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Forum: Opinion Topic: How to save money on gas started by: Liberal Posted by Liberal on Apr. 08 2022,11:50 pm
Buy yourself an older full suspension bike for $500. Then buy a Bafang electric motor, and battery from China for about $800. For well under $1500 you'll have cheap transportation that will get you anywhere you need to go.I bought an oversized battery for mine that cost another $150 but I can easily get 60 miles using pedal assist, and at least 25 miles using just the motor. It also has enough torque to flip the bike over in the lower gears Posted by Brand New Day on Apr. 10 2022,7:22 am
nice set-up. looks like the high-end sports car version of that sort of thing. hah really something how sleek those drive mechanisms are. been seeing a lot more alternative motorized modes of transportation the past couple of years. electric bikes, gas powered bikes, people riding little mini bikes, UTV's, riding lawn mowers. . . the thing that wonder about are: 1) what are the licensing requirements of some of those various things. as a lot of them are driving in the traffic lanes 2) wonder how a motorized bike is interpreted on bike trails marked no motorized vehicles have actually seen those kinetic sit down bike things driving in traffic with the cars as well. . . Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 10 2022,8:01 am
I’ve been seeing more electric bikes in traffic, every now and then they like to pass big trucks on the right side, natural selection is a bitch.
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 10 2022,9:18 am
Mn allows electric bikes, Segways, and motorized wheelchair on every state trail that bikes are allowed on. The law in Minnesota doesn't require a license, or limit the bike by size, It's limited by a max speed of 20mph on roads, and on the state trails. Also like any bicycle you have to follow all traffic laws just like cars.I didn't know much about them but have this 15 mile loop on the trail, and in the park that I try to ride on my regular bike in 1hr and 15 mins. I'll be riding hard and at least once a week I'd get passed going uphill by couples that were 20 years older than me, just sitting up straight like they weren't even pedaling. I actually built mine because MN doesn't allow you to drive for 6 months after a documented seizure and I had to get to my weekly infusions. I could have rode my regular hardtail but I had to be there for 4hrs and didn't want sit there all sweaty. I do stick to the side roads because the older drivers in Albert Lea are terrifying. And there are quite a few people that think bikes have no business being on roads, that they should be on the sidewalk so they don't yield to you, or give you 6ft when passing. Posted by Brand New Day on Apr. 10 2022,12:25 pm
thank you that is very informative. always marvel at people that get right into the thick of things, on their bikes, in dense car traffic. @watching out for cars. how do you get the mileage for your route? do you use a phone? Posted by Liberal on Apr. 10 2022,1:59 pm
I use a samsung smart watch. It keeps track of heart rate, and if I crash it texts my wife the coordinates of where to find the body.
Posted by Brand New Day on Apr. 11 2022,7:40 am
did see a smartwatch commercial a while back and the main selling point was that it saved the peoples lives that werre feature in said commercial. your scenario sounds a bit more grim though. Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 11 2022,11:39 am
My son has a lectric brand ebike, it's one of those that will fold up. The thing weighs over 60 pounds but it'll do 29 miles per hr.It's got the fat tires, steel fenders and a luggage carrier. My biggest concern for an electric bike would be battery life expectancy, from what I understand 2 or 3 years is about it. Watch out for the blue hairs Lib, more than one of those has tried to turn me into a hood ornament! Posted by Liberal on Apr. 11 2022,8:22 pm
My battery pack is just a bunch of Samsung 18650 they say you get 300-500 charging cycles out of it. Replacing it is about $350 so it's not bad if you get 3 years out of them.Riding today I saw an older guy on a folding e-bike, with the smaller wheels, and he was easily doing 20mph coming out of the state park. I worry I'll come across one of them someday that's bleeding out from road rash, and thin blood. Posted by Liberal on Apr. 12 2022,9:46 am
Yesterday I rode out to "the "bridge to nowhere" to take some photos at the end of the trail. On my way back I put my tripod's phone mount on my handlebars and recorded the ride back.Part 1 is the ride through the park from just past the million dollar bridge to nowhere - that the state built for a bike trail that's was never finished. Part 2 is the trail from the park, and some of the walking loop. Part 3 is Front St, and the Skyline mall parking lot where there is a rotting recliner sitting there, and is probably the most dangerous place to ride a bike in Albert Lea. Part 4 is Front to the old highschool parking lot, and around the lake to the foot bridge and the old railroad tracks - that the county bought for a bike trail that's was never started. Part 5 is around by Hayek to the old depot that burned down. The camera battery went dead so part 5 is shorter. The recording is pretty rough but it was done on an old LG V30 on a mount that was not intended to be used for this. I'd also turn up the resolution, and listen without sound, there's a lot of wind, bike, and tire noise because of where it was mounted. Part 1. < https://youtu.be/4UiHicjwD9w > Part 2. < https://youtu.be/Oi6lsBEUTlY > Part 3. < https://youtu.be/Si-4udXiZak > Part 4. < https://youtu.be/r-LV5Z3q1B0 > Part 5. Posted by Glad I Left on Apr. 12 2022,10:17 am
I am a little curious where this bridge to nowhere is? I've hiked the park with my girl a few times last summer when we were in town, including where your video 1 started....
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 12 2022,11:20 am
If you park by the office, the trail directly East is where it starts. Go to the end of that trail where the asphalt stops. Take a right down the sketchy gravel road for about a 1/4 mile and when you see the asphalt to your left that's the start of that short paved section, and the million dollar bridge to nowhere that goes 25ft over the railroad track instead of just using the railroad crossing about 100yds away. They intended to continue the trail to Hayward but it ends right where the video starts.The other trail the County bought the railroad land from Front street to Manchester for $1 million and never built an inch. Posted by Glad I Left on Apr. 12 2022,11:26 am
Ok yes. We've been over that bridge. That explains the weird termination for that. We ended up walking back, over the standard railroad crossing....
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 13 2022,6:32 am
Thanks for posting your ride Lib,I only had my bike out a few times last year because of a large project. looks like the summer of 2022 and 2023/24 will start the expansion of the Blazing Star Trail.. The ultimate goal, the Blazing Star State Trail will be approximately 20 miles long and will run from Albert Lea and Austin, connecting to Austin's city trail system as well the Shooting Star State Trail. < https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/blazingstar/index.html > Posted by Liberal on Apr. 13 2022,7:18 am
Hopefully they will at least reach the bridge. They repaved the trail section west of the main road to the edge of the park last year. The city needs to repair their section of trail now, there are several areas on that loop that have cracks big enough to take a road bike down, and one dip towards the park is bad enough that someone put red spray paint lines on both sides of it to warn people.
Posted by Expatriate on Apr. 13 2022,8:00 am
As I understand it the DNR needs to replace wetland because they doing some filling for the bridge they're building across Albert Lea Lake.Their plan is to take out the the double loop section of Albert Lea's Blazing Star and make it one big loop, thus replacing the wetlands. ( State Law ) See lots of older folks just walking the small loop, think that's kind of a waste. IMO Posted by Liberal on Apr. 13 2022,8:39 am
Has the city done anything with the trail since it was built? Seems like there's a lot of planning in Albert Lea but very little action.They did go down part of the trail with something like an excavator mulcher to trim up the scrubby stuff just past the top of hill. Too bad the county doesn't do that towards Manchester Posted by Brand New Day on Apr. 13 2022,1:41 pm
when you were across from Jim @ Dudes there thought you were going to do some off-road maneuvering.will say that there does seem to be a lot of trails around these days. seems like a lot of them are abandoned railroad beds. but by golly people sure use them. you can be way out in the middle of nowhere and see farmers or whoever walking on them. was out on some abandoned railroad bed a long time ago. was like somewhere out by that old fertilizer plant on 13. seemed like it ran east west. is that part of this Front to Manchester route? also was on a trail off West 9th a few years ago. that thing appeared to have been abandoned a long time ago. pretty big trees growing where the track must have been. kind of seemed sabotaged here and there as well. so only went down it so far. was always going to go back and see how interesting it was further up. that would be nice if it was cleared out but probably big bucks to do so. Posted by Liberal on Apr. 13 2022,3:02 pm
Years ago they took some out that started by Garden Villa area and ran past the arena?This rail bed runs across Clark St just east of Jim & Dudes, and on Fountain St it's just west of Mitch's gas station. After the foot bridge it runs parallel to Elmira then crosses Hwy 13 just before St Johns. Then runs north parallel to 13, goes under the interstate just west of the gas station, then continues on north. It's visible on google maps satellite view. Posted by Brand New Day on Apr. 13 2022,5:14 pm
Oops Jim & Dudes not Jim @ Dudes. lolyeah seems that trail was out somewhere by that lake by the arena. the one with the controversial name that people argue about what the true name is. part of it anyway. yeah should try to look at the satellite map. cause now am thinking: didn't just see a train along side me on 13 fairly recently?. hah might be getting it mixed up with US 65 S. guy told me years ago he used to hop the train out of Albert Lea to Waseca on a regular basis. it is amazing how many trains ran through the area at one time. didn't somebody post a map here of all the former tracks and whatnot in Albert Lea? |