard Citicar. Until the Tesla came around, the Citicar was the most successful electric car created on American soil. (It's not as impressive as it sounds - we Norte Americanos have had little love for electric cars.) To this day, I get excited when that distinctive wedge shape pops up in any media. Recently, the little-car-that-barely-could popped up on Jalopnik in an article about the 24 Hrs of Lemons . So I clicked on it immediately. There was a little disappointment when I realized that there was no actual Citicar in the article, but I was still excited to see the...

[I'm resurrecting Fossil-Free-Friday over here on 2Wheels Maybe. I hope you enjoy the posts!] As a guy who loves old vehicles but hates the environmental damage they do, I love seeing cool EV conversions, and some of my favorites are the air-cooled VWs. They convert pretty easily, they're light and simple, they're a blast to drive, and they're fun to look at. One company that has excelled in converting old VWs (and Porsches) is Zelectric in California. I've followed their feed for a while now - they build some gorgeous machines and they use high-end AC motors and components. These cars perform as well as they look and accelerate a whole lot faster than a stock VW. Yep, I'm a big fan. But I'm none too wealthy. And their conversions start at $56,000. So, while they're incredibly cool, they're unobtainium for regular Joes, Joseys, and Mesquite Huggers like me... Find out how to win on Electrek.co ...unless someone decided to raffl...